New fosters - Medley & Moby - Advice welcome

catwoman707 said:

 
It's always best to hold off on any vaccines until there are no signs of possible illness. Likely won't be more than the eyes but that is due to her system making sure not to be invaded by their virus, so yes, I would hold off.

You just don't want to go more than 5 weeks in between vaccines during the kitten series of 3 consecutive.

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I was wondering how much time I had between shots. The first series was on November 15th, so that would be December 20th at the latest. I'm going to try and get an appointment on Monday 19th, just to be safe, if that's not cutting it too close. I'll see with the vet tomorrow.

 Originally Posted by catwoman707  

What darling boys, just want to squeeze them

Notice the dilated pupils? That's their feral look

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All I want to do is scoop them up and cover them in kisses, which is the last thing I should do! Why are they so cute??

I thought the pupils could be because they were feral, but I wasn't sure. I know they were "fed" by gas station employees, mostly french fries from what I was told. So they did get to see humans, but didn't interact much. Medley's pupils are now normal most of the time, but if he's startled they get "wild". Otherwise he's coming along quite nicely. And quickly too. Right now he's asleep on the floor, sprawled on a big winter blanket. He's in the way, and I have to climb over him every time I need to get downstairs. He was looking the first few times, but now he doesn't even move a whisker.

So, right on schedule, Medley is not limping anymore! He has more energy, and we played a little. But he's drooling like crazy, and he won't let me look inside his mouth, but I'm wondering if he could be in pain? He wouldn't eat wet this morning. I don't know if he ate during the night. I'm keeping an eye on him.

Shadow is tired today, that's to be expected. Her eyes are still OK. I'm watching her also.

Moby and Sparrow are still good. I'm trying to get Moby to warm up to me, he's eating tuna out of my hand, but only when he's in his box. I'm trying to lure him out, and see if I can pet him while he eats.

Well, it's a droolfest here, and Medley started coughing, so I called the rescue, and I'm getting him to the vet tomorrow. Poor guy.

I canceled Shadow's boosters appointment, and rescheduled for next Monday.

Sparrow and Moby are still good!

Shadow was getting really lethargic, so I just took her temp. She's at 104°F (40.3°C). It's 10 PM here. I just syringed 5ml of homemade pedialyte in her. She did NOT like that at all. Should I keep hydrating her until tomorrow and go to the vet first thing with Medley? I have no experience with fevers in cat. And I'm freaking out again. @catwoman707@StefanZ?

Lyzzie said:

 
Shadow was getting really lethargic, so I just took her temp. She's at 104°F (40.3°C). It's 10 PM here. I just syringed 5ml of homemade pedialyte in her. She did NOT like that at all. Should I keep hydrating her until tomorrow and go to the vet first thing with Medley? I have no experience with fevers in cat. And I'm freaking out again. @catwoman707@StefanZ?

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This is not so much higher as it sounds, cats have normally a temp about 101F, so what for a human would be very high fever, for cats its just slightly raised.  Still, she is lethargic so somtheitn is it, and a vet visit is wise.

Continue to give fluids.   Pedialyte most important if they have much diarrhea or throwing up, or  doesnt eat at all.  If common water is easier, give common water.  But pedialyte is good yes.

StefanZ said:

 
This is not so much higher as it sounds, cats have normally a temp about 101F, so what for a human would be very high fever, for cats its just slightly raised.  Still, she is lethargic so somtheitn is it, and a vet visit is wise.

Continue to give fluids.   Pedialyte most important if they have much diarrhea or throwing up, or  doesnt eat at all.  If common water is easier, give common water.  But pedialyte is good yes.

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Thanks! I just gave her 5 ml of wet food mixed with pedialyte. She ate her wet food this morning, but that's all she ate today. I will continue to give her that and see what her temp is like later. She probably got Medley's URI.

So sorry, I worked last night during the night so I slept all morning long.

I'm suspecting that Shadow is perhaps coming down with the limping calici virus but can't say for sure.

This is very contagious but as I said before, a passing 3 day thing with no remnants of reoccurrence later on thankfully.

But just a possible reason, nothing that will confirm unless/until you see limping.

Just keep her hydrated and she will get through this too.

Syringing some cats is quite a task! Believe me, I know all too well lol~

I end up wearing more than what I get down their throat with some, especially females, our feisty spirited girls!

The droolfest would be one of 2 things, the first more likely due to sneezing/watery eye symptoms, and that is painful mouth/tongue ulcers from the URI calici virus.

Or stomatitis. 

My guess is def calici ulcers, they take a while to heal unfortunately, slow to get better, can take as long as a week to start not being so painful, 2 weeks to heal.

PS, no freaking out!      

catwoman707 said:

 
So sorry, I worked last night during the night so I slept all morning long.

