Kitten not feeling well after spay! :( Vet wasn't much help.

My fiance' and I adopted a beautiful little kitten named Lulu in April. She's such a sweet, well-behaved kitten, and we both love her dearly.
The only issue she's given us is that she tracks litter a lot and, when she was adjusting to her new food (Wellness CORE Kitten), her poops were a bit wet and she would step on them. 
We switched her to Tidy Cats litter, and she's been doing much better about tracking anything, and her poops were finally getting to be normal.

This Monday, we took her in to get the rest of her vaccinations, and to get spayed. She received most of her vaccinations with the breeder, but on Monday she got her rabies and feline leukemia vaccinations.

She was doing very well when we brought her home on Monday! She didn't like her cone, but she was drinking lots of water and was excited to eat food.

While I was at work on Tuesday night, my fiance' fed Lulu, and she barely touched her food. I wasn't worried about that, because I know that kittens sometimes lose their appetites after a spay.

On Wednesday morning, I realized she had poop on her paws. Since I can't give her a bath, I cleaned her up with wipes, and I checked the litter box. She had some diarrhea, and I was concerned, but I decided to see if it got better. She wouldn't eat any food or drink any water though, and I called the vet. They said to bring her in at 3 on Thursday, so my fiance' and I did that.

I am incredibly unhappy with the vet visit. They said that diarrhea is normal after a spay, but I'm concerned because it's yellow and it is entirely liquid. They insisted that this was normal, so I felt a little bit more at ease.

They checked her and said that her incision looks great, and they determined that she was dehydrated, and they decided to give her subcutaneous fluids. I was gently holding her, and they tried to insert the needle. They said that she was very well behaved and, as soon as that was said, she jumped. We tried again, and she jumped again, so the vet seemed a bit agitated and said she would bring someone else in to hold her. I guess I was too gentle, so I didn't mind too much.

My fiance' and I did not care for the lady who held down our Lulu. She was nice to her at first, but when she would jump, she would get annoyed. Eventually, after a few tries, Lulu hissed when she jumped. The lady holding her yelled, "JEEZ!", and left. They gave up and she did not get fluids, other than the -tiny- amount she may have gotten when I was holding her.

I asked the vet if there was anything I could do other than using wipes to clean Lulu's paws and backside. I explained that she hates  the wipes and much prefers a bath and, while I know she can't have a bath, I was curious if there was something else I could try. They looked at me as though that were the stupidest question they had ever heard, and they told me that there was nothing else that I could do. I thought they responded pretty poorly, but I didn't think much of it until my fiance' asked me in the car if I had realized how they acted. At that point, I decided I hadn't been being overly sensitive. :/

Anyway, we went to the front, and I got charged $10. $10 does not matter whatsoever, but I'm annoyed that I was charged at all. I just paid it and left and scheduled an appointment on Saturday with another vet's office, because Lulu needs a checkup for her insurance anyway and I was hoping that, if she's still not well, they'd be more helpful. I was annoyed about being charged, though, because they claim that a recheck is free after surgery. They didn't -do- anything, and I felt like I wasn't helped at all. They said they weren't charging me for the fluids, because she really didn't -get- any fluids, so that couldn't have been what I was charged for.

After this experience, I bought a bottle for feeding newborn kittens. She doesn't like it, but I've been force feeding her water so that she has some hydration. It does seem like it's helping; she meowed by her food bowl after a couple of hours and I was able to get her to eat a little bit. This morning, she wouldn't eat anything but she did go to her water bowl on her own and drink some.

She does seem to be doing a bit better, and she's been cuddling with me a lot today, but her diarrhea is still really bad. There's no blood in it; it just looks like yellowish brown water at this point, and I have to catch her leaving the litter box to help wipe her butt because it gets everywhere. :c 

I'm going to try and see if I can get her to eat some baby food tonight. She usually loves canned pumpkin but, at the moment, she has no interest in it.

I'm curious if anyone has any advice or has had cats go through this. Is this sort of diarrhea really normal after a spay? I was thinking it might kind of be a response to whatever pain medication they injected her with, or maybe one of the vaccines.

Here are some pictures of Lulu! The third one was Tuesday night while I was at work; my fiance' sent me a picture of her curled up in his lap. <3

Thanks for joining The Cat Site.  I'm sure you will find a lot of information and support here.  We are an international group of cat lovers and there is a huge amount of knowledge and experience here. 

It is NOT normal to have diarrhea after surgery, and the yellow watery kind indicates a severe problem.  It could be coccidia, giardia, an intestinal infection or virus.  Fluids would have helped her, but if you are in a vet's office and nobody is capable of administering subcutaneous fluids, you need to be going to a different vet, PERIOD. 

