8-10 week old female kitten has swollen abdomen, which is significantly tighter on the left side, extending from about the second rib from the bottom to 2 inches from back legs. She sometimes finds the left side to be tender to touch.
She happened upon my doorstep about 5 days ago at midnight, starving, dirty, and flea ridden, with a crusty and closed right eye, and very lethargic. Fed her a small amount of moistened regular cat food (as it was all I had available at the time), and let her drink her fill of water. Closed her up in a spare bathroom to separate from my 2 adult cats.
Since then I've fed her small amounts of moistened kitten chow and the occasional tuna in water, and made water readily available. She went from having diarrhea, to constipation, to having normal stools now for the last day or so. The problem eye is now at least half open all the time (unless she's sleeping), she can now open it all the way, no longer has goop around it, shows no discoloration and appears to have proper iris function. Has become very active in the last day or so, occasionally running and jumping while playing.
To get the point, the abdomen has started to appear larger than I would expect it to (for a recently stuffed kitten) in the last 24 hours. As I said, the left side seems to be tighter and more tender than the right, but the size distribution is roughly the same. I can't recall ever seeing her urinate, though the kitty litter she is using does not clump very well, so I suspect and UTI or blockage of some sort.
I've haven't taken her to the vet yet as I'm just holding on to it until I can find a humane shelter for it or someone to take it... as taking it to the local county animal shelter is death sentence... but no luck as of yet.
So any thoughts? Sorry it's long-winded but I don't want to leave anything out. Thank you in advance =)
-Jake
She happened upon my doorstep about 5 days ago at midnight, starving, dirty, and flea ridden, with a crusty and closed right eye, and very lethargic. Fed her a small amount of moistened regular cat food (as it was all I had available at the time), and let her drink her fill of water. Closed her up in a spare bathroom to separate from my 2 adult cats.
Since then I've fed her small amounts of moistened kitten chow and the occasional tuna in water, and made water readily available. She went from having diarrhea, to constipation, to having normal stools now for the last day or so. The problem eye is now at least half open all the time (unless she's sleeping), she can now open it all the way, no longer has goop around it, shows no discoloration and appears to have proper iris function. Has become very active in the last day or so, occasionally running and jumping while playing.
To get the point, the abdomen has started to appear larger than I would expect it to (for a recently stuffed kitten) in the last 24 hours. As I said, the left side seems to be tighter and more tender than the right, but the size distribution is roughly the same. I can't recall ever seeing her urinate, though the kitty litter she is using does not clump very well, so I suspect and UTI or blockage of some sort.
I've haven't taken her to the vet yet as I'm just holding on to it until I can find a humane shelter for it or someone to take it... as taking it to the local county animal shelter is death sentence... but no luck as of yet.
So any thoughts? Sorry it's long-winded but I don't want to leave anything out. Thank you in advance =)
-Jake