I'm suspecting that Shadow is perhaps coming down with the limping calici virus but can't say for sure.

This is very contagious but as I said before, a passing 3 day thing with no remnants of reoccurrence later on thankfully.

But just a possible reason, nothing that will confirm unless/until you see limping.

Just keep her hydrated and she will get through this too.

Syringing some cats is quite a task! Believe me, I know all too well lol~

I end up wearing more than what I get down their throat with some, especially females, our feisty spirited girls!

The droolfest would be one of 2 things, the first more likely due to sneezing/watery eye symptoms, and that is painful mouth/tongue ulcers from the URI calici virus.

Or stomatitis. 

My guess is def calici ulcers, they take a while to heal unfortunately, slow to get better, can take as long as a week to start not being so painful, 2 weeks to heal.

PS, no freaking out!   

  

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Thanks, the freaking out part is my "default setting" these days... I need to do some yoga again

I'll decide what to do about Shadow tomorrow, I will keep feeding and hydrating her until then. And yes, I did get food everywhere, but also in her mouth, thankfully.

For Medley, it's good he's going to the vet, I don't want him to be in pain, poor kit. He won't let me look inside his mouth, not that I would know what to look for anyway.

What a day!

I had a vet appointment this morning for Medley. It's calicivirus, his mouth is full of ulcers, and he got a conjunctivitis. The vet didn't even know how he was still eating, his mouth should be really painful, hence the salivating. He got shots, and I have a 6 days course of anti biotics beginning tonight, and a 7 days course of metacam beginning tomorrow morning to give him. When we got back he went and hide in the litterbox in the bathroom, but he got out pretty quick after that. He still wants to be petted, and doesn't seems wary of me. he ate and drank, and he stopped drooling!

Once I got the diagnosis, I called my vet and booked an appointment for Shadow this afternoon. Poor gal was really lethargic. She had a fever of 40.7°C (104°F), so it climbed a bit during the day, but she was not dehydrated. The vet found two little sores on her tongue, and one on the roof of her mouth. Her eyes, ears, stomach, breathing, heartbeat, everything else is OK. He did took a little blood sample to check her white cells, which he found to be normal. She got shots also, and I have a 10 days course of anti biotics, and a 3 days course of metacam, all beginning tomorrow night. The challenge was to get her to eat on her own by Friday, but he did encourage me to feed and hydrate her by syringe if I had to.

Didn't need it, as soon as we came home, Sparrow got a can of fancy feast, and she began meowing like when she's waiting for her meal. So, I gave her a can, and she ate it all! Now she's resting.

I'm tired, but happy. @StefanZ, @catwoman707, thanks so much for your support and expertise, you rock!!!

Yes, just as I suspected.

The mouth ulcers are rather like blisters in a way, I can't even imagine how painful that must be.

Metacam will def help, poor baby.

What were the shots given to him and Shadow?

Medley got two out of three : anti-inflammatory and pain meds, the third one was the anti biotic but the needle was bigger, and he hated it, so she couldn't give it to him. i thought the injections would be named on the bill, but I forgot that I'm not the one paying for Medley, so i didn't get a bill, just the prescription. I didn't think to ask the names of the meds, just what they were.

Shadow got two shots, and this time I asked, she got Terramycine and I think Metacam.

Their prescriptions are :

Medley :

AMOXIVAL 40 mg 2 pills/day for 6 days (that's amoxicillin)

Metacam 0.4 mg/day for 7 days

Shadow :

RONAXAN 20 mg 1 pill/day for 10 days (that's Doxycycline)

Metacam 3 drops/day for 3 days

Just a little FYI, but the doxy tastes horrible, and they get all cat dramatic when they taste it, drooling, spitting, foaming, gagging, you know how dramatic cats are!

So be sure when pilling her to get it as far back as you can and chase it with a bit of water in a syringe.

Or you can also give right before she eats canned so it washes down.

Ugh, that's great... Thanks for the heads up, that would have freaked me out! Medley ate his pill with some tuna tonight, didn't make a fuss. I sure hope she doesn't go all diva on me

Last night went great. Medley and Mobi ate a lot of wet and dry, and Medley stopped drooling, and was able to groom his front paws properly. They were all dirty because of the saliva. He's back to being a kitten with his brother, and even played a little with Shadow.

Shadow is back to normal today! We took her temp last night, 6 hours after the vet got her her shots : 38.7°C! (100.4°F).

I gave Medley his metacam this morning, and I had to crush his amoxicillin pill and gave that by syringe, he wouldn't eat it. He was a very good boy all the while. I'm not looking forward to giving Shadow her pill tho... She screams bloody murder every time I try to put a syringe near her mouth...

I pilled everyone the old fashion way, and it went great! I gave Shadow her metacam also. And 5 minutes later, she vomited twice. I gave her the meds before her wet meal, that was probably a mistake. I'll pill her after her meal tomorrow and see if she keeps it down. If so, I'll give her the metacam after the pill.

