Kitten in poor health - advice needed

spookylark

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Hi :)

We recently got a kitten by responding to an online advert. The advert and the phonecall to the woman made it sound like she really knew what she was doing, and said the kittens were all flea and worm treated etc.

When we got there it was completely different to what I imagined, and I'm concerned about the lovely, beautiful kitten I bought home.

She is quite underweight, and after letting her play on a white surface today, she has a lot of little brown flecks falling off her which I assume are flea faeces :(

She is so so sweet and friendly but I'm worried about her. I can't afford to take her to the vet until Wednesday, and Im not happy with the amount of food she is eating, although she is eating and drinking.

Can any exprienced cat owners advise us how to feed her enough to gain weight, and if there is anything we can do about the fleas until the day after tomorrow? She is so lovely I want her to be the healthiest and happiest she can be :(
 

Sarthur2

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Welcome! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

How old is the kitten?

You can comb her with a flea comb, dipping the comb in a bowl of warm water with dish soap added. This will drown the fleas. She will still need a proper flea treatment on Wednesday though. Perhaps a tube of Advantage II.

What are you feeding her? How much is she currently eating? Kittens need dry kitten chow available 24/7, and 3-4 wet food meals a day, using a pate-style wet food. You may need to try different flavors to see what she prefers.

Perhaps the kitten needs more time to adjust to her new enviroment. The upcoming vet check will be heloful.
 
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sues8cats

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Good morning from PA  I've dealt with this lots.  Unfortunately, I've also lost many barn kittens to anemia caused by fleas.  When small, you can't use Advantage II flea treatment, which is my treatment of choice for dogs and cats and older kittens.  What I did was wash little ones in blue Dawn dish soap then combed off as many as I could (after drying them thoroughly)  Kittens cant generate their own body heat so make sure they get dried right away.  I used towels and a hair dryer at the barn.  I washed & rinsed in warm water brought from the house.  ​Can you keep her in one room?  Don't mind the italics... I accidently hit it on my keyboard.  Try to keep fleas in one area and not through out the house.  At the barn, I dusted them with DE. Earth, you can find it at a feed store.  or try feeding garlic & brewers yeast.  Fleas don't like the taste.  When I bring home sick kittens from the barn, I start them on KMR formula either in a bottle or in a dish... usually the kittens are lapping water before I can get them from mother so they can lap formula too. 

That helps put weight back on & moisten kitten chow if they can't chew.  Most can tho.   Good Luck!  I hope some of this helped 
 

talkingpeanut

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Good morning from PA  I've dealt with this lots.  Unfortunately, I've also lost many barn kittens to anemia caused by fleas.  When small, you can't use Advantage II flea treatment, which is my treatment of choice for dogs and cats and older kittens.  What I did was wash little ones in blue Dawn dish soap then combed off as many as I could (after drying them thoroughly)  Kittens cant generate their own body heat so make sure they get dried right away.  I used towels and a hair dryer at the barn.  I washed & rinsed in warm water brought from the house.  ​Can you keep her in one room?  Don't mind the italics... I accidently hit it on my keyboard.  Try to keep fleas in one area and not through out the house.  At the barn, I dusted them with DE. Earth, you can find it at a feed store.  or try feeding garlic & brewers yeast.  Fleas don't like the taste.  When I bring home sick kittens from the barn, I start them on KMR formula either in a bottle or in a dish... usually the kittens are lapping water before I can get them from mother so they can lap formula too. 
That helps put weight back on & moisten kitten chow if they can't chew.  Most can tho.   Good Luck!  I hope some of this helped 

You have some good advice here, but please never feed garlic to your cat! It is toxic.
 

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Hi SpookyLark, Doesn’t sound like you have a lot to worry about since she is playing, eating and drinking. I do agree to get her treated for fleas by a vet as soon as possible, before it will lead to nasty allergies or anemia.

Give her as much food as she will eat at this point, but at set times. Dry food can be out at all times but may lead to overweight eventually. Try good quality food, foods that have no carbohydrates in them, except for rice or corn, but lots of real meat. Look for the same in dry food. There are some very good brands that will do dry kitty food without sugar (carbs).

Keep up the daily play sessions if she is an only cat especially, so she won't get bored. Let us know how she is doing!
 
