Need help with new kitten from shelter

[smbsocal]

We lost one of our two cats last year and made the mistake of getting kittens earlier in the year to keep the remaining elderly cat company. The short story is that the elder cat put up with the kittens but wasn't really happen with them and she passed away recently. Due to this experience we want to avoid adding cats to the established cats in the future and decided to add one more cat to the family.

Earlier in the year we adopted kittens from a local animal rescue that gets cats from the shelters and fosters them for a while until they are ready for adoption. We took a different route this time and picked up a kitten direct from the local government animal shelter which has turned out to be a totally different experience.

The kitten is a 12 week old male who has such a nice personality and really warmed to my wife (they usually prefer me so it was nice seeing my wife's face light up with him giving her so much love and attention). When we were with him in the shelter we noticed that one of his eyes had a little redness to it. We were told that it was due to allergies and took him home.

When we got him home we isolated him from the other cats and placed him in a bathroom in a bedroom with a closed door. After sitting with him for a while I noticed that he has some issues.

One issue is that he is shaking his head ever so often which was due to his ears being full of debris, I assume ear mites, he had so much debris that one of his ear canals was completely blocked. I was able to clean both of his ears up and I figure I just need to get him some medicine for his ear mites.

The big issue, I think, is that he has a runny nose, the discharge is clear and he doesn't have problems breathing but he is licking his nose and sneezing ever so often. The runny nose combined with the red eye I am thinking that maybe he has a upper respiratory infection.

To be honest I have had cats for 30 years but the cats have all been indoors and the only issues have been; ringworm, UTI, urinary track blockage, and hip dysplasia. Reading about upper respiratory infection I am now worried (freaking out) that I have exposed our other cats to URI.

I gave the new kitten some Nutri-Cal and put L-Lysine in the kitten's food which he ate once I placed it in front of him. He didn't go to the food on his own, not sure if it is due to him being scared or his sense of smell being dull due to his stuffy nose. I ran the shower on hot water to raise the humidity in the bathroom and turned up the heat in the room to keep him warm.

The kitten hasn't been neutered yet so we are technically 'fostering' him until he gets neutered in a couple of weeks and they said that during now and then we have access to their vet free of charge but they are closed until Tuesday.

Can anyone with more experience help give me some guidance what I should be doing (outside of freaking out) for the kitten as well as the other cats and how big of an issue is it if the kitten has URI?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

You are doing great so far. Keeping him isolated from the other cats is good, The steamy shower is good, the L-Lysine can't hurt and might help, and the Nutri-cal is good. The only problem might be IF he stops eating. If that happens, try warming up the stinkiest food you can find, which is normally a fishy wet food. Otherwise you're good to go. It could be this kitten has feline herpes, which is extremely common in cats. Your other cats have probably been vaccinated for it if they had their kitten shots. It might also be a URI, so if you keep him separate until it's gone, and wash your hands well after visiting with him, AND if there is another door that separates him from them aside from that bathroom door, which it sounds like there is, they should be good. But if they get it as adult cats, they should be fine unless they have other health issues. No guarantees, but should be ok.

If the kitten starts open mouth breathing or seems to be in distress, some people use a baby "snot remover" (sorry, I don't know the name ) to suction their little noses.

 

[DebfromPhilly]

Please make sure your other 2 cats were vaccinated for feline herpes!! This is imperative!! I had almost this exact same situation, about 30 years ago. I was young, and not very well trained on cats at that moment, and thought that if I had an indoor cat that they didn’t need shots. I brought a kitten home from the SPCA who had an upper respiratory infection and proceeded to give it to my other cat. Because the resident cat had just flown across the country with me as we had moved to a new city, The resident cat was quite stressed out and did not survive the upper respiratory infection. He was two years old. I spent over 5 thousand dollars trying to keep my two year old kitty alive.

Also, even if your cats have had feline herpes shots, I would recommend calling your vet to ask if they would recommend a booster for your other cats. Also ask your vet what they think about the situation. I do believe that my resident cat would not have died had he not had just moved across the country, and had all new furniture (rented) and no familiar smells. Resident cat simply became anorexic. No vet could figure out what was wrong with him after the infection cleared up, and they said he died from anorexia, even though I was forcefeeding him enough food to maintain his weight, he was still losing weight. This was what caused me to finally, after 4 months of subcutaneous fluids and forced feeding, and 2 times a week vet visits, put this poor baby to sleep. His name was Garcia.

To look at the bright side of things, the cat I brought home from the SPCA that gave the 2 year old the infection, lived happily and healthfully to age 18 and was a true and forever love of mine! His name was Cass. He sneezed more than an average cat but he didn’t end up with chronic upper respiratory problems.

Also, I adopted two bonded, senior cats with chronic upper respiratory Infections, about five years ago. The one that did NOT die from cancer a year ago, at age 15, is still alive (age 11) and fairly well, although he does see the vet more often than your average cat, and he is on breathing treatments through a nebulizer, that is used by putting him in a carrier with towels on top covering all of the holes, when he has flair ups, twice a day for 15 minutes. I give him his very favorite treats right when I put him in and right when I take him out, so that he has positive associations with his treatments. I know that he needs these treatments when he sneezes and there is literally snot flying out of his nose, or he is blowing snot bubbles at the tip of his nose when he breathes. Recently he has developed a cough that is also helped by these treatments.

From what I understand, most cats who get an upper respiratory infection, get rid of them and don’t have them again. My guy is different.

