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- Jun 19, 2021
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I had a litter of four kittens that were found abandoned. I started fostering them through my rescue last Monday, when they were about a week old. They are with an adult cat who is either their mother or a surrogate pregnant cat.
The runt passed on Thursday- she never ate well and then declined quickly with an episode of mucousy stool and fluid in her belly. She was humanely euthanized by the vet but they didn’t do any treatment or testing. Her sibling, the other smallest of the litter, was doing okay until today. She was never a great eater but would take some from a bottle and the rest from a syringe. But today she had decreased appetite, lethargy and a raspy cry. There is a firm lump on one side of her neck. I took her to an emergency vet and they said she was positive for panleukopenia. She’s getting supportive care but I know that her prognosis at 2 weeks old is extremely poor, even though she isn’t having vomiting or diarrhea yet.
When I got home I tested the two remaining kittens and the mother using a SNAP test. They were all negative. At this point they had all been together for a week. What are the odds that this kitten (and possibly the one who passed) are infected with panleukopenia but the other two and the mother are not? I know that panleuk is highly contagious and incubation is usually about 5 days. So if my hospitalized kitten truly has panleuk, shouldn’t the other kittens and the mother be testing positive as well?
The runt passed on Thursday- she never ate well and then declined quickly with an episode of mucousy stool and fluid in her belly. She was humanely euthanized by the vet but they didn’t do any treatment or testing. Her sibling, the other smallest of the litter, was doing okay until today. She was never a great eater but would take some from a bottle and the rest from a syringe. But today she had decreased appetite, lethargy and a raspy cry. There is a firm lump on one side of her neck. I took her to an emergency vet and they said she was positive for panleukopenia. She’s getting supportive care but I know that her prognosis at 2 weeks old is extremely poor, even though she isn’t having vomiting or diarrhea yet.
When I got home I tested the two remaining kittens and the mother using a SNAP test. They were all negative. At this point they had all been together for a week. What are the odds that this kitten (and possibly the one who passed) are infected with panleukopenia but the other two and the mother are not? I know that panleuk is highly contagious and incubation is usually about 5 days. So if my hospitalized kitten truly has panleuk, shouldn’t the other kittens and the mother be testing positive as well?