Worried about orphaned kitten - major fungal infection

(Sorry for the double post -- posted on kitten care before, but think here is more appropriate.)

Let me start by saying that due to my husband's job, we are currently in Manila, Philippines, so when giving advice, please note that we do not have a Petsmart or many vet options nearby (hence why I'm asking for help here).

Anyway, when we moved to our new place 2 weeks ago, I found this tiny little kitten -- the size of a mouse! -- crying at a park across the street. There was no mother around, so I took him home with me as I didn't want to leave him to die. I never seen a kitten that small! Here's a picture I had posted on my blog to give you an idea:



I fed him cow's milk for the first day through a dropper, and had a vet visit me at home to check him out, and I was able to get KMR then. She estimated that he was 2 weeks old.

Last week (a week after he was found), I had to take my dog to the vet, so I took the kitten with me as well. The other vet this time estimated him to be between 4-6 weeks old (you never see the same vet it seems), since many of his teeth were already out (can you tell I don't have much confidence in the local vets here if they can't even agree on his age?). They weighed him then, and he came up to 7oz (this was AFTER he had already put on some weight after being here for 6 days!). They can't test him for anything since they can't remove enough blood from him for a test, as he is still too small.

(I should add that he is staying in the bathroom, with a clean dog bed and blanket and a shoebox top for litter box, and I'm not letting the dog or the cat come in contact with him, to keep all of them safe, specially since I don't know if he has FIV yet either.)

I showed her a couple of small clear scabs on his stomach, she said he had a fungal infection, and she prescribed an orange liquid to rub in his scabs twice a day, and a cream to put on the scabs afterwards.

Fast forward to a week later, and about 20% of his body is now covered with scabs, including by his genitals, his whole stomach, his hind legs and a couple of toes. So I contacted the vet (I was out of town for 4 days and a friend took care of him, which is why I didn't contact the vet earlier), and he came over and prescribed antibiotics for a more aggressive approach, while I'm still using the other topical cream.

It has only been a day with the antibiotic, but he is not getting better. I know it's not instant, but I wonder if anyone here has any other tips or suggestions? This little guy is a cutie, and though I can't keep him, I really do want to get him healthy so that I can find him a good home. I find that getting him healthy is my responsibility since I rescued him.

(I should add that there are no shelters here, and I did try to contact a rescue organization since they would be much more suited to raising this kitten, but they replied that they don't have any available space -- they are just a rescue, not shelter though.)

I don't have much faith in the vets here, since they couldn't even agree on his age -- by a lot! Vets here are cheap (a home visit comes out to about $20), but they don't seem as reliable.

He is also still not pooping on his own, and the only way to make him poop is using the "triangle" method I saw on youtube -- even just a warm washcloth, etc, would do nothing to him. Today after pooping a bit, he started screaming bloody murder, so my guess is he is a bit constipated as well, but I'm not sure how to get it out. He does use the litterbox/shoebox we gave him, but to pee only. He actually used it right away when we set it up on the first day. (He likely has worms too, but again he is way too small to get dewormed.)

Also, he is ALWAYS crying, ALWAYS hungry, regardless of how many times I feed him and how much. I think he just misses his mom At what age he should be weaned? He has teeth on the front and sides, but if I show him wet food or even just put the KMR in a little bowl, he completely ignores it, and will only eat from the bottle.

I'm at a loss and desperate to help the little guy, so any tips will be appreciated. (I'm dealing with a 12 hour time difference as well, so sorry if I don't reply to questions right away -- it's 1am here and I should be in bed already!)

Sorry for the loooong post, but I figured the whole background was important. And thanks for the help!

I too think it is best to ask your question here.

I tried to give a couple of answers in the Pregnant and kitten forum, so look there too...


Good luck!

Do you have access to ground horticultural cornmeal? If you do, you can make a cornmeal tea by steeping some cornmeal in water, then using the water to dab on the affected areas.

AWWW the poor little sweet kitten but thank you for taking him in. I don't have any advice but just want to send you some prayers. You are wonderful how you have saved this kitten and it does sound quite young. I pray you can get this kitten healthy.

