After Panleukopenia - Nutrition Advice Required

Felix the kitten has recovered from Panleukopenia 6 months ago. He is:
very underweight, always hungry, has chronic diarrhea (sometimes ok, or porridge poos), bright and active. But I can't seem to get him to gain any healthy weight.
He was on;
anti biotics - didn't help
charcoal tablets - didn't help
sucralfate - didn't help
I have stopped all medicine cos none of it was working, (was just causing stress for us all) & now add pro biotics to his food & FluMax as vitamins.
However he is still only 2.5kg, super skinny, always hungry - he has about 5 or 6 meals a day.
And I am at a loss as to what to do or give him. Please note, we live in Bali and may not have access to specific medications. So, any advise would be very gratefully accepted. Thank so much in advance.

Has he been de-wormed?

Sorry, forgot to add that. Yes, a week ago. Pamental pamoate. He seemed brighter after that, but no other noticeable changes.

Could be tapeworm. Praziquantel is used for tapeworm.

It can take an underweight kitten a fair bit of time to gain after illness or even being underfed. Our two were four and five pounds (so even a little lighter than your Felix) at ten months and they ate and ate and ate for months before really getting up to the size they should have been for their age. They came to us underfed rather than after an illness or worms so their bodies were less stressed -- they were just hungry. Of course kittens are naturally active, with high metabolism, which means they burn off lots of their calories, making it harder for them to gain weight.

The big thing is to keep feeding Felix as much as he'll eat. Preferably in high-calorie, high-protein foods. Something like Fancy Feast Classics or even Friskies (the pates, I'm not sure if those might be available to you or not) might help if you've been feeding lower calorie foods.

I know there are also calorie-enhancing supplements for cats that you could ask your vet about. Personally, I probably wouldn't do unless I absolutely had to because of health, foods available, and other factors -- I'm not sure if you're at that point or not!

Good luck!

Can you leave out kibble for him to eat between meals?

If you can buy Royal Canin Convalescence Support powder in Thailand, that would be a really good product to help him gain weight.

She's a witch said:

If you can buy Royal Canin Convalescence Support powder in Thailand, that would be a really good product to help him gain weight.

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I meant Indonesia not Thailand, I'm sorry...

maggiedemi said:

Could be tapeworm. Praziquantel is used for tapeworm.

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Thank you very much, checking with the Vet if they have this.

lisahe said:

It can take an underweight kitten a fair bit of time to gain after illness or even being underfed. Our two were four and five pounds (so even a little lighter than your Felix) at ten months and they ate and ate and ate for months before really getting up to the size they should have been for their age. They came to us underfed rather than after an illness or worms so their bodies were less stressed -- they were just hungry. Of course kittens are naturally active, with high metabolism, which means they burn off lots of their calories, making it harder for them to gain weight.

The big thing is to keep feeding Felix as much as he'll eat. Preferably in high-calorie, high-protein foods. Something like Fancy Feast Classics or even Friskies (the pates, I'm not sure if those might be available to you or not) might help if you've been feeding lower calorie foods.

I know there are also calorie-enhancing supplements for cats that you could ask your vet about. Personally, I probably wouldn't do unless I absolutely had to because of health, foods available, and other factors -- I'm not sure if you're at that point or not!

Good luck!

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Thank you very much for the support. I have another cat also, who is perfectly healthy & any time she has Friskies biscuits she runs around like a mad thing on a sugar high. So I try to avoid that.
He does eat often and not tooo huge a meal as it puts a lot of stress on his digestion system. It's all mostly been about helping repair the intestine lining so he can absorb the nutrients of the food. But definitely feeling better with the incoming support.

EmersonandEvie said:

Can you leave out kibble for him to eat between meals?

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Thank you. Yes, always. He does eat often and not tooo huge a meal as it puts a lot of stress on his digestion system. It's all mostly been about helping repair the intestine lining so he can absorb the nutrients of the food. Appreciate your support.

She's a witch said:

If you can buy Royal Canin Convalescence Support powder in Thailand, that would be a really good product to help him gain weight.

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Hi, thanks, I haven't seen it, but LOL that doesn't mean its not here & its just that I haven't asked the right question. I am currently soaking Royal Canin Growth biscuits & the Royal Canin GastroIntestinal biscuits in water before mixing them into wet food. Will check into it. Thanks again

Ok, so Drontal tablet for tapeworm, yesterday morning, Done!. He threw up a couple of times and had the same runny-ish poo. Hubby says he thought he saw some worm segments but we are not sure (cos sometimes he eats the neighbours' dogs' rice). He lost another kilo so he's down to 2.4 kg, :-(.

