Ringworm, mange? Best guesses on this stray kitten? (Pictures included)

jcat

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The thought of a miscarriage crossed my mind, but also something sickening - sexual abuse, i.e., penetration with a foreign object. Livestock and dogs are more common victims, but cats have been known to be sexually abused, too. Perhaps a vet should check her for internal injuries.
 
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moxiewild

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The thought of a miscarriage crossed my mind, but also something sickening - sexual abuse, i.e., penetration with a foreign object. Livestock and dogs are more common victims, but cats have been known to be sexually abused, too. Perhaps a vet should check her for internal injuries.
Most animals i have experience with in those cases displayed common trauma behaviors, though. This little girl is trusting and friendly to absolutely everyone she meets.

Not that it’s impossible of course, just that I haven’t been getting any sort of abuse indications from her behavior and disposition, so we’ve been considering other causes first.

Does anyone know the different ways miscarriages can present in cats/kittens?
 

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Has she had an x-ray? My guess is she may have a dead kitten fetus stuck in her birth canal or uterus that won’t expel. She would need a spay to clean this out. She should probably be on antibiotics for infection and be spayed ASAP. If I’m right, she will heal and get better quickly once this is resolved.
 

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Has she had an x-ray? My guess is she may have a dead kitten fetus stuck in her birth canal or uterus that won’t expel. She would need a spay to clean this out. She should probably be on antibiotics for infection and be spayed ASAP. If I’m right, she will heal and get better quickly once this is resolved.

That is what happened to the kitty I rescued this summer. Gypsy had three dead kittens inside her and when she tried to expel one of them she looked like she had been in an eighties slasher movie- very disturbing. My vet was able to x-ray her and see that two more kittens were still inside.
 
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moxiewild

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Has she had an x-ray? My guess is she may have a dead kitten fetus stuck in her birth canal or uterus that won’t expel. She would need a spay to clean this out. She should probably be on antibiotics for infection and be spayed ASAP. If I’m right, she will heal and get better quickly once this is resolved.
Thank you, that’s a good suggestion. We’re taking a different Momma kitty in with our regular vet tomorrow, so we’ll ask her what she thinks.

And yes, her WBC was high so we have her on Clavimox.

How common would it be for a kitten her age to be pregnant already? She only looks to be about 5-6 months old. I know that they technically and potentially can get pregnant around 4 months, it just doesn’t seem very common.

Would she not be in pain or showing signs of pain, lethargy, nausea, something?

And could that explain the fur loss? Maybe over grooming from pain or something at some point?

Thank you so much for your input and Norachan Norachan for summoning you!
 
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moxiewild

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That is what happened to the kitty I rescued this summer. Gypsy had three dead kittens inside her and when she tried to expel one of them she looked like she had been in an eighties slasher movie- very disturbing. My vet was able to x-ray her and see that two more kittens were still inside.
Did she look pregnant at all? How far along had she been when she miscarries? Were there any other symptoms you noticed?

This kitten is emaciated, so I assume that if she miscarried that it must have been earlier in the pregnancy. Otherwise it seems like even one fetus would be at least somewhat perceptible. But I have very little experience with pregnant cats, let alone pregnant kittens.
 
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moxiewild

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We decided we wanted to keep a closer eye on her, so we placed a baby can in the bathroom with her.

AB95784C-4A85-4073-B777-2059791CA903.jpeg


I’ve been watching or checking in on her most of the day and I haven’t seen her play once or show any interest in playing. She just wants pets when we’re in there.

It’s making me wonder - she isn’t “traditionally” lethargic, but she (so far, of course) seems to be very low activity for a kitten her age. I wonder if that could be an indication of lethargy..?

I know I’m getting all up in my own head about this 😂 I just can’t stand that we somehow got no answers as to what could be wrong. And I do fear that something more may be going on inside of her that just won’t be picked up by normal lab work.

I also adopt and foster special needs and seniors, so admittedly, not knowing whether she may have something contagious is just an additional stressor in a house full of compromised immune systems.
 

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I also adopt and foster special needs and seniors, so admittedly, not knowing whether she may have something contagious is just an additional stressor in a house full of compromised immune systems.

