Pls help!!!

We adopted a kitten about a month ago.  He is about 15 weeks now.  Since we brought him home he had issues...had diarrhea...Flagyl didn't work, but albon seemed to do the trick. vet suspected coccidia.  he finally had firm stool but developed watery eye and was sneezing.  vet prescribed zithromax (antibiotic) and terramycin (eye ointment) and suggested lysine paste for cats.  diarrehea came back.  vet suspected the meds might be causing it, so we stopped lysine and continued with others.  eye and sneezing went away but diarrhea continued.  vet prescribed Marquis thinking coccidia was still an issue.  he got FVRCP and Leukemia shots as well, to which he didn't reach well.  few days later i  found a long thick red string in his stool that he must've swallowed.  next day his diarrhea was worse then ever.  went every 20 mins.  vet suggested to try Sucralfate to coat his stomach and broad spectrum dewormer just in case that's what's causing diarrhea.  finally diarrhea is gone. but his eye got swollen and sneezing returned!  again eye ointment and trying lysine in pure powder form 2x a day 250 mg.  eye seems better, today is the last day of ointment, but he still squints more than the other, and sneezing is almost gone.  but here is what i'm really worried about--since we got him he seemed to be extremely hungry ALL the time.  like every 2-3hrs like a baby.  feeding him fancy feast kitten wet food.  also always leave out purina dry food.  this is the same food he had at the rescue and i've been too scared to change it until he is normalized.  he has been less hungry every day for the past 3 days.  today hasn't eaten since 7am (been 7.5hrs).  he is acting normal otherwise.  peed and pooped in the morning, played a bit, sleeping a lot (i guess like a kitten should..)  woke him up and gave him food to sniff, but no interest.  what's going on???  i don't think that him being that hungry was normal.  vet said he should only eat 2-3x a day.  did meds do the trick and now he doesn't need so much food?  i'm so worried!  i have not been able to enjoy this kitty and relax since i got him!  i know i rambled A LOT but i need help!!! PLEASE!!!

l have no input into the medical stuff except   that he's on the mend. But whenever l have kittens l feed them 4 or 5 times a day since they need to eat so much to grow. Around 6 months l taper them down to 3 meals if they can eat a fair amount at one sitting (most people feed their adults 3 times a day, it's much healthier for them). Mine now only get 2 meals a day, but will go back to the dish steadily for about an hour with each meal.

As a side note: are you sure it was string and not a worm? Kittens can need to be wormed 2 or 3 times to get rid of them. Having worms will make them hungrier.

Thank you for your reply!  Yes, 100% sure it was a string.  dug it out (gross i know) and it looked exactly like the string he played with, which was very long.  compared it to the leftovers and saw the end chewed up.  so sounds like there is something wrong that he is not eating today now for 8hrs.  ugh.. what's wrong with him???

There may be more in there causing a blockage if he's not eating at all. And the Fancy Feast kitten canned food is a great choice, much better than dry.

Poor guy seems to be having a rough time. lf he doesn't eat soon you'll have to syringe feed him tiny amounts in to the side of his mouth until you can get him back to a vet.

Another side note: l'm not sure why a vet would choose to vaccinate a clearly unwell kitten. Do you have a different vet nearby who can give a second opinion on what's ailing the kitty?

on a side note...I'm gonna stop checking in here every day because while this site helped me immensely I think it was the push I needed to get over my cats death (basically of old age).

but I want to help others with my experience----when she was very young she ate icicles off the x-mas tree...no xrays were ever taken cuz I did what the vet said and got them out "naturally"(with a little help on my end), but there is a chance stuff got twisted on the way out, or maybe part of it is still in there? If you can afford it I would have the vet check him for this possibility.

it's been 2 weeks since the string came out, and i've been extremely careful about not having anything dangerous around that he can swallow.  he ate well and been pooping normally for about a week now.  just not as crazy about eating for the past 3 days.  still ate well the last 2 days.  today seems off.  ate at 7am, and i just woke him up and put him in front of his food.  he ate a bit and then walked away.  could lysine be causing this?  the only thing that has changed in 3 days...