I really, really, really hoping this will do the trick.

Because he threw up, we have been giving him little meals & today he is eating better. No weight gain yet, but have to be patient.
Just wanted to say Thank you to everyone, will let you know how he goes.

Jero Wulan said:

Ok, so Drontal tablet for tapeworm, yesterday morning, Done!. He threw up a couple of times

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Did he throw up the Drontal?

Not that we could see. He had the tablet in the morning & threw up in the afternoon.

HI, sorry for the delay, I've been watching him with positive eyes. But its not looking good. He looked quite shabby after the tablet for a day but then definitely looked a bit brighter & more active. However he is down to 2.3kg and ravenous is probably the best way to describe his hunger. We are mixing the soaked Royal Canin Growth & Gatro biscuits in with his wet food & feeding him every couple of hours. And probiotics 2 x a day & FluMax vitamins every morning.

On the bright side, his poo is getting better, a nice caramel colour and resembling a normal poo, so the diarrhea is better. It's been a long time hoping that this would get better.

We have been looking so hard at the Panleuko as the issue & it felt right to look elsewhere, now tapeworm is not the issue. What are your thoughts on Colloidal silver for parasites? Or any other ideas.
I have the name of a different Vet for another opinion but I don't think this is really a cat health area where Vets go into in Indonesia. Maybe he needs intravenous support, your thoughts? Feel like I'm starting to clutch at straws now :-(

Hi. What is going on now?

Does your vet do fecal testing - not just for parasites but for bacteria as well? If so, I would recommend that before you give him any more parasitic treatments. You may be treating things you don't need to be treating, and possibly irritating his digestive system in the process.

And, is he not drinking? Is that why you are asking about IV fluids? You can try adding some tuna water from a can of tuna to his water to see if that would get him encouraged to drink more. Or, if he will tolerate it, you can syringe feed him some water by squeezing a little bit at a time into the side of his cheek (let him swallow before giving more, to prevent him from choking or aspirating on it).

Can you get some goat's or sheep's milk? That's very good for recovering kitties. If it's raw the enzymes in the milk may help his digestion.

Hi,

Thankyou for your responses & advice, he is eating and drinking fine. As I said I feel like I'm clutching at straws? or maybe looking for them in a haystack, which is why I was asking about the colloidal silver & the IV, trying to think of anything that might help. :-( I won't use the colloidal & the thought of IV was for nutrition rather than food, LOLnot sure how that would work when I think about it.

The current Vet does testing for both and always says there is nothing wrong, but then suggest anti-biotics. Felix had so many anti biotics in the early days after the panleuko. They thought it was a great idea when I suggested the probiotics.

So today, still no weight gain, if anything maybe a little less, his poo has gone softer again and we have not changed anything.
Hopefully taking him to the other Vet tomorrow to see what she says.

Both my partner & I are seriously down with a bad flu & don't wish to share it with anyone else. So will have to wait to the weekend to go to the Vet.
On a slightly brighter note, Felix has gained a couple of kg, he is now 2.7kg which is awesome. But still super skinny and ravenous. And wow do his farts & poo stink! LOL.
Still looking for the raw goats milk.
Thanks to all.

Dear all,
Ok, so this is where we are at now! For me, not much further. However, my partner thinks he is a bit better.

The other Vet said try Baytril (anti microbial) & an occasional Atapulgit with Pectin. So we are at day 8 of the Baytril now.

He is also exclusively eating Royal Canin wet 'Recovery' & the wet 'Weaning' cans with the dry Royal Canin Gastro biscuits. We were told to get him into the biscuits only & are trying to wean him off the wet food. But he is so underweight if he doesn't eat for a few hours he gets really wobbly on his feet. And he really doesn't want the biscuits. So we mix them together & eventually he eats the wet food coated biscuits.

His poo is better, pretty much the same consistency as the wet food & this morning as I was cleaning up an accident, well, his poo smells a lot like the food. So a little less assaulting on my nose, but now I'm worrying about that & the lack of nutrition. I may have a lead on the Goats milk, still waiting to hear back.
Its been a week on the Baytril & I am not seeing any improvement.

New change - he can't hold his poo for very long and now every time he makes that 'certain noise' one of us is up and racing to find him to get him to the nearest litter box or out the door. If this doesn't happen almost immediately its a lot of poo all over the floor, or under the bed or on the cushion or on the floor mat.

Will let you know how we go. Didn't think I'd be writing such a long, ongoing post.