Deworming my stray kitty

Hi everyone. I just made my account today so if im not following basic guidelines for the site let me know.

First of all.... please let me explain my situation a bit. I am 20 years old, and never in my life have i ever had a cat. But 7 weeks ago, a stray cat gave birth to 5 dead babies, and one living baby. The mother died before she could even turn her head to welcome her kitty to the world. I immediattly ran inside with the kitten, cleaned her up, and tried to extract any fluid from her lungs (thank you youtube). And she seemed very healthy. I bottlefed her every two hours, and took care of peeing and pooping with her. Call me crazy... but the bond that i have with this kitten is insane. I take her everywhere and she loves attention.

But when she turned 5 weeks old, she started having diarrhea. I tried EVERYTHING to stop it. But there was a 2 month waiting period for the vet. So i tried switching foods, giving her yogurt, making homemade food and nothing worked. It was very stressful. For the record... she started her diarrhea while on kmr. I took her off of that at 5 and a half weeks.

I couldnt be sure wht was causing her diarrhea, but based on her weightloss while still having a healthy appetite and still waning to play... i assumed they were tape worms.

So yesterday i called around to 7 vets. The ones that could see her within a week, said that it was my states law that they wouldnt deworm her until she had her rabies vaccination, and they wouldnt give her that until she was 12 weeks old. So i went to a holistic petstore and bought proziquantel for kittens.

First of all... she was constipated for 12 hours... then.... when she finally pooped, she pooped in two sittings. The first one was just a dark brown diarrhea. But the second one, was just worms that looked like rice pudding. But i found it extremely strange because there was no trace whatsoever of poop in the worms. Just about a golf ball sized pile of live, wriggling worms in a clear fluid. Is that normal??

This now leads me to my main question. Now that im only feeding my kitten, and not the worms inside her belly, is it normal that her belly isnt becoming rock hard after she eats now? And is it also normal that she will still eat, but not as much? Im very confused because im not used to feeding her without the worms.

Last question now..... please dont assume that im starving her... but she will be 8 weeks old on monday and she only weighs 1 and a quarter pounds. I know thats underweiggt and i CAN feel her spine, but keep in mind.... she was born as 58 grams. Should i be worried? Im considering buying a high calorie gel that i mix with her food. What do you think?

This is her the day she was born...



And this is her today

Can someone please answer my question? I really cant wait toomych longer.

I hope someone answers soon. Your kitten is adorable and it's wonderful you are doing so much for her under such difficult circumstances. I wish I knew the answer to your questions. would it help to call the vet and ask?

ashleylynn said:

Can someone please answer my question? I really cant wait toomych longer.

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Maybe ask in the pregnant and kitten section. They might have better advice for your kitten.

ashleylynn said:

I couldnt be sure wht was causing her diarrhea, but based on her weightloss while still having a healthy appetite and still waning to play... i assumed they were tape worms.

So yesterday i called around to 7 vets. The ones that could see her within a week, said that it was my states law that they wouldnt deworm her until she had her rabies vaccination, and they wouldnt give her that until she was 12 weeks old. So i went to a holistic petstore and bought proziquantel for kittens.

First of all... she was constipated for 12 hours... then.... when she finally pooped, she pooped in two sittings. The first one was just a dark brown diarrhea. But the second one, was just worms that looked like rice pudding. But i found it extremely strange because there was no trace whatsoever of poop in the worms. Just about a golf ball sized pile of live, wriggling worms in a clear fluid. Is that normal??

This now leads me to my main question. Now that im only feeding my kitten, and not the worms inside her belly, is it normal that her belly isnt becoming rock hard after she eats now? And is it also normal that she will still eat, but not as much? Im very confused because im not used to feeding her without the worms.

Last question now..... please dont assume that im starving her... but she will be 8 weeks old on monday and she only weighs 1 and a quarter pounds. I know thats underweiggt and i CAN feel her spine, but keep in mind.... she was born as 58 grams. Should i be worried? Im considering buying a high calorie gel that i mix with her food. What do you think?

Click to expand...

First of all - I find it strange that no vet would deworm your kitten until after a rabies shot. Kitten are usually dewormed around 6-8 weeks old, before they're old enough for a rabies shot. Given the situation I think you did the best thing by getting the praziquantel yourself. However, that medicine only treats tapeworms. Young kittens, more often than not, have roundworms, and are usually treated with pyrantel. You may still need to get this for your kitty if the diarrhea doesn't stop after this. 

I've had the same experience of a pet pooping what seemed to be just tapeworms shortly after getting the worming meds. I don't know whether it's considered normal, but my dog seemed fine afterwards.

I don't think a rock hard belly after eating is normal. It's a good sign that it isn't happening any more, IMO.

She may very well not need as much food now that the tapeworm is gone, but it's also possible she isn't eating as much for some other reason. They can feel bad for a while after treatment sometimes, and that may be affecting her appetite. How much is she eating per day?

She may be underweight because of the worms, in which case, she will probably start gaining better now. The high calorie gel is probably a good idea to give her a boost.

AshleyLynn,

It's good that you dewormed for the tapeworms.  If you have not already, you will need to treat her for fleas, as that is how she gets tapeworms--by ingesting an infected flea.

As someone else said, she also should be dewormed for roundworms with a product called Pyrantel.  Most pet stores sell it under various names, but the active ingredient should be Pyrantel Pamoate.  It takes multiple doses to rid kitty of roundworms, so follow the instructions on the package.

Hopefully deworming will help with weight gain.  I am having issues with a kitten gaining weight as well.  A high-calorie supplement like Nutrical can help but ideally those calories should be coming from nutritious food, because she needs protein, fats, vitamins, etc as well as just calories.

Another thing to look into is a Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) test done by a vet.  FeLV is a contagious and usually fatal disease that can affect cats and sometimes is an issue in Failure to Thrive (FTT) or unthrifty kittens.

Because she was a stray, her chances of FeLV infection are higher.  How high generally depends on your geographic location.

Keep feeding her regularly--and remember if she continually has diarrhea, she is not getting the chance her system needs to absorb all the nutrients from her food.  If the diarrhea doesn't go away upon deworming rounds and tapes, a fecal exam from the vet can detect other parasites, like coccidia or giardia, whipworms or hookworms.   But also, because she never had the chance to nurse from her mom, she probably is having difficulty building up healthy gut flora to assist in digestion.  A probiotic and/or prebiotic supplement can help.  I usually give live-culture yoghurt in small amounts, the plain flavor, mixed in with wet (canned) food.

That she has come this far means you are doing a great job.  Many bottle-fed orphans don't make it past 2-3 weeks if that.  My two little fosters right now are also bottle babies and one is doing great with weight gain but the other is struggling.  It does happen.

Do make sure though she is clear of fleas because otherwise she can become anemic, also reinfested with tapes.

Just curious, how is this little sweetie doing?