Sick Kitten?

[Alice catlady]

Sorry (15 weeks) doesn’t seem to be feeling too good today. I’ve already talked to the vet, so we’re going there in a few hours. They were booked solid, but made time for us at 14.45. It’s now 13.00. So we are going go the vet, but I’d like to know what you are thinking too.

I woke up around 3-4 last night, to the sound of Sorry throwing up. She threw up a bit wet food, her last feeding was around 7 hours earlier. After throwing up she ran into the carrier, and stayed there the rest of the night. I was thinking it might have been a hairball, and went back to sleep.

When I woke up this morning she was still in the carrier. She came out when she saw I was awake, but she is not her self. Little miss Eatsalot does not want to eat or drink. And she is spending most of her time sleeping, not playing like she usually does. She will purr if I pick her up or pet her, but other than that she doesn’t do much. She will follow me around, seems like she wants to be close, so atm we are just sitting on the sofa, waiting for the time to pass.

Other than that, she looks fine. No weird sound, clear eyes and all that. And she she only threw up that one time.

I have been wrecking my brain to see If I can think of something that might be the cause. But I can’t think of anything. She was fine yesterday, and this is the first time she’s been throwing up. Her sister, Nala, is fine. Wondering why on earth we are just sitting here. So whatever is going on with Sorry is not affecting Nala.

Mostly I just need to hear my little weirdo will be fine, but ideas on what might be going on is also welcome.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Im sorry to hear this!!
Possibly a food recipe change by the manufacturer, --but the continued time in the carrier makes me wonder ... Anyway, regarding food sensitivity, something like that wouldn't necessarily effect Nala.
I'm guessing that you've been to the vet by now, what did they say?

 

[neely]

Good for you to be concerned and recognize she wasn't acting like herself. Because she's so young I think you did the right thing by making an appointment with the vet, better to be safe than sorry. I hope whatever is troubling her can be resolved. Please keep us updated on her progress.

 

[Alice catlady]

Thank you both.

The vet coulden’t find anything wrong. She did xrays and could not see anything that shoulden’t be there. Just some gas. Her tummy felt nice and soft, no sign of dehydration, she doesn’t seem to be in pain and she was awake and alert. The vet thought that most likely she’s eaten something that doesn’t sit well with her.

We agreed that we should go home and see if she gets better, with som zoolac and ID wet food from Hills. The most important part is to get her to eat and drink again, so I’ll go back if she doesn’t start eating and drinking soon.

We are back home now, and I’ve given her a dose of Zoolac. At the moment she is sleeping, and she’s still staying mostly still. She still doesn’t want to eat or drink, but I’m hoping that she just needs some rest. She is also on a wet food only diet until she get’s better, so Nala seems to be a bit confused about all the dry food being gone. So far she is the only one eating the special tummy-food.

The vet also tried listening to her heart and breathing, but had to give up. All she could hear was loud purring. She was also purring during the xray. Sweet little weirdo-potato.

So, I’m still a bit stressed out about her not eating or drinking. And being so sleepy. But on the bright side, she’s not hiding anymore. And no more throwing up. I’m also happy they coulden’t see anything in her tummy that shoulden’t be there. So I’m hoping her tummy just needs some time to calm down, and that she is tired from being sick and going to the vet.

 

[Kieka]

Rocket had a few of those occurrences when she was a little one. It’s always better to have the vet check and find nothing then not check and miss something. My vet usually did an antibiotic, B12 and subQ fluids just to cover bases.

Have you tried offering human meat baby food? No garlic, no onion of course. I would offer Rocket that when she went through those moments and she liked it. Once I got her eating something she’d usually start eating more.

 

[Furballsmom]

Try a couple things, --give Nala some dry food while sweetie-Sorry is sleeping if she's interested in it.
Also, try some kitten glop (there are recipes on the internet), and maybe try some of a 50/50 boiled unseasoned chicken and rice mixture, nice and bland for Sorry's tummy.

Once Sorry is back to normal, I don't know what you were feeding before but you could consider doing a gentle transition to Royal Canin Babycat foods, if available to you...

 

[Alice catlady]

Kieka thank you for good advice. When I had rats I used to give them human baby food when they were sick, and they got sick a lot. Antibiotics made them stop eating, and the baby food would make them eat again. Never crossed my mind that might work with cats too. Our cats have mostly been healthy, so I’m more used to sickness in smaller animals, I guess. And I don’t think I’ve ever had a cat not eating, so this is all new.

Furballsmom thank you. They are eating Royal Canin kitten already, and they’ve also had some Purina wet food. There are so many brands being mentioned here that I’ve never heard of, so I googled it, and I think the one they’ve had might be what you know as Fancy feast? Purina seems to sell them under a different name here, but I think it’s more or less the same thing. What I think is strange is that I’ve had them for 3 weeks today, and before she started throwing up there was no sign of upset tummy. No soft poop or anything like that. As far as I know the wet food has not been changed in any way, and we got all the stuff from RC the day we picked them up. So that’s the same bag and boxes. Can the food suddenly make her sick after 3 weeks?

Thank you for the reminder about rice and chicken. I got Medusa way too early ( somewhere between 4-6 weeks, and she got the upset tummy with liquid poop. So we did rice and meat for a while. It might work here too.