She waited maybe an hour, and then ate her wet, so that's good!

Medley got his meds this morning, and all went well. His stool are a little soft, I'm guessing it's the antibiotics. Since he's eating a lot of wet, I'm still giving him the metacam, but I'm keeping an eye on him, I don't want him to get dehydrated.

The same holds true for Shadow, and since she vomited yesterday, I'm going to see if she keeps her doxy down tonight, I'll give her the metacam, if not, I'm stopping it. That's what my vet recommended, and I think it's wise.

Here are some pics of the brothers :

Medley, thinking Moby should get a "massage" :



Moby :


The bros, chilling under the table :


Medley is getting less and less skittish, even tho I have to give him meds twice a day. He started playing with Shadow, and with us. He's comfortable in the middle of the rooms, but still like to "hide" in the day. He's still on feral time I guess, sleeping during the day, and being active at night. But he's progressing fast, and he's so sweet and cuddly that I think he's going to be adopted fast. My guess is he's going to be ready in a couple of weeks, but who knows?

Moby, that's another story. We still can't approach him, although he's now hesitating before bolting, and his "personal safe space circle" is getting smaller. He's never to be seen during the day, but he seems comfy at night. He does come upstairs to chill on the couch, but still sleeps with one eye open. One fast movement and he's gone. But last night, I discovered his weak spot : play! He's playing with everything! Balls, feathers, shoe laces,...

What I do now that Shadow is here, is playing with her in front of the fosters. It didn't took long for Medley to join in on the fun, but until last night, Moby never moved from his spot.

I was able to play with the 3 of them, and Moby even ventured in the middle of the room 2 or 3 times. But as soon as he realized he was close to me, he was beginning to go back to his corner. Every time I was able to distract him with play, and he never completely went back. It's going to take more time for him to be comfortable around humans.

Which led to a conversation between SO and me. I think I petted Moby maybe three times since they came here (Tuesday last week), but there's something about him, I don't know what, that's kind of calling to me, if that makes any sense. He's special to me, I just don't know why. We discussed adopting him, went over the extra costs of having a third cat, medical expenses, etc etc, and yes, we can adopt him. I'm going to call the rescue and see with them about it.

We would still be able to foster, just one cat at a time.

Glad all went well with giving the meds.

If once the antibiotics are done he still has diarrhea not improving, this calls for a probiotic to get his gut flora back on track, the antibiotics get rid of good bacteria as well as bad, so a probiotic gets them back in balance faster than on their own.

Adopting Moby is a great idea, and I know all about a 'special' feeling with one particular kitty

He is also very shy so it's harder to get chosen by adopters too.

I talked to the rescue, and we have priority to adopt Moby if we still want to when he's ready. We're not changing our minds, so YAY!

Medley is very good with taking his meds, I don't have any problems giving them. He still has a softer stool that I would like. His antibiotics are done in 3 days, we'll see if it's not back to normal then. In the morning he's still drooling a little, but when he gets his metacam it stops. Poor kit, I hope he's not in too much pain. He still eat dry and wet tho.

I have a problem with Shadow's meds. I gave the metacam the first day only, because she threw up within 5 minutes of getting that and her doxy. Yesterday went fine, she wouldn't eat before the med, so I gave her little pieces of tuna, and then the doxy. But tonight, she ate her wet food, so I gave her the doxy after. 10 minutes later she threw up her meal, and then a little bile. I'm calling the vet tomorrow, to see what we should do. I'm not continuing the doxy if that's making her sick, so either another antibiotic, or something to help with her stomach while she's on it. Other than that, she's back to normal, full of crazy kitten energy! And she now plays with Medley, they are chasing each other around.

Even Moby is coming around, I discovered his favorite toy yesterday : the Red Dot. I don't like using it as is, but to get them going and then redirect on something else, I like it. And I was able to get him out of his hiding spot, right in the middle of the room. He even passed by me without thinking about it after a while. And then I redirected him on the wet food plate, just to see. He smelled it, and then ate it. I think he's just really really scared.

Here are some pics, Medley only, Moby is hard to "get", he likes to come out at night :

I called the vet, and we are stopping Shadow's antibiotics. I need to monitor her, and take her temp.

Medley is doing better "drool-wise", it's less and less each morning. He's eating and drinking fine, and him and Shadow wrecked havoc last night. I think one of them jumped on my head, but I don't know which one

I'm going to buy probiotics, @catwoman707 which one would you recommend? I was thinking Natural Factors, but maybe something less expensive?

Nexabiotic is really the best, but not necessary for what you need. 

Even fortiflora is probably fine, benebac, and so on.

Any probiotic will get his slightly off balanced system back on track.