under skin hydration

I think I will have to take my kitten into the vet this evening to get rehydrated under the skin. I am waiting for her to call back but can't find any info on the internet about it and was hoping I could get some questions answered. How long does rehydration usually good for? Will I have to go in every day until he is better? Has anyone had any positive/negative experience with this? How do I know if he needs it? He is long haired and I really can't tell if his skin bouces back or not when I pull it away from his body, is there another way to tell? He has had diarrhea for the last few days now and although he seemed to have a bit more energy this morning and I thought maybe he might be getting better he is now fading again and not eating much. What he does eat goes right out so I'm guessing not much is getting absorbed If anyone knows anything about dehydration I would love to hear. Thanks.

well when i worked fir a vet for 8 years we would do like a iv right under the skin the fluid will create like a ball kind of weird to see some times if really dehydrated would do it in 2 spots on the back eventually as he absorbes the fluid the ball goes down. ive never seen any bad things with it just looks kind of funny with big lumps for a hour or so. dont take very long just a few mins. and doesnt really hurt them. as long as it lasting depends on how much fluid they are losing. dehydration in cats can be very serious they can go from being ok to very ill very fast.

I would ask your vet to keep your cat at least overnight on fluids. Subcu fluids are supposed to allow the cat to rehydrate back to health and if they don't then there is something seriously wrong that needs to be chased until you find out what it is. If you can't keep the cat at the vets overnight than ask the vet tech to shave a small patch in the neck of the cat so that you can check for dehydration easier.

Zissou got the ball-o-fluid. She had not eaten anything, was puking everything she did eat, and had the runs so bad it was all over the apt (that is, I had to clean it up 20 times a day). She got sick on Wed. and I took her to the emergency vet on Fri night, as she was going downhill. He explained everything and I asked him what he would do if it were his cat. He gave her subcu fluids, a shot for her tummy problems and pills for us to give her to keep her from puking. He didn't want to keep her overnight -- but he thought she just had a kitty flu or something and was confident that she would start getting better by herself. The under-skin fluid is funny, she looked like she had football pads on.

We just got back from getting it done. He was NOT happy about it but seemed to perk up slightly afterwards. We just need to figure out what is wrong with him before he gets dehydrated again. I am now giving him 6 different meds and keeping my fingers crossed something will work

Good idea about getting his skin shaved, wish I had thought of that!

Our cat was dehydrated for some reason last month..and we don't know why but she wasn't eating. Once we put her on IV for a couple of days, she was completely back to normal! We think she may have eaten some ferns.

She is all better now and the IV saved her life.