7 month female kitten coughing, sneezing, coughing up white chunks, blood on poop

Hi, we recently adopted 2 kittens who are 7 months old now. They have been sneezing the whole time we've known them-- dude at the shelter repeatedly ignored us when we asked what was wrong with them but we adopted them because we love them. Anyway, when we took them to get spayed, the vet told us the kitty I am writing about had blood in her stool. They did the fecal test for parasites and found nothing. 

Later, I decide to try to start feeding them raw food. There are some frozen chicken breasts in the freezer and we don't want them, so I dice them up tiny for the cats and defrost and serve it to them. I didn't really measure the portions because I thought you were supposed to feed kittens as much as they want, which I now know is wrong thanks to the vet telling me. Never left the raw food out or anything but I might have given them too much. The one kitty started to have red blood on her poop and red drops on the side of the litter box. We took her to the vet (EXACTLY ONE WEEK AGO) and they could not find anything wrong with her. They didn't even notice her sneeze despite the fact I told them. They gave metronidazole, profender, and Prescription Diet. They told us not to feed anything but that for the next 5 days.

We fed them that and the blood seemed to lessen... but then the kitty started to cough and cough and cough... I had seen her cough before and it scared the hell out of me. She coughed up a bunch of clear liquid and a white chunk came out......... even though she had JUST eaten a bowl of brown food.

I opened the chunk and it was not a hairball. It was like the consistency of a slightly cooked potato. There were a couple of hairs in it but mostly potato-like substance. Then I remembered I had found an identical chunk on the floor way back when we adopted them, one of the first days.

Now I see the blood drop on the side of the litter box again and there is a drop of blood on her anus.

What is wrong with my kitty? I love her so much. I want to take her to the vet again but I have to save my money.... I feel so horrible that I don't have the money right now. Help?

I can't edit my post? Man the pressure of that really gets to me... anyway I was gonna add, they are both sneezing, seems like the sneezing and coughing has increased...

I feel so silly making 3 posts by myself on my own thread but I'm just worried and looking for any input..... I guess what is really freaking me out is that I saw her cough and sneeze a few hours ago, then she was being really loud making a lot of meows and chirping noises and... I kinda felt like she was not being her normal self... and I do have a feel for her normal behavior because I am usually home. I mean I guess she does run around and play fight with her sister, but seemed like she was being 3x more vocal and jumpy. The blood poop was during this time so I wondered if she was in pain. I saw her poop, she didn't make a sound or do anything unusual.

Please any input would be appreciated. I just noticed her front paws are white and dusty!!!!!!!!??????!!!!! Could it be from clay litter? I have never cleaned the floor with anything other than dish soap since we got them. I used to use grapefruit essential oil in water but now I don't because citrus is bad for cats..... is the old oils hurting her? There wasn't an excessive amount and it was a long time ago.....

I hope someone else will have more feedback about the health concerns.

What kind of cat litter are you using? It does sound like it might be too dusty.

Second, you are not feeding a balanced diet! Your cats may also have a chicken allergy. If you are going to feed raw, you must add in a nutritional supplement like u-stew. Feeding raw meat is not sufficient and actually quite dangerous.

Kittens should eat as much as they want. Not sure what your vet told you.

Definitely change the litter to a clumping type that has less dust. Make sure they are getting enough fresh water to drink so they aren't straining. If it was my cats I would go to a good quality canned cat food for a while (remember too, absolutely no milk or milk products, cats are lactose intolerant as they get older.) Feed kittens up to one year old as much and as often as they will eat. See if any of this will help. You may not have got an answer right away because of time differences, so you are right to keep posting to bring your post back up to the top. I hope an expert will come on to answer you, good luck!

talkingpeanut said:

I hope someone else will have more feedback about the health concerns.

What kind of cat litter are you using? It does sound like it might be too dusty.

Second, you are not feeding a balanced diet! Your cats may also have a chicken allergy. If you are going to feed raw, you must add in a nutritional supplement like u-stew. Feeding raw meat is not sufficient and actually quite dangerous.

Kittens should eat as much as they want. Not sure what your vet told you.

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I am using the Special Kitty Natural Clay from Walmart... it has some pine litter mixed in. We have been trying to switch to pine since I wondered if the clay litter is the cause of some of the symptoms: the sneezing and the chunk she coughed up could have been from the dust on her fur. I noticed they sneeze when they are in the litter. Switch to pine blending too fast resulted in pee on blankets in one of their cardboard boxes and they have never eliminated in the wrong place before so I am only adding a little bit of pine. We want to try wheat now...

Don't worry I am no longer feeding them the raw chicken. And I was never feeding them only that, they got wet food too. I knew that if I was going to get them eating raw long term I would have to add something to the meat to make up for bone nutrients.

I stopped giving them the chicken when I saw the blood, vet and I figured a diet change could have to do with it.

Ok so chicken allergy is a thing? Ok maybe they have that. I give them a chicken in juices type of wet food because I read that seafood is addictive for them... what do y'all think is the healthiest wet cat food?

Also when I did give them fancy feast seafood pate..... is it just me or did their poop look just like the food??? We don't get that for them anymore...

Yeah I have heard what you are saying from more sources. But when I asked her to confirm that you can't overfeed a kitten, she said "you can overfeed anything."..  

Find a new vet. Dismissing symptoms of a possible infectious disease is a sign of a bad vet (I always research them thoroughly online first, paying close attention to reviews). Sounds like your kitties need testing for common infectious diseases. Deworming a second time, even if fecal is negative, would likely be a good idea, too (but consult with a vet first). 

Echoing what's already been said, kittens can't be overfed. Another sign of a bad vet.

