new kitty not feeling well

At the shelter where I volunteer, we warn people that their new cat may come down with a URI due to stress. It's very common, and easily dealt with in the vast majority of cases.

Congratulations on the adorable NK. I hope he's feeling better very soon.


Robin

Originally Posted by LDG

L-Lysine, it's a supplement, no prescription needed. The normal dose is 250-500mg daily, sprinkled on (wet) food. 500mg was too much for Chum, he's on 250mg, and because he's not sick, we use it every other day more as a preventative. But as Hobbes has an active URI, I'd probably give him 500mg (250mg in the am and 250mg in the pm) for a few days. If it causes diarrhea, cut it back to half that.

If you buy pills to crush, just make sure they're propylene glycol-free. The best, of course, is the powder, as it has no additives. 1/4 t is 550mg, so you can figure out how much to give from there. We buy NOW L-lysine powder (online).

L-lysine reduces the amount of arginine (another amino acid) in the body, and the arginine helps the herpes virus reproduce.

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So is this something that I can give Calvin, too, now since with central air, and even with the separation, we will be exposed to the bacteria?

And thank you very much Robin. I am sure all the vibes Hobbes is getting from TCS will help him greatly

Yes, and probably a good idea. With his issues with the stool though, I'd start him at 250mg and work your way up. Some kitties have no issue with it - but just be safe.

You can find Lysine in the supplement section of Wal-Mart, drug stores, or the health food store. I, too, buy the NOW 1-lb container of lysine. If you decide to go the powdered route 1/4t = 500 mg.

When do we get to see pics of Hobbes??

Hi There!

Congrats on your new kitten!!! The L-Lysine several members referred above, from now foods, is also the one I use, and I find it super easy to give - and cheap too... Here is the link for it: NOW Foods L-Lysine. All my cats are on it, no exception; they take it daily...
As for the murmur, I wouldn't get too impressed just yet. I think many of us have cats with murmur here, including me... What my vet did, which you might want to do before going to a cardiologist, saving you some $$$, is to do a chest x-ray first, in a couple of angles, at the your vet's office to see if Hobbes heart is enlarged. If it is not, then you take an x-ray periodically (once every few years or so... or follow up with an ultrasound when kitty is older) and just watch the behavior closely for changes - lethargy, hiding, etc. If the heart is enlarged, then your vet will send you to the cardiologist - this can be done relatively cheaply and easily, and will save you quite a bit of $$$.
Keep feeding your little baby, fancy feast is a good idea.... Warm it up a little on the microwave... Baby food is good too, as long as it has no garlic and no onions...

Originally Posted by stephanietx

You can find Lysine in the supplement section of Wal-Mart, drug stores, or the health food store. I, too, buy the NOW 1-lb container of lysine. If you decide to go the powdered route 1/4t = 500 mg.

When do we get to see pics of Hobbes??

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@stephanietx:
Since Hobbes is hiding, haven't been able to take any pics. At the vet's clinic they took a pic and that's on my cat page. Here's the long of it, since you've missed it:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=227020


Just returned after buying stuff including a warm humidifier and feliway diffuser, some stinky food, a feeding syringe just in case. Lysine will have to wait for tomorrow, unfortunately. it started snowing really bad here. Also got him a tent and will dismantle the bed after dinner.
phew! today was some day

It's like having a new real baby!!! Isn't it. Sorry to hear Hobbes (cute name) is not feeling well. If it is viral the antibiotics won't help to much, but the L-Lysine will. I have a hard time finding the powder form of Lysine so THANK ALL for posting about where to get the powdered form and I am going to order some. YEAH no more pill crushing

Hope Hobbes likes the tent, all of my cats love to play in them and you can add more tents and attach them together. Great fun for them. When you dismantle the bed, just put little Hobbes in a carrier while you do it so as not to scare him. It will be better do get that bed on the floor for two reasons now. So he can't hide from you and also you can keep a closer eye on him now that he has a cold. Hope he feels better soon

I'm so happy for you that you got a new kitten! I'm sorry he's sick.

Thanks everyone for the wonderful tips and advice. I will write details later. Have a quick question now. Since the 30 hours or so that hobbes's been home, he's had maybe 1 spoon of tuna. And we have him his antibiotic. He's not eating stinky fancy feast but retching continuously. I warmed it but nothing yet. He's retching but nothings coming out since he has not eaten I guess. He's coming to me for love and getting tons but he's feeling miserable with congestion. And not eating won't help. Anything I should do now or just hope he eats?

