Poorly kitten after vaccinations - sorry bit long.

[caitlinohara]

We've only had him since last Monday (3rd Oct) and he is around 9 weeks old now. Because I got him from an acquaintance at school and when I went round to look at the litter I wasn't very impressed with general hygiene, I did what I thought was the responsible thing and took him straight to the vet for a check up and to get his vaccinations.

All fine, he's a lovely little thing, playful and affectionate and we all love him already.

Monday he was a bit quiet, I thought possibly just tired because the kids have been home at the weekend and have played with him a lot (to be clear: he follows them around and complains UNTIL they play with him!). Monday night I was up with ds3 and heard kitten crying, then he came walking in to the room and he was limping really badly - his back end just kept collapsing. Put ds3 back to bed and sat up with kitten for a bit but he fell asleep so I took him to bed with me. Tuesday morning I took him to the vet, by which point he could barely walk and wasn't eating anything. Vet checked him over for injuries, took his temperature, confirmed he had a high fever and rang the vaccination company to check if it was likely to be a reaction. They said given all his symptoms it was probable. Vet gave him anti inflammatories and told me to bring him back the next day, which I did and she gave him another shot and then some drops for the next few days.

I suppose I'm posting to see if anyone has had a similar experience? He is eating a little bit now but only when I carry him to his food bowl, which I am doing every 2-3 hours to try to keep his strength up. He is so little (only weighs 1kg but to be fair he only weighed 920g when we got him so he has gained a few ounces since we got him a week and a half ago), maybe he just couldn't handle the vaccine?

Has anyone else had this experience??

[Fluffycloudland77]

We had this with our cats booster jabs at 18 months. Scared the life out of us but he was ok after a couple of days.

He's 7 now and never had it again, his vet uses purevax.

[caitlinohara]

Thanks. He is a lot better today thank goodness. I thought he was going to die on Monday night, but I think I am hyper sensitive because the last kitten I had did die (of liver failure, from a congenital condition) and it brought back memories of that.

He has savaged the doormat this morning so he must be feeling better

[Fluffycloudland77]

Obviously smite the doormat was on his to do list.

At least you didn't freak out and spend £85 on emergency vet fees, pull a sickie at work & get sent to the company doctor like Dh did.