please help! anyone? advice?

...this may be a long story but i'll try to make it short. just 2 weeks ago my boyfriend and i picked up a little adorable and loving kitten from a shelter. he was sneezing and had the classic respiratory infection which gradualy got worse and worse, causing him to stop eating. at the vet they did all they could but our kitty went into a coma and we were forced to put him to sleep after having cared for him for only a week. i cried and cried the whole time he fought to stay alive, and cried when we decided that he didn't deserve to suffer anymore...so after a few days my boyfriend decided to buy me a new kitten, from a shop this time, and he is adorable too, i love him but i am so afraid that something could happen to him and i'll lose him too. this is the situation: he's about 2 months old, doesn't eat a whole lot, but he eats, and i guess that's enough..i suppose 2 month old kittens don't eat tons anyhow...we took him to the vet the same day we bought him and treated him for worms and fleas, and also took a sample of him feces and the test was negative (no parassites= good!) but our little Oscar (that's his name) has had diarrea basically ever since we got him. we went back to the vet the day before yesterday and he asked us if he eats (yes) if he is vomiting (no) and said to go back monday (tomorrow) with another sample of his poop. today was the worst day...he went several times today...the more "solid" stuff that came out was practically yellow....and the other times oscar doesn't even seem to realize that it's running out of his bum, even while he's sleeping! i don't understand what the problem is, tomorrow morning i've decided that i'll give him a new type of food, although i do know that changing kitty's food abruptly can be hard on them, but it's worth a try.
I repeat, he does eat, and obviously is drinking quite frequently, but not enough i think, because i pulled up his skin on his back and it's not nice and quick going back down, plus i checked his gums and they are rather tacky, not nice and slippery and wet. so i supposed he is becoming dehydrated ( i also noticed that he doesn't seem to really know how to drink properly!) and i gave him water with a bit of sugar with a syringe...does anyone know what could be wrong? sorry i wrote so much, i'm just so worried...thank you...

this is oscar:

When you first kitten died, did you clean and bleach out your home? It could be that what the first kitten has is airborne and the other kitten has it, or it could be that the kitten is just sick with something else. Pet stores kitty are hardly ever healthy.

I would run a fecal in to your vet to have him test it, have him look for giardia and coccidia. I wouldn't give your kitty sugar water, I would instead make up some pediatlye and give it to him www.kitten-rescue.com has the recipe there.

The yellow stool is normal as far as color, and I urge you to not change his food, because it will upset his stomach.

Has he been running a temp? Has he or the previous kitten had any vaccines? I just euthanized 2 foster kittens on Wednesday for the exact same symptoms you are describing (except the had a fever for a period of time and they were vomitting in the beginning). One of the foster kittens I took in brought in panleukopenia (feline distemper), and I have lost 4 kittens to it in the last 2 weeks. Talk with your vet and tell him/her exactly what is going on you don't have alot of time with these little ones to turn them around.

HISSY: yes, i bleached the whole house from top to bottom, i think respiratory stuff is out of the question, although i'm not 100% "safe" yet since there is a incubation period...but he hasn't snezzed once or anything so we're hoping that we cleaned that virus out. yes, i did notice the awful way in which the pet store guy kept the cats, didn't like it one bitbut what can i do... i took another sample this morning to the vet and left the kitten there because they wanted to analize everything and keep him under control; now i'm worried about the secretions he had the last 2 days; i read up on them and it doesn't look nice although i read it could be from the worms? the vet is also giving him a special food for upset tummy, so i pray god all goes well...thanks for posting...and thanx a mil for the link

PETNURSE: oh dear....i'm so sorry...my oscar only threw up once, but it was just after they gave him the worms medicine and said that it would be normal for him to vomit. but no more episodes after that. and none previously either; i asked the vet, and i hope he was sincere. oscar does not have a fever and is eating and drinking but is weak, proabably from all the diarrea. i'll have news tomorrow...thanks alot for posting.

keep us posted

I am so sorry to hear about Oscar? Have you taled to the Pet Store to tell them they sold you a sick kitten? (Pet stores are noted resellers of kitten mill victims - they always claim they are not, sighhhhhhh and they take advantage of our love of tiny babies who need out help). You should let them know at any rate about what Oscar is going through and ask them if any of his littermates are ill (if they will tell you the truth). If you cooud find a honest clerk, s.he miught tell you if they discovered any symptoms and illnesses and what they did, if anything. Often, they just ket these poor babies die but there are occasionally some clerks with a concience and you might just find one.

It does sound like distemper but it also seems to me your vet would have been able to dagnose that. What about some virus your vet has just been unable to fifure out?

I will keep Oscar and you in my thoughts!!

OscarMum- please keep in your mind that no one can accurately diagnose this kitten for you but a vet. We are not there to observe this little one and it sounds like you are doing all you can to get a handle on this and find out what is wrong.

If your kitten has roundworms, then it is normal for the kitten to vomit up piles of these worms and he is not going to feel well, both from the worms and also from the worming medicine. If the kitten has a whole passel of worms he will secrete stool from his rectum. If he did indeed have distemper as mentioned above, he would have little or no appetite, a high fever, be lethargic and unresponsive. So again, stick with your vet and let him run the tests and hopefully find the right answer for you.

I wish you the best- he is a cutie!

hi all,

just wanted to update on little oscar; he's still at the vet and they said that he's eating special food for intestinal problems, his poo is looking a bit better and he hasn't had anymore strange secretions. so maybe it was just a one time thing when that happened...? he doesn't have worms but we can't take him home yet, they're analysing his poo twice a day just to be sure. i feel i can trust them...i hope everything goes ok, what do you all think?

Are they testing for giardia, coccidia and other bacterial infections? it also could be in your water- sometimes bottled water is a good bet for a tiny kitten.

...i don't know if they are checking those things....today over the phone when i tried to tell them about the secretions and what i was afraid it might be (since i had spent all night reading about it) they almost laughed at me saying "where did you read that rubbish?"...i feel like a fool asking them what they're doing since i have not the slightest clue...*sigh* i want to become a vet. at least i can cure my own animals