My poor kitten is going downhill - scared

[tortietimestwo]

Hi

I've already posted another thread about my two little torties (10 months) who are very shy and have been hiding a lot. We got them from a lovely local shelter nearly 2 weeks ago and they've been fixed, flead, vaccinated and wormed on schedule.

As far as we can see they've been eating, drinking, grooming and using their litter trays. They were starting to settle in and come out around us a bit, but had to go to vets last Friday for weepy eyes and have been having twice daily eye drops since. Eyes were looking brighter and I thought all was good, but the littlest one seems to have gone downhill in the last day or so. She's not eaten at all, had diarrhoea on carpet, barely drank and was super listless.

We got her to vet this morning, who gave her an antibiotic/anti-inflammatory shot. He said it could be cat flu that's dragging on a bit. He also weighed her and said she's 1.2kg and should be 2kg so she's underweight, although I was told she has always been very slight.

We've had her on wet food that we know from the shelter she liked and she's been ok with it, but now she's not touching it. As they're still hiding a bit, he told us to move her into the bathroom so we can keep an eye on her. I'm just really hoping she picks up and starts eating, I'm going to try her on some cooked chicken as well.

Just a bit beside myself about her and could do with a hand hold! I really want her to be ok.

Here she is:

Hopefully, she'll soon be busy demolishing anything she can push off the windowsill - and, of course, expecting nothing but the finest air fried salmon and constant interesting little treats from you for the rest of a very long life!

I boil white fish when my cat is ill and give it too her along with some of the water it is boiled in.She nearly always will take it and drink the fishy water, which is a very easy way of getting some fluids into her.

That’s positive! So pleased.

Cat soup might help, it's very liquid and tasty

I'm so glad he's improving and getting braver, too.

I wouldn't worry too much about her pooing, my dog was poorly and didn't eat much and didn't poo for 5 days. Hopefully her body is using all the food she's had to make her better. The fact that she's weeing is fab xx

My old cat went several days not eating or drinking or weeing and pooing. I did manage to get him to lick some treat off my finger but not much, and he was just lying on the bed. He did pull through. When he did get up he ate over 3 pouches in a short space of time, bless him, and he lived for several years more.

Madam is getting quite lazy, mostly eats food if it's put right in front of her 🤣. On the plus side she's still rubbing her little face into my touch and purring and she actually ate treats from my hand a few mins ago for the first time 🥺. Nearly cried - it was so lovely after nearly two weeks of hiding and scaredy-cat-ness. If she's starting to trust me, I hope her stress levels will reduce a bit and it'll help her get better.

Next step is to get the other one on board. She has crazy eyes and darts around if anything frightens her, but I'll wait her out and I think she may start to come to us in time.

You are a brilliant cat mum ❤️

Yes, chicken, salmon or tuna. Try offering it slightly warm too as it will be more smelly.

I love this.

Small steps x

@Jasmin1971 Thank you ❤️ everyone on this thread has been incredibly kind and also helpful.

Update: the shelter owner said she likes oat milk apparently, added some to her food and she lapped it all up. I know in long run probably not super brilliant for her as it's carbs, but if it gets her hydrated she can have it for now.

So pleased to hear things are improving

Cat milk is really good in situations like this as it's palatable and generally pretty easy on the stomach.

I'm so glad she seems to be improving! They are such a worry 🙈

Good to hear she's rallying .
Our old cat (also a tortie/white) stopped eating , went up to her bowl , sniffed and purred but nothing else .

She had a blood test and straight after , ate .
The Vet said it was common to eat after a blood test !

They do like to worry us !

How is she this morning @tortietimestwo?

Hopefully madam will teach her sibling to trust you. I had a poorly kitten and she became the cuddliest grown up.

@lifebeginsaftercoffee Still got her in bathroom for monitoring purposes - she ate again before bed last night and wanted lots of petting! This morning, she looked quite bright and fell on the wet food I put down for her.

From what I can tell though, she still hasn't pooed since Wednesday afternoon's diarrhoea. Starting to worry about that - at what point does it become serious? I'm not sure if it's the change of environment, all the different foods I've been feeding to get her to eat, etc. Unless I've been mistaking pee clumps for softer poo, but I don't think so. You normally smell it in that case.

Food and petting is great news.
Not sure about the poo. However I'm sure a lot came out in the diarrhea, and she hasn't eaten much in the 2.75 days since... so maybe it's okay? Not sure though.

I'm just not sure whether it can wait til Monday. Rang vets and they said to bring her in at 3:45.

Anyone have any tried and tested constipation remedies in meantime? I was considering sardines in oil.

I think they can feel tummies and see if it's impacted. Glad you're getting her checked.

So glad you are getting her checked, 🫂

I wouldn't do anything yourself until you've seen the vet - they'll be able to advise you.

I can almost guarantee she'll poo in the carrier on the way there or on the way home though, if my experiences are anything to go by

Well can report, 20 mins after giving her a few mackerel fillets in oil, madam has pooed! 🎉

It was slightly softer but still solid so really pleased with that. The vets are reviewing her on Monday anyway so we'll just wait til then for a check up.

She is quite perky and took treats from my OH as well which was lovely.

Haha, it's like they know you're threatening them with a vet visit

Glad she's okay! I remember ours not eating for about 48 hours and I took him to the vet really worried as he was a bit lethargic - he jumped out the carrier, climbed all over the vet nurse and ate the treats she gave him