Kitten lethargic, not eating well and biting

treelet · Aug 5, 2016

We rescued a stray kitten and the vet estimated that she's about 1 month old. He said we can feed her homecooked chicken or fish. I bought pet food that's suitable for kittens at that age and she usually eats with a very open appetite.

Today she hasn't been eating as much, keeps lying down with arms and legs spread, and occasionally bites my hand. Her stomach also looks enlarged. She also hasn't been burying her poops when she used to originally.

She was lethargic and breathing heavily a few days ago, but the vet said nothing was wrong with her. I don't know if I trust him.

Does this picture look normal to you? Should the above symptoms concern me? Could it be teething?

foxxycat · Aug 5, 2016

can you get some KMR? Kitten milk replacement? I would start bottle feeding this. you can also mash the canned food up good and add water and try to syringe feed it but usually kittens don't wean off milk until 5 or 6 weeks. it may be too early to start solids.

you can use plain unflavored pedialyte. (sp?) you can mix it 50/50 with the powdered formula. Stay away from Hartz and Sargeant or other grocery store brands of formula.

- preferably KMR in powder made by PetAg, there are other good brands too alike GNC or Royal Canins, - goats milk is another thing you can try....

small needleless syringes of 1-1,5 ml, to give them food (tummy down, head up, diagonally up - in the corner of the mouth, drop wise so you are sure they swallow properly. we don't want them to inhale the formula.

also you can try this incase the bottle doesn't work. you can get some small sponges for example such make-up sponges - some kitten has easier to suckle from such a sponge. and soak the sponge with the syringe of formula and then she can try to suckle off the sponge if she is too weak to lap the food from a dish.

ginny · Aug 5, 2016

The picture didn't come through. Has she pooped since she has eaten? she needs complete nutrition, not just home cooked meats, so if that's what the vet hold you I wouldn't trust him either.

ginny · Aug 5, 2016

Meant to say also that if he thought a lethargic kitten was fine that's also a reason not to trust him. Can you get a 2nd opinion?

StefanZ · Aug 5, 2016

Treelet said:
We rescued a stray kitten and the vet estimated that she's about 1 month old. He said we can feed her homecooked chicken or fish. I bought pet food that's suitable for kittens at that age and she usually eats with a very open appetite.

Today she hasn't been eating as much, keeps lying down with arms and legs spread, and occasionally bites my hand. Her stomach also looks enlarged. She also hasn't been burying her poops when she used to originally.

She was lethargic and breathing heavily a few days ago, but the vet said nothing was wrong with her. I don't know if I trust him.

Does this picture look normal to you? Should the above symptoms concern me? Could it be teething?

Agreeing with the others, it sounds as she is more than 1 month.

What country are you in, because the vet didnt recommend you what is the most natural here, ie a good kmr?

Can you get hold of goats milk? Goats milk is always OK, either as emergency kmr for small kittens, or supplement feeding for older cats.

We do not recommend cow milk, unless in some very exceptional cicrumstances.

Although buffalo milk seems OK.

Can you get glucose sugar? Brand names may be dextrose or glucose. If you cant, honey is OK, it contains quite some glucose.

Easiest to use it as thick honey water....

OK, you can add a little honey water to her food. Or if she gets lethargic, smear some on her lips and gum - glucose sugar goes into blood directly from the mouth, it doenst need to be digested at first.

Be sure she is warm - ie have a heating pad if its chilly. If its very hot, try to chill the room some....

The weak and sick tend to always be freezing, so if in doubt see she has it warm...

Please continue to report and ask questions.

treelet · Aug 5, 2016

The vet took some liquid from her tummmy and said ahe had feline infectious peritonitis, which is fatal. He said to feed her regular yoghurt with honey. Should I listen to him? She'll be getting daily injections for about a week. How can I ease her suffering in her last days? :

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20160805_165026.jpg

treelet
Aug 5, 2016

treelet · Aug 5, 2016

treelet · Aug 5, 2016

foxxycat said:
can you get some KMR? Kitten milk replacement? I would start bottle feeding this. you can also mash the canned food up good and add water and try to syringe feed it but usually kittens don't wean off milk until 5 or 6 weeks. it may be too early to start solids.

you can use plain unflavored pedialyte. (sp?) you can mix it 50/50 with the powdered formula. Stay away from Hartz and Sargeant or other grocery store brands of formula.

