Fostering Panleuk Survivor

[Cheeky_Moose]

Hello knowledgeable cat friends

I picked up a new foster a couple days ago and I’m looking for some ideas to help support this little dudes recovery from (suspected) panleukopenia.
There were two litters of similar age dropped off from the same home- My foster and 2 other kittens were dropped off in bad shape- the littlest died that night, the biggest made a quick recovery, and my little guy (Cassick) has been hospitalized twice over the last few weeks and is a work-in-progress. Initially it was for classic Panleuk treatment and the second because he got severely constipated with pasty green poop. When I got him, Cassick was starting to see some improvement but he’s a bone rack; they think the litters are~5 months old (and the healthy kittens look like it) but Cassick is the size of a 3 month old and only 1.3 kg.
He’s currently being fed 4x a day in small portions of 50/50 Hills diet of A/D and Biome gastrointestinal (total is roughly 2 small cans a day- a big amount for such a little guy!). He’s pretty bright, chatty, and super affectionate but his energy to play is limited and he lives on his heating pad when I’m not there to snuggle with. Overall, he’s doing ok but his stool is still really loose- not ‘dirty bum explosion’ level but ‘stinky mud pie.’ He’s so thin, I worry about him loosing any extra calories due to diarrhea.
Any ideas to help him firm up without risking plugging him up again? I need to fatten this poor guy up!
(Will try to get pic for tax but I don’t want to put my phone through quarantine protocols lol)
Thanks all!

 

[Kris107]

You're a brave soul for dealing with panleuk in your house. I just got done with that with some fosters and... oy. I assume you're already doing fortiflora and worms/etc have been ruled out? Maybe you could add a little boiled and ground up chicken?

 

[Cheeky_Moose]

I’m waiting on word back from the shelter on the deworming as that was my thought as well- I wasn’t there for intake so I don’t know if he was well enough at the time for them to do so. He doesn’t have worm belly but neither did my last foster litter and it was definitely worms with them so it’s on the checklist for me to rule out.
I’m aware of fortiflora but the Biome food is supposed to be playing that role at the moment…but that’s a good point and I’ll ask if I can double up and include it- thanks!
And kudos to you for going through a litter with panleuk! That’s a LOT of cleaning compared to my one little dude.

 

[white shadow]

Hi Cheeky_Moose !

Here's a paper from 2017 with some novel treatment info for this age group. It requires some attentive reading - perhaps contains something helpful for today with this one - certainly worth keeping for future reference & sharing when/where possible: Successful Treatment of Feline Panleukopenia in Neonatal Kittens: A New, Aggressive Approach for Animal Rescue Organizations

Paws crossed for this little guy!

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. You said suspected Panleuk? Did they not test him? For the diarrhea a fecal PCR should be run. If it was Panleuk, his WBC would have been very low, lending to him getting just about anything that came his way. He should have bloodwork repeated and the fecal PCR. That way you know what you are dealing with and can treat accordingly. There is no special diet or probiotics that will help until you figure out what is causing the diarrhea.
It is very generous of you to try to save him and I can tell you are attached to him.

 

[Cheeky_Moose]

I live in northern rural Canada so vets/lab tests and shelter access to tests are quite limited unfortunately. I’m told he was tested for panleuk but the results came back ‘inconclusive’; however, as his brother died exhibiting all the signs along with secondary infections, I was directed to treat it as if it was (cleaning/quarantine protocols). Considering how skeletal Cassick is, I think he’s a very lucky survivor so far (with a lot of help from the vet techs pulling him through at the clinic.)
I’d like to think he’s now on the upswing- his poop was more firm today and his energy is better. Gotta keep the forward momentum…
Thanks for all your advice!