Runt of the litter with liver shunts

Hello all,

I recently adopted 2 siamese DSH kittens of the same litter, one (named Minko) about 1.5x the size of the other. The smaller one, Guava, is a very peculiar case. She has female reproductive organs, yet from the outside appears to be a boy. Guava was diagnosed with liver shunts: she had discharge from eyes, nose, dilated pupils, "wobbly cat" syndrome, quickened breathing and general lack of energy. I took her into emergency care yesterday and they were certain she was going to pass away, however they put her on a low protein/kidney diet and gave her antibiotics and lactulose to allow stools to pass easy and prevent bodily absorption of ammonia. She came back in much better shape than when we adopted her (a week ago) and has finally been eating and playing. In a 9 days, she will be heading to UC Davis for surgery because I can't let a 2 month old kitten be euthanized in good conscience 

Here's what's making me nervous. She was rough-housing with her brother for about 45 minutes straight and finally tired herself out. I understand cats, just like any other animal, can become winded from excercise, however, she's been breathing semi-hard for the past 15 or so minutes. Should I be worried? I've been considering the possibility that she's horribly out of shape because according to the adoption center, she was never very playful or active (most likely due to her conditon).

I suggest contacting the emergency clinic that treated her and ask their opinion.

CatPack said:

I suggest contacting the emergency clinic that treated her and ask their opinion.

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I would if I considered them a good clinic, but they really seemed keen on putting my kitten down for the first few hours of my visit because they seemed to care more about their free time during the night shift than anything. 

Than, perhaps contact the vet clinic you plan to use regularly for them, or the vet that they were seen at prior to adoption?

Well, I've been on hold long enough to take a short video of Guava's breathing, upload it to youtube, and then post it here. Any feedback is appreciated about her condition right now. 

She needs to be under the care of a specialist until her trip to UC Davis. Unless you are near to UC Davis and one of their veterinarians will be treating her before and after surgery.

How was the shunt diagnosed? Was there just one or multiple? What kind of testing has been done on her so far? How did they diagnose the female organs in the kitten?

It is hard to say from a video on line how a kitten is breathing. As sick as this kitten is I find it hard to believe she would have the energy to play at all. She probably needs to go back to the vet and get on some O2 for support. Really I am surprised she is doing as well as she is. There just is no way anyone can tell you online if she is okay or not. It is was my kitten I would get her back to the vet for some O2 and hope it didn't stress her out to much. I would also get her under the immediate care of a board certified veterinary internal medicine specialist.

Hi Quiet, thanks for all the advice. They did some blood tests, took a couple of xrays, and did an ultrasound to diagnose the shunt. The xray was totally unnecessary but that was before they concluded the diagnosis and believed she could have had pneumonia.

She had high ammonia levels in her blood, and they used therapy for shunts to relieve her which worked out.

As for diagnosing her as a female, they did it when they were spaying her. I know when kittens are young it's hard to tell what are testes and what are ovaries, but the adoption center's vets were adamant on the notion she has ovaries.

I called the emergency center we took her to and they said they have no clue because the original nurse and doctor weren't there. I waited Guava out until she fell asleep, stayed up for another 30 minutes, and her breathing returned to normal. I woke up this morning to her and her brother playing again and I stopped them for a second to check her breathing which was quicker again, but not labored. After about ten minutes after playing her breathing normalized again. I feel like she was just worn out last night, but I'm going to have my girlfriend closely monitor her while I'm at work.

Please forgive any typos, I'm currently posting from mobile.

Did they think Guava had undescended testicles?

I'm not sure what their final verdict was there. I surely wouldn't mind at all if Guava turned out to be a hermaphrodite or pseudohermaphrodite, but I'll give the vet that spayed her a call later today.

freshguavas said:

 
I would if I considered them a good clinic, but they really seemed keen on putting my kitten down for the first few hours of my visit because they seemed to care more about their free time during the night shift than anything. 

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You definitely are right on with regard to your assessment of UC Davis, except that they are as terrible during the day.  If not worse. They did the same thing to my older cat and they even managed to OVERDOSE HIM with 4 times the prescribed dose. They misdiagnosed him and gave a 6 lb cat the dose for a full grown up... MAN!

HE DIED.

Spread the word it is a DANGEROUS PLACE : DO NOT go to UC Davis unless you really are ready to lose your pet to malpractice ( Want cases? I can give you names, please get in touch with me I have all that in writing) They put themselves out there as the best  school in the world but this is totally wrong, and these ratings are based on the research they are conducting, NOT on the quality of care they provide to pets.  As a matter of fact their standard of care is way below the board requirements.

Just so we are all aware of the law and of what is going on there:

-UC Davis is NOT required to have an board certified vet look at you pet ( unlike any other vet in California! And yes I do have that in writing).

-UC Davis is NOT under the supervision of the California vet board ( unlike any other vet in CA), YES THEY ARE NOT ( I do have that in writing)

-UC Davis is NOT under the supervision of the DCA. YES THEY ARE NOT ( I have all that in writing)

-The office of the governor does not do one thing about it ( I have that in writing)

-The representatives do not do anything about it ( I have that in writing)

-The dean and the Chancellor do not do anything no matter what they can possibly do to your pet. Even if they kill him/her ( I have that in writing)

-UC Davis makes pet guardians give up their constitutional rights by signing a clause ( hidden in their estimates) saying  "It is understood that any dispute as to non-payment, negligence, and/or veterinary malpractice, that is as to whether any medical service rendered were unnecessary or unauthorized or were improperly, negligently or incompetently rendered, will be determined by submission to arbitration as provided by California law and not by a lawsuit or resort to court process...... Both parties are giving up their constitutional right to have any such dispute decided in a court of law before a jury, and instead are accepting the use of arbitration"

- Courts in Yolo very much support UC Davis and apply the law that says that a pet is an object so that damages are limited to.... The merchant value of your pet. So if you love your cat to death and he is a stray, and they bleed him to death because they are incompetent, you can be depressed for 10 years if you want, you will get... 20 $!

Most of the time UC davis receptionists and interns push this document in front of you and ask you to sign it (without telling you what you are currently doing) when you are totally stressed out because you drove your pet there in the middle of the night or he/she has a deadly disease and he is on the brink of dying. Most people sign without really reading and.... Your pet is in trouble because you just gave them the right to botch his care in the worst possible way, without the risk of being held accountable.  Also CONTRARILY TO WHAT THE INTERNS WILL TELL YOU, by signing this document, you give UC Davis authorization to spend the whole high end of the estimate and to go further if it suits them or if they need more money. ( UC Davis also fabricates estimates where when you add all items, you get to a total that is 800-900 $ less that the "total" they have found...Have that in writing too.