Need Help with a Four Week Old Kitten

I found an orphaned kitten last week (at 3 weeks now 4). she was feeding greatly but now refuses the bottle or only takes a tablespoons worth or two per feeding. She didn't eat much two days ago so I brought her to the 24hr vet and they put fluid under her skin and gave me two sets of dewormers. one for now and one in two weeks. I'm just worried since we don't know for sure if she has worms and if something like that will be harmful for her. She weighs about 430g (or 15oz). does anyone have any experience? Prescribed "0.4 Panacur 10% suspension (fenbendazole 100mg/ml) - per ml E:02/28. Give one full syringe now and one in two weeks." each syringe had 0.2ml of dewormer.

I have a 4 week old kitten, orphaned. I started weighing her June 8. (she was three weeks as of June 1).
June 8- 15oz
June 9- 15oz
June 10- 14.4oz

So she had decreased quite a bit. Is this healthy? I know she had been constipated for a while and after vet visits and a glycerin suppository she had began to poop quite a bit (at least twice a day, lots of poop each time). so maybe the weight loss could be from her clearing her intestines of waste?

I would wait on the wormer until you can get her eating again.  At this age she has not enough worms that would make her sick, an you should not worm or vaccinate a sick cat or kitten anyhow.  Are you able to get her to take more food and is she producing liquid or soft poop after feedings when you clean and stimulate her bottom with a wet cotton ball?  What are you feeding her?  If you can get goat's milk, it has digestive enzymes that will help her.  Perhaps my associate @StefanZ will be along shortly and have additional suggestions.

When you find orphan kittens, they have immunity to most diseases from their mothers milk, but one they are off mothers milk, they no longer have that and they are too young for their immune systems to be developed.  Often they come down with illnesses a few weeks after losing their mom's milk.  The wormer is fine but all wormers are a little bit rough on the digestive system, so personally I would not use it until she is eating normally again.  True this may disagree with your vet and I am not a vet but have raised lots of kittens.  I will not worm them that young.

LookingForLuna said:

I have a 4 week old kitten, orphaned. I started weighing her June 8. (she was three weeks as of June 1).
June 8- 15oz
June 9- 15oz
June 10- 14.4oz

So she had decreased quite a bit. Is this healthy? I know she had been constipated for a while and after vet visits and a glycerin suppository she had began to poop quite a bit (at least twice a day, lots of poop each time). so maybe the weight loss could be from her clearing her intestines of waste?

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How is this kitten now.

Red Top Rescue said:

 
I would wait on the wormer until you can get her eating again.  At this age she has not enough worms that would make her sick, an you should not worm or vaccinate a sick cat or kitten anyhow.  Are you able to get her to take more food and is she producing liquid or soft poop after feedings when you clean and stimulate her bottom with a wet cotton ball?  What are you feeding her?  If you can get goat's milk, it has digestive enzymes that will help her.  Perhaps my associate @StefanZ will be along shortly and have additional suggestions.

When you find orphan kittens, they have immunity to most diseases from their mothers milk, but one they are off mothers milk, they no longer have that and they are too young for their immune systems to be developed.  Often they come down with illnesses a few weeks after losing their mom's milk.  The wormer is fine but all wormers are a little bit rough on the digestive system, so personally I would not use it until she is eating normally again.  True this may disagree with your vet and I am not a vet but have raised lots of kittens.  I will not worm them that young.

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This means, if you can get RAW goat milk, ie un-pasteurized.  Pasteurized, bottled or other goat milk is still  useful and fully OK to use, but not the same potential marvel food...

I will look more at your thread in the morning, in in about 9 hours.

OK, and where to get this Raw goat milk if you arent knowing about any goat farmer nearby?

In USA our forumists tell, it can often be found in shops Natural Food groceries...  Several different chains are mentioned, so its apparently not so rare as you would think.

The usual shops alike Walmart, dont sell unpasteurized.   But they do sell bottled.

Red Top Rescue said:

 
I would wait on the wormer until you can get her eating again.  At this age she has not enough worms that would make her sick, an you should not worm or vaccinate a sick cat or kitten anyhow.  Are you able to get her to take more food and is she producing liquid or soft poop after feedings when you clean and stimulate her bottom with a wet cotton ball?  What are you feeding her?  If you can get goat's milk, it has digestive enzymes that will help her.  Perhaps my associate @StefanZ will be along shortly and have additional suggestions.

When you find orphan kittens, they have immunity to most diseases from their mothers milk, but one they are off mothers milk, they no longer have that and they are too young for their immune systems to be developed.  Often they come down with illnesses a few weeks after losing their mom's milk.  The wormer is fine but all wormers are a little bit rough on the digestive system, so personally I would not use it until she is eating normally again.  True this may disagree with your vet and I am not a vet but have raised lots of kittens.  I will not worm them that young.

