12 weeks old and acting lethargic.

BEFORE PHOTOS! This is our beautiful Lilith!

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My partner and I recently adopted a tiny foreign white kitten whom we named Lilith. We've had her almost two weeks now and she developed a tiny irritation in her left ear, and the vets refused to see us as we couldn't afford the ridiculous consultation fee just to have her glanced at. I knew what ear meds she needed and they brushed me off, I had enough for the meds, but not their robbery fees. They were visibly upset when I asked for the medication needed, and even confirmed that was most likely the correct one to use, and still refused. 

We had to go home and get some cotton balls, which we dipped in some rubbing alcohol and water solution (1 part A, 3 parts W) to clean her little ear out with. It helped greatly and she was feeling quite well after a couple days of keeping it clean and clear. She kept up her active hyper playfulness the entire time, ate with gusto, and had to be reprimanded many times for stealing our three legged cat's food, which is not kitten appropriate.

Today she was great great great, running around, visiting our roommates, getting cuddled and played with, etc. She didn't touch ANYTHING that we could see, she stayed insight and her only interest of dangerous things to ingest, is plastic bags, which we have kept very safe from her as we don't want anything bad happening.

Somewhere along the course of the day (Australia, sorry, 7:22pm) she was in a clothes basket and being lifted up and down in it (gently) by a joyful roommate and she was loving it, swiping at him and getting excited about this new game she'd discovered, but then she fluffed up like she cold and all the fun stopped. She wanted to be picked up and held close and would erupt into a storm of talking if we put her back down. That was about 5pm. It's 7:25pm now and she's been sleeping ever since, also very clingy. She has not wanted food the entire day, but after some encouragement she licked up a very tiny amount of wet food, but then refused again. We can never tell if her gums are pale because she has always been such a light shade of pink, but I will get a photo in a moment.

We crated her and she immediately perked up to throw a fit over being put away, and got in her box to demonstrate her frustration by crouching and throwing her entire little self against the door, something she has never done before. She promptly licked herself as if nothing happened, ate a few bites of her wet food, then retreated to her carrybag to groom away her shame and was back out swiftly when we asked her if she was okay, mewing and sticking her paws out of the door.

We let her out after she ate a bit more food, and she came out, found our tripod cat, sniffed noses with him (he didn't swat her for once, its a miracle) and then found HIS water and drank it instead of her own water, trotted to one end of our room to the other, then hopped onto the bed and right back onto my lap just now as I am typing this very line. She seems slightly more alert now, but I am still so worried about her. She is purring so loudly at the moment she's making my stomach growl in response to the vibration and she seems very happy to be back on my lap, but still curling back up to attempt sleeping again.

I'm sure she's probably fine, but we both already love her so much. She's a perfect little kitten with an amazing attitude and calmness you wouldn't expect from one of her young age, but just as playful as she is calm, a very happy full of life kitten who wants ALL the attention, as is characteristic of her breed.

here are photos, all taken moments ago.

NO distended belly

NO fever as far as I can tell, her ears are cool to the touch and her body feels about the same as always.

NO jaundice

NO running stool

NO hard belly, soft and squishy as a kitten should be.

NO glassy eyes

She's just:

Sleepy

Inactive

Maybe a bit pale I can't tell.

Lacking appetite, will consider and eat a small bit, but not much.

Lacking much thirst, but drinks a little.

Recently had revolution applied, but she licked it off almost immediately because she has some freak snake neck that lets her turn around like I have seen no other cat do. Applied a fresh partial dose to the back of her head, she didn't get to it and it settled well. Flea free, that's good right?

Purring, back I cannot tell if it's happy or pain purring, it APPEARS to be happy yay you're letting me sit with you purring, as she wasn't doing 



^ NOW, cannot tell if gums are paler or not.


^ BEFORE (about a week and a half ago)

This one is for Gums reference before and then the one down below that is now. They look the same, but I don't know.