Di and Bob said:

 
Definitely change the litter to a clumping type that has less dust. Make sure they are getting enough fresh water to drink so they aren't straining. If it was my cats I would go to a good quality canned cat food for a while (remember too, absolutely no milk or milk products, cats are lactose intolerant as they get older.) Feed kittens up to one year old as much and as often as they will eat. See if any of this will help. You may not have got an answer right away because of time differences, so you are right to keep posting to bring your post back up to the top. I hope an expert will come on to answer you, good luck!

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Ok... I have heard scary things about clumping litter though like it fills their digestive tract and kills them...

Oh yeah I serve their food with lots of water for that reason... I don't think they love the watery cat food but they drink it to get to the good stuff that settles to the bottom. And they have a water fountain. I don't see them drink from it very often, but every once in a while they do.

Yeah I know it says everywhere you should feed kittens up to 1 as much as they will eat, I don't know why she acted like it was weird I thought that... but actually I am watching the kitty in question right now. She has eaten all of her food and is now eating her sister's. She is the smaller one but she ALWAYS stays eating when her sister is long gone from the food. She is always voracious. You sure she isn't overeating? Should I separate them when feeding them? I don't think her staying at the food has to do with being aggressive over food, I see no signs of aggression while eating and they get plenty. The only time I have ever heard growling over food was when I first gave them raw chicken and they were going nuts for it.

Thanks for the input 

Thank you both 

Would appreciate anything y'all or anyone has to say

the3rdname said:

 
Find a new vet. Dismissing symptoms of a possible infectious disease is a sign of a bad vet (I always research them thoroughly online first, paying close attention to reviews). Sounds like your kitties need testing for common infectious diseases. Deworming a second time, even if fecal is negative, would likely be a good idea, too (but consult with a vet first). 

Echoing what's already been said, kittens can't be overfed. Another sign of a bad vet.

Click to expand...

Oh yeah we have found a new vet, much closer location too. Thanks for the advice

fufpaw said:

Ok... I have heard scary things about clumping litter though like it fills their digestive tract and kills them...

Oh yeah I serve their food with lots of water for that reason... I don't think they love the watery cat food but they drink it to get to the good stuff that settles to the bottom. And they have a water fountain. I don't see them drink from it very often, but every once in a while they do.

Yeah I know it says everywhere you should feed kittens up to 1 as much as they will eat, I don't know why she acted like it was weird I thought that... but actually I am watching the kitty in question right now. She has eaten all of her food and is now eating her sister's. She is the smaller one but she ALWAYS stays eating when her sister is long gone from the food. She is always voracious. You sure she isn't overeating? Should I separate them when feeding them? I don't think her staying at the food has to do with being aggressive over food, I see no signs of aggression while eating and they get plenty. The only time I have ever heard growling over food was when I first gave them raw chicken and they were going nuts for it.

Thanks for the input :heart4:

Thank you both :heart4:

Would appreciate anything y'all or anyone has to say

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From what you are saying, it sounds like like she still has a parasite.

Clumping litter is only a problem when they are very young and might be inclined to taste the litter.

talkingpeanut said:

From what you are saying, it sounds like like she still has a parasite.

Clumping litter is only a problem when they are very young and might be inclined to taste the litter.

Click to expand...

The fact that she is eating way more than her sister but is still skinny while her sister is larger? I had been wondering lately since I've been noticing it every time we feed them...

fufpaw said:

The fact that she is eating way more than her sister but is still skinny while her sister is larger? I had been wondering lately since I've been noticing it every time we feed them...

Click to expand...

Yes. It doesn't sound like she's getting all of the nutrients she's ingesting. Also the bloody stool. She really needs to go to the vet.

Yes they're going to the vet. We are calling them first thing tomorrow.

One more symptom that I will also be telling the vet. I just cleaned a black booger out of her eye. They have had them the entire time we have known them.

And another thing I don't think I mentioned: they are both energetic, but a lot of the time when we are playing with the toys that consist of a stick with a string and something on the end of the string she doesn't get as into it as her sister and often sits back and lets her sister do the work... we end up bouncing it by her but I guess she's like "nah it's my sister's kill". but maybe she just doesn't like those type of toys? Because she does like to "kill" a cloth ball and a feather mouse toy and she does end up killing and eating a lot of moths, but we have never seen her sister kill anything. 

Oh yeah and only the one kitty eats and gnaws on cardboard boxes a lot... we have gotten rid of the ones with labels but do leave boxes for them to sit in.

Hi guys... I wanna update this in case anyone has any insight for me, or anyone reading this whose cat is going through something similar.

We took them to a different vet 2 days after my last post. They did another fecal test and it was still negative. I told everything, I know because I brought a list. They really asked questions and tried to help but they could not find anything wrong with her. Said the sniffles is probably a form of herpes and the cats will always have it. They gave us probiotics to try to help their digestive health...

They couldn't relate the coughed up chunks to anything... I guess there is nothing I can do about that unless she does it again and I collect the sample.

She did not stop having a bit of blood in her poop at least some of the time. I am so scared because tonight she pooped a soft stool all covered in mucus and red blood and it was all over her butt, all slimy and red. She stank and there was no way her efforts to lick it were going anywhere so we had to give her a bath.

I will take her to the vet again when I can but I don't think they will say anything different... I feel terrible that I don't know how to help her. I am so worried about her. If anyone has any advice we would appreciate it 

Apparently according to google cats can't get hemorrhoids so it's not that... So worried about her

Is there a University Vet clinic anywhere in your area? They generally have some of the best specialists and equipment. Hard to give a good education to students otherwise. Mine is 150 miles away, but worth the drive. In my experience, their prices really weren't any higher than most local vets.

It's hard to imagine not having a diagnosis, driving blind.