took in street cat, something's wrong « Daily Kitten Chat Forum

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took in street cat, something's wrong

(30 posts)

Started 2 years ago by Patrick
Latest reply from matti

I live in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The other night I heard a noise outside of my apartment. I went down to find a little kitten abandoned in a paper bag in the middle of a parking lot. I'm really not that much of a cat person, and I'm not going to be living here for as long as a cat life but I decided to take it in anyways rather than let it be stray dog food.

I took it into a vet last week, but I'm not sure how much I actually understood. My Chinese is not that great yet. I'm pretty sure the vet told me the kitten was about a month old. She also gave me some kitten food and told me to chop it up fine for the kitten, and that it didn't need water or milk or anything like that. She said to wait 10-14 days to bring it back and give it shots. I was going to do that this weekend. But all of a sudden this morning the kitten is totally out of it. NO energy, no meowing when it's not next to me, no ability to lift it self out of it's bed or the littler box anymore, no walking (when it tries it topples over), wherever I put it, it sits down and does nothing but start falling asleep, it also did this weird thing where it's head was rocking back in forth like a bobble head doll. Very different behavior from the rest of the week, and I'm worried that something might be very wrong and it might die soon.

I'm taking off work and bringing it back to the vet right now. I was just browsing online to see if I could find anything out before I went in and I found this forum and was hoping there might be a few people here who could help me out and give me some advise on how to take care of this kitten and try to prevent my ignorance from killing the poor thing, because like I said, my Chinese isn't good enough to ask the vet too many questions.

-Patrick

Posted 2 years ago by Patrick #
Cats NEED WATER just like every other living mammal!!!! Your cat is likely dehydrated.

1) Put down fresh water in a bowl NOW.

2) Trickle water into your cat from a syringe or spoon or whatever, being careful not to choke/drown the cat.

Others more knowledgeable will be on here in a few hours. Please check back then for more info.

But get water into your kitty now!!!

Posted 2 years ago by Marnet #
Patrick, bless you for taking this little one in, and trying to help. You're doing absolutely the right thing by taking it to the vet right away; to me they sound like they might be neurological symptoms, and I am very afraid you might have to prepare yourself for some bad news. I'm NOT a vet and I could easily be totally wrong and I hope I am, but this doesn't sound good. It could be that the kitten has picked up one of the horrible viruses that cats are prone to without shots -- a few days without its mother's milk and her protective antibodies and suddenly these viruses can start to take effect. The other possibility is, could she or he have eaten anything poisonous at all? Is there anything in your apartment s/he could have gotten into?

I'll give you the AVMA website for first aid for pets, in case it's any help.

Please let us know how you go at the vets, ask them to write down their diagnosis so you can remember/look up what they said, and please come back and let us know, we will be worried about your little one now.

If s/he manages to come through this, please feel free to come to the site, we have many very knowledgeable cat owners (most of them asleep now) and we will always try to help with any problems you might have. I'm hoping I'm just being alarmist here! Good luck with your little one!

Posted 2 years ago by jcat #
Marnet, thank goodness you're up :)

Patrick, here is the AVMA website:
http://www.avma.org/firstaid/procedures.asp

Marnet's absolutely right, of course your little one needs water. If you have been feeding her wet food, and she's been taking it, then it might not be dehydration (I really hope that's what it is, as it's much easier to fix!), but if you've been giving her dry food, it could be.

Water is great, force feed her with a syringe (without the needle) or spoon or eyedropper, as Marnet describes. Even better is pedialyte (UK: dioralyte) -- rehydration solution for infants, if you can find it in Taiwan. Also better than water is Gatorade. There are also rehydration solutions you can make at home -- one of our members recently posted a very useful site, I'll see if I can find it for you. Or kitten replacement milk would also be great.

Really really hoping Marnet is right!

Posted 2 years ago by jcat #
Homemade electrolyte solutions are described on this site:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf792836.tip.html

If kitty starts choking while you're giving it to him/her, and you think it's gone down the wrong way, gently hold kitty upside down until choking stops.

Posted 2 years ago by jcat #
Patrick, Jcat is right on the money with her advice. Please listen to and follow it.

