Two sick kitties! Don't know what to do!

I have a four-cat household. Fifty percent of my cats are sick! Can you help?
I'm giving all the details I can think of in case it helps you experts weigh in.
My seven year old girl Inga and my 11 yo girl target are both sick. neither kitty is eating and I don't think they are drinking water, either. Target seemed to get ill thursday morning, and Inga followed suit later in the day. Both cats are listless. Both have been to the vet, where they got IV fluids and antinausea meds. Vet also prescribed the appetite stimulant, which I gave about two hours ago. Target seems a bit better, tho still not eating. It's Inga's behavior that has me stumped: she isn't vomiting per se, but she is doing this thing where she sort of shrugs,***** her head to the side, wretches, and gags out a little dime sized spot of clear saliva. Has anyone ever seen this? Yesterday it was several times an hour and today it is less frequent. Yesterday when she did try eating she would take a bit of food, start to chew it, then do what I described, spitting it out. Target doesn't do that but she does try to bury her food bowl.
The vet did a sedated mouth exam to make sure Inga didn't have a foreign object or angry tooth. She also got an X-ray of her gi tract and it was clear. For target, she did a complete blood work up and said she was very healthy. Palpating their abdomens, the vet said they felt nice and soft. She did comment that inga's x ray showed a lot of gas.
I am really worried and hopeful you guys can help me understand what's going on with my babies!
Here are the variables. All cats are indoor only. The 14 yo male cat is perfectly fine. The fourth cat is our new kitten. He came home two weeks ago. For the first week he was in his own room. Last Friday he came into the general population. There was some stress and hissing from target but it lessened every day. Inga seemed cautiously curious and never distressed. Early this week things seemed to be peaceful and everyone was healthy and happy seeming. The two girls also had soft stools and now they are straining to produce bowel movements at all. I feed the kitten separately still but they share litter boxes. The kitten came from a shelter where he was tested for FIV and FELV and was negative. He has had two courses of Frvcp vaccine and his rabies. He had ringworm in the shelter but tested negative begore adoption. He had one or two soft stools after coming home but is otherwise very healthy. Neither girl currently has a fever. My resident cats all had Frvcp boosters in October. They have always been healthy.
The resident cats currently eat blue buffalo dry food for sensitive stomachs. They switched to that in August from iams. They started a new bag this past Monday. Kitten eats his own kitten food.
I had plugged in a Feliway diffuser one week ago to try to ease transition. As of today I inplugged it just to have one less variable. I don't think it could cause adverse effects, right?
I am trying to give them food every two hours till bedtime tonight. If they haven't eaten then, I will dilute canned food or baby food (free of spices and flavors, just chicken water and cornstarch) and feed 5 ccs or so by syringe.
Am I doing the right things? Any ideas? Anybody been through something similar and got reassurances for me?
Inga is scheduled to see the vet on Monday again, when Toby goes for his kitten booster. Monday they will also have the results of the girls' stool samples.
So what say you?Contaminated food bag? Food allergy? Virus from kitten? Parasite? Something terrible and serious? I am a worrier. Thank you for any help you can give.

Sorry, I don't have any advice but I do hope both of them start feeling better soon.

thank you very much!

andread said:

I have a four-cat household. Fifty percent of my cats are sick! Can you help?
I'm giving all the details I can think of in case it helps you experts weigh in.
My seven year old girl Inga and my 11 yo girl target are both sick. neither kitty is eating and I don't think they are drinking water, either. Target seemed to get ill thursday morning, and Inga followed suit later in the day. Both cats are listless. Both have been to the vet, where they got IV fluids and antinausea meds. Vet also prescribed the appetite stimulant, which I gave about two hours ago. Target seems a bit better, tho still not eating. It's Inga's behavior that has me stumped: she isn't vomiting per se, but she is doing this thing where she sort of shrugs,***** her head to the side, wretches, and gags out a little dime sized spot of clear saliva. Has anyone ever seen this? Yesterday it was several times an hour and today it is less frequent. Yesterday when she did try eating she would take a bit of food, start to chew it, then do what I described, spitting it out. Target doesn't do that but she does try to bury her food bowl.
The vet did a sedated mouth exam to make sure Inga didn't have a foreign object or angry tooth. She also got an X-ray of her gi tract and it was clear. For target, she did a complete blood work up and said she was very healthy. Palpating their abdomens, the vet said they felt nice and soft. She did comment that inga's x ray showed a lot of gas.
I am really worried and hopeful you guys can help me understand what's going on with my babies!
Here are the variables. All cats are indoor only. The 14 yo male cat is perfectly fine. The fourth cat is our new kitten. He came home two weeks ago. For the first week he was in his own room. Last Friday he came into the general population. There was some stress and hissing from target but it lessened every day. Inga seemed cautiously curious and never distressed. Early this week things seemed to be peaceful and everyone was healthy and happy seeming. The two girls also had soft stools and now they are straining to produce bowel movements at all. I feed the kitten separately still but they share litter boxes. The kitten came from a shelter where he was tested for FIV and FELV and was negative. He has had two courses of Frvcp vaccine and his rabies. He had ringworm in the shelter but tested negative begore adoption. He had one or two soft stools after coming home but is otherwise very healthy. Neither girl currently has a fever. My resident cats all had Frvcp boosters in October. They have always been healthy.
The resident cats currently eat blue buffalo dry food for sensitive stomachs. They switched to that in August from iams. They started a new bag this past Monday. Kitten eats his own kitten food.
I had plugged in a Feliway diffuser one week ago to try to ease transition. As of today I inplugged it just to have one less variable. I don't think it could cause adverse effects, right?
I am trying to give them food every two hours till bedtime tonight. If they haven't eaten then, I will dilute canned food or baby food (free of spices and flavors, just chicken water and cornstarch) and feed 5 ccs or so by syringe.
Am I doing the right things? Any ideas? Anybody been through something similar and got reassurances for me?
Inga is scheduled to see the vet on Monday again, when Toby goes for his kitten booster. Monday they will also have the results of the girls' stool samples.
So what say you?Contaminated food bag? Food allergy? Virus from kitten? Parasite? Something terrible and serious? I am a worrier. Thank you for any help you can give.

