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:

Good it was sorted quickly @Toddlerteaplease she was being weirdly fussy about her food before. I've had her on Hills sensitive stomach dry food for more than a week as she was on a kitten dry food before and the vet thought it might be upsetting her stomach. I'm trying not to change foods again and make the problem worse, she seemed to be fine on James Wellbeloved grain free, but then wouldn't eat it for a few days. Seems to be ok on it again so I'm hoping we can stick with it.

When she was in the shelter she didn't really have tummy issues and they had different brands of wet food, so vet thought maybe stress.

She's been out enjoying her cardboard cat scratcher and was purring and rubbing her face on my hand when I petted her earlier. She only likes being petted in enclosed spaces and not when she's out and about, bless her.

Very cute pic of big tortie. Hope poor little is on the mend soon. You really have been through the mill with them, OP.

Mine will sometimes take a scunner to a food they've eaten before - it can just be 'catness', or it can be a bad batch, so as you're finding out, they will sometimes take to it again...

Don't be downhearted, mine were very hard work as kittens, but once they were well and settled and a bit older, that all became a distant memory. By looking after them so well, you are actually bonding. 🙂

@Compash Cats are funny things, truly!

Nice to hear that yours became more easy going once out of kittenhood!

Here is tiny having a nice rest after a night of running around and playing with her friend (camera recorded it). What a sweetie she is.

I'm going to see if I can get away with a sprinkle of l-lysine powder on their food. Hopefully they'll still eat it and it might stop potential sniffles in their tracks, with any luck.

She's started to approach me for petting on her own steam! It's lovely to see. Much more bright and alert, out and about all the time now and eating really well. Eyes still gunky now and again but I clean them frequently. Tummy up and down, she's still not got proper solid poos but slowly improving and still on the kaolin and probiotic for now.

Really proud of my beautiful little kitty (both of them, of course - but especially mini).

Aww, my heart is warmed! So nice she wants to come for petting after all the medical stuff you've had to do...

I posted as a separate thread but then figured it prob made sense to tag onto here. She's being very friendly now which is lovely, but still has persistent colitis 😓. Debating whether we need to go back to the vet - last went almost 2 weeks ago when she had bloody diarrhoea. The vet didn't seem too concerned and said it could be stress and to just keep giving her Forti-Flora and Pro-Kolin.

Her stools were firming up last few days but then suddenly yesterday, the bloody diarrhoea is back. I know you shouldn't switch food, but she was getting on badly with Hills sensitive biscuits so a few days ago, I switched them back to grain free Purizon biscuits they ate when they were at the shelter. They're on grain free James Wellbeloved as they didn't like other things and Whiskas was even worse her her tummy, but she's been fussy with eating the JW the past couple of days. Eats the jelly and licks the bits off. I've been adding extra water to prevent dehydration. I also wormed her 5 days ago (last done 4 weeks ago) just to make sure it wasn't that.

She seems fairly alert and out and about, but this is just so stressful. I don't know how I will ever figure out how to settle her tummy down. She seems happy otherwise though.

Ah, bless her little tum. My tortie kitten was much the same and after a LOT of trial and error, found Encore fish well tolerated. And Applaws - it was a few years ago now, so I can’t recall all the details. Weirdly, she won’t touch the chicken Encore.
I think she had a wheat issue. Thankfully she also loves James Wellbeloved (oral and high protein versions) so I think she’s getting the right nutrition now.

Don't panic! Even a 'good' change can upset the tummy for a few days. Ours does well on the Wellbeloved too. Stick with the same biscuits now, don't change again. Worming in itself can upset the tummy too. And we found that Whiskas really upset her (of course, she loved it...).

As long as she's well enough in herself it really is a matter of patience and taking your vet's advice.

Another thing that helped with ours was feeding her separately from her brother otherwise he'd raid her food, and she found that upsetting and would gobble her food with disastrous results. Even now she still has the odd day of Bad Poos but it settles in a day or two.

Patience. We went through several expensive (and clear) giardia tests before we believed our vet's assurance that we just needed to give it time...

