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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

2 sick kittens

39 replies

Claw3 · 24/09/2011 22:06

I have 2 kittens who are 23 weeks old. One kitten has sores in his mouth, bad smell and dribbling, he is still quite active, but not his usual self.

Other kitten is limping, very sleepy, no sores, but i smelt by her mouth and bad smell.

They have both stopped eating and drinking today. I cant get to vets until tomorrow. I have googled symptoms and it looks like cat flu (they have been vaccinated)

I got some sardines, pilchards, tuna and kitten milk to try and tempt them and im keeping them warm.

Anything else i can do until tomorrow, any advice please?

OP posts:

stinkyfluffycat · 24/09/2011 22:31

Our vet has a 24 hour emergency thing - you just call their normal number and it gives you the emergency number to call. Or if you mean you can't leave the house due to kids being left alone couldn't someone either babysit or take kittens to vet for you?
Can you syringe/squirt water into their mouths somehow? I know kittens can get dehydrated quite quickly..
Nothing else to suggest, sorry, but there are a couple of vets on here somewhere so hopefully one of them will be along soon.
Will keep my fingers crossed for you.

stinkyfluffycat · 24/09/2011 22:33

Or if the tuna you've got is in water, not oil/brine, squeeze the tuna-y water onto a dish for them, they might go for that and get a drink that way.

Kormachameleon · 24/09/2011 22:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

Claw3 · 24/09/2011 22:44

My vet wants £150 each, just for call out, without any treatment. I dont have that kind of money. Another vet, actually has a surgery tomorrow, so will just be normal fees.

I have tried the Blue Cross, PDSA and RSPCA for emergency treatment tonight, im either out of their area or dont qualify.

I dont have a syringe, i will look through the cupboard to see if i have an eye dropper or something similar thanks.

Stinky, they will not drink anything on their own, im going to have to try and find a way of getting some fluids into them.

OP posts:

stinkyfluffycat · 24/09/2011 22:57

Really really hope they make it through to the morning. Do yourself a big favour and get pet insurance - it's worth the money just to know you never have to sit there worrying on a night like tonight.

Original poster

Claw3 · 24/09/2011 23:13

Well i managed to suck up water in a straw, then put my finger across the top to hold it there and into their mouths, so they have had some fluids.

Male kitten with the sores, the more active one, put up a fight, which is a good sign and he has just jumped up onto my lap. Female, sleepy one, no fight at all. She was a bit more active earlier on, she followed me into the kitchen, im hoping she is just feeling worse as it night time, like humans do.

Yes pet insurance is a good idea, ive just been lucky before i guess.

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DooinMeCleanin · 24/09/2011 23:18

Pet insurance is vital. Do you not have a credit card or a kindly relative with a credit card?

Honestly if the kittens do not make it through the night you will hate yourself. You need to get them seen.

stinkyfluffycat · 24/09/2011 23:30

What Dooin said.
Or if you're a regular with your vet they might let you pay the bill in installments? Offer post - dated cheques or a credit card number to keep on file & debit once a month?
Poor little kittens, hope they get better.

Original poster

Claw3 · 24/09/2011 23:31

RSPCA have said i can take the kittens there, they will charge me, but not the huge amounts as private vets. Such a relief, hour and half drive, but worth it.

Fingers crossed. Thanks everyone.

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stinkyfluffycat · 24/09/2011 23:34

Oh good, go, go GO! AM so glad they'll get to a vet tonight, now I can go to bed and not worry as much
REALLY must spend less time worrying about other peoples' cats...
Good luck!

DooinMeCleanin · 24/09/2011 23:39

Fingers crossed for a good outcome.

Original poster

Claw3 · 25/09/2011 02:46

Just got back, they suspect kittens have FIV (feline aids) I have to take them back tomorrow for blood tests

OP posts:

stinkyfluffycat · 25/09/2011 09:30

Oh poor kittens - hope there's something they can do for them if that's the case (I know nothing about FIV).
Sorry you were stuck at the vet's in the middle of the night, and hope there are some drugs to help your kittens.
Come back & update when you can, and give kittens a stroke from me.

ripstheirthroatoutliveupstairs · 25/09/2011 10:01

You poor thing. I hope there is something that can be done, although I have a feeling there isn't.
FWIW, I don't think that making the OP feel guilty about not being able to initially get to a vet is helpful.

ColdSancerre · 25/09/2011 10:05

Do you have any other cats in the house? Have they been allowed out yet?

FIV is something they can hopefully live with if they have good care, but they'd have to be indoor only as you don't want it to spread around the neighbourhood. It can't transmit to humans at all.

Original poster

Claw3 · 25/09/2011 10:42

Morning everyone and thanks, its was worth being up most of the night, for peace of mind, i wouldnt have been able to sleep. Male kitten has eaten a little this morning and drank some milk. Female still not eating or drinking, but she is more active and perky this morning.

