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

He's fine this morning ate his usual breakfast so pretty happy that I was just overfeeding him.
I don't usually overfeed my cats , my excuse is that when he was poorly and didn't eat for a few days, I would give him food at every opportunity when he was eating so that he didn't lose too much weight-maybe normal eating is a sign he's getting better, one can hope.☺

Difficult one. I overfed Oneago because Twoago had more or less given up food at the end and I had come to associate eating with health and general good things. (And Oneago was a gutsy pig.) It did require some hard talking to myself.

So pleased to hear he's doing so well. And don't feel bad about overfeeding him, you've been in such a difficult position with him not eating periodically that it's only natural you've got into that mindset. You'll just have to harden your heart to the pitiful meows of "Why are you starving me, Mum?" from now on!

Still eating happily?

Hi cozie
Well he's eating but still not as much as before and is very picky over what he will eat, he doesn't seem to have much of an appetite/hunger.
He was due Metacam on Tuesday but didn't seem to need it, running around playing with Bobby inside and out. Yesterday he didn't want his usual food at breakfast just ate a few mouthfuls, so I gave him the Metacam, usually after about an hour he's hungry but not this time (so probably not due to pain), there didn't seem to be any difference at all.
So at dinner time (6pm) I tried him with half Cosma Salmon and half plain chicken and he ate all the salmon and left the chicken - I can't decide if he's playing me or not .
He's eaten 1.5 x 85g tins of salmon and salmon and tuna today with about a dessert spoon of dry food and seems quite happy, washing afterwards and alternating between trying to find some birds to watch outside and sleeping on my bed, but he has lost weight he's 3.7kilos on my scales whereas he was just over 4 on the vet's scales.
He definitely gets fed up plodding through the food because it takes him so long to eat, between that and the fact that he's easily distracted by a sudden noise or Bobby going out, which he has to go and investigate, I'm not sure he's getting enough sustenance.
I'm going to monitor how much he's eating and weigh him again Monday morning to see if he has lost any more. He is peeing and pooing OK but poos are smaller on days he doesn't eat so much (which I suppose you'd expect) and he only does one wee in litter tray where he used to do two, but this has been going on for some time. I mentioned the wee thing to Lisa before and she reckons he's probably doing the other wee when he's out, especially because when I was adding water to his chicken to puree it (when his gums were healing) , he spent most of the day trotting out to the litter tray for a wee 4/5 times a day.
Lisa isn't in until Monday, I have a call in for her to ring me so we'll see what she thinks. I am wondering whether to risk some prednisolone to give his system a boost and improve his appetite but of course it could also boost You Know What and as he seems to be OK overall I'm not sure it is worth the risk.

I'd go by his weight. He'll probably start eating a little less anyway as an adult but he doesn't need to lose too much bulk, I reckon. Lisa will advise, I'm sure. (She knows his circumstances well enough by now. )

I'll throw a suggestion into the ring - Nature's Menu raw cat nuggets. Haven't tried them myself (nor has Tilly - they won't deliver here) but I'm sure I've read good reviews of them here. I assume they're not as hard as biscuits, but would think they're bigger, and more firm than wet food so easier for him to get a hold of. Plus, looking at the website here he'd only have to have 27 nuggets a day, which, split over a few meals might mean it doesn't seem such a large amount to get through.

Tell him, from me, to go back to doing lots of good munching and get that weight piling on. But not too much, obviously (cos I'm fussy like that!). x

Hi, only just read this post today, had a kitten with the same problems as Teddy, vet suggested we fed her baby porridge made with cat milk last thing at night then lunch time. Worked a treat. 12 now still on baby porridge for supper and anything else she can get her slave to feed her vet said porridge helps keep the acid reflux down at night. Hope Teddy is ok

Thanks for this Squeak, the morning vomiting seems to have stopped for the moment but I'll bear it in mind if it restarts- the antacids he was on seemed to help the morning vomiting, so acid was a problem, if he'd have porridge instead it must be better for him.
At the moment he's eating OK, not as fussy but still only 2/3rds what he was eating and apart from today (because it is freezing cold) he's out in the garden keeping an eye on the birds. Today he's been curled up on the bed until about an hour ago when he ventured out for a little while. Overall he's good and happy ☺

Happy is what's important, eh?

How is he doing?

