Help please poorly kitten

[anoldiebutagoody]

My 6mth old kitten (Teddy) has been vomiting white frothy liquid since Sat night. Took him to vet yesterday (because I was concerned about the stuff DH had put on the lawn last week) she examined him and did bloods but apart from slightly raised temperature everything was normal. She gave him an injection to help the nausea and he tried to eat a tiny bit of fish last night.
He was sick again last night but nothing since the only thing is he's still not interested in food. He is drinking a little and weeing so that's good but he is sleeping a lot and looking very sorry for himself.
Is there anything I can do/get him to help his tummy and tempt him to eat. Tried steamed fish and chicken and all his favorites but no interest so far.
We (Teddy and me) would be very grateful for any ideas. Thanks Here he is a week or so ago x

Poor baby. My heart goes out to him. I just want to come and give him a cuddle! (He'll, no doubt, be heartily relieved to realise I'm far too far away to do that!)

You can buy kefir grains from Amazon - apparently the kefir you produce from them is better than the ready-made stuff. All you need to do is add milk and leave for a day or so.

I know when my Ellie was very poorly my mum became a regular at Waitrose's deli counter - she'd buy one small slice of beef, or ham, or chicken, or go to the fish end and by some prawns. All the staff knew who she was buying for, and would often slip her a bit for free!

Hope the sickness has abated and that he's getting lots of cuddles from Bobby. x

Yes. How's Bobby doing?

Bobby's good , cozie. It's hard to think of him as a kitten as he's so big (6.5kg+) and Teddy's so small but there's only 8 months between them -Bobby's only 18 months. I think I'll probably have to put him on a diet soon as he gets all the food Teddy won't eat plus his own and I feel guilty giving Teddy all the nice food so Bobby usually gets a little too.
Teddy ate some more dry food yesterday and drank some water plus had some chicken with his antacid at bedtime and he wasn't sick this morning😀 he's had more chicken and a little salmon so far and no sickness.
Time, he won't be cuddled unless you're in bed and he decides he wants a cuddle in the wee hours. I was looking at him yesterday curled up sleeping on the carpet wishing I could pick him up and put him on my lap for a cuddle but he would just jump off again so I didn't disturb him.
Got a list to speak to Lisa about, kefir, steroids,Metacam alternative if it is irritating his tummy.

I'm glad he's well - but maybe watch the feeding? I know that I actually over fed Oneago when he was a kitten because, mainly, I think, I'd had such difficulty getting Twoago to eat towards the end that seeing a cat tucking into nosh gave me some deep thrill of satisfaction. I had to change our ways pretty sharpish.

He sounds like Tilly - she'll occassionally come and curl up on the sofa or bed next to me but it's rare that she'll be on my lap. The last time she curled next to me in bed was when I had a human kitten in a travel cot in the lounge (her usual (for the time being) sleeping spot). She was horrified by the intrusion and refused to go anywhere near him, and probably thought she needed to keep me safe, so came as close as she could to me! My last cat, Ellie, was totally different - she'd be on you almost before you'd actually sat down!

Hope he's continued his good munching work today with no sickness, and that he remains ok until he sees Lisa tomorrow.

Yes I know that feeling well cozie. I wish I had let him just eat dry food which was all he'd eat when he arrived but I was concerned about the effect on kidneys etc so I introduced some wet and now he wants both.
When they came Bobby would only eat dry and Teddy would only eat wet - Teddy's still not fussed on dry which is why I was surprised at him eating it yesterday.
I'll try to cut down on Bobby's food, I would normally take away any uneaten food after mealtimes but he's used to having dry food available all the time and now that Teddy's showing an interest in it I don't want to take it away in case he fancies it .
Maybe when Teddy's back to eating normally I can do it.

Being aware of an issue is a goodly part of the battle, I reckon. The time will come.

How did it go today? Does Lisa know she has a fan club awaiting her next pronouncement? Tee hee!

Has there been any more sickness? I hope not. I was thinking of Teddy as I fed Tilly this morning, hoping he was tucking into his breakfast too. (Tilly looked at me aghast, until I pointed out I wasn't going to let him eat her food!!!)

Anyway, I hope all is positive and he's getting through this latest bout. Fingers and paws crossed for you all here.