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spookylark

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Hi all,

Thanks so much for all of the advice! And while I will heed most of yours Sues8cats, I think I will skip the garlic just in case :)

Since I live in England can I just clarify a few things? Is Dawn dish soap like Fairy liquid that you hand wash dishes witb or is there another equivalent? And will she be okay with it on her fur?

Also with her eating Sarthur2 thats good to hear as thats exactly what we got her. I am currently attempting to feed her Lily's Kitchen kitten trays and leave out a dry food called AVA; both are grain free and have a decent meat content, but she is not eating as much as she should be even for a normal weight kitten :( She is 11 weeks by the way.

My partner told me to be patient with her weight gain but I'm worried she will fall even further behind. Do you think she will eat more as she grows more comfortable? Should I add anything to what Im giving her? She only eata a decent amount of food when I hand feed her, but while she loves the wet she has only eaten about 5g of dry since we got her! I was hoping she would be eating at lwast 2 trays a day plus nibbling dry but its not happening yet :/ Maybe I'm worrying too much?!
 
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spookylark

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Also about keeping her in on room, we got her on Saturday an. So far have kept her in our large bedroom with us which has worked really well, but when our toddler is awake she prefers to stay on the half of our room that she can't get to, but today has gone downstairs, which is child free at all times. I wanted her to have that space, but should I keep hwr in our room for now?

Also she has some odd tendencies, when she is up close to us she ia very friendly and loves to be stroked, but when we leave the room and come back she is very nervous suddenly. Is this normal?
 

Sarthur2

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You've only had her for 48 hours, so she needs to be with you as much as possible. Kittens need companionship. If she likes the wet food, give her as much of that as she wants for now. She will eat dry between meals when she gets hungry. She will relax more in the coming days. She may also be a shy kitten personality-wise.

Your fairy soap is fine to use. We'd love to see a picture when you get a chance! [emoji]128571[/emoji]
 

StefanZ

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Also about keeping her in on room, we got her on Saturday an. So far have kept her in our large bedroom with us which has worked really well, but when our toddler is awake she prefers to stay on the half of our room that she can't get to, but today has gone downstairs, which is child free at all times. I wanted her to have that space, but should I keep hwr in our room for now?

Also she has some odd tendencies, when she is up close to us she ia very friendly and loves to be stroked, but when we leave the room and come back she is very nervous suddenly. Is this normal?
I want to add, you can always use full fat goats milk as supplement. Cow milk isnt safe, but goats milk is.  Almost any brand is OK, bottled, powdered etc, as long its at least 2,8%.  No funny dietary variations.  Raw is good, if you can find it (and of course, good hygienical conditions)

Having a raw egg yolk with her food now and then is very nourishing.

Good you are going to the vet for check up, properly deworming etc.

She will need a dewormer both for the usual round worms, and also for tapeworms - because fleas are in between hosts for tapeworms.

And defleaser.

Milbomax in an good british brand.  Drontal is a good continetal brand for the usual worms mentioned.   Or take what the vet suggests.

Garlic mentioned.  Its true, garlic and most others from this family of "bulb-roots" are poisoneous for cats.  Although garlic is probably not that highly poisonous as people thinks.  Not in mini barely traceable amounts.

As there are quality cat foods which has garlic flavor...

I think its almost as with chokolade.  It IS poisonous for cats and dogs, but small try out the taste amounts of milk chokolad seems harmless.  But why take any risks if there are safe alternatives?

So the real danger is perhaps not if you are giving a carefully measured dose, but the danger is they get used to it, and find fancy in garlic or chokolade -  and when alone find a cake of chokolade leaved alone....  Then you do have trouble, and there is no effective antidote either.   Just to try and survive, or die a long and painful death...
 
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spookylark

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Hi all,

Thanks again for all your help, and an egg yolk is a good idea!

I will upload a picture of her when I get a chance :) She is settling in more now, and is eating more which I am happy about. And the egg yolk thing is a good idea!

I have actually decided to make her own food, since Lily's kitchen is so expensive anyway. Does anyone know if the premix called Felini Complete is any good? Its the only one I can easily get from Zooplus, there dont seem to be many in the UK :(
 
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