Kitten Not Eating... HELP!

I've got a 3 month old kitten from my 1 year old calico. My calico hasn't had any problems, she's perfectly healthy. All the other kittens have turned out fine, except this one. My "baby" Lilly. Since around Saturday she hasn't really ate. She's ate some, and then just threw it back up 30 minutes or so later. She's only went to the bathroom 3 times that I've seen, and it was very runny. All she does is lay around and sleep, she's already lost alot of weight. She hasn't been drinking water either. I've been wanting to take her to the vet, but I'm currently at the mercy of my mother because I'm jobless and living at home, and she's saying she can't afford to take her to the vet right now. She finally broke down and said she'd let me take her tomorrow, but I think she might not make it until I am able to take her. I thought it might be a hairball, so I had given her hairball medication, but she may have thrown it back up in a place that I couldn't see her.

Does anyone have any suggestions that might help save my baby before I'm able to take her to the vet?

Take her to the vet, I am fighting bacterial enteritis with some foster kittens right now. The same symptoms, not eating, not drinking (or drinking very little) vomitting everything back up, lethergic. This is life threatening, and requires antibiotics, try not to wait.

I took her to the vet today, a very uncaring vet at that. He checked her stomach for any possible swelling from eating a foreign item, but didn't say wither or not he felt anything, and asked me if I wanted an xray or not without telling me if he recommended it. I was just so upset by watching her cry when he was taking the fecal test on her, and then he just kinda stood there and said, "Well, do you want an xray or not? If not, you can try antibiotics, but it might not help." I was sobbing. How uncaring. I decided on the antibiotics just to see if it would work, and since i've given her the drops she hasn't thrown it up. She nibbled on some food and drank some water and held it down, so I still have no idea what's wrong with her. I'm really very upset about all of this still, since she's the youngest of the first litter of my cat Angel and the only kitten I had decided to keep. I don't want Angel to have another litter, since she was pretty agressive with her first litter. I really don't want to let Lilly go, but if she doesn't improve in the next two days then I don't know what I'm going to do. The xray and bloodwork the vet said would be "a couple hundred dollars" with no specific amount, but I don't have any money to spare right now. Does anyone have any ideas that could help me? I'm open to anything right now.

Keep with the anitbiotics and see how it goes, if she doesn't improve find another vet. Call around and check prices with other vets and sometimes you can actually speak to the vet on the phone and get a feel for them. We've gained many clients because our vet is willing to answer the phone and talk with people.

Abby had about three xrays, which totaled $150, once. It shouldn't be as expensive as your vet is saying. I hope the antibiotics work for your kitten and hopefully you can find a better vet. What a jerk!!

Vomiting and diarrhea are a tremendous drain on the body fluids and can put a kitten in serious trouble quickly. Dietary changes can cause both vomiting and diarrhea and the lethargy can result from the fact that your kitten must be receiving very little nutrition because whatever is eaten is e ither vomited or leaves the system as diarrhea before nutrients can be extracted for use by the body. There is also a mineral /electrolyte as well as a potassium loss in cases of vomiting/dehydration. Pedialyte should help to replenish these. Check for dehydration( which is most certainly possible) and give fluids accordingly. Also try for a bland easily digestable diet as well as broths to replace the fluids lost.

I have no advise, but I'll be praying for your little one.

I have an update. We called around all day trying to find a clinic that would work with our financial situation, and the only one that would was the same clinic that we had already taken her to. Last night she was still throwing up and she looked so sad, I cried everytime I looked at her. I knew she was suffering something horrible. So I took her back to the same clinic, and this time the vet told me that he thought there was something wrong in her intestines. He took her straight back after checking to see if she had a temperature and told me, "I'll help her but you can't get her back until I get payment of some kind." That was at 10:30 this morning. I had my husband call around 1:30 because I wanted to see if they had done anything yet. Well, he did the bloodwork and the xray, and discovered a huge problem... her small intestine had turned in on itself and she was trying to digest her own intestine. He said it's a rare thing, only happens with every 1 and 10,000 cats. I'm glad she's going to be ok and that he was willing to help us, even if he seemed cold and heartless yesterday. I have a way to make payments, if he'll take payments. I hope he will. Most clinics won't. He also said that part of her small intestine might not have gotten very good bloodflow and there might be a problem, but he said he's gonna keep her for a few more days to make sure they don't need to go back in and remove that section of the intestine as well.