x

Teddy's eating again and was much more like his old self last night, had been hunting in the day and caught 2 cabbage whites which he brought in to show me then when it got dark he caught a moth which he also brought in and proceeded to eat. He even escaped out of my bedroom window which has about an 8 ft drop after he was supposed to be in for the night so when I went to find him for supper at 11pm he was nowhere to be seen -went out and called Bobby and they both came for food and he was a really happy boy.
No sickness this morning so decided to do a phone call to Lisa rather than stress him out with a visit given the reaction he had last time to the injections. anyway spoke to Lisa, requested that she never go on holiday again 😀. Related everything to her and we both agree that he has a form of IBD causing him pain when he eats -so he doesn't eat which then allows the acid to build up and make him sick. Whether it's because of the Coronavirus or just a coincidence who knows, however the treatment for IBD is steroids and she feels that it may be the only way to get to grips with the illness as it looks like the Metacam is starting to irritate the stomach too, so using it long-term isn't going to be likely.
It is risky as steroids could boost the Coronavirus too and if it overruns the blood cells it will cause YouKnowWhat.
There is a steroid that acts "locally" just in the gut called Budesonide so I asked Lisa whether that would be less risky as it doesn't go through the whole system, she said that she hadn't used it on cats herself but she knew of a few vets that had also she had some information about it at home so she'll look at it tonight to see how it differs from Prednisolone.
She wants to see him if he starts vomiting again, and to be fair I would have taken him in last week and again on Monday if she'd been there, so we agreed that, also when she has the facts about the steroids and has weighed up the risks we may give them a go.
There is another NSAID which is gentler on the stomach as it doesn't affect the prostaglandins which protect the lining, which could be used instead of Metacam but it hasn't been tested on cats so is only licenced for dogs (& and humans) so we can't use that.
Looks like steroids is the only thing he may be able to have to control it in the long term , fingers crossed that the Budesonide is less risky. Even though he's a bright lively boy when he's well he isn't thriving because of these flare ups. - he's back to 3kg on my scales now so probably a bit under .

Keep us up to date with developments. I'm so pleased he's eating again at least.

Lisa just phoned, she's made a few phone calls and done some research and feels that the Budesonide will be a less risky steroid. The only problem she has is that it isn't a standard drug for cats so we have to use the human drug and these come as a capsule so not possible to cut up into the dose needed for a little kitten.
However she has found a pharmaceutical company who will make the appropriate size tablets out of the capsules -they cost around £70 for 100 so she'll order them and when they arrive we'll go in for his check up and change the meds, probably sometime next week.
Apparently the Budesonide is often used when Prednisolone hasn't worked because of its concentrated action on the gut so we are hoping that after the initial couple of weeks treatment we may be able to reduce the dose.
So now, please, I need everyone's positive vibes and fingers and toes crossed that they work for his tummy and don't have any effect on the Coronavirus (unless it's to kill it off -I wish!).

If he's not sore and eating well/happy then it would, I reckon, have a good effect on his immune system. Fingers crossed for the wee lad.

Yes that's what we agreed, cozie. I think the positive effect the steroids should have on his system justify the related risk.
As you pointed out before, he's done well so far and has had almost a month building up his system before this last episode.
He's managed for 10 months (with a bit of support) and is still surviving, so I think now is the best time to do it if we are going to.☺

We'll be keeping fingers and paws and wings crossed for the wee one at this end (and if you could all the rabbits, not to mention the bees, that's a LOT of crossing going on!!!)!

Glad to hear he's back to his old self, what with all the insect hunting that's going on. I hope you appreciated your butterflies! And bemused to hear of his escape out your window - he's certainly becoming more adventurous these days!

Anyway, will be sending lots of positive vibes that the steroids do their job.

Love to the boys, x

Thank you Time, with all those bees and animals crossing their appendages for him he'll have a lot of positive vibes coming his way.
You'll have to make allowances if there's not so much honey over the next few weeks as it must be quite difficult to collect nectar with your legs crossed - oh and tell the bees Teddy's not hunting bees these days (butterflies, flies and moths yes but not bothering with bees anymore ☺) so their relations in Wales are safe.x

How's Teddy been over the weekend?

Teddy's still eating well and just about back to normal.
Safe to say he's definitely feeling better and enjoying the dark evenings as he's just brought in a bat! I didn't know we had any bats around here, none of our other cats ever brought one in.
Stopping the Metacam today and just using the antacids to see how he does so if gets crossed he'll be OK. Not sure if Lisa intends him to have the steroids straight away or when he has his next flare up, that's assuming that he will be OK without the Metacam.

He's now moaning really loudly because I've closed the cat flap.
It's not locked just closed but he hasn't plucked up enough courage to follow Bobby out of it yet 😀, he'll go out if I prop it open or if the back door is open but gets concerned if I shut the door and he's outside ( which is when I prop open the catflap).

How is your poor boy meant to catch some more bats if you shut him in the house??????

Am really impressed by his hunting abilities!

He's out at the moment Time, he's been in to have some fish (we had fish &chips for tea) , just a snack as he had dinner at 5pm 😀, as you can tell he's still eating well.
Now I'm wondering what the catch will be tonight !, they're both out so goodness knows - it could be anything.

I seriously pity the local wildlife if they start hunting together!

Glad to hear he's still eating well. Supper followed by a fish tea sounds good to me!

Actually, the thought of fish and chips is making me salivate here.

😀 cozie, we have a really good fish and chip shop locally, everything is always lovely and fresh.
Teddy had 2 courses for breakfast this morning, the last of the fish (Bobby doesn't like fish) and his usual chicken mix and he still came in at 10.30 (when I was making a cuppa ) for more food - he's trying very hard to be a big healthy boy bless him- still off the Metacam 😃
No more wildlife caught last night I'm glad to say.

Get Thee behind me!

(I'm glad he's noshing up though.)