Inside of ear that had the small irritation (claw in the ear we think it was). All cleared up now. No more head shaking or picking at it with her toes. She likes having it rubbed again and massaged.


eyeballing the camera cord as I took these of her tonight.



Curled up after losing interest.

Please bounce some ideas off me? We'll be hitting the vets in the morning when they open as our landlord has offered to cover her consult fee, the sweet angel. He loves her as much as we do. Any help is appreciated <3 Thank you!

Range

I can't figure out how to edit yet, I'm sorry, I am terribly new..

BUT.

We went out to get some frozen coca cola floats and we took her with us in her little carry bag so she could have some fresh air and see people whom she is crazy about (She really likes strangers, it's quite odd). We offered her some of our ice cream, she declined, but watched intently as we sipped and ate a bit of the ice cream ourselves, then settled down to snuggle with her horse plushie. We walked back and let her out and she promptly consumed about a quarter of her wet food and demanded she be coddled again. She is sitting on my lap purring loudly yet again looking very pleased with herself, but still tired and exhibiting that image of lethargy.

It is 8:50pm 09-12-2014 and this is the current update on Lilith's condition. We are hoping she is just having a bad kitten day.

Update; 3:15am.

Lilith is attempting to throw something up, but can't seem to manage it yet. We are watching her closely and hope that she can safely expel whatever is ailing her so she can feel better..

Forgot to add; Earlier in the night around 12am she passed a healthy solid stool, no issues there. No blood, no wrong colours, stinky as per the kitten MO, improperly covered as always.. Haha.

As of now, at 4am, she got up for a drink and then wanted to be cuddled again, so she is resting on my lap, purring.

She tried to vomit only twice earlier, both attempts yielded nothing.. The vets open at 7:30am so she'll be going in first thing to get seen and figure out what is up with her. 

Fingers crossed, I don't think either of us will sleep well tonight. I took a nap with Lilith curled beside me earlier, and my partner is taking a brief rest now, but full sleep is not an option when any of our babies are unwell.

7am; We'll be heading to the vets soon.. There has been mild interest in play, and she has gotten up to drink a few times, but food has been refused ever since her last recorded eating.

The vets open at 7:30am, so we will be the first in the door with our little one, hopefully the lack of funds until tomorrow morning will not get us refused service =/

Fingers crossed for Lilith..

Fingers crossed. She is stunning.

Fingers and toes crossed for Lilith.  Do keep us posted on how your beautiful little girl does. 

We went to the vet yesterday with Lilith, they couldn't find anything wrong no matter how they tried with the initial exam. She was temperature checked, belly checked, heart checked, hydration checked, felt over again and again. They couldn't find anything wrong and asked us to take her home and offer bland boiled chicken and try to get her to eat something and to bring her in again today if there is no improvement.

She has refused every bit of food except for licking a bit of the sauce off the top of a tin of wet food, the chicken she recoiled from and outright wanted nothing to do with it..

This morning around 7:30 am, she rushed out of her bed, got in her litterpan and tried to retch something up three times, but only managed a little bit of thick saliva, it might've been a bit of bile, but because she retched in the box, it was distorted immediately..

So I guess it's off to the vets again. She's just laying in her little bed and talks softly to us when we check on her. I'm terrified.. 

Hoping for the best for her

Back from another vet visit, been there since 8am, it's about 10:30am now.

The vets still don't know what is wrong, but she is now dehydrated and had a small cough and sneeze fit this morning before I left with her for the vet..

The entire visit cost 261.00 - They gave her an anti-nausea shot, an antibiotic shot, and a box of oral antibiotics for home, twice a day..

She also received subcutaneous fluids.. Her voice is weaker, she is even more tired than before, and we're scared to death..

The vet said she probably needs to be kept on an IV drip overnight, or for a few days, and get x-rays, bloodwork, and ultrasound.. But that it'd cost 1500.00 just for a day of that, and that we would have to pay half upfront before pick up, no matter what.. So we had to go with the lesser option, as we just don't have that kind of money living off a disability pension of a meager 800.00 a fortnight, 500.00 of which each fortnight goes to our rent.. 

