So, the beginning of this years kitten season, a few of you here might remember me pulling about 50 total kittens from the local humane society who were on their way to the shelter to be euthanized.
Many were newborns, bottle babies.
One litter was 2 males, 1 female, approx 5 days old, took them to one of my fosters who bottle feed.
At 2 weeks old, they started with the diarrhea, and were fading fast.
Lost one male right away, the other 2 thrived and had more of a will to make it once support was started.
Anyway, the female went on to become a big girl, healthy and fine. (she has since been adopted)
But the boy, seemed to be doing well but was teeny tiny, in fact when he came back to me at 8 weeks, he weighed a whopping 4 ounces, but what a tough guy!
He had had albon and ponazuril prior with no signs of improving. So when he came back to me I took him to another vet, had a fecal done and he had coccidia.
This is what he looked like when he came to me.
This pic doesn't really show much but in person you could see how underdeveloped he really was, how big his eyes were for his little face and body...
This poor boy had a red and protruding rectum as well. The poop was just liquid.
I was advised to put him on albon again, I think I may have treated him with albon for maybe 4 days however he was so nutrient deficient and all, it seemed critical to get some faster more serious help.
So I put him on ponazuril.
After day 1 he showed amazing progress, for the first few days I know I overdosed him with more than the normal dosage, probably like 1 1/2 times the dose, he needed help now.
Excellent results, his poop was the norm after about 10 days, his poor butt was healing and looking more normal.
So I took him off of it, he did great for about a week. Then it started back.
I put him back on it, another 5 days, back to normal and noticed he was finally growing! Okay cool.
Then it was coming back, wth I thought.
Had his poop rechecked, he showed no more coccidia, in fact it was perfectly normal. Good 'ol ponazuril, love the stuff!
We (the vet and I) decided to give him some time to adjust, get his poor little system settled down. He got an anti-inflammatory shot too.
He seemed to settle down, his poop turned normal for the most part, occasionally out of nowhere he had diarrhea but it was gone after just one time basically.
He grew bigger, a fighter for sure, he never was still, what a character! I did notice though that he pooped alot more often, sometimes just a tiny bit, and he acted like he had cramps right before, at times he made a little cry too. I thought his colon and intestines would take time to recouperate for sure.
After 6 weeks here he went to another foster home.
She has had problems from day 1. He poops often, same as here, and his diarrhea is more considered loose.
I had her take him back to the vet used in her area, had yet another fecal done and it's all clear.
Now he is coming back to me since she can't deal with finding little poops everywhere. She said he is still making the cramping motion and always trying to poop. Often does, alot of small amounts.
BTW I named him Buster
Little tough guy!
I am discouraged about this, I hate that he is coming back here because he will be caged. His kittenhood is going to be spent caged...ugh.
I've been reading about colitis. This is my guess, or feeling I should say.
Some sites say to be diagnosed for colitis they need many, many tests, some very expensive, too expensive for a non profit rescue...
We never deny any cat or kitten medical attention, and have spent what I call a small fortune to help a cat.
We are just not in a position to be having blood panels, repeatedly, biopsies, x rays, ultrasounds, or a scope camera thing (ugh I can't think of the term!)
It could easily rack up $1,000+ fast.
So, if anyone has dealt with colitis from parasites and can help with some advice that would be great.
It sounds like he should be put on a liquid diet for 24 hours then a high fiber, low fat diet with a decent amt of protein.
Many were newborns, bottle babies.
One litter was 2 males, 1 female, approx 5 days old, took them to one of my fosters who bottle feed.
At 2 weeks old, they started with the diarrhea, and were fading fast.
Lost one male right away, the other 2 thrived and had more of a will to make it once support was started.
Anyway, the female went on to become a big girl, healthy and fine. (she has since been adopted)
But the boy, seemed to be doing well but was teeny tiny, in fact when he came back to me at 8 weeks, he weighed a whopping 4 ounces, but what a tough guy!
He had had albon and ponazuril prior with no signs of improving. So when he came back to me I took him to another vet, had a fecal done and he had coccidia.
This is what he looked like when he came to me.
This pic doesn't really show much but in person you could see how underdeveloped he really was, how big his eyes were for his little face and body...
This poor boy had a red and protruding rectum as well. The poop was just liquid.
I was advised to put him on albon again, I think I may have treated him with albon for maybe 4 days however he was so nutrient deficient and all, it seemed critical to get some faster more serious help.
So I put him on ponazuril.
After day 1 he showed amazing progress, for the first few days I know I overdosed him with more than the normal dosage, probably like 1 1/2 times the dose, he needed help now.
Excellent results, his poop was the norm after about 10 days, his poor butt was healing and looking more normal.
So I took him off of it, he did great for about a week. Then it started back.
I put him back on it, another 5 days, back to normal and noticed he was finally growing! Okay cool.
Then it was coming back, wth I thought.
Had his poop rechecked, he showed no more coccidia, in fact it was perfectly normal. Good 'ol ponazuril, love the stuff!
We (the vet and I) decided to give him some time to adjust, get his poor little system settled down. He got an anti-inflammatory shot too.
He seemed to settle down, his poop turned normal for the most part, occasionally out of nowhere he had diarrhea but it was gone after just one time basically.
He grew bigger, a fighter for sure, he never was still, what a character! I did notice though that he pooped alot more often, sometimes just a tiny bit, and he acted like he had cramps right before, at times he made a little cry too. I thought his colon and intestines would take time to recouperate for sure.
After 6 weeks here he went to another foster home.
She has had problems from day 1. He poops often, same as here, and his diarrhea is more considered loose.
I had her take him back to the vet used in her area, had yet another fecal done and it's all clear.
Now he is coming back to me since she can't deal with finding little poops everywhere. She said he is still making the cramping motion and always trying to poop. Often does, alot of small amounts.
BTW I named him Buster
Little tough guy!I am discouraged about this, I hate that he is coming back here because he will be caged. His kittenhood is going to be spent caged...ugh.
I've been reading about colitis. This is my guess, or feeling I should say.
Some sites say to be diagnosed for colitis they need many, many tests, some very expensive, too expensive for a non profit rescue...
We never deny any cat or kitten medical attention, and have spent what I call a small fortune to help a cat.
We are just not in a position to be having blood panels, repeatedly, biopsies, x rays, ultrasounds, or a scope camera thing (ugh I can't think of the term!)
It could easily rack up $1,000+ fast.
So, if anyone has dealt with colitis from parasites and can help with some advice that would be great.
It sounds like he should be put on a liquid diet for 24 hours then a high fiber, low fat diet with a decent amt of protein.
