Kitten at death's door from some infection/ ongoing issues and updates

[silent meowlook]

What are ORS?

 

[silent meowlook]

Feline Infectious Enteritis (Parvovirus, Panleukopenia Virus) | International Cat Care

Feline infectious enteritis (FIE) is a disease caused by infection with feline parvovirus (FPV), also known as feline panleukopenia virus.

icatcare.org

 

[Meowmee]

What are ORS?

Oral rehydration solution

 

[Alldara]

I'm not sure if any of Hannah's information might help. Maybe this drug is available in your country.

 

[Nilo]

Sorry for the late update, guys.
We've got lots of things to catch up on now.

Terry's temperature has been dropping.
Which is supposed to be a very good thing as a change from having high fevers. It is now a nice 100.7. Came down from 103.8 to 100.7 in about 10 hours today.

But tbh, what my mind keeps saying is - the FPV disease results in low temperatures towards the end stages, followed by well, death. So, I'm worried the temperature could keep dropping further. And I heard there's no remedy for low temperatures apart from physically trying to warm them up - I mean there's no injections or meds.
So I want to be prepared to act immediately in case the temperature drops to below 100.

My area has a nice temperature of 25-30 degs C these days.
If anyone has any information or tips or links to understanding / preventing / treating temperature drops (without any cold weather or external reasons for temp drop), please share.

I've been getting him to eat tiny amounts of Recovery food by applying them to his paw. He licks it clean, to clean his paw. But he doesn't want to eat the food directly from the bowl or from a spoon. Weird guy. He's also been drinking ORS like a good boy. So, that front seems to be covered at the moment.

 

[Nilo]

Also, Terry got injured. Yeah.
It's a 1 inch by 1 inch wound near his butt. It happened on our drive back home from the vet. The roads are unimaginably bad here, yet this was completely unexpected. I have no idea what could have even caused that much friction on his skin. The basket is just plastic. There was a bunch of blood inside his basket and I got lightheaded and almost passed out thinking he was dying or something. Yeah, you're allowed to laugh at my childishness.

I've applied an ointment with cotton and attached the cotton ball to the wound with medical tape.
Is there anything else I should do for faster wound healing, infection prevention, etc? He's already very anemic.
I'm inexperienced in taking care of wounds. So any advice is welcome.

 

[Nilo]

Meowmee
Thank you for all the links and active help. I got a whole bunch of tips from them and used them with Terry. I read your post and the links and saw the video a long while back, but was not in the right state to make a post. Sorry for the delay. Hope you don't mind.
Also, Terry's not a baby kitten, he's a big boy, he's probably around 5 months old.
Merlin and Zena are lucky to have you.

What are ORS?

Meowmee got it right. I think the US people call it Pedialyte, we just call it ORS (oral rehydration solution) in my country. I'm sorry I didn't realise it was not an internationally recognized acronym.

https://icatcare.org/advice/feline-infectious-enteritis-parvovirus-panleukopenia-virus/

Thank you for the link. I've read it earlier, after the diagnosis, but didn't think about posting it here. So thanks for the nice informational addition to this thread.

I'm not sure if any of Hannah's information might help. Maybe this drug is available in your country.

All help is very appreciated. Thank you, I'll check it out.

 

[catsknowme]

Hang in there! Warmed ORS (100° F) should help as well as a heat pat or heated rice-or-cornmeal socks (be sure that he can easily get away from the heat source). If the temperature drops too low, put him in a carrier with the heat source to one side and cover with a heavy towel (ambient temperature should be 85° - 90°). As always, when adding heat support, be alert for hyperthermia, especially red gums and panting.
Protect your cat from overheating | Best Friends Vets

 

[catsknowme]

Also, Maddies Fund affiliates with teaching universities and offers excellent education (free videos) that while they are accredited for veterinary professionals, they also consider rescuers & layperson. I like the YouTube videos because I can view in increments and ff/fb to allow me to take notes. I hope this helps!
Managing Feline Panleukopenia

 

[Nilo]

One more thing.
I was considering Terry's calm behavior, cooperation and sleep / resting (way more than the past days) as a positive thing that he was healing. But apparently, he's actually being super dull. My family and vet let me know, and it makes sense. He hardly even whined the entire day. Did not make a peep at the vet or the trip, or even when he was injured.
I don't understand what reason he has to be dull when he's started eating and drinking and there's no fever at the moment. What am I missing?

catsknowme
That's a lot of brilliant tips, and superfast. Thank you very much!
Yes, I'll be careful to not overheat him.
Wow, that conference link is ideal, extremely helpful. I'll watch it as soon as I can.

 

[Furballsmom]

I'm inexperienced in taking care of wounds. So any advice is welcome.

Raw coconut oil or unflavored chamomile tea, these are anti bacterial, anti fungal, anti microbial in the case of the coconut, will ease any discomfort and are safe if he happens to lick it.

 

[Sarthur2]

Perhaps he is not being dull but just finally resting comfortably without fever?

 

[silent meowlook]

Can you post a picture of him and of his wound? Maybe three total? One face one entire body and head and one of the wound.

How often are you checking his temp?

 

[Nilo]

The vet says Terry's got jaundice now. Upon seeing slight yellowishness of eyes and maybe gums. Vet says he didn't have any yellowishness last night for sure. No tests were suggested or done. The vet prescribed suspension doxypup, tonic fercee red, tonic toffoli forte and sent him home. No idea what these are, or about jaundice yet. I'm going to go read up now.

