Kittens not growing

CatNamedPanda said:

Would the Nutri drops be to many vitamins in combination with the viyo?
I hope the people who want kittens just for fun do read this thread. I have a few more that have ended in heartbreak for me. I cant express how much I wish people would just spay and neuter their pets. But there will always be those people out there who just want one litter, and don't seem to understand that their one litter means death for another litter who is not lucky enough to have a forever home. Because there will always be people who don't spay, I will always have my hands and heart full of rescues. I cant stop just because there is the risk that I could get hurt like I have this past week and like I have been in the past. Maybe if I am lucky my experience will change someones mind on the just one litter, or just for fun litters.

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Eloquently put and I wholeheartedly agree. Anyone who does foster/rescue work has undoubtedly been in your shoes and it's heartbreaking to put everything you have into saving a litter when so many don't seem to care what happens to their pets one way or the other (not making a dig at anyone on here, just commenting on my experiences in general). It shows tremendous resolve on your part to not give up on the cause, even when it causes you pain. 

Here's hoping for the day when your services are rendered obsolete, for that will be a day we can all celebrate. 

Update on the girls...

Good news first, Penelope is starting to do wonderful. She excited to eat and chows down on a/d, formula, and viyo mixed. I had been syringe feeding her but she is more than willing now to polish her plate herself. She is holding steady at 6oz. She has so much energy it is nice to see.

Bad news, things are not looking great for Delilah. I noticed that her face is swelling which explains the stuffy breathing. Her foot is swelling too. I took her back to the vet as soon as they opened today. With her being like this I am not sure how much I have been able to get into her. She lost half her body weight from Wednesday and is down to 3.5 oz. I am bumping her up to every hour to 2 hours feeding her to try to push her weight back up, Im not sure she has been swallowing everything I give her so more frequent she should get more. She got sub-q last night because she was so dehydrated, and has improved some since. Here is where I hope I made the right choice, when I took her into the vet about the swelling my options were to do nothing and she would likely die, or give her a steroid and benadryl shot, knowing there is a risk that it could have negative side effects, but it could be what is needed to save her. I choose to give her the chance at least and it seems to be working already her lip is almost completely down, and her breathing sounds better. She seems to be willing to fight, so I am willing to give her a shot, I just question myself with whether it is the right thing to do or if I am just pushing her for nothing and prolonging the inevitable and possibly making her suffer. I would just feel so bad giving up if she had the ability to make it.

I'm so sorry for Delilah... it's so hard to have to be the one to make these decisions. I was in this situation just a couple months ago with two sick 4 week old kittens. I did everything I could for them and fought so hard for them and in the end they still both passed away. But I felt the same as you, I couldn't just give up on them if they still had some fight in them to live. I so hope things turn around for her and that she begins to improve. Keep us posted!

Different situation because of ages - but when my cat went into ARF because of toxic cat food/metacam (a double whammy), I promised her that I would fight with her as long as she was fighting. I've never given up on her and she is still with me 5 years later. She's had a hard go of it at times, but she is a happy, much-loved old girl now. I would do the same thing again.

Poor wee one will let you know if she's had enough. I support whatever decision you make for her because it's clear you love her very much.

catmom5

Have you tried giving them some plain, cooked chicken? I always found my little ones went nuts for a plate of cooked chicken (cut into itty bitty pieces, of course).

[COLOR=#Purple] I thought for sure that I was going to lose Delilah yesterday or this morning but she is still hanging in there. I have been leaving her with a friend while I have to work so she can continue getting round the clock care. I said my goodbye to her before I left just in case she was in such bad shape. She was so lethargic that she was floppy when you would pick her up. When I went to work last night she was bad, and when I picked her up afterwards she was worse. I was uncertain she would make it through the night but she did. She was still in the same floppy, not moving state when I went to work again this morning and the same when I came back for her. While she is lethargic she will still swallow anything you put on her tongue, so she is just being syringe fed. If you place her on the floor just outside her carrier after you feed her, she will find the energy to walk inside to go lay down. I hold on to some hope because for a good 4 hours tonight she was alert and walking around. I think it drained her because she is weak again, she is alert, but lethargic. I can stand her up and she will stand and walk a tiny bit. She will try to eat my fingers when she is particularly hungry so she is fighting, and I will support her with round the clock feedings for as long as she wants them. I was very excited today to not only see poop for the first time in a few days, but nice solid formed poop.The steroid and benadryl only seemed to help minimally though, her face seems a bit better but not really now, I think there was a brief immediate effect, that or I made myself think it was working because it didn't do anything really.

