2 weeks ago I was driving down the road on a terribly rainy morning and a small black kitten was staggering across in front of me. I stopped and grabbed her and took her to work with me. She was freezing, soaking wet, gums were white, emaciated- skin and bones. I got her heated up, her blood sugar up, and eventually eating. She had horrific coccidia and really bad conjunctivitis as well as URI. She responded well to treatment for coccidia and was put on Clavamox for her URI and Tarramycin eye ointment which was changed a few days later to Erythromycin as there had been no improvement. That cleared her eyes up quickly.
The diarrhea stopped within 4 or 5 days and her URI improved greatly. About the time the coccida cleared up, she stopped showing any interest in canned food and instead wanted kitten formula or weaning formula, which she ate well. The uri continued to improve but she was so very congested. Chlorpheniramine was added which seemed to help.
Oh, I should add that she weighed 15oz but was approximately 7 weeks old when found. That means she is about 9 weeks old now.
Canned food and baby food were added to her weaning formula to get her back to a more solid diet, Which has worked fine. She won't drink water though. She will sometimes eat some canned food as long as it is gravy based and not a pate.
In the last few days she has started regurgitating her food shortly after eating. It's like after she eats the congestion gets worse and she will regurgitate a little bit of the food, and then have a sneezing fit where mucus mixed with whatever she just ate comes out of her nose. It's the oddest thing. She is not aspirating and her lungs are clear. Last week she was up to 1lb 5oz prior to this new issue. She was 1lb 3oz this morning.
In general, she seems to be much improved. She is more alert, her eyes are clear, she is active. She loves attention and enjoys her gruel food mixture. Today she ate some dry food happily but then sneezed mucus with bits of dry food a bit later. She is keeping enough food down as her gums are nice and pink, she is not dehydrated, however she isn't gaining like she should and the whole situation is concerning. Her antibiotic was changed today by the vet to doxycycline to see if that would help with the congestion, since the clavamox hadn't helped.
She has been checked for a cleft palate and I have also looked a few times and I cant see anything. Also since this issue just came about in the last few days, that seems unlikely. I know megaesophagus could account for the regurgitation but that wouldn't normally cause the sneezing of food and mucus, and again, the issue just presented in the last few days.
I've fostered neonates and kittens for years, hundreds have come through my house... but I've never seen anything like this.
I'm wondering if anyone has seen anything similar before putting this little kitten through tons of tests. I'd love to have a direction to go in or some ideas. I haven't had blood work done as she is so small and I'm not sure they can really get enough blood from her.
The diarrhea stopped within 4 or 5 days and her URI improved greatly. About the time the coccida cleared up, she stopped showing any interest in canned food and instead wanted kitten formula or weaning formula, which she ate well. The uri continued to improve but she was so very congested. Chlorpheniramine was added which seemed to help.
Oh, I should add that she weighed 15oz but was approximately 7 weeks old when found. That means she is about 9 weeks old now.
Canned food and baby food were added to her weaning formula to get her back to a more solid diet, Which has worked fine. She won't drink water though. She will sometimes eat some canned food as long as it is gravy based and not a pate.
In the last few days she has started regurgitating her food shortly after eating. It's like after she eats the congestion gets worse and she will regurgitate a little bit of the food, and then have a sneezing fit where mucus mixed with whatever she just ate comes out of her nose. It's the oddest thing. She is not aspirating and her lungs are clear. Last week she was up to 1lb 5oz prior to this new issue. She was 1lb 3oz this morning.
In general, she seems to be much improved. She is more alert, her eyes are clear, she is active. She loves attention and enjoys her gruel food mixture. Today she ate some dry food happily but then sneezed mucus with bits of dry food a bit later. She is keeping enough food down as her gums are nice and pink, she is not dehydrated, however she isn't gaining like she should and the whole situation is concerning. Her antibiotic was changed today by the vet to doxycycline to see if that would help with the congestion, since the clavamox hadn't helped.
She has been checked for a cleft palate and I have also looked a few times and I cant see anything. Also since this issue just came about in the last few days, that seems unlikely. I know megaesophagus could account for the regurgitation but that wouldn't normally cause the sneezing of food and mucus, and again, the issue just presented in the last few days.
I've fostered neonates and kittens for years, hundreds have come through my house... but I've never seen anything like this.
I'm wondering if anyone has seen anything similar before putting this little kitten through tons of tests. I'd love to have a direction to go in or some ideas. I haven't had blood work done as she is so small and I'm not sure they can really get enough blood from her.
. I was going to ask about cleft palate. I’ll still ask, though I know about this in humans, not cats. Has anyone felt around for a submucous cleft? That’s where there’s a defect in the muscle layer but it’s covered by mucous membrane, so you can’t see it but may be able to feel it. Don’t know whether that’s a possibility in cats.
