Kitten is really sick, help!

I have a sick kitten on my hands would like advice. We got her on the 19th from a "breeder" at 8 weeks old. Shes has good poops up until Christmas day. She had such watery poops it was just leak out her bum as she was wondering around. It firmed up a bit the next day then went back to watery. Then she stopped eating. We took her to the vet tonight. He gave her Sub Q fluid (never said there was a charge) as she was dehydrated and hypoglycemic and the fluids leaked right back out from under the skin. He decided to treat for coccidia/giardia and gave us the medications and tried to charge for Sub Q for $30. We requested he not charge for that because it leaked back out so she technically didnt get any fluids. So we walked out paying $93 and dont know for sure whats causing this. Anyone have any ideas?

We have resorted to force feeding watered down canned with a syringe. 20 minutes later she poops it all out undigested. Not sure what to do about this or what it could be?

Was the vet you took her to an emergency vet?  If so I would take her to your regular vet.  Emergency vets are good at what they do but for diagnostics I think a regular vet is better.  Parasites don't usually cause anorexia but anything is possible and they are the most common cause of diarrhea in a kitten.  Has she begun her vaccinations and is she also vomiting?  

First off I would isolate her from your other kitties so they don't all catch the parasites.  Make sure you clean everywhere she has gone with a good disinfectant.  I would give her her own litter box in a room separate from your other kitties.   To keep her hydrated syringe feed her water and/or pedialyte.  It is going to take some time for the medicine to work, so keep syringe feeding her every few hours or so to keep nutrients in her.  At first it will pass right through until her system gets settled. 

Giardia can be Zoonotic, so make sure to wash your hands after handling her and her litter boxes etc.

This document has a lot of good information on treating giardia and cleaning your house of it: robinsonvet.com/documents/Giardia.pdf‎

When Cprcheetah said that Giardia can be zoonotic, that means humans can catch it if they ingest the parasite (usually hand to mouth).

It sounds like your kitten is extremely ill and may need hospitalization, if not advanced care at home.  I don't want to scare you, but in severe cases kittens can die from intestinal parasites, I've seen this happen in shelters.  If it goes too far there is organ failure (intestinal).  Your kitten needs serious help.  I don't want to sound melodramatic but if the kitten immediately passes undigested stool after feeding I would consider this an emergency, and drive straight to my vet.

I hope the best for your little one!

Stephen

I also don't think this sounds like run of the mill parasites.  That's why I asked if you took him to an emergency vet.  I don't want to put emergency vets down they are good at what they do and I have taken a kitty to one twice.  I just don't believe diagnostics is their strong suit, just as an emergency room for adults isn't the best place for diagnostics.  Usually diarrhea is the only symptom and it's usually watery or cow pie type diarrhea.

Poops out undigested food ?? This sounds like pancreatitis to me. My dog had it last year and this is exactly what he did. I would get your vet to test for this ASAP

We took her to our regular vet who prescribed Sulfa for coccidia and Flagyl for giardia since we couldnt get a stool sample before we left. She was vaccinated on the 19th. Today shes eating a bit. I went out and got pedialyte. Shes still really dehydrated when I pinch the scruff of the neck the skin doesnt go back down

You may also want to offer her chicken baby food with just the meat and broth ingredients. It's liquidy and cats usually like it. It can really help with the bitterness of the flagyl.

Add the pedialyte to her food in addition to any supplemental syringe feeding you're giving her.  This will help her.  Is she congested or does she have any diarrhea?

Campylobacter is a nasty contagious bacterial infection that causes terrible diarrhea. I fostered a kitten from the SPCA years back, was working there at the time as well. They tried every dewormer they had, nothing worked. She was going to be euthanized, was losing weight, was skin and bone and was deemed unadoptable. Cow patty diarrhea.

I had a blood panel done before I took her home. Came back not too bad and the pathologist noted "Primary G.I. Check fecal culture". Culture her stool we did and it came up positive for campylobacter. Treatment was 2 types of antibiotics - she was fine in just over a week.

She was a surrendered kitten, gorgeous little himmie.. and it was her 3rd 'owner' in a month that brought her in. Originally acquired from a pet store chain here in BC. She was scanned for a microchip, was chipped but not registered and was from the US was all that we could find out. Probably a kitten mill.

Had her for 15 years. She was a wonderful cat.

I do hope you can find out soon what is going on with your little one. Dehydration is a real concern. If you get enough of a stool sample - consider a fecal culture (culture & sensitivity) besides the parasite tests as well. Keep in mind it takes about 3 days to see what it will come back as and what medications  can be used if it's positive.

As you've already found, diarrhea can dehydrate a kitten pretty quick. Due to a kitten's small size it's easy for diarrhea to become life threatening. Keep up with the Pedialyte and monitor her closely. We had kittens with diarrhea once and were told to consider overnight hospitalization. Since they were strays we hardly knew and we couldn't afford overnight bills for 2 kittens, we woke up every couple of hours and administered Pedialyte.

You need to take her back to the vet asap! This sounds very serious and to be honest I would not be surprised if this kitten doesn't pull through. She needs to be hospitalized. She needs calories and fluids. If her skin doesn't go down at all when you pinch it she is severely dehydrated and needs IV fluids now. If Sub-Q didn't work at the vet and she's this sick IV fluids is in order. If there is an emergency vet around I would go there.

If you can't get her the vet care she needs the best you can do is to keep giving her food and water all the time - like feed her every 15 minutes. Put the food in her mouth or syringe feed her little by little. See if your vet will sell you a bag of fluids so you can give her small amounts of sub-q fluids at home. It's pretty easy to do. If you give small amounts it may be easier for her body to absorb it.

Keep checking her gums. They should be pink. If they are pale it's an emergency.

You can use Imodium in kittens. It may help short term. It's 0.1mg per pound. It's worth a shot. Imodium is okay to take with antibiotics.

Good luck. I hope your kitten pulls through. I've had very sick kittens who have been very sick for a few days but pulled through.

We went out for a bit and left some canned out she ate it all. A good fork full on her own. She also ate a bit of kibble. If I do over night there is no one at my vet to feed and do sub q over night they all go home. I will bring her in for a recheck thursday if shes not better but tonight she seems perkier. Shes not as dehydrated either