Penelope on the other hand is a completely different kitten, she runs around and plays with everything, she is climbing and all around a little ball of energy. I am feeding Delilah every 1-2 hours so she is offered food then too, she has been eating at least a little every time, and when she is really hungry she will polish off her plate. The only thing that is weird to me is she carries her tail between her legs. She always has it held like that no matter if she is playing, walking, eating. I don't know if this is a sign of something or not.

Sorry if I am rambling or hard to understand, I have barely been sleeping taking care of these babies, and the sleep I do get is not at all restful. But if it is what they need then I am happy to sacrifice some sleep.[/COLOR]

catmom5 said:

Different situation because of ages - but when my cat went into ARF because of toxic cat food/metacam (a double whammy), I promised her that I would fight with her as long as she was fighting. I've never given up on her and she is still with me 5 years later. She's had a hard go of it at times, but she is a happy, much-loved old girl now. I would do the same thing again.

Poor wee one will let you know if she's had enough. I support whatever decision you make for her because it's clear you love her very much.

catmom5

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[COLOR=#Purple]Thank you that gives me some hope. I do love her and am giving her everything I can. I told her last night that I would keep fighting with her for as long as she wants. She is a fighter thats for sure. [/COLOR]

ClaraAdele said:

Have you tried giving them some plain, cooked chicken? I always found my little ones went nuts for a plate of cooked chicken (cut into itty bitty pieces, of course).

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[COLOR=#Purple]No not yet, mostly because Delilah is only getting anything in her if it is in a syringe, and Penelope is eating on her own but only if it is soupy, I am slowly been working her up to a thicker consistency.[/COLOR]

Maybe puree some chicken? They might like that and the protein would be good for them.

Have you tried rubbing honey/caro syrup on Delilah's gums? Sometimes it can pep them up.

Please, keep us updated about the situation of both kittens. It would be nice also to have some pics of them. 

Update on the girls...

We went to the vet again yesterday after talking on the phone with her about how Delilahs foot was still very swollen, and her face was still a bit, although I think it has gone down a touch. She wanted to see her again so off we went. There is of course not much more we can do but she did put Delilah on Benadryl 3 times a day. If she did get bite by something somehow and that is what is causing the swelling it should help bring it down. Delilahs nose is super crusted shut too, so she wants me to soften it with Vaseline and pick her nose for her. She wasn't too happy about me doing this to her last night. Although she is still weak she is gaining weight again. She was 3.5 oz on Friday and yesterday weighed in at 8oz yesterday. I am hopeful she is on the mend, she is sitting up and walking around a tiny bit, which is more than she has done in days. We are no where near out of the woods yet, but there are some positive improvements at least.

Penelope is doing great though. She is a nut, she runs around and attacks everything, she eats like a little pig. She has a huge round belly but not from worms it is just from eating so darn much. The vet doesn't see any reason to stop her from eating so much right now and thinks she will slow down when she is ready to. She is doing awesome at gaining weight, she went from 6oz on Friday to 10oz yesterday.

Willowy said:

Maybe puree some chicken? They might like that and the protein would be good for them.
Have you tried rubbing honey/caro syrup on Delilah's gums? Sometimes it can pep them up.

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I don't have any way to puree the chicken unfortunately. I did boil some and Penelope enjoys it, I put a tiny bit in Delilahs mouth but she spit it out.

I have been using Karo, and the vet wants me to add a little extra to what she is syringe fed as well.

poes said:

Please, keep us updated about the situation of both kittens. It would be nice also to have some pics of them. 

