Is my adoptee poorly?

[kittielittie]

So the adoptee kitten (probably around 8mths vet assessed age) has arrived yesterday.
He was feral for the first 6 months and has been in foster care for about 8 weeks.
He's been seen by the charity's vet and they did an FIV test about a week ago to be on the safe side as we already have a 4 month old male hooligan. He's chipped, vaccinated, neutered and up to date with flea and worming (I'm told, I have no paperwork because of charities cat issue).
He was meant to be dropped off yesterday and have our home assessment at the same time but due to car issues we were asked to collect him from the foster carer (we have already been before and met our adoptee).
We picked him up and as we were leaving we were told 'oh he has had runny poo's since his blood test. Thought you should know and he's not put on much weight the last couple of week' We've brought him home and he seems ok. He's very placid, and has tolerated existing hooligans deep suspicion of him very well.
He was ravenous and very thirsty when he arrived but that has slowed down now 24 hours later. He doesn't seem very lively, doesn't seem to know how to play but will allow himself to be petted and did snuggle up with us last night. He seems to have a little bit of dried crud to the outside of his eyes that he isn't grooming away.
But his bowels!!!! He has had 4 very soft (not liquid) poos in the litter tray that are pretty rank today. He seems to be passing a lot of urine too.
I'm being strict with both cats not sharing feeding bowls or litter trays.
He's booked to see the vet for a once over next week and they are now closed.
Am I being an over worried crazy cat lady or could he have something going on that needs attention?

Cat tax paid

I’d start him on plain boiled chicken for a couple of days & ring the vets tm, lots do Saturday morning clinics for unwell animals.

I've fostered a lot of kittens. A runny tum can often be settled by cooking up some chicken with a handful of rice and then mushed up. Be careful of cooked chicken for the deli counter as it may have extra salt.

As long as he is eating, drinking and pooing you can probably leave it until Monday as he has had a lot of changes in the past few days. What do the charity say about his state of health?

I heard adding a bit of boiled squash to their food helps with diarrhea. It certainly worked with our cat.

Thanks all. I'll get some chicken in the morning and give him that. The lady at the charity relies on the foster carer who is down playing things. She's coming out tomorrow to do the paperwork etc so will see what she says then. She didn't know he had been feral pre neutering prompting me to ask for a FIV test which she happily organised but if I hadn't known to check it wouldn't have been done.
Just hope it's nothing to worry about or anything that could make my 4 month old poorly.
I may ring the vets later this morning to see if they can fit him in.

I would be taking him to the vets this morning, not messing about with chicken and rice.

He's been unwell for several days and the charity have been hugely responsible rehoming him without making sure he's fit and well.

He needs medical care.

I took him to the vet and he has FIP and is very poorly. I've had to return him to the rescue. Absolutely devastated :-(

Bless him (and you)

This is 100% not your fault and the rescue have been incredibly irresponsible here. I would be very angry in your situation.

Thank you @coffeecupsandwaxmelts my instinct was this wasn't a rescue not settling in but one who was unwell. He's in isolation and will be going to a foster that only takes FIP cats to try and avoid being PTS unless absolutely necessary.
I'm not happy with their vet tbh. They have mis aged him significantly (my vet could tell from his teeth) so should have recognised how small he was for his correct age and that should have led to recognition of how unwell he was. He was seen by their vet twice in the last 3 weeks.
The vet knows of someone looking for homes for an accidental litter so I'm hoping this will soften the blow for my children :-(

My vet, not the charities!

We had a rescue kitten that had FIP he was probably about 8 months when we lost him. The charity wasn’t that concerned though our vet was certain that he came with it. We had to have our other cat tested luckily he was over two and fine. Do if possible try and keep the cats separate it can be infectious.

@purser25 we don't have him any more. I've taken him back to the rescue to go to a specialist foster carer. My vet said she doesn't think he has long left :-(

What a tragedy 😢

With hindsight there were a couple of red flags here.

Firstly that the main person at the charity was unaware of the background of the kitten - all animals that they take in should have a record with details like background (pet, feral, stray), where they came from (e.g. handed in by owner, found on streets, part of a colony), approximate age, condition on arrival and a running record of changes etc.

Second red flag was that the paperwork for the adoption wasn't to hand when you picked him up. With mine, my DSis's and my DSil's rescues cats in all cases we received the paperwork on collection including a full background & history of the cat(s), vet records with inoculations, any current conditions (e.g. one had luxated patellas), and in the case of mine a list of their preferred foods, treats, even toys. All this handed over to be looked over and read before the adoption papers were signed & the cat handed over.

