Foster Kitten Failure To Thrive

[moriartysa6]

I started fostering two kittens with my local SPCA 2 weeks ago. The orange male brought home an URI that I am treating with Ofloxacin .3 eye drops as given to me by the fostering facility. The smaller black female caught the URI about 4 days ago but her health has been deteriorating. She is very thin (about half the size of the orange cat even though she is 10 days older, and I can feel her ribs, spine and hip bones well) and is fairly lethargic, not very playful and spend most of her time eating. She drinks water, but I do not see her eat. I am concerned that she is not eating, although it is hard to tell because her brother eats often so I cannot keep track of whether or not she is eating when I am not home (roughly 6 hours a day). She is producing a large amount of bright green nasal discharge, more than the other cat produces by far. I try to entice her by warming up wet food, adding additional water to her food, and feeding her from my finger but nothing has worked. I am primarily concerned about the volume of nose and eye discharge she is producing, and that I have not seen her eat. How can I help her develop more on track with the other kitten I am fostering? I brought her to to the spca yesterday where she received dewormer and vaccines. Is this a potential reason for her condition to worsen? Is her cold getting worse before it gets better or is she just getting worse? This is my first time fostering, and I am very worried about her. Thank you for your help.

 

[moriartysa6]

I forgot to mention she is 8 weeks old, and the larger orange male kitten is 7 weeks old.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I started fostering two kittens with my local SPCA 2 weeks ago. The orange male brought home an URI that I am treating with Ofloxacin .3 eye drops as given to me by the fostering facility. The smaller black female caught the URI about 4 days ago but her health has been deteriorating. She is very thin (about half the size of the orange cat even though she is 10 days older, and I can feel her ribs, spine and hip bones well) and is fairly lethargic, not very playful and spend most of her time eating. She drinks water, but I do not see her eat. I am concerned that she is not eating, although it is hard to tell because her brother eats often so I cannot keep track of whether or not she is eating when I am not home (roughly 6 hours a day). She is producing a large amount of bright green nasal discharge, more than the other cat produces by far. I try to entice her by warming up wet food, adding additional water to her food, and feeding her from my finger but nothing has worked. I am primarily concerned about the volume of nose and eye discharge she is producing, and that I have not seen her eat. How can I help her develop more on track with the other kitten I am fostering? I brought her to to the spca yesterday where she received dewormer and vaccines. Is this a potential reason for her condition to worsen? Is her cold getting worse before it gets better or is she just getting worse? This is my first time fostering, and I am very worried about her. Thank you for your help.

If she had these symptoms before receiving her vaccines, I would contact the SPCA, tell them her condition has worsened, and if you're feeling brave, ask them why the Hell they thought vaccinating a sick, underweight kitten that's not eating AND in a non-shelter situation was a good idea? It seems so common in today's world, but it was drilled into my head as a kid that vaccinating a sick animal is not usually a smart thing to do.
The thick green discharge and not eating and not playing and her weight is worrying. Do you know how much she weighs, precisely?

 

[moriartysa6]

I don't know exactly how much she weighs, for some reason it's not listed on the paper they gave me when I started fostering them. The boy was larger when I got them, and he has continue to grow, but it is difficult to tell whether or not she has. I often see her drink water, and around every hour or so I pick her up and place her by her food and water bowls and she drinks, but I do not see her eat. She still uses the litter box. I can't tell if she is okay and just small and I'm being overly concerned, or if she is actually sickly. As I mentioned it's hard to tell if she is eating while I am away at work because the other kitten eats from the same bowl. She spends most of her time sleeping, and only walks around when I pick her up and move her. In short, the male kitten has a lot more zest for life. The most activity I see from her is semi frequent kneading of her bed, during which she often purrs, but most of the time she does not engage in play and tends not to be interested in laying with me or being pet. She is producing a lot of mucus, I wipe both of their noses around every 30 minutes when I am home and use a warm washcloth to clean off the dried gunk in the mornings or when it has crusted. I have run out of their ofloxacin eye and nose drops so I will have to stop by the spca soon for a refill, hopefully they can take a look at her again. She was looked at by their vet yesterday when she got their shots and she was given back to me without any concern, they just said to continue with the eye drops but I am worried about her health.

 

[Sarthur2]

The kitten desperately needs clavamox drops to treat her awful upper respiratory infection. She is not responding to the meds you are giving her. Please call your shelter and ask for clavamox. Hopefully you can pick them up tomorrow.

In the meantime, you can sit in a steamy bathroom with the shower running to give her relief, and even set up a vaporizer in the room she is in.

She is not eating because she cannot smell or taste, and she may have fever as well.

You can also use infant saline drops, not spray, in her tiny nostrils.

Get Gerber turkey baby food and feed her from your finger without the other kitten around. It smells strong, but is soft, easy to lap and digest.

It’s good she is drinking water. She needs to stay hydrated. Replace the water with clear pedialyte. This will help also.

Poor kitten is suffering - please update tomorrow after you have spoken with your shelter.

M moriartysa6

 

[moriartysa6]

I took both kittens back the afternoon to get looked at again and they gave me a bottle of azithromycin to administer with a syringe to both once a day. They also gave me some pedialyte which they said would help the sick kitten start to feel better and move around more, as well as a few different flavors of wet kitten food. I am hoping the new medicine and pedialyte will start to help, and I have been intermittently been "forcing" the kitten to eat by rubbing some warmed canned cat food on her lips that she then swallows. Her face is quite swollen because of the amount of mucus in her sinuses right now, but a warm wet washcloth is helpful to remove a lot of the eye and nose gunk. It's so sad to see her in pain, especially because her condition deteriorated so rapidly. I'll keep you updated. If anyone has any other suggestions to help ease her facial swelling let me know! She is a little black and white kitten and due to the swelling her face looks like one of the creatures from alien versus predator. Thanks!

