Need Advice Asap On Saving Kitten With Pneumonia

[Kitty0619]

Hello,

So I just got home from a very nerve racking trip to the vet. One of my rescues (12 week old kitten named Bitsy) stopped breathing this morning, so I started breathing in her mouth, and luckily, she spat up nasty liquid and started breathing on her own again. I rushed to the vets office in my pajamas, no bra on (sorry if that's too much info for yall lol but it's the truth), and no shoes because one of my other rescues likes to hide my shoes from me in different places. So basically I run into the vet looking like a mad woman who just jumped out of bed. After an examination and xrays, the vet tells me bitsy has pneumonia. He gives her an anti-inflammatory shot, a shot of fluids under the skin, an an antibiotic called Clavamox, and then sends us home saying she only has a 50/50 shot of living. Is there anything else I can be doing to help her survive this? I am moving her around while she sleeps so she won't be in one position too long where the fluid won't build up on her lungs too bad. If there is anything else I can be doing to help her then please let me know. Prayers and good thoughts for bitsy will be much appreciated also. Thanks

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
I think the vet saw a super concerned cat lover, bless your heart!

I don't know in this case - double check with your vet first, but would a few minutes, a couple times a day, in a bathroom with a steaming shower help ease her airways at all?

 

[Sarthur2]

The vet did absolutely everything right - fluids, anti-inflammatory, and clavamox. Did he send you home with a prescription for the clavamox?

She will need to rest and let her body fight this. It’s a good thing you rushed her to the vet. And yes, steam will help!

Have you any idea how she became ill? Otherwise had she been eating and acting normally?

The only other thing that might help clear her lungs would be cortisone.

You can also buy clear Pedialyte and carefully give her drops of it with a dropper in the side of her mouth if she won’t drink on her own. She’ll need to stay hydrated. Gerber turkey baby food is good for sick cats to lick also.

I hope she makes it. Keep us posted.

Kitty0619

 

[catsknowme]

All the modern medical treatment is spot on! The other advice, especially the Pedialyte and baby food is excellent!
To help bolster Bitsy's lung support, I would hunt down and eliminate any respiratory irritants - any fragrances whether in the laundry, litter box, cleaning products, perfume, strong smelling hair conditioner, etc. Molds and mildew can be offending culprits as well.
If you don't see prompt improvement, you can ask the vet and/or consult a holistic vet about using elderberry, slippery elm bark and marshmallow root to supplement the medications. If you do use them, be sure to schedule them at least 4 hours apart from the western medication as Slippery elm and possibly the marshmallow root can coat the intestines and interfere with absorption. I know people who administer them concurrently with no issues but I prefer to err on the side of caution.
If Bitsy is okay with it, light rubbing of her paw pads and behind the ankles can be soothing. Light grooming and "brush massage" can help the lymph system keep moving. I love your instincts to reposition her.
I know you will be busy nursing Bitsy back to health but please keep us updated. and do not hesitate to ask any one of us for support, either in the forums or by Private Message.
Prayers and vibes for Bitsy's speedy recovery

 

[Kflowers]

You have to get the cortisone from the vet, so you will have the right dosage.

keep her warm - hot water bottle, microwave a sock filled with rice.

You can also let her ride inside your shirt. The area over your stomach, just above your pant's waist band is where you are the warmest and it a good place for kitten. Hearing your breathing and heart beat will help her continue to breathe. No, I don't know why.

Yes, letting her sleep but moving her around it good. You can sleep through your lungs starting to fill then it's hard to cough up the stuff, so you are right about that. Human patients are often given two or three pillows to sleep on so they are almost sitting up. Moving her around will do the same thing.

Cats do recover from pneumonia, even cats who aren't in perfect health. Hope is a golden aura of healing to surround the baby.

Prayers as long as Bitsy needs them and healing energy.

 

[danteshuman]

I hope Bitsy makes it!

 

[Sarthur2]

Yes, cortisone would be a prescription steroid drug from the vet!

 

[Kitty0619]

Hi everyone,
Thank you all for the great advice, and I will definitely do the shower thing asap. Today has been a long day for Bitsy and myself. After I got Bitsy home and posted my question to yall, she started breathing very bad again and my nerves were already toast by this point, so I decided to take her to another vet in town for a second opinion. After a leukemia test, blood work, parasite test (which were all negative), and $150, this vet told me the same thing as my vet did, which was she had pneumonia. So, the grand total for today's vet visits were $400... the things we do for our fur-babies. Both vets thinks she got pneumonia by inhaling milk while nursing, so she doesn't have viral pneumonia that will spread to my other rescues and kitties thank God. She does have a prescription for Clovamox, and I bought her Pedialyte and baby food Turkey and chicken (which I mix together because she will eat great but doesn't want to drink, so I mix the two together so shes getting the Pedialyte). If we can make it through tonight and tomorrow morning then we should be "out of the woods" the vets said. I'm going to stay up with her in case I need to breathe for her again, so if any of you are the praying type then please pray for Bitsy because she needs it. Thanks

 

[catsknowme]

Amen - I am most definitely the praying type! Tillie will be 2 months old on July 1 but we had 2 times where she wasn't expected to survive the night; At that point, it was truly between our Merciful Creator and the kitten. Many people prayed and Tillie pulled through. She had a couple of days of only pedialyte and karo syrup on the gums & at that point, I added the herbs and there was great relief and improvement.
Prayers that Bitsy is sent rapid healing

 

[StefanZ]

You did marvellously well- including this with rushing in to the vets in just pyjamas, thus signalling its emergency, you cant stand and wait in any queues... Good the cats life is above any pride too.

