Rescued Amber kitten is in animal hospital with an infection(?). We've only had her four days!

[MissingKittyCat]

Think I'm going for the hat trick on threads in The Litter Tray.

I posted about my cat getting killed by the neighbours dog.
A week later I posted about our beautiful new rescue kitten.
Four days later, she's in animal hospital.

She went downhill fast today. Wouldn't play, constantly asleep, wasn't purring, didn't want to cuddle, wouldn't eat despite prompting. All she wanted to do was curl up in my cashmere cardigan and deep sleep.

I knew she wasn't right earlier but thought I was being paranoid and anxious due to my nana dying recently and kitty getting killed.

Realised my intuition was screaming and got her into the emergency vet who sent us to the animal hospital. She's dehydrated, has a very high temp and needs antibiotics and IV fluids. I got her there in time, she still had a bit of fight left in her. So relieved I didn't leave it until morning!

I'm terrified. The vet can't say if she'll be ok. She's all skin and bone really, she's tiny. The rescue lady said she was about 8 weeks but none of us agree. She said if anything was wrong to take her back to the shelter rather than the vet as the bills would be too high. I took her to the vet anyway. The insurance won't kick in for a couple of weeks so I am going to be hit hard but I just want her better

I can't lose her too. Has anybody been through this? Please tell me she'll be alright.

[cozietoesie]

Well done. I generally feel almost hungover for about 10 minutes when I've had a nap - because it's out of rhythm I guess - but it can certainly make a huge difference over the day.

[cozietoesie]

PS - even if you feel that you can't actually sleep (because you're tensed up and jangling or something) just trying for a lie down/rest will help the body. If if doubt, take a book or something with you and have a distraction for an hour.

[TakeYourFinalPosition]

I just wanted to say all the best, my thoughts are with you and Amber!

I nursed a tiny kitten with FLV when I was 19. The vets told me that he wouldn't survive, leukaemia isn't a survivable disease and my parents had no money to invest in trying to prolong his life. He wasn't even really our kitten, the mummy cat just decided to have them at the end of my bed.

The round-the-clock care was tough but rewarding and I remember him like it was yesterday. It's a bit different for me because the prognosis was always bad, I could never save him, but he did recover and we got into a routine that meant he had a kittenhood. He was lovely.

[RubbishMantra]

That is cheering news to hear she's been playing about. I think I recall you posting that she was sleeping an awful lot? Good that her energy levels are up.

And re. your vet, yes, you can choose whichever vet you like. We changed ours' recently. No drama at all.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I'm so pleased you can take her home. She sounds a feisty little girl.

2hr feeding will be hard but it's not forever.

(I thought I'd left my purse at the cattery and rang saying "hi it's fluffy cats mommy, did I leave my purse there earlier?, I have no shame).

[HemanOrSheRa]

Missing I guess you are at the vets now. I'm crossing EVERYTHING, fingers, toes, the lot, for you and Amber. You are AMAZING .

[RubbishMantra]

Sorry Missing, misread your post! Thought Amber was already home.

Long night with recovering kitty for you. It'll be worth it though. The pair of you are fighters.

I have a positive feeling she'll pull through.

[Wolfiefan]

Crossing everything for you and Amber. Our old girl picked something up last year and we thought we would lose her. All was fine.
Hissing at the vet sounds good. Sorry vet!!

[shaska]

Hope you're home and she's behaving herself - thoughts with you and the wee one.

[PestoSwimissimos]

Are you home yet OP?

How is Amber kitten?

[MissingKittyCat]

She has been home since around 6. It's been chaos. Calmer now my mum has gone home and DD has gone to bed. She has vomited twice once bile and 3mls of blended food we had managed to syringe her. I'm hoping that it was motion sickness (20 minute car journey) and anxiety. She's now asleep. Not sure how long to leave it before we try more food/water. My stress levels are through the roof already, I'm hyper aware she no longer has an IV.

I think she remembers us. She must be happy to be home.

[cozietoesie]

She'll be happier now although some animals react badly to car journeys and might have all sorts of upsets beause of it - keep the litter tray close at hand!

Any chance of taking her for a lie with you ? (If only on a couch with a blanket/throw - and a towel around in case of accidents.) Keeping her warm and snuggly would be a good thing.