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Here are a few pictures

Delilah sitting, alert at least but this sums up her activity, she put herself to bed shortly after this



Penelope, about the only clear picture I could take with her running around like a maniac, took me a while to get this



Just so you can kinda see what I am talking about. Delilahs swollen foot. Not the best but you can kinda tell how much bigger the left is from the right.

Oh aren't they sweet???? I hope Delilah continues to improve and gain weight!!

WOW, how heart breaking this is!  I hope others can understand why I say this, but I am almost grateful Oreo lost her babies before I ever had the chance to know them!!  It would be so much harder if I had to do this, for her, my son and me!!  I wish people could read this and see these babies before simply allowing their cats to just breed over and over.  I hope these two little girl's can pull through and grow up to be healthy, happy cats!!!!!!  Just out of curiosity, do you go through this to adopt them out or do you keep them after fighting so hard to keep them alive?  I ask because I do not know if I could trust anyone else to care for them after going through this!! 

oreocookie said:

WOW, how heart breaking this is!  I hope others can understand why I say this, but I am almost grateful Oreo lost her babies before I ever had the chance to know them!!  It would be so much harder if I had to do this, for her, my son and me!!  I wish people could read this and see these babies before simply allowing their cats to just breed over and over.  I hope these two little girl's can pull through and grow up to be healthy, happy cats!!!!!!  Just out of curiosity, do you go through this to adopt them out or do you keep them after fighting so hard to keep them alive?  I ask because I do not know if I could trust anyone else to care for them after going through this!! 

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I'm sorry Oreo lost her kittens, for Oreo it is a relief to her weakened body. I understand what you mean, sometime when I take in sick kittens who just don't make it, I almost wish I wouldn't have taken them in, but at the same time there is usually the mom that came with them that would have died if I hadn't taken them in and they go on to be spayed and live happy lives. Even though Oreo's kittens didn't survive she gets to live happily with you for the rest of her life, and that is some thing to be thankful for. Thank you for spaying her. I'm sure this litter is not my mommas first, but her poor body sure has been through a lot. She was an owner surrender at the shelter too, so someone just did not care what happened to her, or what condition she was in. It is people like her previous owner that make me so sad.

About keeping them or adopting them I have not got that far yet.  I am getting attached to them spending so much time taking care of them, and with how much time and effort I would be extremely picky about who they went to. I need to pull Delilah through this before I make any decisions. I can tell you this is not the first super sick kittens I have put this much effort into saving. The sad thing is I have lost 2 entire litters to sickness, and all but one of another. I kept the single survivor and she is now my sweet little Zoe girl. I will have had her for a year on the 19th. But at the same time I could compare them to the bottle kittens I raise, I spend hours caring for them as well and adopt them out to great homes. I guess I will figure it out when the time comes, they need to get much bigger before I would adopt them out anyways.

I think the swelling in Delilah's foot is starting to go down. It is still huge, but where the foot and ankle was so swollen there is raw skin with no hair, or at least that is what I think it is from. Her face looks a ton better too. She still is pretty lethargic, but she is alert and will sit for a while and walk around some, more so walk back from where I set her down back inside the carrier I keep them in when I can not be with them, but she is still walking there. I am still holding out hope that she will pull through. She has tiny improvements at least.

Penelope is still wonderful. She is crazy energetic, but she loves to sleep on my chest purring up a storm. She is so sweet with her sister, she snuggles with her and washes her, she will often go in there when she is tired and I am not laying down with her.

Here is a cute picture of sweet Penelope with a spec of food on her head

Oh My...what a little darling!! How can you NOT fall in love with that face!!
 

I am already in love with her, those eyes melt my heart every time, that and the sweet little kisses she gives me.

Question though, now that the swelling is down in Delilah's face, her nose is peeling on the tip. It has peeled off and there is really pink raw skin. I guess it had stretched while it was swollen and now it is falling off. Should I worry about this at all or do anything for it. I put some Vaseline on it to moisturize it a bit, but is there something better or do I need to take her to the vet about it, she is still on antibiotics so that should protect it from infection right. I might be over worrying for nothing because she is so weak still.
 