Call the vet. Do they have an after hours service? If not, find an emergency vet that does. Unfortunately, they'll tell you to bring him in (most likely).

I would say use the syringe to get some food into him... but not if he's continually retching. Is he coughing? Or retching?

Once you go over 48 hours, it gets harder to kick-start the eating, and you run the risk of hipadic lipidosis (fatty liver disease). This is far more a disease of older kitties or overweight kitties, but... you need him to eat. I don't want to scare you with a link to info about fatty liver disease, because he's not a high probability candidate for it - but not eating can be serious.

Also, I know you feel like you're torturing him. But nurturing a sick kitty in need creates a different kind of bond between you, and no matter how much he doesn't like this or that (or being medicated), he knows you're trying to help him.

Poor baby! Poor you! Poor DH!

The retching and the not eating sounds serious to me. I'd call the emergency vet. Sorry that this probably sounds upsetting. But it's better to be safe than sorry. At least talk to the vets there.

I, for one, will be on pins and needles to hear how he's doing.

Lots of being sent your way.


Robin

Spoke to e vet tech. They want me to try feeding him some more. Also to see if retching continues but it is not happening now. Hobbes came to me and DH and purred and gave me some nips and rubbed his head on me. It took him a little time to figure out that the tent is s safe place. DH is in the room with him now. I washed my hands but Calvin is getting to smell hobbes on me and so the hissing at me continues. He's also being showered with love but he's picking up the stress from hobbes's illness. So now I have a sick kitty and an an upset kitty

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So were you able to get some food into Hobbes? And sounds like there's at least been a respite in the retching?

Low on the list of priorities, but when you get a chance, rub Hobbs with a clean washcloth or rag or something, and put it under Calvin's food dish. Since he's hissy about the invader, you need to get him associating that scent with "good" things.

And it's late, but I'll go find at least one (if not some) links to intros where kitty was VERY hissy at first - and they ended up being best buds.

More for Hobbes!

You have to start force feeding him... Blend the wet food with a bit of water in the food processor - not much, just enough to go through a syringe.
Get the kitty, wrap him lie a burrito with a towel, and put him on your lap. Make sure he is sitting, facing forward, and not up side down as he can choke.
Open his mouth and aim the syringe on the side of his mouth, on his tongue or on the roof of his mouth (never shoot the food down his throat). Feed him 1-2 cc at a time. Wait for him to swallow, and do it again. Try to feed as close to 1oz as you can... That is about 29cc. I imagine the syringe you got is smaller, so you will have to fill it up a few times. Do it again in a few hours.
When you are force feeding, your goal is to feed approximately the amount of food he would be eating normally - in his case, a large can of wet food at least, considering he is about 7 months old. You do that in several meals a day, at least 4.
You can also feed him baby food...
If he is threatening to throw up, you can start with a smaller portion, of maybe 1/2 oz and come back for more in a couple of hours or so.
Please be very proactive with feeding... it is very very important for his health... specially for his liver... cats and not eating are a horrible combination...
Here is a great link for assisted feeding, I hope it helps http://www.assistfeed.com/FeedingTechniques.htm

Oh what a day it was yesterday. Am still tired and will go and nap in Hobbes's room in a bit. Honestly, I do not think I could have done it without all of you guiding and encouraging me along.

So while I was in the basement playing with Calvin, DH was with Hobbes. This was right after we spoke to the vet tech and he came down with a smug look on his face and I knew that he was able to feed Hobbes something. It was perhaps 2 spoons but a beginning. So last evening Hobbes has eaten about 1.5 oz - not much I know - but with a little bit of water added, it at least something. DH thinks that the retching was more about him trying to manage/ get rid of the congestion. His vet had mentioned that he had some pus from the infection and DH thinks that that was the case. Also DH said that nausea was a side effect of Zithromax and that could have contributed too.

I think the Feliway helped and he's coming to DH and I and rubs his cheek on us, kneads us and wants to be with us when we are in the room. It's funny how clumsy he is at this - he wants to be all lovey but doesn't know how. He just hides when the door opens and then when we sees us, he comes to us. A little while ago I left him 1.5 oz of food and he's eaten about half of it till now. He's using his tent and also he's on the bed a lot. He's rearranging the pillows to hide underneath them (there are about 4 regular and 2 little ones there). I did not leave the warm mist humidifier on at night but I turned it on 1st thing in the morning and the central humidifier was been on. Feliway is on. He has not pooped yet but peed again overnight - just does not hide his pee. Maybe Calvin will teach him that.