 

[Sarthur2]

I’m glad they were seen and are now on zithromax. I would give the sick kitten a dose 12 hours apart for the first 3 days, which would be twice a day for her.

As I suggested in my earlier post, the pedialyte should help.

Have you tried the steamy bathroom? Or Gerber baby food?

I’m very concerned about this kitten. Please do keep us posted.

 

[moriartysa6]

The kitten has started to do better, she was even up and about in the middle of the night walking to the litter box and to drink some water mixed with pedialyte I left out on the floor, she even batted at a toy on the floor a few times. The drainage has basically stopped from her nose, but her right eye is still producing a lot of thick white/green dish are. The eyelid, area under the eye and bridge of the nose is still very swollen. She doesn't eat independently yet but I have been feeding her a warm mix of canned cat food and pedialyte from a syringe several times a day. How many ccs should I be feeding her? I am struggling to find the right amount, I just stop when she gets fussy. Thanks for all your help! I am going to get nutrical to help her put on weight because she is still very small. Any other tips would be helpful, I think she is getting better but this was quite a fight for her.

 

[moriartysa6]

The female kitten is about half the size of the male kitten, and was just as small when I received them about 2.5 weeks ago. The boy has grown and become more energetic and playful and the girl is fighting off a nasty URI (possibly conjunctivitis as well?) and has stopped showing interest in food due to how sick she is. She has regained strength since I started giving her pedialyte via syringe (about 10 ccs every hour I'm home, as well as a bowl of pedialyte and water left out all day). She still does not eat independently so I have also been feeding her canned food mixed with pedialyte that has been warmed through a syringe around 3-4 times a day (usually around 10 ccs per feeding, but I stop if she begins to get too fussy or stops swallowing the food). The feedings usually go well, but I am concerned about how skinny she is still, especially since she is sick at the moment. I am going to buy the GNC version of nutrical today, and I was wondering how much I should be feeding her. I do not know her exact weight, it was not listed on her paper when I picked her up for some reason, but I would guess the weighs less than two pounds. If it is any reference, the vet has me giving her 3 ccs of azithromycin every day, maybe that will help you understand her size? I can feel all of her spine, ribcage and hip bones. She was playful and adjusting well before she got sick, but she was still tiny at that point. Please let me know how much I should be feeding her, I feel like I am not feeding enough at this point, but I am worried if I overfeed her she will experience some other health problem. This is my first time fostering and I am quite anxious, thank you all for your help!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, you're doing a fantastic job!!
You need to weigh her, and him too, that's the only way to know for feeding purposes and to know how things are going.
Hopefully someone can help you with the nutrical amounts. Oh, also there are kitten glop recipes on the internet that you could try too.

The Essentials Of Kitten Nutrition

Weighing Newborn Kittens (and How This Could Save Their Lives)

 

[StefanZ]

Can you get raw goats milk?
What kmr do you have access to?

The rule of thumb re kmr / goats milk is 8 ml / 30 g a day
A kitten of 600 g. Rougly 1,5 pound will need 160 ml a day.

Its difficult to overfeed so as longs she wants be sure she gets.

Ps the third eyelid isnt usually no eye problem but showing she has some infection or inflammation.
Sometimes its "just" worms

 

[Sarthur2]

It’s good to hear that she is improving finally. Since she has been so ill for so long it may take a few weeks for her to fully recover, and it may take a full 10-14 days, or more, on the zithromax as well.

As she gets better she will eat more, and will eventually eat on her own again. Right now she can only hold a tiny amount, so I would feed her small amounts every 2-3 hours. Stopping when she gets fussy is a good idea. If she is up in the middle of the night, give her a feeding.

It’s good she has pedialyte now.

It sounds like her sinus cavity is impacted on one side, so saline drops and steam, as I’ve mentioned before, may help to loosen it.

 

[catsknowme]

Sending healing prayers and vibes!! How is the kitten doing today? Her kneading & purring is her way of self-soothing; a lot of extra cuddling will act like a tonic for her. Because she is so frail, it is most likely that she cannot keep her body temperature up so, if it was me, I would keep her on top or against a warming sock with rice-or-cornmeal (cream of rice or finely ground cornmeal are softer but more expensive) unless you have a heated pet pad. When holding her, you can place a folded towel between yourself and the heat source so that you don't become too warm.
In addition to the heat source, I would give her a stuffed toy to cuddle with and wrap up a small, ticking travel clock to simulate a mama kitty's heartbeat, for when she is not being held.
StefanZ's suggestion of goat milk is excellent - I have used it with great success for both kittens and sick adults (including my FIV+ cat). Raw is best but I also use the powdered with equally great results; canned, diluted 50/50 is also very good.
I would be sure to use only filtered, bottled or good well water. Tap water from municipal systems has harsh chemicals. And be sure that the litter is unscented/fragrance free - the perfumes and fragrances are harsh on sensitive nasal tissues.
You are doing an excellent job - you were given an exceptionally challenging case & at the first sign of green in the mucus, antibiotics should have been prescribed. That is not your fault - the SPCA should have caught that problem immediately! but since they vaccinated a very ill, very young BABY kitten....well
But you have her on the right path now & your TCS family is rooting for you!

and bless you for all you are doing

 

[Summercats]

Hi,
Try something strong smelling like tuna or mackerel cat food to temp her to eat if her sense of smell is weak.