5 wk old starved kitten

JAG

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On July 16 we found a tiny little kitten in the yard, ran & hid when we came close. Left a can of kitten food out all day, never saw her; at 10 that night we checked one more time & she was on our back step, trembling. Had another can of kitten food (just in case :-) and she licked a little bit off my fingers. She was jerky/head bobbing when trying to eat off a plate. We could feel every bone in her body. We wrapped her in a blanket and kept watch all night; she just slept.
Next day was Sunday so did our best to give her food and water and comfort; she was still jerky, kind of like hiccups.
On Monday I was unable to find a vet in a 50 mile radius who would see her before Aug 10! We were able to find a vet in a town about 40 miles away; they aren't a high tech clinic; just an older couple, he's a vet she's an assistant who truly love animals. They deemed her female, about 5-6 weeks old, no ear mites, no fleas, no broken bones or skin problems, gave her a dose of dewormer and she weighed in at .8 lb. Said to feed her canned food mixed with water in small amounts frequently, gave us a can of nursing milk to mix in and suggested we leave some dry kitten food out. She wasn't quite so jerky but vet thought her hind quarters were a bit week. No charge for canned milk, gave us a $15 cat toy (ball in a round tray with scratching board in center) that they give to all new patients. Charged $75 and said there would not be any more office call charges.
She did well for a few days, but then started hiding and got very twitchy and then started having seizures......Temp 104 at vet, gave her ammoxicillan thinking it was an infection. After a few days still having seizures, back to vet & they put her on a different medication, once a day for 10 days, see them in 5 days. Seizures stopped but continuing jerky/hiccup/twitches.
She plays, she purrs, she eats well, she uses litter box-looks normal-she can be very spooky, runs backwards if approached too quickly but also cuddles and likes to be petted, comes to us when we call for her. We checked temp yesterday 100.3, weight 1.6.
We are concerned about the jerking thing, wonder if caused by whatever happened to her before she found us and perhaps she'll always be our "special needs" girl.
Any advice is welcome........we can't afford to go to a high tech vet right now and even if we could we can't get an appointment. :-(
 

di and bob

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It could have been the worm medicine, sometimes they can have adverse effects. High temps can do that too. Time is the only thing now that will help, I pray she will be alright,.....bless you for helping her....
 

Kieka

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Some kittens just need a little help. My girl was pretty skinny and malnutritioned when I got her. Not jerky, but like someone mentioned it could be mild cerebellar hypoplasia which could get better with time or it could just been muscle weakness that will get better. But my girl had a series of minor fevers, vomiting and diarrhea for several months. She'd get sick, get better, get sick and just cycle through with longer better periods each time. I'd take her to the vet but my vet said it was fever of unknown origin and sometimes that the best they can do. She'd get antibiotics, subQ fluids and B12 shots which seemed to give her the little boost to get better until next time. Eventually, around 6 or 8 months old she stopped getting sick. Now she's 7 years old and seems to be the healthiest out of my three cats with only one vet medicinal issue related visit since she was a year old (and that was a bumped head that caused her to get a blood clot in her eye so not even a real shes sick thing).
 
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JAG

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Am thrilled to hear your helpful replies. I forgot to mention that on the next after finding our girl she could meow; in fact every CatLike thing she did gave us hope! Purr, use litter box, groom herself, play. But after the seizures, she opens her mouth but no sound. :-(

Also, we are in our 70's and haven't had kittens, cats for 30 years! Last pet (100 lb dog) we had crossed the rainbow bridge 10 years ago. We fell in love with our Blue immediately and doing everything we know how to get her healthy. At least now we think she will live; there were some days we just weren't sure she'd make it.
 
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JAG

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Hopefully the jerkiness will be temporary, but if not could it be a mild case of cerebellar hypoplasia? There's a good description of it here: ch-Cerebellar Hypoplasia - Friends of Felines Rescue Center. (I don't know if the wobbliness is something that would come and go.) What a lucky kitten to have found you!
Thank you for the link. She is running and playing just fine, not wobbly. I don't think it is cerebellar hypoplasia, thankfully. Seems like she is less jerky, like hiccups, twitchy some days, better today.
Praying she'll get better, but if not, we're prepared to take good care of her no matter what.
 
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JAG

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It could have been the worm medicine, sometimes they can have adverse effects. High temps can do that too. Time is the only thing now that will help, I pray she will be alright,.....bless you for helping her....
Good Morning! I have read some of your posts and am sending you hugs after reading about your Sugar. I am so sorry for your loss. We are in our 70's and have gone through our share of losing precious pets. We didn't go looking for a pet because we just didn't know if we could manage......but then our Blue found us and here we are again.
Actually, she did vomit up some of the worm medicine when we got home that day........high fever came next, then loss of voice. We will continue doing our best to get her healthy but even if she ends up being a "special needs" cat, we're prepared to love and care for her.
 
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