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Her poops seem to be okay for the most part, I stimulate her after every feeding, and they turn out sometimes firm, sometimes has shape but mushes slightly and slightly green. Sometimes yellow sometimes brown. Yeah, I was unsure about the wormer so I was going to wait until she was at least 6 weeks old to start her on that, just to be on the safe side. I had been trying to wean her onto foods, and she had a taste for that, and afterwards would bit her bottle and get too excited or straight out refuse it, maybe that means shes ready for wet food?

I gave her some of Royal Canin's babycat pate and she ate a lot of it (which I was so thankful for) and she hasn't lost anymore weight which is good. I'm going to try to feed her more often again until she gets that weight back, and try to make the option of wet food more available for her and more often. So far formula wise I have been feeding her KMR's powdered formula mix. At first I did the ratio 1:2 (powder to water) but after her constipation I changed it to 1:3-1:4). Thank you so much for your reply and advice! I'm super new to all of this so I need all the help I can get aha

blueyedgirl5946 said:

How is this kitten now.

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She doesn't seem lethargic or anything anymore, she's very active, exploring all around,starting to climb on things. She hasn't lost any weight which is good, and I just weighed her at 411g so she's slowly getting that back, though I will be increasing the frequency of feedings and offer more wet food since I started to try weaning her.

YAY! You are doing a good job and it sounds like she is thriving.  The Babycat Pate is an excellent food.  I'm glad she likes it.

LookingForLuna said:

 
She doesn't seem lethargic or anything anymore, she's very active, exploring all around,starting to climb on things. She hasn't lost any weight which is good, and I just weighed her at 411g so she's slowly getting that back, though I will be increasing the frequency of feedings and offer more wet food since I started to try weaning her.

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Sounds good.  She must add every day, or practically every day, not less than 10 g (0,3OZ).   unless very smallish from the beginning.

Some of her earlier problems were probably from the constipation.  Constipation in itself makes they have less appetite (as with humans), it may even get very negative symptoms.

And of course, after letting the old wastes go out, she "lost" weight that day.  Exaclty what you thought.

Do you know EXACTLY what devormer you had got?  Many dewormers are possible to use for small kittens too, and she has almost surely roundworms, possibly also tapeworms, if she had fleas.

Its wise to wait with dewormers till she is stabilized and stadily gaining, as deworming is a stress on her system.   If there is no apparent hurry, so wait a little yes.   But begin soon enough.

In kittens who are weak, but apparently full of worms - it can and shold be tried to give dewormers, but its a calculated risk of course.

I'm concerned, lately her poops have a slight white bit in it, which I know is a sign for something not good. she also woke me up at 5am during a thunderstorm (now) and threw up, a few minutes later I put her in the litterbox and she had a big poop, more so yellow in colour but light, firm, but the inside looked kind of green?

Is this from her system not being used to the new food or could it be something else? she can eat pate but other than other liquids from a bottle she doesn't drink from anywhere else get and I'm having a hard time trying to get her to drink from bowls

any advice?

StefanZ said:

Sounds good.  She must add every day, or practically every day, not less than 10 g (0,3OZ).   unless very smallish from the beginning.

Some of her earlier problems were probably from the constipation.  Constipation in itself makes they have less appetite (as with humans), it may even get very negative symptoms.
And of course, after letting the old wastes go out, she "lost" weight that day.  Exaclty what you thought.

Do you know EXACTLY what devormer you had got?  Many dewormers are possible to use for small kittens too, and she has almost surely roundworms, possibly also tapeworms, if she had fleas.

Its wise to wait with dewormers till she is stabilized and stadily gaining, as deworming is a stress on her system.   If there is no apparent hurry, so wait a little yes.   But begin soon enough.

In kittens who are weak, but apparently full of worms - it can and shold be tried to give dewormers, but its a calculated risk of course.

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The label for the dewormer says "0.4 Panacur 10% suspension (fenbendazole 100mg/ml) - per ml E:02/28. Give one full syringe now and one in two weeks." each syringe had 0.2ml of dewormer.

Update; overnight her weight went from 410g to 388g. she's refusing bottle no matter how much I try to force feed and the only thing she will eat is a little bit of wet food (babycat by royal canin)

LookingForLuna said:

The label for the dewormer says "0.4 Panacur 10% suspension (fenbendazole 100mg/ml) - per ml E:02/28. Give one full syringe now and one in two weeks." each syringe had 0.2ml of dewormer.

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Ah, I have found it, need no more search.  The Swedish name is Axilur,  an approved all round dewormer, taking practically everything.   BUT rather strong, demaning lotsa of the patient, ie  nothing for weak kittens nor kittens in crisis...  And the age of about 6 week is proper,   even if a healthy kitten of 4 weeks should manage it.   So it was very wise to wait with this.

If you need something milder.  She has surely round worms, so Pyrantel (poamoate) prepareate should be much milder, as long its for cats.  Pyrantel for non cats may be OK too, but I have seen variations for cattle, which wasnt suitable for cats.   The variatin for horses should be OK.