Sorry if I sounded abrupt. It's the wee hours of the morning here and I'm not feeling my best right now, so again apologize for being so abrupt.

Please feel free to ask as many questions as you need. We'll do our best to answer.

Bless you for doing your best for this little kitten. You are kind and generous to give of yourself for this poor kitty.

Please let us know how the situation goes and what the outcome of the visit to the vet is. God bless.

Posted 2 years ago by Marnet #
Everything that Marnet said (about asking questions etc)!

Sorry to hear you're feeling so unwell, Marnet, hope you feel better soon. {{{Marnet}}}

Posted 2 years ago by jcat #
Please give her water immadiately.... If she is too weak to drink by herself then force feed her. She is in dire need of liquids. Using a rehydration powder meant for infants is probably the best but if those are not available then as Jcat suggested Gatorade is the best. Please make sure the little one gets enough water everyday as dehydration is a great danger to young kittens.
Bless you for taking in the little one and please keep posting about her condition.

Posted 2 years ago by Kanna #
Thanks Jcat. Just can't finish shaking the after effects of a nasty flu.

Patrick, yes, please, ask all the questions you need to. We'll do our best to help with answers!!!

Posted 2 years ago by Marnet #
Wow. First of all thank you everybody for the advise, and for responding so quickly. I got back from the vet a few hours ago. The kitten is still looking pretty bad. Hardly has the strength to keep it's head up. So, yes, still very worried about it.

Thank you for the websites, Jcat.

I am prepared for bad news, but I'm going to do what I can to prevent it. Hopefully with the help of you knowledgeable people along with the vet down the street, we can get it back to health.

The vet picked up the kitten and seemed to have her own ideas about what was wrong with out me even having to use my sloppy Chinese to tell her what the kitten was acting like. She gave it a shot of yellow fluid in the back. It seemed to be about 8 or 10 ml. She also force fed it some brown paste and squirted some water into it's mouth as well. Then it came time to try to communicate. From what I understood she said the cat was very week and cold and that I should start giving it 3ml of milk every hour, just the milk, no more of the cat food. She also told me that it was in danger and to take it back in tomorrow. When I go back, I'll try to find out what the diagnosis is and translate it for you guys.

When she told me it was cold, I immediately felt pretty bad. I had the AC on for parts of the night last night and now think it has something to do with the kittens condition now. I also think, as most of you do that it wasn't getting enough water from the food the vet said to give it.

Water in a bowl, or small lid doesn't work with this one... even before he became critical, for some reason he wont touch it. Do you all think it's wise to suringe feed it water as well as the hourly milk the vet instructed me to do?

Right now the kitten is doing pretty poor, even worse than before i took it to the vet. It has absolutly no strength or energy. So far I've given it two of the milk servings and a little water.

please keep the advise coming. I'll be checking in here through out the night.

Posted 2 years ago by Patrick #
Patrick, sounds like what the vet did was hydrate the kitten with subcutaneous (under the skin) fluid injection as well as giving it water and food by mouth.

Giving it some water along with the milk is a good idea. Let me see what I can find to give you a link to looking up exact dosages.

Sorry to be late replying. The internet decided to kick me off for awhile.

I'll find the links and be back with those for you shortly.

Posted 2 years ago by Marnet #
When my kitten was little and sick everyone suggested filling up a bottle with warm water and placing it under a blanket. He loved it. Perhaps you can try that to keep him a bit warmer.

Was that yellow stuff just fluid? My cat had gotten some of those shots to help him stay hydrated. I hope it helps.

I'm not sure about the water along with the milk. I can't really see an extra bit of water hurting the little bugger.

I hope he/she gets better quickly.

Posted 2 years ago by wolcar #
This link gives several formulas for making homemade kitten formula along with guidelines for feeding, hydration, keeping the kitten warm, etc.
http://www.cathelp-online.com/health/kitten1.php

EDIT: THIS APPEARS TO BE A GREAT SITE FOR HOMEMADE KITTEN FORUMLA RECIPES AND INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO SAFELY FEED A KITTEN.
http://kittenformula.blogspot.com/

Wolcar's suggestion about a hot water bottle is great. Just make sure it isn't too hot and that the kitten has room to move off/away from it if it gets too warm. Make a nest for it in a box or basket with a towel or small blanket and something to snuggle up to like a small stuffed toy or take a couple of socks, stuff one of the socks inside the other and give it that to snuggle up to.

