new kitty not feeling well

Originally Posted by LDG

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

Click to expand...

Great advice there! I think Hobbes may be ready before Calvin is - he was ready to follow me out of his room today. Little did he know that a meanie bucket was waiting outside.
Your advice about the t shirt under the food bowl was great. He does associate me with food.
Hobbes is continuously sneezing now. Poor baby.

Oh I feel so badly for you and Hobbes. This could be very serious though if he is not eating and you have to force feed him. If things don't get better today, he needs to go to the vet. He is too little and could go downhill quickly and get dehydrated. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in today and make him feel better.

You can go to the vet office and pick some A/D to kickstart his appetite. It is canned and very rich with nutrients. You could call the vet, I am wondering if your vet already advised you of this canned food?? Poor Hobbes and it is stressful on you too!!

Originally Posted by Feralvr

You can go to the vet office and pick some A/D to kickstart his appetite. It is canned and very rich with nutrients. You could call the vet, I am wondering if your vet already advised you of this canned food?? Poor Hobbes and it is stressful on you too!!

Click to expand...

AD is AWESOME!!! When gracie was not eating, I got some from the vet, and she gobbled it down like there was no tomorrow.... There is some goodness in that food, that is for sure, and it is very nutritious!

Originally Posted by Feralvr

Oh I feel so badly for you and Hobbes. This could be very serious though if he is not eating and you have to force feed him. If things don't get better today, he needs to go to the vet. He is too little and could go downhill quickly and get dehydrated. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in today and make him feel better.

You can go to the vet office and pick some A/D to kickstart his appetite. It is canned and very rich with nutrients. You could call the vet, I am wondering if your vet already advised you of this canned food?? Poor Hobbes and it is stressful on you too!!

Click to expand...

Thanks feralvr. Hobbes so far ate about 4.5-5 oz of food. No extra water but am adding a little to his food. I think I have a can of a/d from when Calvin was not well and would not touch wet food. The vet jump started his eating wet food with a/d though Calvin refused after a day and wanted fishy stuff. I will try that! Had forgotten about it.
Hobbes is in good spirit. Playing and exploring. But only when I am in the room

Originally Posted by Calvin&I

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.

Click to expand...

Is this woman running her own foster home for pets ? It would obviously be a dire situation at the shelter as a result of the county having to house all of these animals (were they to be confiscated) while contending with all the other unwanted pets in the area, but this seriously does sound like an animal cruelty case IMO.

So sorry your little Hobbes is not feeling well. When we brought Jazzy home almost 3 years ago from the Humane Society she became very sick with a URI within a few days. It was a horrible experience. Something we had never dealt with before. It was very scary as she was very congested, sneezed a lot and held her mouth open and drooled for 2 days. We had to bring her in 2 times to be hydrated because she would not eat or drink anything on her own. We syringe fed her for about 5 days. She probably could have eaten on her own after 3 or 4 days but she liked eating from the syringe so much that she wouldn't eat from the food dishes. I would say we seen dramatic improvement after 3 or 4 days of being on antibiotics. If I remember correctly we also fed her the AD formula mixed with a little water. To this day she is still very susceptible to getting URI's. This past summer we battled another bad URI for nearly 3 months. I hope your hope Hobbes gets better soon and Calvin stays healthy!

Originally Posted by gibsgirl94

So sorry your little Hobbes is not feeling well. When we brought Jazzy home almost 3 years ago from the Humane Society she became very sick with a URI within a few days. It was a horrible experience. Something we had never dealt with before. It was very scary as she was very congested, sneezed a lot and held her mouth open and drooled for 2 days. We had to bring her in 2 times to be hydrated because she would not eat or drink anything on her own. We syringe fed her for about 5 days. She probably could have eaten on her own after 3 or 4 days but she liked eating from the syringe so much that she wouldn't eat from the food dishes. I would say we seen dramatic improvement after 3 or 4 days of being on antibiotics. If I remember correctly we also fed her the AD formula mixed with a little water. To this day she is still very susceptible to getting URI's. This past summer we battled another bad URI for nearly 3 months. I hope your hope Hobbes gets better soon and Calvin stays healthy!

Click to expand...

Your kitty probably has herpes... You might want to check with the vet about that, but putting her on L-Lysine daily will help a lot keeping those URIs at bay. If it is herpes, it can even keep it at bay completely if you keep the kitty at a daily maintenance dose...

If you can, wait until Hobbes gets a clean bill of health from the vet and really gets over this URI or you'll run the risk of infecting Calvin, especially if Calvin's stressed. When we got Tumbles this past summer, we had 3 Feliway diffusers running for about 2 months. We went down to 1, but I've recently plugged a 2nd one back in because of the spats Tumbles and Hannah have been having.