Aw thanks both, that's very reassuring and kind. She had another foul-smelling diarrhoea attack a while ago and her tummy is churning, I can hear it - poor little love. Just rang vets and got her for in tonight but as soon as I did she came over for pets, enjoyed a vigorous feather play session on my lunch break and nibbled a bit of her food. She might just be fussy as I gave her a bit of roast chicken yesterday - mistake. I'm tempted to call them back and cancel for now 🤣 she must somehow know I'm wanting to take her!

Yes @Compash I did wonder about the worming, she had a little diarrhoea on the day of it but then poos were better for 3 days before they went loose again. The other one is always very hungry and little eats slowly so I should try to feed her separately more, but she doesn't always like it when we shut the door.

She seems to really love dry food in particular so I guess as long as she's eating that. Here she is helping me work; her job is very important. She even did some paw typing on my keyboard and sent a message to someone 🤣🤣🤣🐈‍⬛

Office Lady! 😄

Look how she's coming on in confidence!

You know if you cancel the vet, she will then do a poonami that peels the paint off the walls... 😁

OP I had a cat whose poos were always awful.
We never really found out why.
He lived till he was 12 though!

@TheShellBeach 🤣 I hope the smell wasn't that bad for 12 years...

Well she had a third bout of diarrhoea before the vets so just as well I kept the appt. She's approaching 2kg now, the little bruiser despite her fussiness with food - really happy with that considering she was 1.2 not that long ago. The vet prescribed a week's course of antibiotics in pill form (oh joy, something else to get into her) and given us a poo sample tube to bring in if that doesn't clear things up.

I think I'm starting to learn to be less nervous about her tummy as long as she's otherwise ok. She was cross when we got back of course, but a Lick e Lix went down well!

Do you disguise the tablet in the lick e lix?

Could you try just dry food for a bit?
My cats tummy was sorted out on purizon dry food and he still loves all the flavours.

My cat will also eat anything that I sprinkle the flora stuff on!

Hope it settles.

DCat kept having a smelly runny bum so I put him on Arden Grange and he's fine now. Downside is it's hard to obtain because supermarkets don't stock it.

Thanks for the food tips! @Sunshineandrainbow I might try dry food only for a few days and see how she manages. She seems to love the Purizon.

I've wrapped her tablets in a tiny bit of roast chicken to start with, I'll see if I can get away with using Lick e Lix 🤣 but she spat it out when we tried to get it in her the normal way. Feisty wee tortie!

A little update on tiny cat: still waiting for her stool sample results to come back, but we're having success with Applaws chicken and Royal Canin gastrointestinal dry food, which both cost a bloody fortune. Madam of course refused to eat the PetsatHome Seriously Good shredded chicken food which is similar to Applaws in texture, but luckily her larger counterpart will have it .

I know the Applaws isn't complete but I assume it's fine if she's having the dry food too. She seems a lot brighter in herself and poos, while not perfect, are better overall. Weighed her and she is over 2kg now 😊 little belter

❤️

I thought I might add a little update on madam and her kitty friend - they are both thriving and happy and ruling the house. Little still dislikes being picked up but she loves pets, chasing her sister and playing in tunnels and with sparkly pompoms. After a lot of trial and error and a 2 month course of steroids to sort out her tummy inflammation, we've now got her on Arden Grange sensitive ocean fish/potato biscuits and Animonda Carny beef wet food.

I'm still not sure what she's intolerant to but it could be chicken I think - once we got her on the Animonda Carny she started doing proper formed poos for the first time. She is an absolute bruiser now and approaching 4kg, happy and healthy as far as we can tell.

I can't thank people enough for this thread when she was so sick, I hope it helps someone else who might need it.

What a lovely update, I was a little worried it would be a sad one and was so relieved to see she is thriving. Love the one of her showing off that beautiful fluffy tum!

Lovely update. Kitty looks healthy and happy ❤️

Oh what lovely pics! I'd be so tempted to rub that tummy! So glad she's thriving, thank you for the welcome update @tortietimestwo !

(think you can tell from the second pic that she's not keen on being held!)

@Pudmyboy Hahaha whatever gave you that idea? A grumpy little madam indeed...

I do sometimes get away with rubbing that tummy and it is just as lovely and fluffy as it looks.