Have you considered taking her to a veterinary dermatologist? I know it can be expensive, but it's something to consider. My cat had months of itching and localized hair loss, and when taken to the regular vet and going through two different sets of skin scrapings, cytologies AND two PCR tests (testing for ringworm) over a period of a month apart, they could find anything wrong. No bacterial infection, no fungal (including ringworm) infection, and the regular vet was unable to "catch" any views of mites during cytologies. We decided to go to a vet dermatologist, and it can certainly be rewarding to go to a specialist: she found the problem. Demodicosis (specifically d. cati) resulting from several years of low dose Pred for asthma. d. cati is less common to find in overpopulation on a cat unless the cat is very ill, immunocompromised, etc., but the possibility of d. gatoi for the kitty in this thread might exist, as it is very contagious and more common. And with some medicine avenues these days, lime sulfur dips for certain mites is not a given... you can use other methods to help the cat.
 
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It’s difficult to say at what point the pregnancy (if that is the cause) may have ended, but kittens can get pregnant very early if caught by a male. She would not necessarily have to look pregnant. Vaginal bleeding is not normal though, and the lethargy may be from poor nutrition and poor socialization. She’s also still growing, so she needs extra nutrition. A simple x-ray would answer this question about what’s inside. When can you get her x-rayed?

It’s good that she’s on clavamox!

Steroids and steroid creams can help with itching, but long-term proper nutrition may alleviate the fur loss. It may simply be from stress and poor nutrition.
 

jefferd18

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Did she look pregnant at all? How far along had she been when she miscarries? Were there any other symptoms you noticed?

This kitten is emaciated, so I assume that if she miscarried that it must have been earlier in the pregnancy. Otherwise it seems like even one fetus would be at least somewhat perceptible. But I have very little experience with pregnant cats, let alone pregnant kittens.

No, she didn't look pregnant. She had developed a virus that made her stop eating or drinking so therefore the kittens inside her had stopped growing. As far as lethargy goes, she has been through a lot- all Gypsy wanted to do when I first got her was to sleep.
 
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moxiewild

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Have you considered taking her to a veterinary dermatologist? I know it can be expensive, but it's something to consider. My cat had months of itching and localized hair loss, and when taken to the regular vet and going through two different sets of skin scrapings, cytologies AND two PCR tests (testing for ringworm) over a period of a month apart, they could find anything wrong. No bacterial infection, no fungal (including ringworm) infection, and the regular vet was unable to "catch" any views of mites during cytologies. We decided to go to a vet dermatologist, and it can certainly be rewarding to go to a specialist: she found the problem. Demodicosis (specifically d. cati) resulting from several years of low dose Pred for asthma. d. cati is less common to find in overpopulation on a cat unless the cat is very ill, immunocompromised, etc., but the possibility of d. gatoi for the kitty in this thread might exist, as it is very contagious and more common. And with some medicine avenues these days, lime sulfur dips for certain mites is not a given... you can use other methods to help the cat.
If I could take her to a specialist, I 100% would in a heartbeat.

But like I said, I have (as of today) 16 animals (excluding foster rats), and 10 of those are special needs. I also have 3 colonies and just yesterday inherited another 1.5 colonies (the primary colony caretaker in our town suddenly passed away so everyone is struggling to locate his many colonies and find people to take over. Really, really sad situation).

If anything gets worse and/or doesn’t get better, I will definitely try to crowdfund for a specialist, though. I currently have close to $200 in donation pledges, but most of that was already used for the first appointment.

Funny enough though, our vet today (who was not the same vet who evaluated her) actually mentioned d. cati as a possibility. They just still want us to wait and see and come back once she finishes antibiotics.
 
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moxiewild

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It’s difficult to say at what point the pregnancy (if that is the cause) may have ended, but kittens can get pregnant very early if caught by a male. She would not necessarily have to look pregnant. Vaginal bleeding is not normal though, and the lethargy may be from poor nutrition and poor socialization. She’s also still growing, so she needs extra nutrition. A simple x-ray would answer this question about what’s inside. When can you get her x-rayed?