I really do want to take my time and do this. I will start some sort of smell swapping in the next few days. The only issue I'm having is that Hobbes wants to be with us and is sad when we leave the room. He follows me around in the room and nearly out of the room with me. He hides the rest of the time. He's just used to being in a chaotic place with tons of cats and so I guess that's what he knows. He played with the laser pointer a little yesterday and a string toy today. He really is a sweetheart. I do want to give him more access to us and not leave him in a room by himself. I know many of you have had to do that but it is heartbreaking. I just want Calvin and Hobbes to be buddies and play around together where I can keep and eye on them. Hope someday soon.

I should clarify that when I say that Hobbes's foster place was not ideal - I do not mean that there was any active abuse going on. Abuse can be different types, I know but the person (the co founder of the rescue) is doing so much. She runs over 20 feeding stations for ferals and has over 50 that she is trying to adopt out. I just think that she's overwhelmed and has to triage who goes to the vet I guess. I appreciate the effort but feel that her system is not working at all. One can say that the cats are better off with her than outside but I just hope more people were able to adopt (or not abandon, as many are doing so) and the cats had their forever homes.

Actually, a lot of people speed up kitty intros for the exact reason you just mentioned.

You might want to try getting a really cheap tick-tock clock (we found one at a local pharmacy), a cheap stuffed animal - kitty-cat sized - and put the clock in the stuffed animal. That, with the radio, and a night light, and feliway might help at least stretch things out until Hobbes is better and Calvin isn't all hissy.

The other alternative is to have one of you sleep in the room with him. There are people that have done that.

Originally Posted by LDG

Actually, a lot of people speed up kitty intros for the exact reason you just mentioned.

You might want to try getting a really cheap tick-tock clock (we found one at a local pharmacy), a cheap stuffed animal - kitty-cat sized - and put the clock in the stuffed animal. That, with the radio, and a night light, and feliway might help at least stretch things out until Hobbes is better and Calvin isn't all hissy.

The other alternative is to have one of you sleep in the room with him. There are people that have done that.

Click to expand...

DH napped in his room earlier and I will sleep in the room tonight. He's curious about what's outside his room and while Calvin was shut in his room and we were trying to give him his medicine, he ran out and went to the living room and we tried to herd him so that he does not get under the sofa and then he just ran back into his room. He looks so sad when we leave and so perked up when we go to the room.

Gave him some A/D - not eating that. Another fussy eater on our hands???
Also have not heard him utter ANYTHING. Calvin is so vocal and this is such a contrast. Is that normal?

Btw, no poop yet. Been here 56 hours. Eating for over 24 hours now. I'd say a total of 8 oz. But I did hear some intestinal movement - does not seem promising. Perhaps the antibiotic's effect. Should I stop lysine? I have him 250mg. Anything else I should do food wise?

Keep force-feeding him, A/D is great for syringe feeding... Try 5 feedings a day, aim for a can a day. Sometimes it takes a couple of days for the kitty to regulate the glucose and liver enzymes, then he starts eating on his own... Or, if he is really congested, it can take a little longer, as he can't smell the food...
I would not stop Lysine... But I would give him 500mg a day as a 7-month kitten; 250mg in the am, 250 in the pm.
If he has diarrhea, do more feedings, mixing the A/D with more water - A/D is pretty rich... So, instead of 5 feedings, do 6, but a bit more watered down...
Have you tried a steam bath? Running the hot shower in the bathroom with the closed door to get it really steamy and staying there with him for a while? You can also use a vaporizer - it will help him breath better. I like to stand up with the kitty on my lap in the bathroom, as hot air tends to go towards the ceiling...
Hope he gets better soon, the poor boy

Originally Posted by Carolina

Keep force-feeding him, A/D is great for syringe feeding... Try 5 feedings a day, aim for a can a day. Sometimes it takes a couple of days for the kitty to regulate the glucose and liver enzymes, then he starts eating on his own... Or, if he is really congested, it can take a little longer, as he can't smell the food...
I would not stop Lysine... But I would give him 500mg a day as a 7-month kitten; 250mg in the am, 250 in the pm.
If he has diarrhea, do more feedings, mixing the A/D with more water - A/D is pretty rich... So, instead of 5 feedings, do 6, but a bit more watered down...
Have you tried a steam bath? Running the hot shower in the bathroom with the closed door to get it really steamy and staying there with him for a while? You can also use a vaporizer - it will help him breath better. I like to stand up with the kitty on my lap in the bathroom, as hot air tends to go towards the ceiling...
Hope he gets better soon, the poor boy

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the guidance! Fortunately we are not having to force feed him. He's eating on his own. He ate about 7-8 oz yesterday, including 1/2 can A/D. I gave him some more for breakfast. He did poop at 2 in the morning and woke me up with his vigorous digging. I slept in the guest bedroom with him. DH said Calvin was not happy and when he came to our bed in the morning for his daily morning cuddles, he kept staring at the empty spot where I sleep. And it took him a while to start purring. Poor baby (

We bought a warm mist humidifier since the hot shower thing may be a little difficult with Calvin around. That's what we have running in his room. It can act as a vaporizer too. Can I use vicks with kittens?