- preferably KMR in powder made by PetAg, there are other good brands too alike GNC or Royal Canins, - goats milk is another thing you can try....

small needleless syringes of 1-1,5 ml, to give them food (tummy down, head up, diagonally up - in the corner of the mouth, drop wise so you are sure they swallow properly. we don't want them to inhale the formula.

also you can try this incase the bottle doesn't work. you can get some small sponges for example such make-up sponges - some kitten has easier to suckle from such a sponge. and soak the sponge with the syringe of formula and then she can try to suckle off the sponge if she is too weak to lap the food from a dish.

The vet said she has Feline Infectious Peritonitis. He said I should feed her yoghurt and honey. Any idea if that's sound advice? What can I feed her to ease her suffering? She refuses to eat.

misty8723 · Aug 5, 2016

Oh no! I have been through that with a kitty, I hate FIP with a red hot passion. Whatever the vet said, I think feed her whatever you can get her to eat. We had a special vet food we were feeding our kitty (hand feeding her, syringe feeding her, whatever we could get her to take) and all the treats she wanted. Toward the end she was only eating treats. It's my opinion that the goal is to make her as comfortable as humanly possible for her last days, and I don't suppose trying the yogurt and honey would hurt any. I am just so sad reading this, and she is so beautiful.

treelet · Aug 5, 2016

ginny · Aug 5, 2016

Gosh I'm so sorry! It breaks my heart too....poor baby! She sure is a pretty girl. Bless her. You could try what the others have said and see if she will eat. But if not, then it might be time for her.

It's so unfair that little ones like this get just a few weeks here on this earth.

StefanZ · Aug 5, 2016

Treelet said:
The vet said she has Feline Infectious Peritonitis. He said I should feed her yoghurt and honey. Any idea if that's sound advice? What can I feed her to ease her suffering? She refuses to eat.

Plain mild full fat youghurt with a little honey in is a good advice. Also, if the medicines she gets is antibiotica, its even extra wise to give her some youghurt as a sort of probiotics. Standard recommendation when you get an antibiotics cure, no?.

If you cant get goat milk, sheep milk should be OK. Raw from healthy, taken in hygienically, is even better than the usual bought pasterized.

But it surprizes me a little you cant get goats milk even in processed form. Here in Sweden the safest way to find cartooned goats milk is in shops owned by immigrants from the arabic countries...

We dont recommend cow milk, but lactose free full fat milk is of course less bad than the regular cow milk...

You mention some food she ate earlier? What was it? If there is some OK food she did ate, and now she refuses to eat, its better she eats what she can eat, then her being refusing the new tries...

You can make some basic pedialyte by mixing honey water, salt, and clean water, boil it up, let cool down to room temp... Its Ok for both cats and humans.

As the salt source, you can use a bottle of mineral water - they usually do contain lotsa of different salts. You see it on the label.

Give her this pedialyte as much it takes. Its a live savior in many situations,

IF its FIP for real, and not just what the vet though as an easy explanation, its bad, and her chances of survival not good. Kittens die from it even here in Sweden and USA, with access to good vets. I dont know the survival rate, but it cant be high.

Your real hope is he took wrong - which happens. On the other side, him testing the liquid from the tummy, is the usual way to diagnostize FIP....

darkhorse321 · Aug 6, 2016

Oooh!! I am so sorry!! We had a kitty who had what they thougj was fip but ended up being somethkng else. Can she get lain meds? Anything to relive discomfort. Anti nauseant and appetite stimulant. Likely the pressure is making her tummy upset. Hugs to you!!