Small kittens easily become dehydrated and chilled and can have their condition deteriorate dangerously quite fast. Even people experienced at raising small orphan kittens often lose some of them. Small kittens are quite fragile creatures in many ways.

Good luck and bless you for taking such efforts and care of this poor kitten.

Posted 2 years ago by Marnet #
Dear Marnet, Jcat, and Kanna,

earlier tonight while feeding the kitten it's 3rd dose of milk, I had to watch it die in my hands.

I can't help but feeling responsible. I can't help but blame the vet as well. Even though I know it was bound to die there in the parking-lot last week, and even though whatever it was that happened today is something I can't come close to understanding...
The fact is that I could have saved it, and I'm pretty sure I could have if I tried harder from the start before it got sick today, but I did something wrong or I didn't do enough.... I feel like I killed the poor thing. It died in my hands for Pete's sake, while I was trying to feed it milk that someone told to feed it (the same person who told me not to feed it milk last week). It was quite a terrible moment actually, and I'm not ashamed to say how awful I feel right now.

Yesterday the kitten was perfectly fine. I was going through names I might call it, and thinking about actually keeping it for good rather than passing it on to the first caring taker I find. Then, today... it started so slow, something was a little off, and it got worse and worse. I took a full day off work just to watch the whole thing happen... and I think by trying to help I actually made it worse.

But I really do appreciate your efforts, and your caring of my situation, and the kittens life. I'm sorry to bring you this news and disappoint you.

-Patrick

Posted 2 years ago by Patrick #
Patrick, it sounds a lot like your kitten had toxoplasmosis. My Stumpie was diagnosed with it 3 weeks ago. Dont feel bad, its a VERY hard call for a vet to make. Its a fast acting disease, and the symptoms look like any other neurological damage. Stump started out not being able to wake up - he had been sleeping all day, and when I went to wake him up I could not get him to open his eyes. Ran cold water over him, shook him, slapped (sorry, moment of panick) him, to no avail. When I finally did get him to open his eyes, he couldnt sit/stand on his own, or walk at all. He just kept on falling over. And then he would just fall back asleep. I could actually feel his heartbeat failing as I held him. Any of this sound familiar yet?? You can check out the feed I posted about it if it might make you feel better?

Posted 2 years ago by Skyron #
http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/23304

Posted 2 years ago by Skyron #
Patrick... hugs to you. You didn't kill the kitty, and you are not a disappointment. Little ones often have issues that can't be fixed. Know that the wee one knew love and caring because of you.... he/she would not have had that experience being left in the parking lot. You did all that you could.

Posted 2 years ago by 2 Popoki #
This is so sad. I'm sorry the bugger died. You really did all that you could, it seems. It's sad the way you found him and I'm glad he didn't just die in the parking lot.

Posted 2 years ago by wolcar #
We all do our very best with baby kitties, but sometimes they're just not ready to stay with us. You did -beautifully- with your efforts, bad Chinese and all. Don't feel guilty... look at the wee one as a special gift to show you how much love you can have for helpless critters. That's a wonderful thing to learn about yourself, even though it came with very real, very acute pain.

You gave that baby hope where it had NONE. That's a tremendous gift you gave.

Posted 2 years ago by Siobhan #
It's NOT YOUR FAULT! This poor baby was already sick when you found it--it probably had been rejected by the mother cat because of it. Sometimes things are out of our hands no matter how hard we try, and yes, our hearts get broken time & time again. {{{HUGS}}}

Posted 2 years ago by Sheba's Mom in Raleigh, NC #
How heartbreaking for you Patrick. Bless you for trying your best and all the kind care and major efforts you gave helping the kitten.

Small kittens are such fragile creatures and we can't always know what is wrong with them and what they need despite best efforts. You did your best. And in the short time you had kitten, it knew love and kindness rather than abandonment and fear. You gave it comfort and blessings. You did your best.

