Pot Bellied kitten

Hello, my name is Britta and I am a new member seeking answers..

About 1-2 months ago, my fiancée and I adopted a kitten from the humane society and named her Inky.. she was very loving, cuddly, always playing/eating/sleeping repeat. Inky was always sneezing and eventually started having some discharge from the eyes. I did a lot of searching online and concluded that as long as she was eating, she would get better. About 14 days later (the average length of a kitty cold) she was better! She started playing again.. within a week something changed. She started sleeping a lot more, playing a lot less, and eventually quit eating.. that is when the pot belly really began to appear.. we took her to the vet. They told us Inky was extremely thin for her age, which made no sense because she use to eat so much, they also detected parasites in her stool and gave us antibiotics for Giardia and Trichinosis.. they told us she should be feeling better within 48 hours. It's been nine days and her stomach has gotten even bigger.. She's having a hard time walking and is ALWAYS sleeping.. I can get her to eat soft foods and she really likes chicken breast... I recently came across a post about FIP... I am starting to worry this is the case I know there is no test to prove she has FIP and no cure... now what do I do? how can I make her more comfortable? She is always purring and kneading the blankets... that's what gives me hope.

Thanks

-Britta

here are some photos of Inky before




she loved cuddling...

here is Inky now - very swollen and sickly :'(

Hi Britta, welcome to TCS! 

I don't have any insight to offer you, but I did want to welcome you and send you my well wishes for Inky.

Did they deworm her or just give you meds for the parasites?  Worms are pretty common in kittens and one of the signs is a pot belly.  FIP can unfortunately also cause a pot belly.  I would tell you to have them do an abdomen tap for fluid but they can get fluid in their abdomen with parasites too.  If she hasn't been dewormed I would call your vet and ask for a dewormer for worms (roundworms, hookworms, whipworms).

Inky does not look well to me and there could be a number of causes for that. To find out what it is and have any chance of helping her she needs to see a vet asap. It's possible that she could have FIP but there are other things that can cause the stomach to swell up and some are quite treatable. Severe infestations of parasites can cause a swollen belly. Heart disease can cause that too and that's often treatable with medication. As thin as she is and as big as her belly is I don't think she will do well without prompt treatment. I would highly recommend that you ask your vet for an x-ray to see what's in her belly. If it's water it can be drained and the water tested. If it turns out that she is seriously ill there are things you can do to get her more comfortable. At this point I don't think she's comfortable. Sometimes a build-up of water in the stomach can be relieved with a medication called Lasix which is only $4 for a 30 day supply at Walmart.

If it's available where you are and if you can afford it I would highly recommend that you see a cat specialist. Regular vets can be quite clueless when it comes to cats and are better with dogs. Since she's fairly newly adopted I would also reach out to the humane society where you got her from to see if they can be of any help.

I really hope Inky will get better soon. Make sure to spoil her plenty.

I agree about the vet, the sooner the better.

Poor Inky and you. I'm so sorry that you are going through this. A vet visit is really what's needed to help your little one. Did the vet to blood tests, too? That could go a long way to diagnosing her problem. It won't determine FIP, but let's hope that Inky's problem is something else. Please keep us posted on how she's doing and when you're able to get her back to the vet. Best wishes. 

Just wondering how you and Inky were doing @brittabear  ?

Thank you everyone who wrote. To answer your questions Inky was dewormed the along with the bacterial medicines.. Unfortunately the medicines did not change her tummy and the fatigue got even worse.. Inky could only take steps before having to lay back down. The day after I posted this we took her to the vet again and she told us Inky could have FIP or liver problems from birth where a valve didn't seal all the way. They needed to run a lot more tests for answers and the vet worried she wouldn't be strong enough to undergo surgery if it was the liver issue. Also, I am a nursing student and could not afford to keep paying for unanswered problems no matter how badly I wanted to.. After tons of tears my fiancé and I decided to send our Inkybear to kitty heaven where she would no longer be suffering.. The vet hugged me and told me I was doing the best thing for Inky, this helped a lot . It makes me tear up just writing this, I miss her tons but I know I gave her the best life I could while she was mine. My only regret is making her suffer threw all that medicine for no reason.. She truly hated it. I would always spoil her with tuna afterwards. Here is her last photo. Rest In Paradise Inkster :-*

brittabear, I am sorry for your loss :-(

I am so very sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry for your loss  You gave her a glorious amount of love and did the best that you could for her. It's so hard to let go and most often doing so is the ultimate declaration of love. RIP Inky  

I'm sorry you lost Inky. At least you did what you could for her.
This thread will now be closed.