HELP- 16 wk old kitten acting weird...

I could really use some help. (first off, bit of background info- i'm a student nurse- this will make a bit more sense in a minute) I have a 16 week old kitten (Pixie) who was rescued by one of my clinical instructors from a parking lot at 5 wks old... and now she's suddenly acting peculiarly. (Let me first say that the day i picked her up from Karen, i took her to the vet and she tested negative for FIV or feline leukemia, and she recieved the first of her vaccinations....)

I went to work early saturday am, and she seeemed fine, but when i came home, she didn't come to greet me. I went upstairs a little later and started making meowing noises to "draw her out" of hiding, since she wasn't lying on my bed. I turned around and found her crawling out of the hall closet, and made a very loud, very peculiar-for-her meow, and her behaviour suggested she was hurting... i brought her downstairs, concerned, and tried consulting with my parrents, one of the dogs came over, to sniff at her (Pixie so far has been fairly fearless around the two dogs) and she flipped out, and hid under a chair. We put the dogs in their kennels and pulled her out, and she's continuing to act strangely, kinda like she's in pain- so we put her in her carrier, and i called the local emergency vet hospital- brought her in.

They couldn't find anything physically wrong with her, the first vet actually called another in to look at her b/c she was a puzzle. They couldn't tie her seeming "pain meows" to anything specific, just apparently something in her left forelimb area, and decided it must just be soft-tissue trauma, and gave me some pain meds for her, to give to her in syringes....

After I brought her home, i let her out of her carrier in her room (we have a room set up with a baby-gate so she can have a room completely free of the dogs, just in case) and she immediately went into hiding, after i gave her a dose of meds, and now she's acting like she's being hunted, almost... we tried to pick her up late last night, and she ran in fear from all of us, periodically stopping like she was hurt or something... is really strange.... decided to leave her alone for the night, set up a "bed" with one of my blankets in a kind of nest on top of a pillow behind a chair for her to give her a comfy spot...

I left her alone most of today, padded a couple of her hiding spots with towels to make her more comfy, and won't let me pick her up... but will let me, if i lay flat and stretched out pet her, and purrs like she enjoys it.... pushes her head into my hand, etc etc....

I plan on calling my vet in the AM and get their opinion of what's going on, but thought i'd send out something here asking for opinions....

HELP?????

Good for you for getting her to an emergency vet when you noticed something was wrong. Did they take x-rays? I had a cat with a tiny puncture wound near his butt once...you would have thought his entire back half of his body was dying by the way he complained. It is often difficult to determine where the actual source of the pain is since they'll complain if you get within a mile of it...I guess it helps them protect the injured area. It could be that your kitty jumped off something and landed wrong (my boyfriend's cat did that last month). I've also heard of a cat getting tangled in a plastic bag and panicking. For now I would leave her in a quiet, darkened room, possibly with some soft classical music, so that she'll stay calm and quiet. That will keep her from further injurying herself. Is she eating and drinking normally? How about her litterbox habits? I would definitely check in with your normal vet, but in the meantime, it sounds like she is being well cared for.

I would say to definitely get a second opinion from your regular, daytime vet. Sometimes the vets at emergency practices are swamped and stressed, so it can sometimes be difficult to get the "smaller" problems sorted out right away. It doesn't sound like there's anything desperately wrong with her to the point that it would be dire...but I would definitely call another vet as soon as you can.

It's also tough to say without knowing how her eating habits are, her use of the litterbox and how her excretment is. If that is well and good, and you don't see a limp, and there's no dehydration, she is most likely not suffering badly. She could just be panicked for some reason?

Sounds to me like one of your dogs got to her. Keep her isolated, and take her in tomorrow and ask for x-rays to see about internal damage, even if they were "playing" with her, they could have harmed her.

hope she gets better soon
hugs to u and ur kitty

I agree with Hissy. It's probably tied to the dogs somehow, and it would be good to get a second opinion. As you know, sometimes an injury takes awhile to evidence itself by swelling, etc.

well, Pixie seems to be doing better.... Late last night she decided she wanted to play, and was jumping and romping all over the place, plus she followed me upstairs and decided she definitely needed a cuddle.... decided to plop down on my chest right below my jaw and just started purring... (oy, my poor allergies! Did i mention that i'm a cat-lover trapped in an allergic person's body???)

I watched her eat/drink some last night, and I had cleaned the litter boxes (one upstairs, one down) Saturday night, and again last night, and she's definitely pooping/peeing...

Talked to my vet about her behaviour, and about what the emergency vet's impressions were, and she's of the opinion that her issues are all emotional/behavioural, and that yeah, she probably had sprained/bruised something a little bit, but agrees that she can't be hurting too badly if she was playing like she was last night...

At this point, I'm under orders to monitor her closely, and if she backslides at all to bring her in for a look-see....
And i have an appointment on thursday for a vaccination booster, we'll see how she behaves between now and then....

Thanks for all y'alls support...
Finding this site last night was like a god-send...

Rowan