There is a possibility that it could. lt makes one of my three sick to the point of not eating. The other two aren't affected by it at all. l had to syringe feed the one cat all 3 times l gave them it, then gave up with it (the l-Lysene). He was only off his food for a day all 3 times, so if your kitty is still off tomorrow l'd suspect something other than the lysene.

haven't given him lysine today.  will hold off and see how he is tomorrow.  i guess if he is back to normal, lysine is the issue.

when I first got Sammi I had to put him on KMR (kitten milk replacement)  His mother had been fed twinkies for cat food as the owners would not buy cat food.  He was undernourished and his stomach would not take even the gentle kitten foods.  The next step was a product called Babycat from Royal Canin cat food.  That was the first 4 months and then he went to the Royal Canin Kitten instinctive food and dry food (Royal Canin too) made for kittens.  He still has digestive issues sometimes but the food even though it was a bit on the expensive side gave me a healthy and well proportioned adult cat.  He is not overweight and he is muscular and strong.  He gets kudos from the vet every time I take him in.  

Mickey on the other hand was a year old when I got him and he has been feral for a lot of that time.  We are starting him on Whole Paws dry food and in the three weeks I have had him and he has had health issues, parasites (diarrhea) and respiratory infection (sneezing and the same issues you describe with your cat) he is just now starting to get to looking like he feels better and not having so many problems.  He was on worming treatments for non traditional (spread by fleas) tapeworms and hookworms and the vet told me that they seldom show up in a fecal test until they are pretty advanced.  He also got Amoxicillin for a week for the respiratory problems and still has a day to go.  He is just now getting to maybe one sneeze a day and not that much watering of the eyes.

I hope that this helps a bit.  It is hard when one does not physically see the cat involved all one can do is tell their own experience if it sounds similar.  I hope that your little one gets relief and gets well soon.

How long ago was he dewormed?  If he had worms that could have caused the increased appetite he had as they take the nutrients away from the cat.  Lysine generally doesn't cause diarrhea but it can.  Is he congested in his nose?  If they can't smell very good they don't eat very good.  I am dealing with a chronic upper respiratory in my own kitty. He is on lysine and we are going to add the Lactoferrin to his regimen this week.  He just had to have a sedation with a nasal flush (he had so much it took 2 liters of saline to get it all out). 

finished dewormer meds this past tuesday.  so it's been 5 days since the last dose.  i was wondering if this could be the cause for the decrease in his appetite or if it is due to lysine???

not sure how badly he is congested.  no boogers or discharge in his nose, but he has been wheezing on and off when sleeping during the past few days.  had to bring him to his plate to eat twice today.  he ate a bit but doesn't seem to have his huge appetite.  he also only peed 2x so far today--this morning at 7am and just now at almost 6pm after i put him in the litter box.  pooped just 2 drops...i guess he didn't eat much to poop more since this morning. he has played a bit today and sleeps a lot, but he has days when he mostly sleeps...  not sure if this is unusual for a 4mo kitty?  

i've had a cat for 18yrs who had to be put down a few yrs ago, so it's been a long time since i've had a kitten.  got this little guy because my daughter has been begging for it.  i just want him to be healthy!  we're already in love with him

WOW I never heard of them doing a nasal flush...I am thinking that may be what Mickey needs as he snores really loud when he tries to sleep and he is still taking the antibiotic.  He is not a good patient so I hope not as he will shred the tech and the vet.

Shoshanna said:

 
WOW I never heard of them doing a nasal flush...I am thinking that may be what Mickey needs as he snores really loud when he tries to sleep and he is still taking the antibiotic.  He is not a good patient so I hope not as he will shred the tech and the vet.

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We hadn't heard of it either, but Munchie had a cardiac ultrasound this week and the specialist who did it recommended the nasal flush, I can't believe how much snot we got out of him.  We also are going to start him on zithromycin for 5 days then every 3 days for 2-3 months.  He is already on lysine and we are adding lactoferrin to the mix as well as it's supposed to help.