I really don't know about the Vicks. I do know some cats react to the menthol smell like they do catnip.

As to the not talking - he might have been feral born. If he lived for any length of time with a feral mom, she would have taught him not to talk.

It could also be he grew up with so many cats, there was no point in talking. Cats don't really talk to each other, they talk to people - and if talking didn't get rewarded with attention, why talk? He may learn to talk from Calvin though. Our feral kitties all started talking about a year after Flowerbelle joined us. She's deaf, and couldn't hear herself, or wasn't taught not to ... or something. But they finally figured out that talk = attention. It was funny to hear their squeaky, rusty little voices. I often wish they'd shup up now.

Mine were adopted as adults...but, my girl has always been pretty chatty (and 'sings' in the car on the way to the vet). My boy, adopted a few months later, - not a peep out of him for quite a while (purrs, yes, no other verbalizations)...but after about 8 months of watching his 'sister' get responses from me when she makes noises, he started verbalizing a bit. Still doesn't make noise in the car, but at least he meows sometimes!

BTW, you guys are fantastic parents!

Thanks Darlili.....we are trying to do the best that we can by the 2 littte ones.
Calvin meowed all the way hope and has become increasingly chatty, er demanding is more like it. He loves to run around in our breezeway- although it's so cold. He vocalizes really loudly to me let out there. Hobbes was born to a feral mother and I guess that may have been the case why he does not meow. He purrs really loudly and with the congestion that sounds like a speedboat

So I was running errands all morning and am back in Hobbes's room now. I came back and gave Calvin is lunch of healthy canned food and Hobbes his fancy feast. Mistakenly I left the spoon with which I served the fancy feast and calvin found it. He was super confused. I ended up giving him a couple spoons of the fancy feast.

So I came into the room and saw vomit on my comforter in Hobbes's room. It was hairballish and some A/D that he ate yesterday. Plus he did not eat any A/D that I gave him for breakfast. I am not good at force feeding/ giving meds. DH has to do the meds and so I think I will stick to giving him fancy feast now since the stinky fish is what's making him eat that and he perhaps cannot smell the A/D. I'll either mix the 2, if he'll eat or in the recovery phase give him that, once he can smell more.
He just ate some fancy feast and I will give him a little more later. He's running around chasing the sun's rays, perching out of the window where's I've places a step stool for him and is trying to figure out what a mirror is.
Calvin is outside the door crying as he does when there are closed doors.

Awwww.................. Calvin.

You know, I'd ask the vet when he thinks it's OK to not worry about Calvin catching what Hobbes has got. You may want to put up baby gates (two stacked on top of each other usually does it. Tough for you guys to get in and out - but...

Also, Feralvr has mentioned that they use a large plexiglass sheet so they can see each other but not smell.

Just ideas.....

Originally Posted by LDG

Awwww..................

Calvin.

You know, I'd ask the vet when he thinks it's OK to not worry about Calvin catching what Hobbes has got. You may want to put up baby gates (two stacked on top of each other usually does it. Tough for you guys to get in and out - but...

Also, Feralvr has mentioned that they use a large plexiglass sheet so they can see each other but not smell.

Just ideas.....

Click to expand...

The vet on Monday said in 1-2 days. He wants them to smell each other under the door but that's not happening. Hobbes is ready to explore but we are scared since he likes hiding places and can go under the sofa or something. Only our bedrooms and baths gave doors and once out
of the guestroom Hobbes can potentially run down to to the basement. We do not want him to be too overwhelmed.

We've just spend SO much money and were hoping if we can avoid spending in anything other than essentials so thinking maybe will use a couple of door wedges with Hubby on 1 side and me on the other with an inch or so opening. If takes longer will do the baby gates. Or maybe take them to the bathroom where the tub has a glass door? I think we should do the scent transfer soon. I went and got some feliway spray today for Calvin. This is really a process!

We used an old screen door on the room where we kept Tumbles for several weeks. They could see each other and smell each other, but not get to each other. Of course, it was hard not to step on Tumbles when we opened the door because he wanted to come out.

I totally understand not wanting to spend more money. And yes, holding the door open a crack to let them sniff is definitely a way to go. The scent swapping pre-door opening is probably a good idea.

But once they're able to sniff without Calvin hissing, you're probably ready for supervised intros. Given your worry about Hobbes, it may be best to bring Calvin into Hobbes' room for a play session & treats.

At some point you can also consider feeding Calvin his meal with Hobbes. We've found eating meals together to help things along. AND that way even if Hobbes does hide when you let him out to explore, he'll know where to run for dinner (or breakfast) when you call it.

I know you've had to give Hobbes lots of extra time and attention because of his illness , but do make sure to give Calvin lots of extra love & attention, reassurance, and anything you can do to make him feel like Hobbes being around is good for him. (Cats! ).