'Fever of unknown origin'

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
A friend of mine recently took in a small kitten estimated to be around now, 8 weeks. A normal bouncy kitten, until yesterday he became very lethargic suddenly. For various reasons she can't afford the vets right now so I had her bring him to my vets and I'll deal with that side of things.

He's full of round worms (likely from his Mum, the vet says says), so we got him wormed but his fever is at 104.3. Luckily he is eating, drinking, pooping and peeing just fine so that is in his favour, his only behaviour change is the lethargy as of now. When I saw him, his eyes are a little sunken and he does curl and puff up in that sickly cat way, much like my lil Arnie did when he had FIP :(

The vet has put him on 2 weeks of antibiotics (Clavamox 15 ML twice a day) She's told me in a case like this they call it a case of 'fever of unknown origin' If hes not starting to bounce back by Thursday to take him back and they will test for feline leukemia. She said whilst his full of fever, no to vaccines right now.

So my questions are: Fever of unknown origin .. never dealt with that before .. anyone out there that has .. what are likely suspects that can cause that in a young cat?

Feline leukemia .. give me the skinny on it .. be honest please, if things do progress to this I need to be knowledgeable when talking to my friend and the vet with regards to treatment options and such. Is it treatable? How likely is that for such a young cat .. would he have been born with it?

Fingers crossed the antibiotics do the trick for little Theo and he bounces back and is his normal self in a couple days.
 
Last edited:

stephanietx

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Messages
14,772
Purraise
3,491
Location
Texas
Stress can cause an upper respiratory infection which can come with a fever.  If his environment has changed within the past couple of weeks, that might be the stressful trigger.
 

Willowy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
31,886
Purraise
28,287
Location
South Dakota
If it is FeLV and it's progressed this far already. . .not a good prognosis :(. Even if he recovers this time, he most likely won't make 3 years, IME. But don't jump to that yet. Kittens can have fevers for a lot of reasons. I hope he feels better soon! :vibes:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Thank you for your replies. I talked to her this morning, still no real improvement, just curling up and sleeping. He's only had 3 doses of the antibiotics so far tho. He's still eating/drinking and using the tray. 

No changes in the environment, but then he's only been there a few week. They do have 2 other dogs and 1 other cat, but the other cat does not bully the kitten, he 'mothers' him. The dogs pretty much just ignore him. I really hope he starts showing some improvement tomorrow, I hate to see him so sad looking. 
 

Willowy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
31,886
Purraise
28,287
Location
South Dakota
Yes, antibiotics can make kitties queasy so they lose their appetite. But he absolutely NEEDS to eat something, even if she has to force it into him. Chicken or turkey baby food (make sure it doesn't have anything added, just pureed meat) and Hills a/d are best for this, although I've also used watered down Fancy Feast kitten food. I find a large plastic medicine dropper to be easier to handle than a feeding syringe, but either will work.
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Hi ya, thank you for your reply.

It was really niggling me that he lost his appetite so I gave the vet a call. They had us bring him back in. His fever has gone up to 105.2. His weight was 3lbs 9.5oz yesterday and was  3lbs 8oz today.

The vet said, although he would have liked to see the fever broken, really the antibiotics haven't had a good go at attacking what ever it is. He suspects viral as when Theo was at the vets (although when at home he is very lethargic) he is active and interested in his surroundings at the vets. He said when it's bacterial with a fever that high they almost act at deaths door.

He said although his interest in food has gone, he's still encouraged that Theo is drinking. He has given him some fluids under the skin to see if this will help cool him off and break the fever. Poor lil mite looked like a 2 humped camel! He also suggested as you did with food, he said to avoid also anything with onions. He said even putting tuna juice .. anything smelly like that on to foods to encourage interest. 

So now we wait for a couple days and try and let the antibiotics and extra fluid do their thing and keep our fingers crossed that he can fight this off!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Ps: the fluids seems to have really helped, she just text me and said he went home, sipped some broth and ate some food! :)
 
Top