@ Laurie: you mentioned the washcloth trick. I was wondering if that will be an easy route for Calvin to catch the bug that Hobbes has. On the other hand, with the central heat on, he must have been exposed.

Calvin is really very hissy, though. I somehow thought that he would be a little jealous but I did not expect him to be this hissy. He also does not like that he's being confined to his room at times when I am prepping Hobbes's food etc. Since Calvin follows us everywhere, this has been tricky.

We'll start the Lysine today. I am all ears (eyes, in our case) for any advice.

I hope little Hobbes continues to improve and eat for you. It stands to reason that since he's not eaten much in the last couple of days, that he's not pooped. (Nothing in=nothing out)

How old is the little guy?

It's naturally normal for Calvin to hiss; there's an intruder in his territory. Read the introduction thread in the Behavior forum (under the Behavior Problem--look here first thread). There's tons of ideas and suggestions on how to handle introductions and reduce the stress of the newcomer on the resident cat.

Originally Posted by stephanietx

I hope little Hobbes continues to improve and eat for you. It stands to reason that since he's not eaten much in the last couple of days, that he's not pooped. (Nothing in=nothing out)

How old is the little guy?

It's naturally normal for Calvin to hiss; there's an intruder in his territory. Read the introduction thread in the Behavior forum (under the Behavior Problem--look here first thread). There's tons of ideas and suggestions on how to handle introductions and reduce the stress of the newcomer on the resident cat.

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Yes, I've been reading them. Calvin is definitely acting up and we are thinking of getting the feliway spray since the diffuser has worked well with Hobbes. Hobbes is about 7 months, a couple of weeks older than Calvin, in fact. He's eaten about 3.5 oz of food today - huge improvement.

As far as pooping goes, I have a feeling that he had not eaten much before coming home with us. I saw a few bowls with multi colored kibbles in shapes of fish etc at the foster's home. She told me that the kitties are free fed. Maybe Hobbes was playing and had not eaten in a while. Plus she mentioned that her kittens eat Purina One and oler ones eat Purina Pro Plan. I got the Purina One but Hobbes will not go near it. So I will just feed him wet now and then move both Calvin and Hobbes to a better quality grain free in a few days.

To be very honest, with time I am getting quite mad at the foster mom. I know she's trying to do the best she can but her kitties are sick (there was sneezing all around), multiple cats had tilted head, not vetted really, the place is filthy and smelly. She has all the good intentions but things are just way over her head. I can totally see others returning adopted kitties back to her and when I called her yesterday after the vet's visit to give her an update and to ask if she had any information on the heart murmur, she was fully expecting me to tell her that I was taking Hobbes back. Hubby and I were discussing that by any chance (this is just the worst scenario, we do not expect it to happen) if Calvin does not accept Hobbes and is mean to him and there is a chance that Hobbes can be hurt, we will not let him go back to the fosters. According to the contract, we cannot rehome and have to return their adoptees back to them. I will ask them to try adopting him out and I will foster him till that happens. We will also get some answers for his murmur issues so that anyone adopting him knows what they are dealing with.

@ Carolina....thanks for the tips on the x-ray. That's a great idea and I will talk to my regular vet about it.

About the scent swapping.... maybe wait until Hobbes has been on antibiotics for three days. URIs are often viral, but Calvin probably won't be rubbing on or licking the cloth you'll rub Hobbes with... it's just to have Hobbes' scent near his food - both to help desensitize him to the smell, and to get him associating it with good stuff.

I think Hobbes is more comfortable with DH and I and not so much with the environment yet. He is hiding under the pillows, getting inside pillow cases, making little hiding places and it takes a while to find out where he is when we enter the room but once he realizes it's us, he is willing to come out hang out with us and show us love and get cuddles. I think he's also associating me with food, since a little while after I enter the room, he goes and checks out his food bowl.
I am still in the process of adjusting all of us to the new situation but I would have done this all wrong without so many of your helps. Someday I hope I will have learnt enough to share with other newbees.
I am really trying to follow all your advice completely and so far it has worked like magic. There is still a ton of work and the introductions (hopefully will wait till the weekend). Keep the advice coming!!!!!!!
Love u all

The introductions will wait until Hobbes (& Calvin) are ready!