Dear all,
I have a kitten (dobby) of 3months that I'm suspecting has gotten a stroke yesterday and is in very poor condition, below is the complete history and story hopefully someone can give me advice on the situation.
Dobby was adopted online at 2months old along with Smily from the same healthy litter, they were in good health and condition when arrived, no vaccinations given.
A week after these two rascals came into my family, a friend who knew I was wanting to adopt told me he had found two strays and needed to send them away as he had no time to take care of them, so I took them in as well. These two strays were separated from their mother from birth and have been surviving on terrible food and living conditions from my friends house before I took them in. They are just over a month old.
It's nearly been a month now that all 4 kittens are with me and so far apart from dobby, the other 3 seems lively and eating well. Most of them have a diarrhoea problem sometimes with traces of blood, also a lot of eye discharge and irritation. I'm pretty sure they all have ear mites. Non of them have been vaccinated yet as some are too small and others are sometimes unwell. As I am currently living in China, the general cat health care vets are really expansive and of the times I've been, they don't seem to know anything about cats! Not sure if they even have licenses as they don't even seem to know how to properly handle a cat.
Anyway back to dobby! Before the suspected stroke, he already has pretty bad ringworms with his tail, areas around paws, tip of head all balding. I have been applying a Chinese medicine paste that many Chinese online users said was very effective against ringworms. Dobby would wear a cone to prevent licking and was isolated to prevent spreading to the others. He also has diarrhoea sometimes, eye mucus and irritatings. During this time, he was eating and drinking well.
Roughly 3days ago he decreased his appetite and then 2 days ago threw up twice before stop eating altogether. Because of this, I stopped applying the paste for the ringworms and removed his head cone as I was unsure if he could have gotten chemical poisoning even if he didn't lick it. Yesterday morning I finally found him crawled up in the outside balcony sink. All the cats never go there at all and there is only a very tiny hole at the back to allow water to drain. I managed to drag him out but by then he was already twitching badly, with no control of his legs and arms, drenched in dirty water. It's hot summer here, and he could have been in that dark and damp environment for hours. I could see the ringworms and ear mites have been spreading uncontrollably overnight. When I got him out, he was already lifeless and having seizures. I could only guess that he went in there to die and really expected him to pass that day. His legs, belly, ear and head was soaked with dirty water, was completed lifeless and was twitching really badly. I immediately started to force feed him powdered cat milk, about 4ml every two hours and gave him a bit of cleaning. By that night, he was able to lick the milk in his mouth but was still unable to move or open his eyes. Today, he opened his eyes but look completely out of it, sort of able to stand but had no balance or coordination and would just walk into the wall and stay there. I have continued to force feed him. Tried to get him to use the toilet but no response.
Being in a society where cat welfare is non existent and vets are completely useless, I hope I could get proper advice from this community to help save dobby!
Questions I really hope to get answered are:
Is this likely to be a stroke, chemical poisoning or something else.
Whatever the cause is, what is the next cause of action if full recovery is possible.
If it is stroke, is a full recovery possible?
How do I get him to pass his waste.
Is there any hope he will self drink water and eat food as before, if unlikely, what should I force feed him with if milk isn't the most ideal food and water source?
If he continues to recover, when should I give him his vaccinations and a much need bath?
Thanks for taking the time to read this!
Robin
I have a kitten (dobby) of 3months that I'm suspecting has gotten a stroke yesterday and is in very poor condition, below is the complete history and story hopefully someone can give me advice on the situation.
Dobby was adopted online at 2months old along with Smily from the same healthy litter, they were in good health and condition when arrived, no vaccinations given.
A week after these two rascals came into my family, a friend who knew I was wanting to adopt told me he had found two strays and needed to send them away as he had no time to take care of them, so I took them in as well. These two strays were separated from their mother from birth and have been surviving on terrible food and living conditions from my friends house before I took them in. They are just over a month old.
It's nearly been a month now that all 4 kittens are with me and so far apart from dobby, the other 3 seems lively and eating well. Most of them have a diarrhoea problem sometimes with traces of blood, also a lot of eye discharge and irritation. I'm pretty sure they all have ear mites. Non of them have been vaccinated yet as some are too small and others are sometimes unwell. As I am currently living in China, the general cat health care vets are really expansive and of the times I've been, they don't seem to know anything about cats! Not sure if they even have licenses as they don't even seem to know how to properly handle a cat.
Anyway back to dobby! Before the suspected stroke, he already has pretty bad ringworms with his tail, areas around paws, tip of head all balding. I have been applying a Chinese medicine paste that many Chinese online users said was very effective against ringworms. Dobby would wear a cone to prevent licking and was isolated to prevent spreading to the others. He also has diarrhoea sometimes, eye mucus and irritatings. During this time, he was eating and drinking well.
Roughly 3days ago he decreased his appetite and then 2 days ago threw up twice before stop eating altogether. Because of this, I stopped applying the paste for the ringworms and removed his head cone as I was unsure if he could have gotten chemical poisoning even if he didn't lick it. Yesterday morning I finally found him crawled up in the outside balcony sink. All the cats never go there at all and there is only a very tiny hole at the back to allow water to drain. I managed to drag him out but by then he was already twitching badly, with no control of his legs and arms, drenched in dirty water. It's hot summer here, and he could have been in that dark and damp environment for hours. I could see the ringworms and ear mites have been spreading uncontrollably overnight. When I got him out, he was already lifeless and having seizures. I could only guess that he went in there to die and really expected him to pass that day. His legs, belly, ear and head was soaked with dirty water, was completed lifeless and was twitching really badly. I immediately started to force feed him powdered cat milk, about 4ml every two hours and gave him a bit of cleaning. By that night, he was able to lick the milk in his mouth but was still unable to move or open his eyes. Today, he opened his eyes but look completely out of it, sort of able to stand but had no balance or coordination and would just walk into the wall and stay there. I have continued to force feed him. Tried to get him to use the toilet but no response.
Being in a society where cat welfare is non existent and vets are completely useless, I hope I could get proper advice from this community to help save dobby!
Questions I really hope to get answered are:
Is this likely to be a stroke, chemical poisoning or something else.
Whatever the cause is, what is the next cause of action if full recovery is possible.
If it is stroke, is a full recovery possible?
How do I get him to pass his waste.
Is there any hope he will self drink water and eat food as before, if unlikely, what should I force feed him with if milk isn't the most ideal food and water source?
If he continues to recover, when should I give him his vaccinations and a much need bath?
Thanks for taking the time to read this!
Robin