The Little Stray Kitten

[Eca]

Hi, everyone. My heart is about to burst right now and instead of crying, I think it's better to share my story with people who actually care about cats in this forum. I'm sorry, I'm not a good story teller and English isn't my first language, so pardon any mistakes.

Last Saturday, in front of my house (I live in Tangerang, Indonesia) I found this little kitten meowing loudly and all covered in black gunk. My neighbor told me, he's fallen into the gutter and someone picked him out and left him on the roadside. I immediately took the kitten in, give him a warm bath, and cuddle him closely because he's shivering. Nobody know for how long he's been in the gutter or left on the roadside. After he stopped shivering, I fed him Whiskas wet kitten food (because that's all I have at the moment). I don't have pets and never really want to keep one, but I always carry some cat food (wet & dry) just in case I met hungry cats/kittens on my way (that happens a lot here in Indonesia). He's eating quite a lot (about 1 tbsp) and fell asleep afterwards. I wrapped him up in a purrito and went out looking for the mama cat nearby, but found no single cat in vicinity.

I named the little kitten Sachi. He's all skin and bones, I can see his ribcage poking out from his tiny chest. Probably he's been separated from the mama for quite some time, even before falling into the gutter.

The day after, on Sunday I took him to the vet closest to my house for a check. I'm a little worried because Sachi won't eat very much (only about 1 tsp/feeding, 3-4 times a day). The vet told me not to worry since "kucing kampung" (stray/feral cats) really don't eat that much. The vet told me he's 2 months old, only weighs 500 grams but otherwise fine. The vet cleaned his ears from leftover gunk from the gutter and administer some eardrops, then I took Sachi home.

Worried about Sachi, I decided to look up about kitten's nutrition online. I bought KMR (it costs me about 30 USD/can here) and mix it with wet food to make gruel, hoping it will give him proper nutrition. But still, he's not eating much. After a week, I weigh him and found that he's not gaining at all. Still at 500 grams but he's pretty healthy and active. Then I decide to switch his food to a better one. I bought Royal Canin mother & babycat wet food and he seems to like it. But the next day, he got diarrhea (2 bowel movements in a day). I immediately switched the food back to the old one and mix it with pedialyte. The next day (today), the diarrhea is gone and his stool is normal again. But he's eating even less than before, albeit still active.

I'm working full time job, 8-5 with 5 hours long commute (to and from work, I'm not exaggerating as it happens to most of the people living in Jabodetabek area), so I don't have much time to take care of Sachi. My mom and dad are managing a small store in our own house (store and living area is separated, Sachi lives in the living area). Sometimes the store is very busy, so my mom and dad only have time to feed Sachi but not much time to play with him. I get home at about 8 PM and I would feed him and play with him until he falls asleep in my lap at around 9-10 PM. I woke up at 4 AM to feed and play with him again before leaving to work at 6 AM. That's a little story about me.

This whole day (the day after diarrhea) he was eating very little and I'm planning to take him to the vet tomorrow. But Sachi isn't eating anything from around 6-7 PM. I tried anything from mixing up the foods, warming it up, feeding him with spoon and my fingertips, nothing worked. I kept trying every one hour, but all Sachi did was sleeping. At 3 AM, when I tried to feed him again, he throws up yellow liquid and I'm terrified. I must tell you that there's no animal hospital or animal emergency care here where I live. I texted the vet and ask him if I could see him earlier maybe at 6-7 AM because the clinic opens at 10 AM (this is 4 AM right now) but he hasn't replied yet.

Sachi still refused to eat, so I decided it's time to force feed him. I mix pedialyte with some KMR and honey and syringe feed him. He resisted so hard and managed to claw at my hand a few times. I also rubbed honey to his gums. Now he's sleeping and I'm so worried. He's so small, so frail, and I can do nothing more about this situation. I don't know how to administer fluid subcutaneously or tube feeding him. All I can do is stay with him until the vet reply my text.

This is my first time fostering a kitten and I'm so tired, so sad, feeling so guilty and miserable for switching the food, unable to care for him more.

I'm sorry for the long, winding post. Please pray for my little Sachi to survive.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hello - I'm praying with you for Sachi, and hopefully the vet gets back to you as soon as possible.
Definitely let us know what happens!

 

[white shadow]

.
Hi Eca and welcome to the forum !

Let's see if we can get some kitten experts to help - and move this over to 'the kitten centre'
@Kieka StefanZ Mamanyt1953
.

 

[StefanZ]

I suspect he has something, some big problem which is slowly deavouring his life..
Still, its just to fight on and hope for a turn. Pray if you are religious.
You seems to take care very well, you seem to have quite some knowledge.

Can you get raw goats milk? It has sometimes an edge. Goats milk in powder is OK to use, and probably cheaper than KMR. And should be possible to get in your country too.