We don't know what to do, but we can only hope she will perk up and recover on her own terms as we don't have any friends or family who can / will help..

She was so healthy and active when we brought her home.. now we don't know what to do or what happened.

I am so sorry that Lilith is still not doing well.  Has she had any blood work done at all?  Even if they just do the blood test, that would tell you a fair bit.  The other thing I am wondering is, is there a chance she got into something around your house, ie cleaner, plant, etc.  Also, where did you adopt her from?  Is there a chance there may have been something going around the agency or the place you adopted her from?  My thoughts are with you and your little girl.

She came from a local who had a litter and just wanted good homes for the kittens, we paid for the cost of vet expenses only. All the kittens and the parents were incredibly healthy and active. She came to us already sterilised, vaccinated, etc. Healthy, strong, happy, insanely active. She hasn't had any bloodwork as the vet said it would be out of our price range, but if we can get an estimate, maybe we can get some funding help from someone, somewhere.. We can't lose little Lilith, she already means so much to us.

So far, I found one thing that could have caused this sickness, hidden in her favourite hiding spot. A little packet from a package of raw meat, the little pads that soak up the juices? It was bitten and scratched up. The vet said it could be a cause of this, and that if she ate too much she could become impacted, but it didn't look like she got much out of it at all. Problem is, we don't know where that soaker pad came from, we haven't had any raw meat around with those kinds of pads for a while, I'm wondering if our roommate's friend gave it to her, because he hates animals and I wouldn't put that sort of garbage past him..

We're so worried..

Lilith will be visiting the incredibly kind Emergency Vets tonight to see what they say and if they will give us a take home IV drip with some medicine in it. My partner and I both have years of veterinary experience under our belts from wildlife caring and long term volunteering and pre-tech training.. If they can do nothing, the lady who we got her from will be coming by to take us and Lilith to her vet to help her, as she too is in agreement that the prices our vet is demanding, are exorbitant and ridiculous. 

We are all going to work together on this to help her.

I'll pray for your beautiful Lilith, I truly believe she needs to eat and drink normally again to get well. Try some jarred meat human baby food, cats can't seem to resist that. Maybe the Revolution caused her to be sicker then you thought, it's definitely not meant to be ingested. Or maybe she has worms or a hairball? I really feel for you, I know how much you worry when a loved one is sick. I hope one of the 'experts' can give you some advise, don't give up until one of them answers you. All the luck, and please keep us updated, you've done a wonderful job so far!

Those meat pads can be dangerous particularly if the meat juice on it has gone bad.  I wasn't going to say it, but since the lady you got Lilith from is going to step in to help also, I will say it.  I am not impressed with your vet.  There is no reason to charge a ridiculous rate for a blood test.  When money becomes more important than the well being of an animal, that is when it is time to look elsewhere.  Having said that, you do need to get the situation with Lilith sorted out fairly quickly.  If you have a neighbour who would hurt an animal, you need to insure she goes nowhere near this person.  He may have given her something but on the other hand, there are so many different things it could be.  Please do keep us posted and I am rooting for you and Lilith.  

I am not impressed either and I will find a vet who gives a rats ass about my babies and their needs, rather than the money. Hell, the NERVE of the one vet tech tonight when we asked if we could birng home SubQ fluids and a drip for Lilith, since we can't afford their outrageous prices. She said 'You should probably consider surrendering  her back to the lady she was bred by if you can't afford to care for her'   Excuse me? We CAN afford to to care for her, even on a disability pension split between two people (Working visa for me here starts in February). We would not have dared bring a new life into our home if we weren't confident we could provide for her. We even feed Wellness Holistic Select to her, and raw diet supplements including beef, venison, chicken, and more. Our tripod eats (unfortunately) grocery store grade food because the stubborn jerk won't switch over, he'll only consider raw mince on occasion and finds her food repulsive. I wish he'd let us switch over his diet so he could be fed the best as well :/ But at least he's healthy, strong, and happy? Still working on him, hehe.

