Hi there,
3 days ago I was notified of a homeless kitten, found by someone who could not keep her due to family allergies. As I already have 5 indoor cats, I didn't plan to keep her but when I met her it was clear she had health issues and needed to see a Vet so I took her to my Vet. Was estimated to be 12 weeks old, 8% dehydration, underweight (is 2.5 lbs), had an obvious infection to both eyes, had runny watery diarrhea right there on exam table, and the end of her tail was necrotic (dead tissue) from having had some kind of injury to end of tail. She's long-haired (might be Maine Coon) and had a few mats so I had them clip them out; whilst doing so they saw some pus come from the end of her tail, or where the health part meets the dead part. Kitten very bright and purring and cuddly.
1. Was given a shot of Convenia for the tail infection
2. Was prescribed 1 week of liquid Metronidazole (Flagyl) for the diarrhea in the event that it's Giardia
3. Prescribed Tetracycline eye ointment for eye infection
4. Milbemax dewormer (to have another dose 14 days later)
4. Given 50cc of S/C fluids
Sent home on Medi-Cal Rx Kitten Development Canned food and Hill's Kitten Dry.
She's an absolute little doll. I've kept her isolated from my own cats. I had intended to take her to a cat rescue the day after but now don't have the heart to give her up :-)
How long will it take for her loose poops to continue? At the Vet it was greenish water......since coming home it's improved, brown and NOT watery but more the consistency of pudding (sorry!). She has a good poop after each meal (I feed her 1/4 can of kitten food 4 times a day and allow her to free feed on the dry as she needs to put some weight on her). Thankfully she has no issue using litterbox........but I would have thought that after 3 full days of Flagyl she would be having more formed stools? By the way, they don't smell that bad at all, I can barely smell them in the litterbox and she's not having gas at all. Poops are NOT mucousy NOR do I see any blood in them at all.
Now I'm concerned that maybe she has Coccidia and needs to be treated for that? But is that "too much medication" if she's still got the Convenia on board.........and still has 4 more days of Flagyl? Not sure if they can do an in-house test for Coccidia (some kind of fecal smear?)...........can they usually test stool for this in-house?
Would it be best to wait 4 more days until Flagyl is done and then test for Coccidia and treat if needed?
Also, I'm reading a lot of conflicting info online. Some things I've read state that Flagyl will help deal with BOTH Giardia and Coccidia............but others indicate that Flagyl is only for Giardia and you'd use Albon for Coccidia. I'm thinking that my Vet figures the Flagyl will work for BOTH otherwise I'm not sure why she just decided to treat for possible Giardia (without testing to confirm) and not Coccidia?
She's very bright and alert and playful as all get out.
Thanks in advance.
3 days ago I was notified of a homeless kitten, found by someone who could not keep her due to family allergies. As I already have 5 indoor cats, I didn't plan to keep her but when I met her it was clear she had health issues and needed to see a Vet so I took her to my Vet. Was estimated to be 12 weeks old, 8% dehydration, underweight (is 2.5 lbs), had an obvious infection to both eyes, had runny watery diarrhea right there on exam table, and the end of her tail was necrotic (dead tissue) from having had some kind of injury to end of tail. She's long-haired (might be Maine Coon) and had a few mats so I had them clip them out; whilst doing so they saw some pus come from the end of her tail, or where the health part meets the dead part. Kitten very bright and purring and cuddly.
1. Was given a shot of Convenia for the tail infection
2. Was prescribed 1 week of liquid Metronidazole (Flagyl) for the diarrhea in the event that it's Giardia
3. Prescribed Tetracycline eye ointment for eye infection
4. Milbemax dewormer (to have another dose 14 days later)
4. Given 50cc of S/C fluids
Sent home on Medi-Cal Rx Kitten Development Canned food and Hill's Kitten Dry.
She's an absolute little doll. I've kept her isolated from my own cats. I had intended to take her to a cat rescue the day after but now don't have the heart to give her up :-)
How long will it take for her loose poops to continue? At the Vet it was greenish water......since coming home it's improved, brown and NOT watery but more the consistency of pudding (sorry!). She has a good poop after each meal (I feed her 1/4 can of kitten food 4 times a day and allow her to free feed on the dry as she needs to put some weight on her). Thankfully she has no issue using litterbox........but I would have thought that after 3 full days of Flagyl she would be having more formed stools? By the way, they don't smell that bad at all, I can barely smell them in the litterbox and she's not having gas at all. Poops are NOT mucousy NOR do I see any blood in them at all.
Now I'm concerned that maybe she has Coccidia and needs to be treated for that? But is that "too much medication" if she's still got the Convenia on board.........and still has 4 more days of Flagyl? Not sure if they can do an in-house test for Coccidia (some kind of fecal smear?)...........can they usually test stool for this in-house?
Would it be best to wait 4 more days until Flagyl is done and then test for Coccidia and treat if needed?
Also, I'm reading a lot of conflicting info online. Some things I've read state that Flagyl will help deal with BOTH Giardia and Coccidia............but others indicate that Flagyl is only for Giardia and you'd use Albon for Coccidia. I'm thinking that my Vet figures the Flagyl will work for BOTH otherwise I'm not sure why she just decided to treat for possible Giardia (without testing to confirm) and not Coccidia?
She's very bright and alert and playful as all get out.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited:
