lethargic kitten

Hello everyone,

Onyx is a 4 to 5 month old kitten that my boyfriend literally found in the street. When we found him he was probably about 4 weeks old and had an upper respiratory infection and mites. The URI cleared up after a bout of antibiotics and he was fine. On Friday I noticed he was sleeping more than usual but didn't think anything of it. Saturday is when I noticed that he was pretty lethargic and disinterested in things when he is normally a psycho kitty. Today he is the same, sleeping all day and very low energy.

He is eating but his appetite is not as strong as it normally is. He isn't very interested in dry food but ate most of his wet food. Today he passed a bowel movement and he peed. He has not been fixed or vaccinated yet, but we had planned to do this soon. He is a strictly indoor cat and has been confined to our spare room for most of the time since my other cats aren't too happy about his presence.

We're going to take him to the vet tomorrow, but I'm a little worried since my google searches led me to FIP. I know nothing is for sure till we take him to the vet, but does anyone have ideas as to what could be the cause?

We lost our rescue kitten Karma a few weeks ago, so the thought of having to go through more vet drama and $$ is stressing me out.

Lethargy is caused by dehydration when they are not feeling well and their fluid intake drops.

Kittens get dehydrated rediculously easy.

I would be syringing her until seen by a vet. It will keep her organs going with no damage if she stays hydrated.

Syringe her with water, pediolyte, or chicken or turkey only baby food with water or pediolyte in it, 50/50 mixture and warm it up.

At 4-5 months with no vaccines, he is at the highest risk right now, as he has no more maternal antibodies to help protect, yet also has a very immature immune system.

Try not to jump to conclusions about fip, yes it could be, but it can also be other things, calicivirus for one.

Get him well hydrated and to the vet asap tmrw.

update:

Onyx just ate a whole plate of food and has been drinking well. Still lethargic and has now started to occasionally wheeze. I'm hoping that maybe it's just his URI acting up again and nothing too serious.

That would be GREAT news! Ever pray for a uri?! 

I hope so!

Good news! Seems like Onyx is on the mend today. He's more active and bright and he's been playing and running around. He's not 100% back to his psycho kitty ways, but he seems much better. Technically he is my boyfriend's cat so he wants to hold off on going to the vet since money is tight. Things seem to be looking up though.

SO good to hear!

Keep us posted

Oh gosh, it's always one thing after another isn't it. I hope it was good news at the vets. You should really still try the gofund me site, I can only imagine what your vet bills were from Karma.  And again, I'm so sorry for your loss a few weeks ago. Take care.