[Fluffycloudland77]

It was probably the car ride. ASBO will be sick after car rides.

Leave it 2hrs then dry again?

[cozietoesie]

*around somewhere - in the sense of close to hand. (I didn't mean wrapped around her.)

[shaska]

Do they have any thoughts on what exactly is wrong? And is she on any meds? How is she in herself?

Could well be motion sickness, and it's no doubt been a stressful couple of days.

Maybe it'd be good to get a wee schedule underway - to keep yourself sane as much as anything! What did the vet recommend for feeding times and amounts?

I'd probably try a tiny bit of food now to see how she goes - maybe give her the option to lick it off the syringe to see if she will? Is the syringe food you're giving her mixed with water? If so then that'll help keep her hydrated.

You could try holding the syringe of food in your hard for a few minutes first as well to warm it a touch - apparently it smells more appetising to them that way.

Sorry for all the questions!

[stareatthetvscreen]

awww keep us posted op

yy to warmth warmth warmth snuggles and hand feeding warm food.keep her as close to you as you can.i believe lots of stroking helps too.if she doesn't mind obviously.

[MissingKittyCat]

They think it's a virus. They can't take blood to check because they'd need 3-4mls and it would be too much (this is how tiny she is).

She's on antibiotics, twice a day. Don't know if they'll work if it's viral? For 5 more days. Drops now rather than injections.

Recommended feeding ever 2 hours but give her a longer stretch of sleep overnight. She said 6 hours but I think that's a bit long?

She doesn't want to lick the food, no interest whatsoever. It is mixed with water. Weve to aim to get 3 quarters-a tin of food in her a day I'm going to need a miracle.

She's on her favourite blanket, close to me. She doesn't seem to like it when we both leave the room or are moving around.

Wish she would just keep something down.

[MissingKittyCat]

We're only giving a few mls every feed. Should I worry about how much warmth? At what point will she be too hot? This is tricky!

[Fluffycloudland77]

maybe the ab is to stop her getting a secondary infection?.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I don't think cats can be too hot, she'll curl up if cold and stretch out When she's toasty.

They are desert animals after all.

[shaska]

As fluffy says, I think it's hard to keep a cat too hot, as evidenced by the fact that both of mine sleep directly under full strength radiators for hours at a time.

On her favourite blanket sounds good - if you have a portable heater you could have going in the room she's in, or a wheatpack to put under the blanket that might be nice, but no biggie if not. Maybe snuggle the blanket around her a wee bit, if you didn't already?

What's the food? With mine, the food she was supposed to have was the food she'd had at the vets and she had an absolute, passionate hatred of it - I suppose because of the association. So I syringe fed her that but then tempted her to eat for herself with things she loved. My kitten knowledge is rusty so I'm not sure what Amber's allowed, but if you've got some chicken or even just a different food to whats in the syringe, maybe tomorrow you could offer tiny tiny morsels of that. It took me days to get mine to eat for herself, never felt such joy as when she did it!

Quiet and calm is good. Depending how she goes tonight she might be fine for the six hours. If you can get a bit of food in before you go to bed and have it stay down then you could probably leave her - but definitely just do what you feel is best.

Just wishing you tons and tons of luck, and hope you're holding up ok. Remember you need to eat and rest too!

[cozietoesie]

As Fluffy said, the ABs can't do anything about a virus as such but they can help with opportunistic/secondary bacterial infections.

6 hours isn't too long if she'll sleep happily and don't worry about her being too warm. If she's too toasty she'll stretch or otherwise expose some skin to cool off - it won't be for long.

She clearly wants to be close to you. Why not try some music or a low-volume movie as well? If she becomes used to that, it will make it easier for you to leave her for short periods.

[stareatthetvscreen]

could she have teeny tiny chopped ham - mine love that.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Ham might be too salty for a dehydrated kitten but plain cooked chicken would be ok.

The vets always say plain cooked white fish but it's a bit boring.

[BlackHillsofDakota]

I'm so sorry this has happened but sending good vibes that Amber will turn the corner and start to perk up. You have a good and kind heart to put so much love and care in to her after such a short time.