About a month ago I realized that Lilly wasn't eating the solid kitten food I had out for her brothers and sisters to eat, so I went and got her canned food. I figured she had sensitive teeth or something and just couldn't eat the crunchy food. Apparently, the only thing thats saved her for all the past month was the fact that I fed her canned food. The doctor said that she would have died had I not started feeding her canned food because it was so much easier for her body to digest. I'm glad I know now!

I'll keep you all updated on what happens next!

I am glad you got her in and hope this vet doesn't hold her hostage long!

what a jerk!!, i wonder how much he's going to charge you when he's done, hope everything works out for you and find a new vet, obviously he's in for the money and no compassion whatsoever, didn't even consider how you felt.

Well, the important thing is that the problem has been found and she should be OK. And that you can find a way to make the payments. Good luck - I hope you get her back soon, on the way to recovery.

I'm SO glad you got her to the vet! You might ask if you could take her home in the next day or so and "watch her" yourself. Could save you a fortune in vet bills. Just a thought from past experience.

Originally Posted by mlmcats

I'm SO glad you got her to the vet! You might ask if you could take her home in the next day or so and "watch her" yourself. Could save you a fortune in vet bills. Just a thought from past experience.

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I was just thinking the same thing myself ... if the vet is holding this kitty hostage, is he then also charging you boarding for each day he holds her???? I would ask because if he is then he is jerking your chain and you need to call him on it.

~gf~

Well my husband and I decided to let her stay one more night, mainly because she'd only had surgery yesterday, and if anything happened then I'd rather her be there and not here with me because I'm no doctor. lol

We contacted the vet and he said she's doing much better than expected, already eating and playing, which makes me feel great. I'm soooo happy she's doing better! I kept having bad dreams last night about her dying. It's kinda crazy though, because in my mind I keep thinking, well, she's just a kitten. But she's not just a kitten, she's the he runt of my cat Angel's first litter, she's the only baby I wanted to keep. She's just so sweet I can't stand it! And no matter what the mean, rude doctor decides to charge me (even after I told him how much I could afford with my budget) it's well worth it to keep my little Lilly.

Thanks, everyone, for your advice and keeping us in your hearts.

I'll be going to pick her up in the morning, I'll let you all know how it goes from there!

Thanks everyone! I never thought he might charge us extra for each day he keeps her. I think when I call I will have a discussion with him tomorrow and make sure that we are not being jerked around. Please continue to pray for Lilly and us. Either Ivey or myself will post an update for you tomorrow. I just hope he is considerate enough to consider our situation when totaling the bill.

In case anyone was wondering... Kudzu25 is my husband. lol

Please, please keep updating this. I will worry about Lilly!

Well, here's the latest. We thought we'd be getting Lilly back today, but she's suddenly came down with a fever and the vet wanted to keep her for the weekend to make sure she didn't have any complications, like an infection. I just knew there was a reason she should stay the night last night. Had she came home with me I'd never known she had a fever. I went to visit her today and she seemed so happy! She was purring soooo loud, I'd never heard her purr like that before! She climbed up on my sholder and layed her head on me, it was so sweet! I had held my hand out, and she layed her head in my hand! It was so nice to see her so happy, it made my entire week! I went from thinking she would surely die to, wow, she's gonna make it. It was kinda hard to look at the massive cut on her belly with the stiches in it, but I know over time that no one will be able to tell that she even had a surgery. I hope her fever goes away and I can have my Lilly back at home soon!

Oh vibes going her way! She sounds as though she is fine. Hope she can come home on Monday!

I also wanted to add that when I first took Lilly to the vet, the doctor said surgery would cost "thousands of dollars". My husband asked him today how much he was going to be charging us since he's done blood work, xrays, and the surgery, and he said "I'm keeping it way under what you told me you could afford". The guy seemed a little cold at first, but I do believe that he may just be the only vet I'll go to from now on if he's willing to work with us this much.

(BTW, all we could possibly spare out of our budget is $550. I can't believe he's working with that!)