The swedish brandname Banminth is quarenteed mild, but others brands should be similiar.

You can get pyrantel preparates OTC too.

If you need an allround preparate for both roundworms and tape worms,  if you can get Milbomax  is good.

Otherwise try to find Drontal.   

Google on the names, they may have other names locally in your country.

And spare on the  Panacur-Axilur.   Its quite potent, so although strong and rahter hefty on a weak body, its surely useful, esp if you got an bad worm infection.

LookingForLuna said:

Update; overnight her weight went from 410g to 388g. she's refusing bottle no matter how much I try to force feed and the only thing she will eat is a little bit of wet food (babycat by royal canin)

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Oy, red alert on!!!

Some refuse bottle when they get a little bigger, so its not sure its alarming as such.  but she must eat, and gain.

Cheat in her food any way you can. YOu know how to forcefeed with syringe?

Royal canins babycat is good...

Minced meat is classic for small kittens - cow meat, NOT pig.

Human baby food may be useful, Gerber stage one, the plain chicken or turkey versions...

Did you got hold of goat milk, preferably raw???

StefanZ said:

Ah, I have found it, need no more search.  The Swedish name is Axilur,  an approved all round dewormer, taking practically everything.   BUT rather strong, demaning lotsa of the patient, ie  nothing for weak kittens nor kittens in crisis...  And the age of about 6 week is proper,   even if a healthy kitten of 4 weeks should manage it.   So it was very wise to wait with this.

If you need something milder.  She has surely round worms, so Pyrantel (poamoate) prepareate should be much milder, as long its for cats.  Pyrantel for non cats may be OK too, but I have seen variations for cattle, which wasnt suitable for cats.   The variatin for horses should be OK.
The swedish brandname Banminth is quarenteed mild, but others brands should be similiar.
You can get pyrantel preparates OTC too.

If you need an allround preparate for both roundworms and tape worms,  if you can get Milbomax  is good.
Otherwise try to find Drontal.   
Google on the names, they may have other names locally in your country.

And spare on the  Panacur-Axilur.   Its quite potent, so although strong and rahter hefty on a weak body, its surely useful, esp if you got an bad worm infection.

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I called my 24hr vet after noticing the huge weight loss. she recommended I start the Panacur .2ml , once a day for three days and then I think every two weeks after that, I need to double check. so I gave that to her and hopefully better results will come. She was a different vet and all three I spoke to recommended I give it to her. wish I saw this sooner! will stay updated. thank you so much

LookingForLuna said:

I called my 24hr vet after noticing the huge weight loss. she recommended I start the Panacur .2ml , once a day for three days and then I think every two weeks after that, I need to double check. so I gave that to her and hopefully better results will come. She was a different vet and all three I spoke to recommended I give it to her. wish I saw this sooner! will stay updated. thank you so much

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Apparently they think her problems are in much because of worms / parasites.  Which she surely has.  Its only kittens of properly dewormed home cats whom usually dont have any round worms, nor tapeworms.

And panacur - or Axilur in Sweden - is after all, an approved, often used preparate.

The problem is, which worming is necessary.  IF it is just round worms, it will be more than enough with some milder preparate, type of Pyrantel...

But if they deem the invasion as hefty, and perhaps some type not so common, like Giardia, or several different worms,  panacur will be more appropriate, as this takes practically all. .  The problem is, its a real "horse remedy" on a weak body, so its somewhat of calculated risk done just when desperate enough...

Sorry, I cant tell more at this moment.   But if you deem the vet to be good and experienced, trust that advice.

Good luck!

StefanZ said:

Apparently they think her problems are in much because of worms / parasites.  Which she surely has.  Its only kittens of properly dewormed home cats whom usually dont have any round worms, nor tapeworms.

And panacur - or Axilur in Sweden - is after all, an approved, often used preparate.

The problem is, which worming is necessary.  IF it is just round worms, it will be more than enough with some milder preparate, type of Pyrantel...

But if they deem the invasion as hefty, and perhaps some type not so common, like Giardia, or several different worms,  panacur will be more appropriate, as this takes practically all. .  The problem is, its a real "horse remedy" on a weak body, so its somewhat of calculated risk done just when desperate enough...

Sorry, I cant tell more at this moment.   But if you deem the vet to be good and experienced, trust that advice.


Good luck!

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I'm just so scared now! I don't know what else to do to make sure she lives. I'm going to get a syringe today to more forcefully get formula in her. maybe some water too

LookingForLuna said:

I'm just so scared now! I don't know what else to do to make sure she lives. I'm going to get a syringe today to more forcefully get formula in her. maybe some water too

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Which, exactly, formula are you thinking on?   Dont buy Hartz nor Sargeants

If forcefeeding:   tummy down, head up, in the corner of the mouth, cautiously so she swallows properly.  Burp afterwards.

It's been three days that she has been refusing the bottle and barely takes any wet food. I'm so scared for her. hopefully the dewormer will help increase her appetite