Can you get real glucose sugar / dextrose? Its less sweet than honey so you can give more of it.
Honey, esp raw honey, has some advantages, but is sweet to eat if more than just a tiny bit.

Do you have salomonella in eggs in your country? And must hardboil eggs? If so, you can add some with his food, esp the yolk.
If you DONT have salomonella in eggs, you can blend in the raw jolk with his goats milk / KMR.

Has he been dewormed? As ex homeless he has almost surely worms. And a heavy worm infection takes forces and may even take the life...

Good you do have pedialyte. Its important, esp if he has diarrheas or throws up much. Salt losses are dangerous.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

StefanZ is my "go to" in things like this, so read his advice. I'm sure goats milk is available to you, it is almost everywhere. You must be very brave now, this may be a war that you cannot win. However, even if little Sachi cannot fight off these problems, and if he must leave you, know that you gave him love, and a home, and warmth and comfort. You are doing EVERYTHING RIGHT. You are a hero to us, and to your precious kitten.

 

[Eca]

Hi, everyone. Thank you for the kind support. I am so glad so many of you replied.

Yesterday, very early in the morning I decided to visit another vet in a different animal clinic because the regular vet isn't replying to my text, which is so disappointing.

When the vet look at Sachi, she said he look quite fine despite having diarrhea and vomiting and he's not dehydrated. Then, she told me something that surprised me until now.

She said, because Sachi was from the street with possibly no mom for quite a while, so he survived by eating bugs, human food scraps, basically anything he can get and his tiny tummy has grown accustomed to those kind of food. That explains why after a few days in my care and being fed quality wet foods, his poop went from solid dark brown lump into yellow watery diarrhea. His tummy simply shocked and found the food ''strange" and wanted to reject it.

She also said that the diarrhea and vomiting is most likely not an infection (viral/bacterial) because the symptoms doesn't match. If it's viral or bacterial, Sachi would be much sicker than this. She also took some poop sample to be checked (the results aren't out yet, it will took 2-3 days).

She prescribed a can of wet food. It is Royal Canin Recovery and she said it was meant for convalescence period only and not for long term because it'll damage his liver and kidney. At first, Sachi shows little interest in the food but slowly he gobbled it up hungrily. Yesterday, he ate about 4 tablespoonfuls with a little help by feeding him with my fingertips. She said he should at least eat 3-4 times a day, 5 ml each feeding. She also prescribed liquid antibiotics and powdered vitamins in a capsule. She also showed me how to use a syringe to feed both wet food and medicine to Sachi.

Lastly, she offered me some advice and short counseling. She asked me how I feel about Sachi and what I expect him to do. I said I just want to save him from the streets. I want him to be healthy and happy inside the house.

This morning, I found the poop in his litter box is no longer watery. It was soft, has formed and brownish yellow in color. But I also found vomit stains in his bedding, albeit not much. I scoured the house and found no other vomit trace.

Sachi mews loudly and it's usually because he's hungry. I warmed up his recovery food but he still won't eat from his bowl. I offered the food with my fingertips but he's only licking and eating a tiny bit. I tried to syringe feed him, but it was a very stressful thing for both me and Sachi. He screamed and clawed at me no matter how much I restrained him in a blanket. It's also the same when I tried to give him the medicine.

 

[Furballsmom]

You are a good story teller little Sachi has such a caring person in you.
Instead of using a syringe, would a small bottle work better? I don't know, but maybe YouTube videos for either style of feeding, or something here might help;

Feeding Kittens

www.kitten-rescue.com

 

[Eca]

About the vet's advice, she basically told me that what I thought is the best for Sachi isn't always the best for Sachi. He was most likely stressed because he lives freely on the street before and now he's living in a small confinement inside my house. My house is small and there aren't many furniture for him to play with. He's also probably having friends outside and now he's alone. I'm away from the house most of the time and my parents are busy in the store, so probably we don't play with him enough. All the factors are contributing to his diarrhea and unwillingness to eat. She told me to let Sachi play outside during the day and take him in during the night so he won't be too stressed and try changing his food from "real" cat food (wet/dry) to something he used to eat in the streets, like boiled chicken, cooked eggs, boiled fish, plain cooked white rice, etc basically human foods that cats can eat.

My mom said that when everybody is busy, Sachi will claw the door (to the store) and mewed loudly. My mom ignored him because she was worried if she let him out in the store he will run out to the busy streets.

This morning I decided to go with the vet's advice. Sachi is definitely stressed out with all the things that we've done for the sake of his health, which actually make him sick. I let him out to play in the store and put a collar on his neck with his name on, our address and my phone number so in case he wandered away and somebody found him, they know where to take him to.

It's hard. It's really really hard to do this. I'm worried sick about him. But this is probably what's best for him.