You are doing well by instincts. You got many marvellous good comments.

I want just to add, if you can get raw goats milk, it may give some edge. There are some natural antibiotics in there. Also, raw honey into her drinking water or her KMR or goats milk. Raw honey does too have some natural antibiotics...

None of these is any quick remedy. If her fate is to die, so it wont help. But may the the last necessary bit to pull through....

I love the mention of turkey and chicken baby food. Turkey[pidgeon!] and or chicken soup are renown, generations of jewish mommas had saved their sick childs with such soup.... Yeah, my momma did it too, even if she wasnt jewish herself. But we had jewish friends, and thus, got these jewish advices.

Kitty0619

 

[Kitty0619]

It' 7:31 a.m. eastern time and Bitsy is still with me. We have had a horrible night and it just keeps getting worse. I have to breathe in her mouth to clear her airway almost every hour now. The choking noise she makes is horrible and then the noise completely quits because she isnt getting any air at all. I haven't been to sleep at all and I can't because if I do she'll choke and I won't be awake to help her. I've been up now for 22 hours and I'm so sleepy. I don't know if its the exhaustion talking but I almost wonder if I'm doing her more harm then good by keeping her alive. She just seems to suffering so bad... If I feel this way about a cat then I can't imagine what a parent must go through when staying up all night wondering if their child will make it. She has been eating great still and has been taking the Nutri-Cal wonderfully too but the antibiotic and Pedialyte are a different story. I'm so scared she's inhaling the meds and Pedialyte instead of swallowing but I'm going super slow and only a drip at a time. If I'm rambling then I apologize but I am in a very dark place right now and having zero sleep isn't helping but talking to you guys is helping me in a way. She is finally resting ok and has been sleeping for a record time of 45 mins. Please continue to send prayers and good thoughts Bitsys way (and mine) and thank you all for caring about Bitsy

 

[Sarthur2]

I think you need to take her to the vet for cortisone. I’m so sorry she is struggling so much.

Kitty0619

 

[danteshuman]

Can they put an oxygen tube in her to help her breathe at the vet’s or a vet hospital? Can they give you something to suction her mouth out with?

 

[Kitty0619]

YESS, I AGREE WITH YOU BOTH!!! But both of the vets I took her to said that they have done all that they could for her. I asked about the oxygen tank and suctioning out the fluid or just anything at all that they could do to help her breath but they both said that she was too little and that it was up to the antibiotic. Does that sound right to yall? shes in such bad shape that I thought that they would keep her but neither vet said she was too little. I got the feeling that they think that shes too young to even mess with. so I am having to watch her suffer and its killing me and HER

 

[Kitty0619]

She just had another bad attack. I was hoping I could keep her breathing until the antibiotics started working but these attacks are taking everything out of her. and I have no clue how to help her!

 

[Sarthur2]

Can you see an emergency vet? Or at least ask a vet to administer a dose of cortisone?

Kitty0619

 

[Kitty0619]

Can you see an emergency vet? Or at least ask a vet to administer a dose of cortisone?

Kitty0619

On my way to vet now. Please pray he helps her. I will ask specifically for the cortisone

 

[Kitty0619]

Shes gone. The vet said that her lungs were in too bad of shape and that they were not pushing out 5% of the oxygen she needed. That was a Cortisone shot she had yesterday and the reason I didnt realize that is because they called it some word that started with a D. He said that he could put her in an oxygen tent but that she only had less then 5% chance of making it through and then even if she made it out of the oxygen tent, she would probably go back to being this sick because her lungs were past saving. So I made the very difficuilt descsion to have her put to sleep at the vets recommendation. At least she isnt choking and suffering anymore, I just pray I made the right decision. Thank you all for your advice and for caring for a little grey bobtailed kitten named Bitsy. Im gonna go hide in my bed and cry for the rest of the day and put all my other kitties in there with me so they can make me feel a little better. Oh, and I wanted to share a pic of Bitsy how she was two weeks ago, so she would be remembered how she was supposed to be and not how she ended up (the little black and brown kitten died from Fading Kitten Syndrome 1 1/2 week ago, so all that's left from that litter is the fat little grey baby).

 

[danteshuman]

I am so sorry for your loss!

I included my favorite grief poem. I’m so sorry Bitsy didn’t make it!

 

[Sarthur2]

I’m so sorry about Bitsy. She seemed so sweet. I think you made the right decision to help her over the Rainbow Bridge so she would no longer suffer. It’s always a difficult decision, but often the kindest. I hope you know that you did everything possible to save her and give her a chance. Get some much needed rest now and enjoy your other fur babies!