God bless you for all your efforts.

Posted 2 years ago by Marnet #
Patrick, I'm so sorry. I've been there and I know how you are feeling. I too have had a wee sick kitten die in my hands while I was trying to force feed it. I still feel dreadful that I may have made its last moments worse, not better. I still cry when I remember it. As Marnet says, kittens are very fragile wee creatures when they don't have their mums and up to 40% of them die.

I think Stumpie's right, I think this baby was much sicker than the vet seems to have thought. I think if it had just been dehydration and chill, that you would have had a bit more time to notice his decline and do something. I know kittens go downhill very quickly but you still usually have a bit of time to see that they're going downhill. Hugs to you, you did all you could for this little one and during its brief moment of life it knew comfort and love and care, thanks to you. Bless you.

Posted 2 years ago by jcat #
Oh so sad Patrick. You can only do what you can. It is not your fault. At least the kitten was loved and in your loving hands in its final moments.

Posted 2 years ago by iliketea #
I'm so sorry the kitten died, Patrick. You did your very best, and most of all, you cared.

Posted 2 years ago by Leeny #
Patrick, you did the very best you could. I know that's small comfort for the pain you feel, at having such a tiny fragile life depart while in your hands. I've had the misfortune of being in the same position several times before, and it's never easy. But as much as one tries to do one's best, sometimes it's not enough.

Not all kittens are fortunate, and survive long enough to grow into cats. I'm sorry that your kitten's life ended so early! But your kitten knew human love and kindness before departing, and that makes a difference. Please don't blame yourself; there are so many things that can go wrong, from infectious diseases to parasites to birth defects, and not all of those problems are survivable.

(If you have any future vet visits where you might have similar communication difficulties, you might ask a friend a big favor, to come with you and help if there are interpretation difficulties.)

Someday, I hope you'll find room in your heart to help another creature in desperate need of a human friend, who will be able to share a longer life with you.

Posted 2 years ago by anncetera2 #
I'm so sorry, Patrick. Please stop beating yourself up. We've all been there. Cats and kittens are notorious for not showing us how sick they are sometimes until it's too late. I've been through it myself, and it's a horrible feeling.

You gave your kitten a wonderful gift - you gave it your love. Bless you for taking it in and allowing him to experience that.

Posted 2 years ago by Beth_in_NJ #
Wow, I had a similar experience when I was younger, a whole litter of kittens had been abandoned in the instillation under our house. Their eyes were full of puss and very large and bulbous looking. My mother wouldn't let me take them to the vet but she did give me antibiotic ointment and bought some kitten milk, you can't give cats cows milk because their bodies can not digest it. Anyways out of ten only three lived two of them grew quickly and healthy after I got them cleaned up and the infection out of their eyes, the other one had to have an eye amputated and a year later an anurism erupted in his brain, but he had a very happy life while he lived. The seven that died were really tiny fragile things, I felt so bad and tried to keep them warm and feeling safe, when the death rattle came along I tried to do everything I could to keep them close to my heart (a heart beat and the warmth of a body will calm any creature down) and happy until the end.

It's a horrible thing to witness and to have to do but in the end it does good for the heart to know that at least you tried to help another living creature. I suggest you go to a shelter when your ready and bring home a kitten that needs a home. There are far too many strays today and having one in your life is a wonderful experience.

Posted 2 years ago by Hahen Tamashii #
Hi Patrick,the baby kitty was very ill,it wasnt your fault in any way.You tried to save it,there wasnt anything that could be done. It would be wonderful if you adopt a healthy kitty at sometime to help you heal,you have much care and compassion and a would give a Kitty a good home. Best Wishes.

Posted 2 years ago by rossy #
thank you everyone, really. I feel a lot better after reading that.

:)

Posted 2 years ago by Patrick #
i for one am realli realli happy knowing that you took that baby in and gave it love where others wouldnt you did the best you could i know its a sad story but im so proud of you i love all animals and the thought of something so helpless being neglected sickens me but you did the opposite thankyou xx

Posted 2 years ago by matti #

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