StefanZ · Aug 6, 2016

darkhorse321 said:
Oooh!! I am so sorry!! We had a kitty who had what they thougj was fip but ended up being somethkng else. Can she get lain meds? Anything to relive discomfort. Anti nauseant and appetite stimulant. Likely the pressure is making her tummy upset. Hugs to you!!

you mean pain medicines? "pain-killers"?

ginny · Aug 6, 2016

Yes, I would think that buprenorphine would be appropriate for the little kitty for pain relief.

ginny · Aug 6, 2016

Does anyone know if vet schools are actively trying to find out a decent treatment that cures FIP - as well as all other incurable diseases? I suspect not, sadly. We all know that the cure for human cancer has been an abysmal failure, nevertheless those organizations continue to thrive quite well.

ginny · Aug 6, 2016

darkhorse321 said:
Oooh!! I am so sorry!! We had a kitty who had what they thougj was fip but ended up being somethkng else. Can she get lain meds? Anything to relive discomfort. Anti nauseant and appetite stimulant. Likely the pressure is making her tummy upset. Hugs to you!!

Do you remember what that something else was? Diagnoses can be wrong, so this gives me a bit of hope. How accurate are the tests for FIP anyway? She said fluid was drawn off the kitten's belly. Could that diagnosis be wrong?

Sarthur2 · Aug 6, 2016

T treelet

This is so sad, but it is the age when FIP (feline coronavirus) strikes in kittens. She has the wet form, which progresses rapidly. It is indeed fatal.

Unfortunately, the kindest thing you can do at this point is to euthanize her so that she is no longer in pain. She is having no quality of life at this point anyway. Again, I'm sorry for you and your kitten.

Please post an update.

treelet · Aug 6, 2016

StefanZ said:
Plain mild full fat youghurt with a little honey in is a good advice. Also, if the medicines she gets is antibiotica, its even extra wise to give her some youghurt as a sort of probiotics. Standard recommendation when you get an antibiotics cure, no?.

If you cant get goat milk, sheep milk should be OK. Raw from healthy, taken in hygienically, is even better than the usual bought pasterized.

But it surprizes me a little you cant get goats milk even in processed form. Here in Sweden the safest way to find cartooned goats milk is in shops owned by immigrants from the arabic countries...

We dont recommend cow milk, but lactose free full fat milk is of course less bad than the regular cow milk...

You mention some food she ate earlier? What was it? If there is some OK food she did ate, and now she refuses to eat, its better she eats what she can eat, then her being refusing the new tries...

You can make some basic pedialyte by mixing honey water, salt, and clean water, boil it up, let cool down to room temp... Its Ok for both cats and humans.

As the salt source, you can use a bottle of mineral water - they usually do contain lotsa of different salts. You see it on the label.

Give her this pedialyte as much it takes. Its a live savior in many situations,

IF its FIP for real, and not just what the vet though as an easy explanation, its bad, and her chances of survival not good. Kittens die from it even here in Sweden and USA, with access to good vets. I dont know the survival rate, but it cant be high.

Your real hope is he took wrong - which happens. On the other side, him testing the liquid from the tummy, is the usual way to diagnostize FIP....

Thanks a lot for the detailed response. I really appreciate it.

She has been completely refusing the yoghurt with honey, even when bottle fed. She likes this product. The one I have isn't exactly the same because it says kittens aged 1 month can take it:

https://www.whiskas.co.uk/our-products/care-and-treats/whiskas-kitten-milky-treats-2-12-months-55g

Over all, the amount of food she takes isn't worth mentioning, and her poops looks really small and strange. They have a bit of a reddish color and look like flesh.

She barely moves but on rare occasions does stand up and come sit close to me. It's so out of character. It's seriously breaking my heart.

treelet · Aug 6, 2016

darkhorse321 said:
Oooh!! I am so sorry!! We had a kitty who had what they thougj was fip but ended up being somethkng else. Can she get lain meds? Anything to relive discomfort. Anti nauseant and appetite stimulant. Likely the pressure is making her tummy upset. Hugs to you!!

What was the other diagnosis? That gives me a little bit of hope, although she looks really, really sick.

Kitten lethargic, not eating well and biting

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