We just weren't expecting THIS. So many people get caught off guard like this and can't afford the horrendous fees that result afterwards, I know we are not the only ones. Just because we can't afford to cough up 800.00 cash into their laps, doesn't mean we aren't capable, willing, and loving parents to our babies. What seems to be worse about all of this, was that my partner and I were going over insurance plans to put her on when she suddenly went downhill.

Since she stopped eating, she has declined from 1.4kilos, to about 1kilo, and that is absolutely terrifying to witness, she is such a thin and fine boned cat as it already is, and every little bit she lacks, REALLY shows. She's curled up with her horse plushie at the moment, we can hardly sleep and are constantly watching her, worrying. She won't take anything from her food or water dishes, she only wants her drinks from these little disposable plastic tupperware containers, she's thrilled to drink from that, but not her own bowl. I'm not sure what the deal with that is, but I will cup the water and gatorade in my hands if that's what she wants, as long as she drinks.

I would consider looking for another vet but in the interim, I would take the lady you got her from up on her offer to go to her vet.  Something else you might try, and I hate to suggest it, but try her on the store bought food Iike Fancy Feast, Purr, Miss Meow, etc.  At this point, you want to get something into her.  Also, if you have some canned salmon or tuna that you use for sandwiches, etc.  try her on that.  Sometimes they will go for something they are not familiar with.  I must say, the Gatorade is a new one on me but it is getting fluid into her.  If she gets bored with that, some salt free chicken Bovril (probably spelled wrong) might help also.   If I can think of anything else, I certainly will add it in.  Hang in there and try this other vet.  

UPDATE:

To all of you kind and amazing folks who have stopped by the wish and hope for Lilith, please know she is about to undergo surgery in an hour or two to save her life.. Please keep her in your thoughts, prayers, or whatever it is you may do..  Something is terribly wrong with her bowels and the vet said it is apparently caused by a parasitic worm. Which none of us know HOW she even got it, she was kept on worming and flea treatments at her previous home.. The surgery is going to cost about 1000.00+ and the breeder said she will pay for it upfront and we can pay her back. The vet asked if she was sure about it, and she said "Look at them, they're amazing to her, there couldn't be a more perfect and loving family for her than them. I want to do this". We've left her there and we are home for the time being.. They're going to call when she can come home and the breeder will pick her up and deliver her back into our arms..

Please think of her and hold her in your hearts, she will die without this surgery. The vet said it's called an Interception of the Bowels, where they double back on themselves due to the worm. 
She's lost so much weight in these few days, but thank god she's been drinking.. It wasn't the meat pad at all.. But please cross your fingers and send her love and energy.. We love her so much already, we can't lose her, she's going to pull through this and be well..

How did those IDIOT VETS here in town NOT KNOW she had an issue. They palpated her belly multiple times, listened for sounds, etc. This vet took a few minutes of checking with JUST his hands and knew instantly what was wrong. The vet here in town is a ******* idiot and when Lilith gets through this, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind about how horrible they are.

Please be okay, Lilith.. Please.

Lilith is out of surgery!

She did in fact have an intercepted bowel and luckily it was still healthy enough it did not have to be cut out and the bowels reconnected. The vet said that the tissue had a good blood supply to it still and it was very unlikely that it would die off, so he left it. He said in the event the tissue does die off, she could get a perforated bowel, but that the risk taken was definitely a necessary one. She is going to remain in their care for the rest of the day on an IV drip to get her rehydrated and kept monitored for any post surgery complications.
The total cost was $1069.00 , which Alan and I both find to be amazingly less than expected, even the breeder thought it'd be something more like $6,000.00+.
So we'll be paying that bill off bit by bit, and hopefully this ordeal is over.

Love for Lilith. Will update again later and throughout her recovery.

Phew. May the recovery go well.