IMPORTANT: I also have a new-to-me cat that’s four years old (had her for 3 months- only got her after my vet said I could safely adopt a new cat without worrying she will catch this from resident cat as long as they were well vaccinated against feline herpes), and my vet assured me that she would be fine with my sick cat. He did give her an extra feline herpes vaccine when I took her in, when I got her, as a booster.

Best wishes to you and your furbabies!

 

[smbsocal]

Thank you both for the information.

I will reach out to our vet in regards to the other cats and see what they say.

I am going to reach out to the county vet on Tuesday to see if they can provide something for the ear mites and to help his eye. He can open his eye if we keep it clean but if we don't the clear discharge makes it so that his eye can only open half way.

 

[smbsocal]

Update:
He is eating well now. He is eating 3oz of wet food every couple hours. His energy levels are improving and he is getting more vocal.

He is still shaking his head a lot, the ear mites are bugging him. I am using OTC ear mite medicine on him but doesn't look like it is making a big difference.

The discharge from his eye is still bad, poor guy's eye only stays completely open for a short period of time after cleaning it.

His nose is still stuffy but it hasn't gotten worse.

The room temperature is ~77 and we put a humidifier in the bathroom to keep the humidity level at 65%.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Glad he's doing well in the eating department. I worry if the humidifier is in there with him when he's alone. Kittens and cords...you know how they love to chew on things!

Are you certain it's ear mites? When you cleaned them up, did it look like coffee grounds? If not, probably not mites.

 

[smbsocal]

The cord for the humidifier is in the back, which is up against the wall and the outlet is at sink height, which he can't get to so luckily the cord is protected for now (until he gets a little bigger).

The debris in the ears was very black and coming out in chunks of various sizes and some of it was like coffee grounds. It matches what YT videos shows as being an ear mite issue.

One thing I should have added is that he was a stay that was taken in to the shelter 2 weeks ago so he is pretty fresh off the streets.

 

[di and bob]

Be careful with that OTC mite medicine, I 'burned' a cats ears once with that and they got infected. Revolution PLUS and Advantage MULTI are both topical flea medicines that also control mites with only one application high up on the back of the neck. I made the second words on each bigger because they have to say that to be for ear mites, the regular is not. They are a little pricey but worth it. Feline herpes virus is VERY common, especially where there are lots of cats together. NOT transferrable to humans, but like the common cold to cats. L-Lysine does not work near as well as DMG )in my opinion, I have used both), an immune system supplement, my cats have not got it since I started giving it. Your other cats MIGHT get it if their immune systems are low. You can get it online at Amazon or Walmart or any cat med site.

 

[smbsocal]

I will stop with the OTC mite medicine. Hopefully the shelter vet can prescribe one of the two topical flea medications you mentioned.

I have some DMG, one of kittens we got this year has runny eyes a lot so I use L-Lysine and DMG to help boost her immunity. I will give some of the DMG to the new kitten as well.

I also ordered HomeoPet Feline Nose Relief Natural Pet Medicine from Amazon as well.

I know that if it is a virus there isn't a straight forward cure but hopefully those items will help boost his immune system so he can get back to normal.

 

[smbsocal]

Here are a couple pictures to put a face to the post. He looks mad in the picture but he is a sweet boy.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I can definitely see the eye issue in that first picture. Poor baby. Hoping the DMG gives him a boost. He's found himself a good home, that's a certainty!

 

[di and bob]

I use nose relief too! I hope the DMG helps, i think you give it twice a day to start. 1/2 a ml. You might want to give it to all of them just for a precaution! It sure helped my cats. Hes a sweetheart!

 

[Mini-mimi]

Idk if it’ll help regarding the runny nose. but I read this on a YouTube comment. Someone gave their cat mullein tea who had constant cough and runny nose and it stopped within 3 days.
Try and give your cat a few mls of brewed mullein tea it says to help treats respiratory problems and get rids of mucus and phlegm. I actually ordered some for myself bc it’s supposed to be good for lungs / asthma

 

[smbsocal]

Update:
I reached out to the shelter and was able to see their vet yesterday. The vet confirmed that the kitten has a ear mite infestation, a viral URI and secondary bacteria infection in the eyes.

She gave the kitten medicine to resolve the ear mites, liquid doxy and neomycin antibiotic cream for the eyes.

One surprise was that they had the kitten down as a male but she is a female. This makes more sense since and matches up to what I was seeing. On the plus side we hadn't given the kitten a name yet so we didn't have to change the name up.

As of this morning she has all of the symptoms but is a lot more energetic than when we got her. She is eating around 6 - 7oz wet kitten food and also eating dry food. Hopefully she will make a full recovery soon.

 

[di and bob]

I hope so too!

 

[smbsocal]

Update:
We have kept the kitten separate from the other cats and have continued with humidification, DMG, L-Lysine, Doxy and Neomycin antibiotic cream.

Her eye inflammation has gone down and there is only a little bit of inflammation, she keeps her 'bad' eye open at ~90%. When we first got her she couldn't keep her eye open more than 40-50%.

Her nose isn't constantly running and she no longer is having to lick her nose clean constantly.

Her ears are getting cleaner but there is still some gunk build up, every day it is cleaner than the previous.

She has A LOT of energy now, I would say that she has normal kitten energy now.

The big issue is that she is still congested and is sneezing and sniffling but it has improved. If she plays she will have episodes of sneezing and sniffling to clear her airways up.

We are done with the liquid doxy that the vet gave us. I assume at this point we just need to keep waiting for her to fight it off completely.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I would let the Vet know that she is still congested even though she is finished with all the Doxy and see what they say. It's good that she seems to be getting better, but still, they should know that she's not 100% yet.

 

[di and bob]

Improvement is good! Pray she continues!