 

[Eca]

Yes, when I bought the KMR I also bought kitten nursing bottle and tried to bottle fed him but he won't open his mouth at all not even when I drip some of the formula on the nipple. I will try it again when I'm back home this afternoon. Thank you.

 

[Furballsmom]

When you get a chance take a look at those two websites I linked for you, and hang in there!

We're all rooting for you!

 

[Eca]

I suspect he has something, some big problem which is slowly deavouring his life..
Still, its just to fight on and hope for a turn. Pray if you are religious.
You seems to take care very well, you seem to have quite some knowledge.

Can you get raw goats milk? It has sometimes an edge. Goats milk in powder is OK to use, and probably cheaper than KMR. And should be possible to get in your country too.

Can you get real glucose sugar / dextrose? Its less sweet than honey so you can give more of it.
Honey, esp raw honey, has some advantages, but is sweet to eat if more than just a tiny bit.

Do you have salomonella in eggs in your country? And must hardboil eggs? If so, you can add some with his food, esp the yolk.
If you DONT have salomonella in eggs, you can blend in the raw jolk with his goats milk / KMR.

Has he been dewormed? As ex homeless he has almost surely worms. And a heavy worm infection takes forces and may even take the life...

Good you do have pedialyte. Its important, esp if he has diarrheas or throws up much. Salt losses are dangerous.

Unfortunately, it's hard to get raw goat's milk here. The only thing available is the powdered form and because it's meant as health food and as supplement for elderly, it was fortified with so many things and I'm afraid it's harmful for Sachi.

About the salmonella, all eggs in Indonesia is not pasteurized and are quite dirty to be honest so I'm positive it's not free from salmonella.

My mom just texted me. She said she's cooked some hardboiled eggs and mix it with some freshly cooked white rice and unseasoned japanese bonito flakes and Sachi seemed to like it better than the recovery wet food.

 

[Furballsmom]

Ah, bonito flakes work really well for kitties!! This is great news!

 

[Furballsmom]

The one thing you want to be aware of is that manufactured kitten and cat food has nutrients that are vital, such as taurine, which is for the eyes as well as proper development of the heart. So at some point fairly soon you'll want to start introducing some of that recovery food again, and some canned kitten food to him, or you could even purchase taurine if you wanted to try that.

 

[Eca]

I suspect he has something, some big problem which is slowly deavouring his life..
Still, its just to fight on and hope for a turn. Pray if you are religious.
You seems to take care very well, you seem to have quite some knowledge.

Can you get raw goats milk? It has sometimes an edge. Goats milk in powder is OK to use, and probably cheaper than KMR. And should be possible to get in your country too.

Can you get real glucose sugar / dextrose? Its less sweet than honey so you can give more of it.
Honey, esp raw honey, has some advantages, but is sweet to eat if more than just a tiny bit.

Do you have salomonella in eggs in your country? And must hardboil eggs? If so, you can add some with his food, esp the yolk.
If you DONT have salomonella in eggs, you can blend in the raw jolk with his goats milk / KMR.

Has he been dewormed? As ex homeless he has almost surely worms. And a heavy worm infection takes forces and may even take the life...

Good you do have pedialyte. Its important, esp if he has diarrheas or throws up much. Salt losses are dangerous.

Oh and about the deworming, I have asked it to the vet yesterday. The vet said Sachi is way too small and too thin to be dewormed. The dosage counting would be very hard and the possibility of overdosing is high. Also the side effects of deworming is diarrhea and vomiting, which would be fatal if happened to Sachi right now. She suggested that I wait until Sachi gained a little bit of weight (at least 700 grams, he's about 500 grams now) before vaccination and deworming.

 

[Eca]

Ah, bonito flakes work really well for kitties!! This is great news!

Yes! And the flakes are 'dancing' on top of the cooked rice, too. That must've intrigued him :-)

 

[Eca]

The one thing you want to be aware of is that manufactured kitten and cat food has nutrients that are vital, such as taurine, which is for the eyes as well as proper development of the heart. So at some point fairly soon you'll want to start introducing some of that recovery food again, and some canned kitten food to him, or you could even purchase taurine if you wanted to try that.

Thank you so much for the information. I will keep an eye on this. Meanwhile, I'll try to feed him more chicken meat, possibly liver, too if he wants to. I will also try to mix his recovery food into his regular food.

 

[Furballsmom]

You're doing a terrific job, good for you!!

 

[Eca]

Here are some pictures of Sachi :-)

He loves his catnip carrot toy.

He also loves being wrapped in a purrito.

 

[StefanZ]

Yes, vaccinations must wait. Deworming prob too must wait, as long as he is that weak. Otherwise, there are dewormers possible to use on healthy kittens from 3 weeks age.

So its a dilemma. Part of his difficulties is because he has worms, but he is too weak for the moment for a deworming done safely.

 

[Furballsmom]

What a sweet baby!! Thank you for sharing the pictures