I have made this recommendation before on this site and many people have followed it and are very glad of it.  You have not yet added your LOCATION so I can't do this search for you, but you should try to find a vet hospital that is AAHA Accredited and preferably one that has a Feline Specialist on staff (most of them do).  This is the American Animal Hospital Association, and it also includes Canada, and accreditation represents the hospital meets a certain standard of excellence.  

Hopefully there is one within driving distance of your location.  Believe me, it is worth the drive!  Here is a link to a search tool where you can find the nearest AAHA hospital.  If there are several, then call to see if they have a feline specialist on staff.  In any case, please get your kitten in as soon as possible!

https://www.aaha.org/pet_owner/about_aaha/hospital_search/default.aspx

Thank you so much! There's actually one less than a mile away from our apartment, so that's good to know I'll definitely be checking them out!

I was so frustrated in the vet's office yesterday! Lulu is so well-behaved and timid; I'm not sure how they get anything done, if they can't even administer fluids, so I definitely won't be going back there.
I was in tears almost all day Wednesday, and I'm so worried about her and I knew that -something- must have been wrong, so hearing that it's "normal" even though there's no way that's true was definitely a warning sign.

She does have an appointment with another vet at noon tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes! I'm feeling a lot more confident about them, and I'm hoping we get things figured out so that she can get back to feeling well!  I think that they'll be more attentive, but I'm going to go in prepared to argue this time. I'm usually a pretty passive person, but I'm not taking no for answer again, especially when she could be seriously ill.
 

If the vet she has an appointment with tomorrow is not a Feline Specialist or at an AAHA hospital, I would still suggest trying to get an appointment with one of the AAHA vets first rather than taking a chance with another "unknown" vet office, unless they were recommended to you by a friend who has cats and has gone there.  You might even be able to get her in TODAY if you tell them your story.  You shouldn't gamble with your little girl's life at this point.  You might get a great dog vet who doesn't know all that much about cats.  The AAHA vets are required to take a certain number of continuing education courses in order to maintain their accreditation, so they are more likely to be up on any new diseases and treatments.  Also, you should not have to argue with either the vet or the staff!  You and your cat's vet should be in a partnership to get her the best care.  I hope you have a written record of everything she was given during her spay and afterwards, and you should bring that with you to your next appointment.  Please let us know how things go. 

Red Top has some great advice there. I agree on finding a vet specializing in cats. I can't add anything else, but please do keep us posted on what the other vet says. 

Agreed very much with Red Top Rescue. I've not ever had any cat have diarrhea after a spay or a neuter. It was wrong of that Vet clinic to tell you that was normal and then to not even administer the fluids to a dehydrated kitten. And on top of all this to charge you? That's uncalled for and very unprofessional. Please do keep us posted on Lulu.

I'm feeling much better now! 
This morning, Lulu has more energy than she's had in days, and is running around and eating again. =]

The vet we saw this time was -much- better with cats. They gave her some antidiarrheal medicine and took a fresh stool sample and, even though she didn't -like- those things (who would!?), they were professional and didn't give up, and that made me feel much more comfortable.

They did suggest that it's -possible- she was having a bad reaction to her pain medication, because it was supposed to last 3-5 days and now that it's wearing off, she's behaving normally, but they wanted to be sure, so they ran a fecal test to check and make sure everything was good. They didn't find anything, but prescribed me some metronidazole to treat her stomach issues and any possible parasites. They also gave me a prescription for Hills i/d, hoping that that would settle her stomach soon.

They told me that if I have any concerns, I'm more than welcome to call them, and they were super helpful and so good with her. I'm feeling -so- much more confident, and I'm so happy that she's seeming to feel well again!

I just mixed her wellness with hills, and she's eaten all of it. This is the first time she's finished off her bowl in days!

I'm gonna keep an eye on her litter box habits and see if those improve at all, but I'm happy with my experience today and we're definitely off to a great start.

I know that the Feleuk Vaccine can make cats feel very poorly and could very likely been the cause of the diarrhea she had. I would suspect the combination of surgery and vaccines was likely a little too much for her system.

Glad she is feeling better and that you have found a more competent vet!

Thanks for the update.  It sounds like you have found a better vet hospital and your cat is feeling better as well.  I would not disagree at all with what this new vet did and said.

Pretty Cat! How is she doing now?

Thanks! Lulu is doing really well. She's a happy, healthy kitty and we adopted a brother for her in September! The two of them get along so well, and they both have been seeing the same vet I mentioned earlier in this post. He's great with them and I feel much more comfortable with them being in his care!

How sweet they are together.  I'm so glad you changed vets and that Lulu got better under his care.