feeding a kitten EVERY 15 minutes?? Is this okay?

little red

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
42
Purraise
10
I took one of my kittens to the vet today & he dewormed him with strongid & sent me home with some clavamox to give him 2x a day. He also said to give him 15 ccs of gatorade every 15 minutes. I've been doing that for the last few hours & now he's got the squirts. Is this normal with what I'm having to do or should I spread out the fluids? He's really dehydrated which is why he told me to do the 15 minute thing. But he didn't tell me how long I needed to do that--all day or a few hours, etc & i forgot to ask.

Thanks guys!
 

catsallaround

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
3,104
Purraise
66
Never heard to give a cat gatorade.  The clavamox could be causing the squirts. Why does the kitten need Clavamox?  
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

little red

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
42
Purraise
10
the clavamox is for a bad case of upper. he told me to use gatorade because he said it replenishes better than pedialyte but i've always used pedialyte in the past--the unflavored kind. you think i should get pedialyte instead? and think i need to go longer in between the fluids or stick with every 15? if 15 how long do i need to do this for? the rest of the day? a couple of days? he said to do this until it builds him up to eat by himself because he said i don't need to force feed him anything. he's still pretty weak though
 

catsallaround

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
3,104
Purraise
66
I have always used Pedialyte too.  I hate to say go against his advice but I would be tempted to do that and also consider getting some A/D science Diet wet food for very temporary time being. Since you have others there and it will most likely run its course it could come in handy.  I have had great luck with Royal Canin Baby Cat wet,  Petsmart has it among others. 

I would do it often as you can overnight or leave a small bowl down and change it often and call in AM to see where to go from there if still weak.  Sub Q fluids may be better option if it is in budget.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

little red

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
42
Purraise
10
 
I have always used Pedialyte too.  I hate to say go against his advice but I would be tempted to do that and also consider getting some A/D science Diet wet food for very temporary time being. Since you have others there and it will most likely run its course it could come in handy.  I have had great luck with Royal Canin Baby Cat wet,  Petsmart has it among others. 

I would do it often as you can overnight or leave a small bowl down and change it often and call in AM to see where to go from there if still weak.  Sub Q fluids may be better option if it is in budget.
I found the pedialyte & have given him 2 rounds of it--3 ccs each. He is perkier. He's standing up in the crate we've had him in all day & he's whining. I let him out & put him in the area of the house we have sectioned off with his siblings & he actually trotted & was very alert. I opened up 2 cans of food & put them on plates for all of them & he got real excited and kept putting his head down at the food but he always walked away. He went over to the water bowl but walked away from it too. I don't know why he's not attempting to eat since he kept putting his head down at the food. I hated to but I put him back in the crate to continue the pedialyte until he eats on his own. I think I'll go about every 15-30 minutes because that kind of spread seems to be working for him. Is there anything I can try to get him to eat since he obviously seems interested?
 

sunset97

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Jun 22, 2014
Messages
34
Purraise
2
If he has a bad URI he probably can't smell and cats need to smell their food to eat it.  Can you put a  tiny bit on your finger and put it into his mouth?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

little red

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
42
Purraise
10
I've tried that before & all he did was jerk his head away & then spit the food back out but I'll try again. What about getting some gerber chicken baby food? would the stronger smell of that be a little more enticing? also, and this is a little off subject, but how do you wean kittens off of can & onto dry? Including Ryker (this kitten), we've got 9 other kittens that we've rescued--all under 4 months & the youngest 2 are a little over 2 months. We weaned the youngest 2 off of the bottle onto wet food. The older kittens went crazy so I gave them a little bit each time I fed the young ones. Now they're hooked on it & will barely touch the dry. Our can food expenses have doubled & we can't afford that. We care for 70 cats on a daily basis & even though we know wet food is better we just can't afford it for all the mouths we have. How can we get the kittens off of wet & onto dry--especially the 2 young ones because they have rejected dry from the start even when we had it mixed in a little with the wet. Thanks guys!
 

catsallaround

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
3,104
Purraise
66
Right now focus on them eating the wet as if one is sick chances are the others either had it or will get it.  If your willing to do Subq tell them as with so many around you more then likely will need to do it.

I have never had issue of cats not eating dry.  Not much help there.  I have a few who would rather starve then eat wet though!  Could be the peices are to big so would soak small amounts to use then and there and then add less and less water.  Larger amounts will spoil.  Keep in mind a lot of foods have dye in them and last thing a sick cat would need to deal with is transitioning to a dry with dye.

With so many I would look into buyingh your own dewormer as it is usually overpriced at vet unless they are selling it at cost.  For the time being look into Friskies coupons and price matching to get some canned for when you truly need it. 
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

little red

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
42
Purraise
10
 
Right now focus on them eating the wet as if one is sick chances are the others either had it or will get it.  If your willing to do Subq tell them as with so many around you more then likely will need to do it.

I have never had issue of cats not eating dry.  Not much help there.  I have a few who would rather starve then eat wet though!  Could be the peices are to big so would soak small amounts to use then and there and then add less and less water.  Larger amounts will spoil.  Keep in mind a lot of foods have dye in them and last thing a sick cat would need to deal with is transitioning to a dry with dye.

With so many I would look into buyingh your own dewormer as it is usually overpriced at vet unless they are selling it at cost.  For the time being look into Friskies coupons and price matching to get some canned for when you truly need it. 
What kind of dewormer would work best in bulk that would treat tapeworms? This is the main problem we have around flea season. I'll do some looking into coupons & price matching and see what deals I can score
 

stephenq

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jun 19, 2003
Messages
5,672
Purraise
944
Location
East Coast, USA
I would call your vet and discuss how long to give the fluids for.  You can also test him for dehydration, here is a video that shows you how.

 

catsallaround

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
Messages
3,104
Purraise
66
Strongid does NOTHING for tapes you know that? 

I get tape tabs from online out of country-not the tradewinds one.  Are you using flea meds for all these cats-without flea meds treating for tapes is not going to do much except get rid of them for a very short time and would be a waste of money IMO.  Strongid for the new ones/maintaining the ones you have for round you can easily do at home minus an exam fee.
 
Top