ColdSancere yes i have 2 adult cats as well and no kittens have not been outside yet. Vet did explain to me that if it is FIV, kittens cant be around other cats and will have to be indoor cats forever, although as you say they can still have a good life. Vet was saying it is unusual for kittens this young to be showing signs of FIV and if they do have it, they were born with it. I will cross that bridge, once blood results are back.

Ive been googling as you do and symptoms are very similar between FIV and cat flu. So finger crossed for cat flu.

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ColdSancerre · 25/09/2011 11:07

Yes fingers crossed. I think FIV can be hard to test for - is that the disease where the best option is to send the blood test off to a lab in Edinburgh?

I assume you've already segregated them from the adult cats just in case.

Original poster

Claw3 · 25/09/2011 11:30

Im not sure where the blood test will be sent, will ask later today. I have been treating as if they have cat flu, keeping them separately from older cats, steralising everything they attempt to eat/drink from, washing all bedding daily, all cat toys in the bin etc. Luckily i have wooden floors throughout, so can wash them too (in the process of doing that now)

Although i was reading FIV is passed on through bites ie infected cat biting another or blood transfer. If it turns out to be FIV, i will then get older cats tested too and take it from there.

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Original poster

Claw3 · 25/09/2011 11:59

Ive also been reading, perhaps a little bit ahead of myself and wishful thinking!

"The most recent research carried out at Glasgow University's Companion Animal Diagnostics indicates that the chances of FIV being passed from one cat to another in the same household is approx 1-2%. This means that if you have 100 cats (!) in a house with 1 FIV positive cat, only 1 or 2 could be expected to become infected. Even when FIV was passed on, as in the Glasgow survey, none of the cats actually died of it. In another survey a few years ago FIV was not passed from cat to cat in the same household at all.

The Celia Hammond Animal Trust have been conducting a long-term study at their sanctuary since the late 1990's, where FIV-positive and FIV-negative cats live happily together, grooming each other and sharing food bowls and litter trays. Regular blood tests for the virus are carried out, and to date no cases of transmission have yet been found"

OP posts:

stinkyfluffycat · 25/09/2011 22:18

Let's hope it's cat flu then! Although a friend had a FIV positive cat now that I think about it who lived (alone) to a ripe old age. Think the only difference was he couldn't go outside?

ripstheirthroatoutliveupstairs if you mean me I really wasn't trying to make anyone feel guilty at all, I was only trying to help.
Claw if I did come across that way please accept my apologies and blame the bottle of wine I had last night for any misunderstanding!

Hope you get good news and happy kittens soon.

DorisVinyard · 25/09/2011 22:46

I could be wrong but isn't the FIV status of kittens unreliable before six months of age?

Original poster

Claw3 · 25/09/2011 23:43

Stinky, yep they can live alone (or with other infected cats) and have to be and indoor cat. No worries, no offence was taken anyhow.

Doris i read something similar about kittens of an infected mother, you could not get an accurate result due to them feeding from the infected mother or something along those lines. So some kittens had tested negative, after intially testing positive, i think.

After vet visit today, she thinks things are not looking good. Mouth ulcers are severe and terribly infected and both kittens have very high fever, she has taken a swab to test for calici virus (strain of cat flu), but she feels certain that the infection has got so severe due to FIV and their inability to fight infection. They have had an injection of antibiotics and pain killer. She has given me syringes and some rehydration powder, to feed to them every 2 hours. She doesnt want to keep them at the vets, due to risk of infection to other cats there.

I have to take them back on Tuesday, if there is an improvement she will do blood test to check for FIV, if no improvement then i should think about having them put to sleep. If they detoriate in the meantime, i am to take them back before then.

By the time we got back from the vets, the pain killer must have started to work and they were both a bit more alert, both drank some milk and one ate some food. So tomorrow will be the real test, once the pain killer has worn off.

Havent been able to put them down since i got back from the vet, im so upset, im trying to stay positive, but cant help thinking this is my last days with them.

OP posts:

MitmoodyCow · 26/09/2011 08:17

Oh how awful, poor things. I hope they start to improve. Can you stay with them for the two hourly feeds?

DorisVinyard · 26/09/2011 10:49

Keeping fingers crossed for you.

Original poster

Claw3 · 26/09/2011 11:33

Thanks Mitmoody, yes, im home all day, im a carer for my ds who has disabilities. Im tired, its hard work, what with all the steralising, washing everything they touch etc, but im managing.

Both ate and drank, cat food and kitten milk, a fair amount last night and early this morning. Although the pain killer appears to be wearing off as they have now stopped eating and drinking, they run to their bowls as if they want to eat, but then cant. I liquidised some sardines, but they havent eaten that either.

They are still much more alert, than what they were and dribbling less and coming to me for strokes and purring. They are not dehydrated. So some signs of improvement, just hope they can keep it up and fight off the infection.

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