My youngest kitten is in the hospital

My cat Spice is 6 months old and has been vomiting since Sunday. The vet hospitalized her in Tuesday and tried an enema on Wednesday. Needless to say she is still vomiting and I guess blocked up. Has anyone had this happen and what do you think could be the issue. She is getting surgery done now.

I'm sorry your little Spice is sick I hope that nothing seriously is wrong.

Sorry to hear about Spice Thinking of you both, keep us posted.

What is the surgery for?

I also have a 6 month old kitten who started to go off her food. I took her to the vets who said her abdomen was tense and asked if she was tolieting ok. I said she wasnt going as often as she used to (it used to be every night like clockwork).

He gave her an enema, and injection and put her on 2 antibiotics (she had a temperature). Her appetitie perked up straight away but she has only gone to the toilet once in 4 days (hopefully she'll go tonight).

From reading your post it sounded similar although no vomiting, so I wondered what your vet thought it might be.

I hope Spice gets better soon.

Originally Posted by Jaspercat

What is the surgery for?

I also have a 6 month old kitten who started to go off her food. I took her to the vets who said her abdomen was tense and asked if she was tolieting ok. I said she wasnt going as often as she used to (it used to be every night like clockwork).

He gave her an enema, and injection and put her on 2 antibiotics (she had a temperature). Her appetitie perked up straight away but she has only gone to the toilet once in 4 days (hopefully she'll go tonight).

From reading your post it sounded similar although no vomiting, so I wondered what your vet thought it might be.

I hope Spice gets better soon.

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Altough I am not the owner, since the cat is gone to surgery, I suspect the vet think it's in obstaction-the kitten ate some object that can't pass on its own.

The vet did the surgery last night and found a tightly wound ball that looked like thread or yarn. From what the vet told my wife he had to cut part of her intestine out. He wants to keep her over the weekend for observation.

I've had this happen twice to my brother kitties. Merry didn't make it. Pippin just had an obstruction of thread a couple of weeks ago and is all better now. Sometimes the wadded up ball is also attached at the other end to the back of the cat's tongue. The string will then gradually tighten as the ball gets passed further down the intestines, which can start making them accordianing over the string. The string will lacerate the soft tissue as the pressure increases. It's pretty awful and you probably caught the problem just in time. Merry was too cut up inside and died shortly after coming out of anesthetic. He was already pretty sick by that point though, so I wouldn't worry about that happening to your kitty.
Radiographs can sometimes show where the stool is and isn't, indicating a blockage, but with the soft, non-metal ingestions, you can't actually see the culprit until the vet goes in for a look.
With any of these type of surgeries, there is a risk of infection, so please when she comes home, follow the vet's advice completely and take her back in if she seems to be doing poorly again. I had to assist feed Pippin for a couple of days after the surgery, but by day 4 he was really perking up. If your kitty isn't eating on her own when she comes home, make sure you get a feeding syringe and food from your vet. She probably hasn't had adequate nutrition for several days and needs food and water to start flowing through her asap.
You may also want to get an E-collar for her. It seems cruel, but you don't want her pulling her stitches/staples out. Pippin started messing with the staples just before we went in to get them out which took about 10 days. He got an E-Collar at that point because they gave him some steroid cream for his scar and they didn't want him to lick at it.
Good luck with your kitty! Keep us up to date on her condition.

Dev & Crew

Where do you think the ball of thread came from?

My kitten kneads and sucks on one of my teddies (only at bedtime) and I worry about fibers coming off it and her swallowing them. Do you think I should stop her?

You probably won't be able to stop the kneading- but you can at least give the kitten something safe to knead like a small stuffed animal with no detachable parts.
They can get threads anywhere. From clothes hanging in the closet, from lying underneath a throw over a piece of furniture and working the bottom with their claws and teeth. Pieces of thread lying on the floor, or in corners, overlooked till now. I always tell people with new kittens to not feed them any type of treat on the floor ever. Put it in a bowl or a special plate- because it prompts a kitty to start investigating the floors to see what else they can eat, and that can lead to problems. They can be like little Hoover vacuum cleaners sucking up all sorts of bad things. I know one gal whose cat got into the bathroom and found pieces of dental floss the youngest son threw away on the floor. Kitty had a bad expensive surgery and internal lacerations- also didn't survive the encounter.

The bottom line is you can be as careful as you possibly can be and the kitten will still find something overlooked. It's just their busy inquistive nature to get into things. Thats the frustration, and the charm of having a kitten-

Glad you got vet intervention, hope Spice will be okay now.

Hugs to your baby!!!and you! keep us updated

Well she got to come home on Monday and she is back to being active and everything else. She cost us $681.00 but for my wife she was worth every penny. We have had a few bouts with vomiting since the surgery but it is because she is eating the food way to quickly. So we have to make her food like a soup for her to eat for now. Thanks for all the hugs sent her way, I know they were needed.

So glad she is on the mend.

Good to hear she is home now. Lots of vibes for a fast recovery.

Thank you for the update. I'm so thankful your little girl is feeling better!

If you are feeding her dry food, take a hammer and stick the kibble in a plastic bag and break it up-

If you are feeding canned, elevate her bowl on a phone book so her throat will relax and she won't gulp her food.

Great to hear she's doing better!

I've just seen this thread...I am so glad your baby is recovering nicely!

One more update and this should do it for this thread...She has been on dry food for 1 week now and she has not thrown up once. While she was on the medicated cat food from the doctor she threw up at least once a day. Now all we need to do is get her weight up back to about 8 lbs. Thanks for all the vibes on this one... she is jumping and climbing and as crazy as ever.