Hasn't been too good cozie, still not eating and a bit less bright so we went to see Lisa this afternoon. She examined him and couldn't feel anything untoward but his temperature was just over 40 so that wasn't helping his appetite and he has lost weight and is now 3.695 kilos.
We discussed where to go from here and Lisa feels we have 3 options, 1. Budesonide but that will only medicate the gut so won't help with the temperature, 2. Carry on with the Metacam reducing the dose as much as possible for as long as we can, 3. Prednisolone which will the usual treatment for autoimmune disorders and will affect the whole body but that has the added risk of triggering the You know what.
We decided to take bloods and as well as the usual tests to test for inflammation and check the Coronavirus titre, so that we have as much information as we can to base the decision on.
However Teddy had other ideas and wouldn't let her take blood from his neck, they tried twice and each time he let them shave him and apply the local anaesthetic but after that he tucked his head down and wouldn't let her hold his chin up. So she had to take it from his paw which meant it wasn't suitable for the haematology (inflammation) test but OK for the others. We should have the results in about a week.
In the meantime she gave him an injection of Metacam, antisickness and antacids which always works really quickly and he usually eats as soon as we are home -which is exactly what he did this evening. Until we have the results he'll continue to have his Metacam and antacids orally which should be enough to keep him eating OK. Keep your fingers crossed for him that the titre has reduced ☺

Fingers crossed for the wee lad. Let us know what the test results say.

It seems that the meloxicam is quite a biggie for him? Personally, I'd let him have it very regularly if Lisa is happy with that. (Just that Seniorboy has been on it for years with no ill effects - and your lad has not shown any adverse reaction so far?)

Thank you cozie, I think the issue with Metacam is the effect particularly on the kidneys when it's used longterm given Teddy is only 15 months. However as you say he has never had any problems with it even when he's not had food before/with it as he's supposed to. Lisa was concerned that it might add to the inflammation in his gut if he doesn't have food and that would result in him vomiting more but that hasn't happened.
Not sure how long we could continue with the Metacam if that's the route we decide on.

Seniorboy does have it mixed with his food to be fair.

Lisa has just rung me with the results of the blood tests. They did the usual, Pancreas, Kidney, Liver etc in house and they were all normal. The Coronavirus titre had to be done in the lab and those are the one that came back today. When he was tested at the begining his titre was over 10,000 the test we just did says that his titre is below 10, my clever boy has shed the lot ! in fact the report actually says that this cat has not been exposed to the Coronavirus (obviously they are not aware of his history). So that just leaves the inflammation of the gut which was found when we did the biopsies but at least we now have one less thing to woorry about. After discussing it with Lisa we have decided to give him a course of Prednisolone to see if it will increase the period between flareups. I am super happy that he no longer has YouKnowWhat hanging over him, well no more than any other cat

He licked it.

No wonder she rang. She must be real happy with the results.

By the way - has she made any suggestions about future feeding? (I'm mindful of this sore gut.)

Yes very happy with the results. We are not changing his food at the moment as he's on "sensitive" food with shredded chicken so nothing particularly to irritate his gut and we are continuing the famatodine. After the course of Prednisolone, depending on how he is, we'll decide whether to drop the famatodine. I'll ask about the food next time I speak to Lisa ☺

Well done that boy - and you and Lisa also. I was just wondering if the encounter with You Know What might have knocked his system for 6 and possibly brought out a grain intolerance or something? I guess that the 'sensitive' food would cater for that though?

Originally that's what we thought it was and why we changed the food to plain chicken and sensitive pouches.
He eats some dry food, which isn't grain free, without any obvious problems in that he eats it when he's well and when he's poorly. I did buy the grain free for a while, think it was chicken and rice, but it didn't seem to make make any difference.
Lisa did think that if it was an intolerance he'd probably have diarrhea as well. I will ask her again when I speak to her.

If he'll eat the grain free, it won't do any harm at all - and for your other boy as well. I think I might well go for that, just to avoid the slightest possibility of trouble. Lisa will advise though.

I meant to ask - does he seem to have got over his op fine?

Yes I think after this lot of dry is used up I'll go for the grain free ones. Yes he's fine eating dry treats no problem, the residual inflammation making him scratch the side of his head has gone now too and his rear end never gave him any problems.

Starting the Prednisolone this evening, Lisa says to give it at night for best results because it supplements the natural steroids they produce ready for hunting so fingers crossed.

Lots of luck. Keep us informed - either way.