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It's all concerning.  I assume the vet took their temps and it was normal?  It's a little suspicious that withing a week of the kitten being let out of confinement you get 2 sick cats, so that would be an area of concern.  Are the sick cats doing ok with the new kitten behaviorally?

yes, temps were normal. i also think that the new kitten is the greatest disruption to the status quo, so i think he has something to do with it. the question is, how serious is whatever he transmitted? and can it be treated? and why is he not sick, and why is our big old boy cat not sick?
behaviorally, the cats were doing OK with the kitten. some hissing and growling from Target, but that is what we expected. she reacted that way when we moved, when we got Inga, etc., and she always gets over it. there certainly wasn't any serious distress, and there was plenty of nose sniffing, grooming, co-playing, etc.
eager to hear what parasite screening reveals.

The gagging with nothing much coming up is due to nausea.

The hard stools is because they are not eating and are leaning towards dehydration.

My first guess is that they were exposed to a virus the kitten brought home.

I work directly with shelters often, pulling litters of kittens and/or adult cats when I have foster space.

I KNOW how many viruses are there, how can there not be when cats from every area, home, situation, parks, yards, alleys, and despite their assuming decontamination procedures strictly, many of the kennel staff simply do not, cutting corners and so on.

So those hearty viruses linger on and on.

What I DO think is critical at this time, until hopefully the virus, if that is what it is, has time to pass through their systems and be done with, is that they NEED to be syringe fed baby food with pediolyte added.

Each cat should consume 2 jars a day with pediolyte mixed at about 25%.

Sort of costly so you can also pick up some wellness turkey and add the pediolyte to that and syringe.

andread said:

yes, temps were normal. i also think that the new kitten is the greatest disruption to the status quo, so i think he has something to do with it. the question is, how serious is whatever he transmitted? and can it be treated? and why is he not sick, and why is our big old boy cat not sick?
behaviorally, the cats were doing OK with the kitten. some hissing and growling from Target, but that is what we expected. she reacted that way when we moved, when we got Inga, etc., and she always gets over it. there certainly wasn't any serious distress, and there was plenty of nose sniffing, grooming, co-playing, etc.
eager to hear what parasite screening reveals.

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Parasites generally cause diarrhea symptom rather than nausea.

Your question about why he isn't sick is a good one.

Perhaps he was already, got through it fine, but his fur will still be contaminated for the time period of the virus surviving outside of the host.

For instance you can recover a cat from a uri, but the virus is still alive and contaminating fomites and fur until it dies off in the environment.

While the FVRCP vaccine is so useful for them, they are only protecting them from the top 2 URI's and Panleukopenia.

There are other viruses that we don't know about, and are usually a passing thing where a cat seems under the weather for a few days or shows other mild symptoms.

yeah. they definitely have/had diarrhea. now they are straining to produce anything, simply because their bellies are empty.
glad to hear that the wretching is basically dry heaving, only because if it is consistent with nausea then it should respond to the antinausea meds they got.
are there lots of viruses that could get passed along this way? am i reasonable in thinking that if I can usher them through this without letting them slip into fatty liver, they will likely recover?
we will be syringe feeding in an hour or so. though i have had cats for 30 years, I have never had to do that. any technique tips?

I'm sure it will pass, but of course they really do need to be supplement fed until they will eat on their own again.

You will prevent fatty liver with doing this.

It helps alot to wrap snugly up to the neck with a towel, a cat who doesn't want to eat will resist for sure.

You will be wanting to use a good sized syringe, so you don't have to keep stopping and reloading it. 

I go for the side of the cheek to get the tip in, once it's in their mouth just squirt some into the cheek area and not down their throat. Not too much at a time, but once you get the feel of how much you can give at a time and how much pressure to put on the plunger, it goes alot easier.

Make it nice and warm food, and be sure there are no small chunkies or they will surely block up the tip and that is SO frustrating.

Have a few paper towels handy!!

Each needs 1 full can a day with pediolyte dilution, or 2 jars baby food with same.

This will give enough calories to prevent fatty liver. You DON'T want that of course.

I know it's a pain and time consuming, but best is smaller amts syringed more often rather than a half days worth in one sitting, that is if you are able to.

ok first syringe feeding done: mixed canned wet food (pate style) with warm water. got 10ccs of the mixture into my 15-pound tabby and 6ccs into my 8-pound girl. it is a good start, right? will do it every few hours tomorrow until they are eating on their own.