New foster to adopt cat has irritated/inflammed anus, eye gunk, lump on right side, and is extremely lethargic - is this life-threatening?

[ssp]

Hello!
(I apologize in advance for the pictures of cat butt that are to come)

My partner and I picked up a 3 month old female Domestic Medium Hair foster kitten yesterday from an NYC-based rescue (Saturday, November 14, 2021). Once we took her home, we immediately noticed she had the following issues:
- black eye gunk

- she was scarily underweight (we could feel every bone in her body when we picked her up)
- a massive lump (1 inch radius) on her right flank, which the rescue thought came from her rabies vaccine that she received on November 1, 2021...but we don't know where they administered the rabies shot so I'm not sure I agree with the rescue folks here.

- a very inflamed/irritated rear end. we tried our best to clean it off with wet Kleenex/ + baby wipes, and cut off some of the clumped hairs, see pics below for the "before"


She tried to hide almost immediately after she arrived, which we chalked up to moving anxieties. She had a decent appetite on the first day (Saturday), passed feces once (light brown logs), but today (Sunday) she had a more limited appetite, and passed feces just once, even though we put some probiotics in her food this morning.

She has also had the following medical treatments/procedures:
- spayed 11/1
- negative for combo FeLV/FIV on 11/1
- Rabies 11/1
- FVRCP on 11/1

And took the following medications:
- Albon on 11/5 and 11/9
- Amoxicillin on 11/5 and 11/11
- Revolution on 11/12

She's also generally lethargic and when we let her roam free, ends up finding a corner to hide in. However, she purrs loudly and seems to really enjoy us petting her when we do end up finding her.

Not sure what is causing the inflammation in her rear, or the large lump on her right side.

What should we do? The rescue told us that they didn't think a vet visit was worthwhile because she was eating and pooping, but it seems like she's in a good deal of pain. When we gave her a tiny dose of gabapentin (our current 3month old kitten takes it before she goes to the vet), she seemed to really perk up and want to eat more/do kitten things.

 

[Antonio65]

Hi and welcome to TCS,
your kitten is stunning, but she really needs a vet visit, at once.
I can't understand why the rescue minimized the importance of a first vet visit. The kitten might have worms, she could have other parasites and might be unwell from other conditions that you are not seeing now.
The lump on her side could be just anything, from the rabies shot to a hernia.
Young kittens are very fragile creatures, and it takes close to nothing to have them from perky to very sick in one day.

I would take her to a vet right away, with a good sample of her poop.
Do not wait!
And DO NOT give her meds that haven't been prescribed by the vet!

 

[ssp]

Thanks for the advice Antonio65 - I believe the rescue didn't want us to go because we're technically fostering the kitten, and they'd be footing the bill.
We have a sample of her poop in the fridge, labeled and ready to go tomorrow to the vet (hopefully, if they still have slots available).

You're right about not giving meds that haven't been prescribed by the vet - the only reason we gave her the small dose of gabapentin was because our vet gave us extra for emergency situations like these, when cats are in pain and can't really move/muster up the energy to eat. She said it was well tolerated by cats and the dose was small enough (kitten dose) that it wouldn't do any harm. We waited a while to give it to her, but finally decided to try because she appeared to be in a lot of pain.

 

[ssp]

Antonio65 - any thoughts on our foster's anal inflammation? Have you seen anything like this before?

 

[Antonio65]

That pain, if it comes from her tummy, could be the sign of some nasty parasites in her intestine, a good reason to have her poop tested.
Once I was told that certain parasites, like Giardia, need a fresh sample of poop to be detected. So, when you take her to the vet, make sure to have a fresher sample.

 

[Antonio65]

Antonio65 - any thoughts on our foster's anal inflammation? Have you seen anything like this before?

It could be from the intestinal parasites, but a vet will give you a better opinion.

 

[ssp]

That pain, if it comes from her tummy, could be the sign of some nasty parasites in her intestine, a good reason to have her poop tested.
Once I was told that certain parasites, like Giardia, need a fresh sample of poop to be detected. So, when you take her to the vet, make sure to have a fresher sample.

Thanks so much - we'll try our best! She hasn't gone to the bathroom much. She's only pooped twice - once on Saturday evening and once on Sunday evening (about 5 hours ago). Hopefully we can get an early morning appointment and the sample will still be ok to use for tests.