You can give the kitten some Milk of Magnesia or Mineral Oil for the constipation. It's safe to give it to very small kittens. I can't remember the proper dosage but I'll try to find out and get back to you.

It will probably be a while longer until you will see results from the antibiotics. Even if it's clearing up the infection it will take a while until the scabs heal. I assume that it's ringworm that he has which is a fungal infection. It sounds like ringworm. It usually takes several weeks up to two months to clear up ringworm and with his being so widespread it will probably be on the longer side. I had a litter with ringworm once and it took about 5-6 weeks before the scabs healed and a bit longer before the fur came back. Fortunately it's a very treatable condition though, it just takes some time.

Please keep in mind that ringworm is contagious to both people and other pets. It's not that common for healthy adult people to get it from pets but it's a good idea to take precautions like using plastic gloves when handling him and keeping his living quarters clean. Bleech will kill the spores in the environment. When I had my ringworm kittens I had a robe in their room that I wore over my clothes when I was in there to avoid spreading it on my clothes to my other pets. It may have been overkill but to be on the safe side you may want to do something similar.

I tried two different treatments with my guys. First we did a medicated shampoo which was a major pain in the behind so I started using Lyme Sulfur Dip instead and I highly recommend it. It's quick to use and not very traumatic for the kitten. It's also very effective. The drawback is that it smells to high heaven and it can stain the cat's coat yellow but that goes away and you can deal with the smell. I'm not sure if you can find it in the Philippines but if you can you may want to try it. In the US it's OTC.

Just FYI, it can be hard in some cases to tell the age of a kitten. In the picture the kitten looks to be about 2 weeks and 7 ounces would be more consistent with that. But if several of his teeth are out he is likely older and may just be very small due to malnutrition. I've seen some tiny 4-week olds. I'd say that it's highly unlikely that he's as much as 6 weeks but he could be close to four. The varied opinion doesn't necessarily mean that they are bad vets. i've gotten varied opinions on stuff like that from otherwise good US vets.

You can get a kitten dewormed with Pyrantel Pamoate (strongid or Nemex) from 4 weeks. Some say as early as 3 weeks. It should be repeated twice with 2 weeks apart. Pyrantel Pamoate is used for humans too and is very common for livestock and horses so I would think it would be available in Manilla. I'd get it done asap. A worm infestation can be very harmful for a small kitten.

Sorry I can't give any advice, but I wish you and the poor little fella all the best.

He sounds a little soldier as he has made it so far. Well done to you!

Any updates on the baby? I hope you're not feeling too overwhelmed by all this. Dealing with ringworm, if that's what it is, is a pain in the ass because it takes so long. I'm sure that you had not expected something so major when you took this kitten in. He's lucky to have found you though as you are probably his only chance. I hope he's doing a bit better now. Please let us know how things are going.

Sorry for the lack of updates!

I seemed to have made some progress though, as most of his scabs are gone. After posting a desperate message on Facebook as well as here, one of my friends suggested trying to reduce the humidity in the room. Since Manila is very hot and humid, we always have the AC pumping, but to avoid getting him cold, I had turned it off in the room adjacent to the bathroom he's in. After getting her advice, I turned the AC back on (in a not too cold setting), hoping that the lack of humidity would help. She also recommended washing the bed and blanket he sleeps on every day.

Since then there was a lot of improvement! Someone also suggested tea tree oil as an antifungal, so I've been dabbing that in conjunction with the prescribed ointment.

Anyway, the scabs are mostly gone, and though his skin is not 100% it looks a LOT better.

After a lot of coaching, we were finally able to get him to wean off the bottle, so now he is also eating a lot more and no longer crying all the time. I've been mixing a bit of KMR with wet kitten food.

He got dewormed today (finally!), and he is still very active (he can sprint!), but his belly is VERY bloated now. I'm freaking out afraid it might be FIP, but hoping maybe I just overfed him a bit.

Please see my response in the kitten section regarding tea tree oil. I have provided just one link to an article on the internet.