It’s good that she’s on clavamox!

Steroids and steroid creams can help with itching, but long-term proper nutrition may alleviate the fur loss. It may simply be from stress and poor nutrition.
I spoke to our vet about it. She felt that unless she gets worse or starts bleeding again, an X-ray is unnecessary. She felt like there would probably be more signs by now if there was still a fetus inside of her, but does think it’s possible that she could have miscarried, or sustained other physical trauma, or even a UTI.

My vets don’t push tests and diagnostics on me... I always feel like I’m the one pushing it on them 😂

She doesn’t seem to be overly itchy... but I will definitely keep the steroid cream in mind, thank you.
 

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I spoke to our vet about it. She felt that unless she gets worse or starts bleeding again, an X-ray is unnecessary. She felt like there would probably be more signs by now if there was still a fetus inside of her, but does think it’s possible that she could have miscarried, or sustained other physical trauma, or even a UTI.

My vets don’t push tests and diagnostics on me... I always feel like I’m the one pushing it on them 😂

She doesn’t seem to be overly itchy... but I will definitely keep the steroid cream in mind, thank you.

Thank you for keeping us updated, moxiewild.
 

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Did anyone see the blood coming from the vaginal area? I think it could be just from cracked skin or other injury. I've seen spots/"puddles" like that from cats with injured paws.

I'd give her some time to see if the fur comes back. It could just be malnutrition or irritation. If the problem has been fixed, you should start seeing peach fuzz very soon. If it doesn't come back after she's clean and eating well, then it would justify a trip to a veterinary dermatologist. But I wouldn't rush into that.
 
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moxiewild

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Did anyone see the blood coming from the vaginal area? I think it could be just from cracked skin or other injury. I've seen spots/"puddles" like that from cats with injured paws.

I'd give her some time to see if the fur comes back. It could just be malnutrition or irritation. If the problem has been fixed, you should start seeing peach fuzz very soon. If it doesn't come back after she's clean and eating well, then it would justify a trip to a veterinary dermatologist. But I wouldn't rush into that.
When her finder told us she was bleeding, I basically interrogated her about details :lol: She felt pretty confident about where it was coming from, and her mother agreed too.

You don’t think with that much and thick of blood from an external wound would be observable by the vet the very next day? I also checked her pretty thoroughly to see if maybe it came from somewhere else, but didn’t see anything of note.

Being in “limbo” is just frustrating.

We actually decided to start taking daily close up pictures today to track any progress because I feel like I see peach fuzz already, but my boyfriend disagreed. So this will help us keep better track of any new growth.
 
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moxiewild

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Elvira still has pretty bad diarrhea, and despite being a bit emaciated, she looks like she’s taken on a barrel shape in her midsection (mostly protruding from the sides) - although it could just be an optical illusion due to hair loss.

We were able to get a stool sample last night so will hopefully be able to rule out parasites, and hopefully it isn’t pregnancy either!

She is also NOT taking to the litterbox. She keeps going primarily in her various bedding. We’re already a bit short on bedding as is, and keeping up with the wash every time she goes to the bathroom is exhausting :(

And then there’s the clean up with her diarrhea............ paw prints everywhere 🤮

We’ve tried three different litterboxes, three different locations, cat attract additive, leaves/sticks/etc, the paper towel trick (can’t really do it with poop since she had diarrhea... well, I could, but I don’t know if I can stomach it, haha). So tonight I bought a covered litterbox, and potting soil, and I’m going to try to fit at least two boxes in there. Hopefully she’ll get the jist soon...

We also purchased an echo flex (plug in) so that we can play music in there for her at low volume without risking leaving a kitten alone with any cords.
 

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jcat

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:vibes::vibes::vibes:the potting soil works. Perhaps she would use puppy pads? Puppy pads in litter boxes sometimes work for cats that know what a litter box is, but don't use it. If she uses one on the floor, and that's then put in a box, she might get the idea.

Poor little thing.
 

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Have you thought of using straw as bedding? It's warm and absorbent and you can just compost it if she uses it as a litter box.
 
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