Update:

Delilah continues to make tiny improvements. She still hangs out in her crate, and has swelling in her foot, as well as a stuffy nose. I did tonight decide to stick some plain cooked chicken in her mouth and as soon as she tasted it she was eating away. I cant get her to eat off a plate though, I don't think she can smell it she has to get a taste before she will eat. As for her treatment she remains on antibiotics and benadryl. I tent her with the vaporizer to try to clear her nose, and use some little noses drops. She is fed every 2-3 hours. She eats a combination of a/d food, kitten milk, baby food, and viyo, I have all of this mixed together in a kinda thick soup so it can be syringe fed, I just fed her the plain cooked chicken tonight so we will keep that up. I give her some pedialyte several times a day to try to keep her hydration up, she seems to dehydrate easily if not. She gets a foot massage a few times a day to help with the swelling too.

I have a friend who was doing internet research and thinks she could have feline panleukopenia. But if she did wouldn't Penelope still be super sick too. Plus I thought that was deadly in young kittens like her, I would think she would not be here still after almost 2 weeks of being sick. Plus it is super contagious, wouldn't my other cats be sick too.

Here is a video of Delilah eating the chicken, I was just so excited I had to share. Sorry she is a bit dirty, she stays with a friend when I have to work, she prefers my feeding method and tends to spit it back out at my friend if she is not fed just right. She is at least eating something for her though. I cleaned her up after I took this, its a bit dark too sorry. I was trying to move in closer to see if I could get my phone to pick up on the noise her jaw sometimes makes, its almost a creaking sound, I have no clue why.



And Penelope says hi as well.

Internet research can be useful, but in this case I doubt very much that your friend's diagnosis is correct.  It's a highly contagious disease, and the cat or kitten has an awful case of the runs which I don't remember your kitten having.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_panleukopenia

Anyway, she is gradually improving which is good.

She actually did have awful diarrhea, she was just leaking strait liquid. The fecal came back negative for parasites, but she did have red and white blood cells in it. The vet put her on Albon mixed with Metronidazole and it cleared up shortly after that. I guess I didn't mention it as I thought the coccidia was still at fault. But I agree I would think Penelope would be sick too, and she wouldn't still be here especially because she was never hospitalized or anything.

She is definitely gradually improving, she spent a few hours this afternoon walking around exploring, and has been spending time grooming herself. I am a bit worried about the fact the skin on and around her nose is peeling away and is leaving sores behind. There is no puss or anything though. There is also a small sore on her swollen foot, that is going down a bit.

One person who fosters from the same shelter as me had a litter of kittens and one died. He tested positive for panleuk.Two of the remaining kittens tested positive and two tested negative. THe two that were negative went on to be adopted. Everything I have read says it is super contagious and deadly, but I guess you never know. I assume your other cats have been vaccinated, and the vaccine is highly effective so they would be okay. The Panleuk test is a simple fecal test, so may be worth it jsut to rule it out.

We went to the vet yesterday after the skin on Delilah's nose was really falling off, it looks horrible. The vet is convinced she must have been bit by a spider. We decided when the swelling happened that it probably wasn't because she has been kept in a small crate in my living room since she started acting sick, but maybe one got in during a time I wasn't around and did get her. But she said it looks just like a spider bite where the the tissue in the two areas has been so damaged it is just going to fall off like it is. She is going to remain on antibiotics until it is cleared and healed because now she is at risk for secondary infection. The swelling is at least completely down in her face, and almost completely down in her foot.

Even with her skin issues she is really starting to improve. She started eating off of a plate again yesterday so no more syringe feeding! She is really eating well too. She hasn't gained much weight, 8.5 oz from 8 last week, but she is not losing so that is good. Im hoping now that she is starting to kick this she will start to really gain. She may not be running around and pouncing on things like her sister, but she does walk around and explore the house before she is ready to just crawl up in my lap and watch her sister be a nut. Hopefully in the next few days Delilah will feel like playing too.