At the moment Nala is sleeping with her sister. She prefers the wet food, so I’m guessing she’ll be fine with a wet only diet too. She just looks a bit confused, she was home alone when we went to the wet, now her sister won’t play and the dry food is gone. Difficult day.

 

[Furballsmom]

You're right, it seems really odd when the food hasn't changed, unless there were a couple of different manufacture batches in what you have, but it could be as Kieka says and there are simply moments like this that occur.
Hang in there, I'm sending you lots of good thoughts!!

 

[kashmir64]

Do you have any house plants? There are an awful lot of plants and flowers that are dangerous to cats. Sorry could have taken a small bite.

 

[Alice catlady]

Furballsmom thank you! I’ve been trying to think back, to see If I can remember her eating anything else. Her number one prey is things that fly by her, so she does eat a fly or two. I also dropped some roastbeef yesterday, the kind of thin slices you use for bread. She did get to it before I could get it up, so she did have a bite or two. But I had some from the same pack, and I feel fine. I coulden’t find anything strange in the ingredients. Could it be that?

Anyways, I tried sticking a spoon with wet food under her nose. She did have a lick and a few bites, before Nala came running after a fly, stealing her attention. It’s not much, but it’s more than nothing. Earlier today she would just turn or walk away at the sight of food, so this must be a good sign?

I’ve also been thinking that feeling sick and throwing up might have scared her? She was really retching with her whole body, before she ran into the carrier to hide. So maybe food is a bit scary at the moment?

 

[Alice catlady]

kashmir64 I do. I did look up a list of plants that are bad for cats before we got the kittens. So there shoulden’t be any plants that could hurt them here. I’ve also checked to see If I can see any bitemarks on plants today, seeing that she knocked down a flower yesterday. I coulden’t find any. And seeing that she’s only 15 weeks, she doesn’t go outside.

 

[Alice catlady]

Sick kitten is sick. And Sorry’s face is perfect for the poor me-look.

She does seem to be feeling a bit better, walking around and doing a meerkat.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh, baby!!
The roast beef, if it was marinated, or had some other processing methods of adding seasonings and salt, could be the culprit. Sorry is so small it wouldn't take very much.
But, you looked at the ingredients, and i don't know, your sliced roast beef might be processed differently than here.
Anyway, I think you're right on both counts, that a couple bites is definitely improvement, doing the meerkat is showing improvement, im so glad! and I tend to think you might be right that she's a bit wary of food just yet. I've wondered that sometimes with my Big Guy when something didn't settle well.

 

[Alice catlady]

Sweet Lord! Sorry is starting to drive me crazy!

First, the good part, she is a lot better. Running around, playing and starting to be herself again. I think she is also starting to get hungry, because she is running to the kitchen again. However, she still won’t touch her food. She is crying in the kitchen, and I try to give her food. I’ve tried both the kind I got from the vet and the Purina one. She turns around, tries to dig imaginary dirt over it and starts crying for food again.

Up until she threw up she would eat anything, and she loved the Purina wet food. Nala also seems to like the one from the vet. But after seeing it come in reverse, it’s like she’s thinking Nope, won’t touch that stuff again!

 

[silkenpaw]

She might be associating the food with vomiting. You might want try something different. I’m glad she seems to have more energy.

 

[Furballsmom]

Do you have/can you obtain, any gerber stage 2, or beechnut baby food? oh, drat, I forgot, you sound so much like you live here LOL so I didn't stop to think about that...
I'm meaning to say pureed meat baby food that doesn't have any garlic or onion in it.
Or, look on the internet for recipes for Kitten Glop.
I'm not a vet but at this point, it doesn't matter what she eats, as much as that she does eat...

 

[Alice catlady]

She might be associating the food with vomiting. You might want try something different. I’m glad she seems to have more energy.

Yes, I think so too. I’m trying to figure what I have in the house that is safe to give her, because I can’t get to the store tonight. So no chicken or babyfood tonight. I’m guessing dairy is out and rice without meat probably won’t make her eat. How about shrimps? I might also have some kind of white fish in the freezer. I guess I also could go trough the freezer to make sure there is no chicken there.

 

[Furballsmom]

no lactose cow milk, tuna, tuna juice, mackerel, maybe a little bit of cheddar cheese (less of what causes typical dairy issues), green beans, sardines, whole cooked eggs (the white always must be cooked)

kitten glop recipe this is one example - do you have any of the individual ingredients? You could try that...good luck!

Let us know if she goes for anything

 

[Alice catlady]

Furballsmom

Hahaha, no, none of that. And thank you! And since I live in the middle of no where in a country where shops close fairly early, I won’t be able to buy anything tonight.

Since we are redoing the house, we are keeping the human food pretty simple these days. So I have tons of catfood (she won’t eat) and less fitting human food.

 

[Alice catlady]

Do you have/can you obtain, any gerber stage 2, or beechnut baby food? oh, drat, I forgot, you sound so much like you live here LOL so I didn't stop to think about that...
I'm meaning to say pureed meat baby food that doesn't have any garlic or onion in it.
Or, look on the internet for recipes for Kitten Glop.
I'm not a vet but at this point, it doesn't matter what she eats, as much as that she does eat...

I have eggs, cheese and a Norwegian kind of liver pate. The cheese and liver are not perfect, but she has eaten it before without problems. It’s been a while since she really did eat properly, so I’m thinking the main thing is to get her to eat.