It does make you wonder about some rescues and fosterers though. The 2 independent rescues I've had anything to do with are both excellent in this way - one doesn't foster at all, the other are incredibly fussy about the people who foster their animals and regularly check on them.

But I've heard about rescues who are so desperate for fosters that they don't vet them properly, and also where decent rescues have had to take in the entire population of bad "rescues". There are also some well meaning independent rescues who are OK with the animal side of things, but when it comes to the more "business" side of things e.g. record keeping, can be hopeless.

OP I do hope you find a nice, healthy kitten (or two preferably) soon. I would suggest that you don't try to follow up on what happened with the first one, as if you hear nothing you can tell yourself he recovered.

That’s awful, that poor cat. I’m so sorry.

The original plan was for the charity lady to bring him to me on Thursday, do a home check and sort all the paperwork. All seems very professional. Her car broke down so she asked me to get him from the foster placement and she'd come out and do the admin/home check this weekend.
I'm upset with the charities vet most as according to my trusted vet they should have picked up how poorly he was before now having seen him twice in the last 3 weeks. It should have been obvious he was deteriorating.
Red flags are brighter in retrospect. I sensed he wasn't ok when I picked him up but my children were excited and the foster carer timed her news of his 'recently being off colour' well so I was in a tricky position.
I'm just pleased I picked up on how poorly he was and got him to the vets today. 1. To make sure he gets the best palliative care he can (my vet is pretty certain he doesn't have long left) 2. I can protect my existing kitten 3. He was only with us for two days so the children would not be too attached and can process the news and look forward to lovely vets friend getting in touch to bring a lovely little bouncy healthy kitten into our home

What sad and shocking news. Poor cat and poor you, OP. Thank goodness you realised something was wrong before your own kitten was exposed.

Hopefully the poor boy will now get the care he needs in the time he has left.

Fosterers can sometimes be odd. We had one give us the run-around for about six weeks once before we realised she was just not going to part with the two kittens we were supposed to be adopting.

@CatChant thank you. I agree with your regarding the foster carer. I've got my lovely Eric snuggling with me and I have to hope that George has a comfortable time from now on.
Eric is happy and healthy so I will hang on to that

Oh dear, poor little thing.

Poor you and poor little cat.

I'm shocked that such a poorly kitten was ever allowed to go to a new home. We fostered a litter of kittens that developed cat flu last year and it was scary how fast it caught hold. We kept them way longer than normal to make sure they were over it and then vaccinated.

Eric is lovely. I am sure snuggling him tight is a comfort @kittielittie

Don't be fooled, Eric is a hooligan but he is a welcome hooligan. Except when he try's and eats my ears at 4am!

I really feel for you having had the same. I think the foster home wasn’t great they loved cats but looking back the conditions were not ideal. Our older kitten was quiet he did a bit and spent time snuggled to a hot water bottle. Not like the usual mad kitten. He did settle but then we noticed his abdomen was swollen. We took him to our vet who spotted it straight away. This could have been about 30 years ago so not so much on the radar. He told us to contact the charity but to be honest they were not that bothered. He had several vet visits and died peacefully one night at home. Our other cat who was about two at the time was tested and was luckily fine and lived to a good age.

I think you have hit the nail on the head @purser25. I was quite firm they needed to take him back. I said I'm in my car outside the vets now. I'll stop off somewhere to get a coffee until you ring me back and let me know where I'm taking him. I couldn't bring him home because of the other kitten and I couldn't do that to the children (who still don't know as they are with their dad until later today).
I couldn't insure him or put him on the vets well-being plan because he was already ill and that emergency visit cost £40 which hasn't been mentioned by the charity at all.
When I dropped him off there was a comment about 'all rescues come with a history'. I know that but I don't expect them to come with a very nasty disease, need nursing care until they soon die and hundreds of pounds in vets fees and from day 1!

Exactly it cost us a lot in vet fees, plus the tests for existing cat and the worry. Just grateful that our vet identified it so quickly.

That is so sad OP. When I read your first post my immediate thought was FIP - I used to work for a rescue charity years ago and it was an issue we were always aware of. I personally dealt with three kittens with FIP, it is not uncommon, so it should have been identified by the charity and he should not have been homed to you. Such a horrible disease. I'm sorry you had such a difficult experience, and it's so sad for the kitten.