Just when I thought he was getting better and about to make it out

Raw coconut oil or unflavored chamomile tea, these are anti bacterial, anti fungal, anti microbial in the case of the coconut, will ease any discomfort and are safe if he happens to lick it.

Wow, that's awesome of coconut oil. Thank you very much. Fortunately, his temperature hasn't dropped till now.

Perhaps he is not being dull but just finally resting comfortably without fever?

That would indeed be nice. But he didn't even whine when he got injured, that's a tad suspicious. Anyways, that was yesterday, he's being fairly vocal today and walking around. Just hasn't started eating on his own.

Can you post a picture of him and of his wound? Maybe three total? One face one entire body and head and one of the wound.

How often are you checking his temp?

Sure, why not, I'll do that in a while.
I use the thermometer once in 2-3 hours and just feel his head and butt with my hand for a rough estimate a few times in between.

 

[Meowmee]

The vet says Terry's got jaundice now. Upon seeing slight yellowishness of eyes and maybe gums. Vet says he didn't have any yellowishness last night for sure. No tests were suggested or done. The vet prescribed suspension doxypup, tonic fercee red, tonic toffoli forte and sent him home. No idea what these are, or about jaundice yet. I'm going to go read up now.

Just when I thought he was getting better and about to make it out


Wow, that's awesome of coconut oil. Thank you very much. Fortunately, his temperature hasn't dropped till now.


That would indeed be nice. But he didn't even whine when he got injured, that's a tad suspicious. Anyways, that was yesterday, he's being fairly vocal today and walking around. Just hasn't started eating on his own.


Sure, why not, I'll do that in a while.
I use the thermometer once in 2-3 hours and just feel his head and butt with my hand for a rough estimate a few times in between.

Ask if it is ok to give him denamarin, an otc supplement / antioxidant that treats liver jaundice etc. it saved Sybil’s life when she had severe jaundice.

Nutramax Denamarin - Free shipping | Chewy

 

[Nilo]

Meowmee Thank you!
But this does not seem available in India. Is there any alternative I can search for?

 

[silent meowlook]

I am so sorry he is so sick. It’s hard to care for them when they are so ill. I wish I had something to add here to help, but I really don’t. Just continue what you are doing provided he isn’t suffering.

 

[Sarthur2]

I sure hope your little guy turns the corner soon. He’s pulled through so much already. Keep him hydrated with sub-q’s and ask if he can have an anti-nausea med.

 

[Nilo]

Update:

Blood Test Results:
Hb - 3.7
RBC - 2.88
WBC - 34.6 (it was 0.3 just 5 days ago, I couldn't have even imagined this was possible that fast)
PLT - 1074
HCT - 12

Conclusions:
Cause suspected for jaundice: Low RBC level
Type of jaundice: pre-hepatic jaundice
Treatment:
- MES steroid injection
- Iron Sucrose Injection
- Increase RBC using iron supplements mentioned previously
- Switched fluids from Sub-Q RL to IV Dextrose

I have not yet discussed the reasoning for the elevated WBC and PLT values with the vet.

Does anyone have any ideas or tricks to make a cat eat without force feeding them?
For example, like I previously said, smearing some food on his front paws works sometimes, he'd lick them clean. But now, he's become an expert who folds their legs rubbing all the food on the bed or mat, then licking the paws clean.
Any other tricks like that that are worth a try?

Terry's drinking ORS on the regular. Just lacking on the food front. He eats something like 10 - 15 tablet pellet sizes of food a day. Hopefully, the sugar in the ORS counts as nutrition by itself.
He actually came to the food bowl today, except he didn't want to eat any of the available food, I gave him a taste of all the options, and he refused.

Ask if it is ok to give him denamarin, an otc supplement / antioxidant that treats liver jaundice etc. it saved Sybil’s life when she had severe jaundice.

I asked my vet about this. He said that the silybin that denamarin contains is present in the tefroli forte tonic that he's prescribed. I checked and he was spot on. Hope it works just as good.

I am so sorry he is so sick. It’s hard to care for them when they are so ill. I wish I had something to add here to help, but I really don’t. Just continue what you are doing provided he isn’t suffering.

Thank you. You being here with us on this journey is itself a great help. We really appreciate it. Please keep praying for Terry.

I sure hope your little guy turns the corner soon. He’s pulled through so much already. Keep him hydrated with sub-q’s and ask if he can have an anti-nausea med.

Yeah, I'm praying for the same. Thank you!

If you can use the toothbrush trick to mimic grooming or a cloth on a single finger, you should do that. It is helpful and will make him feel loved and safe.

Also there's a few studies in North America that say if you give a sick cat a box to sleep in that they recovery faster. Maybe you've already done this but I thought to let you know.

I cannot emphasize how much the toothbrush trick helped me connect with him and gain back his trust. Terry's super trusting as of now, he got over all his fear of humans and he's being such a cooperative good boy. Thank you!

Terry's now settled in the box I made comfy for him days ago. Took him a while to take interest in it, but he loves it now. Thank you for the nudge in the right direction!

I'm not sure if any of Hannah's information might help. Maybe this drug is available in your country.

This does seem to be available for delivery in my region. But both the videos talk about the drug working for FIP, but Terry has FIE / FPV. Will it work for FIE as well?

 

[Furballsmom]

He actually came to the food bowl today,

oh my gosh, this is incredible!

Other than smearing his lips, I'm not too sure...

an expert who folds their legs rubbing all the food on the bed or mat, then licking the paws clean.

... although this, while very messy, seems to be working for him?