Sick kitty, any advice?

[girli565]

Thanks for the update, hopefully the kitty is fine and her fever breaks.

I agree with the previous poster, search your house up and down for where that ribbon came from. I know my cats find the strangest things to chew and play with.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

PLEASE PLEASE now that kitty is out of the house and you have calmed down a bit please take my advise and search the house for where the ribbon could have come from. Lord knows you don't want a repeat of this situation! Please keep us informed!

Could be ribbon from a birthday or Christmas present

Not sure how old the children are, but some people put ribbon on the base of a lollipop...perhaps from a Valentines Day treat bag.

I hope they do find the source. How very frightening. I always worry about wire bread ties and dental floss. They seem to be my cats favorite. My other cat (no longer with us) loved the paper thin telephone cords.

 

[britfish]

Could be ribbon from a birthday or Christmas present

Not sure how old the children are, but some people put ribbon on the base of a lollipop...perhaps from a Valentines Day treat bag.

I hope they do find the source. How very frightening. I always worry about wire bread ties and dental floss. They seem to be my cats favorite. My other cat (no longer with us) loved the paper thin telephone cords.

We have been looking high and low for a clue to where the ribbon came from but we are lost. Although, you may be on to something with the gift idea. I wonder how long the ribbon could have been in his tummy. The colors on the ribbon were progressive, they went from black to gray to almost white, althoug the Dr. said it may have started out as purple or another color and become discolored. Needless to say, we can not identify where this ribbon came from but while looking we are putting away plenty of hair ties, etc..

 

[AlwaysMoving]

We have been looking high and low for a clue to where the ribbon came from but we are lost. Although, you may be on to something with the gift idea. I wonder how long the ribbon could have been in his tummy. The colors on the ribbon were progressive, they went from black to gray to almost white, althoug the Dr. said it may have started out as purple or another color and become discolored. Needless to say, we can not identify where this ribbon came from but while looking we are putting away plenty of hair ties, etc..

Maybe a shirt? Like the ribbon used to lace up the front or something? Just trying to come up with something. A doll accessory?

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

I was one of the early posters, but I wanted to say that you made the right decision with all of the things you had to weigh in your decision. The safety of your children and yourself is #1 priority. I'm so happy to hear that the kitty made it through the night and is at the vets now and being cared for. Best wishes for her recovery (without surgery hopefully)!

 

[mlittig]

So glad you were able to get you kitty to the vet and hope you hear nothing but good news tomorrow Thanks for keeping us updated Sending you and your furbaby many, many good, positive thoughts

 

[DisneyWalle]

Glad to hear that kitty came through the night well and is improving. I hope that the news tomorrow from the vet is just as good and encouraging.

 

[SUSIEQ]

Hope kitty is feeling better today.

 

[Tamar]

OP, I think you did the right thing, too. It sounds like the ER vet would not have been able to do anything that your regular vet didn't do, except maybe re-hydrate the kitty earlier. It is so hard to know.

I once had a kitty stop eating, and spent a ginormous amount of money on tests and scans (along with days of worry), only to find out that she recovered quite nicely once given some pepcid.

 

[britfish]

They did the ultrasound today and they don't see any perforations! Yeah! The swelling is going down in his intestines and his fever is a little lower. She said he peed in the liter box but they really need him to do a bowel movement, however he will not eat anything yet. So, in 24 hrs. he has improved greatly, we just need to get him eating to see if that is all working.
He still has an IV in and is getting hydration, pain meds, anti nausea meds and antibiotics. I am more hopeful than I was yesterday! Thank you again for all your support, prayers and good thoughts!

 

[torinsmom]

When my cat wouldn't eat, I bought some people tuna in water. I gave him all the juice and a little bit of the tuns(as much as he would eat). Then I added more water to the tuna and stirred it up, then stored it in the fridge until I fed him again. He ate only tuna and tuna juice for two days, but then started back eating his wet food, then dry food.

OP, is the cat still at the vet? When they told me my cat was dehydrated and they wanted to keep him, I asked for other options($$$). They were able to give him a bolus of fluids and then I pushed fluids with an eyedropper every few hours. He also had antibiotics to take, which were a pain, but I managed.

 

[NYEmomma]

When my cat wouldn't eat, I bought some people tuna in water. I gave him all the juice and a little bit of the tuns(as much as he would eat). Then I added more water to the tuna and stirred it up, then stored it in the fridge until I fed him again. He ate only tuna and tuna juice for two days, but then started back eating his wet food, then dry food.

OP, is the cat still at the vet? When they told me my cat was dehydrated and they wanted to keep him, I asked for other options($$$). They were able to give him a bolus of fluids and then I pushed fluids with an eyedropper every few hours. He also had antibiotics to take, which were a pain, but I managed.

Most vets won't give fish-based food to cats who are recovering from an illness (especially an intestinal one like this) because ironically, a LOT of cats are very sensitive to fish. And even if they're not allergic to fish, it's not usually the bland kind of diet that they try to stick to. More than likely, the vet is offering canned people chicken & rice or a chicken & rice cat food.

When tummies are upset, I'd generally steer clear of fish. At least until they start feeling better & eating other foods. I guess it's akin to giving someone something really greasy after they've had the stomach flu.

 

[torinsmom]

Most vets won't give fish-based food to cats who are recovering from an illness (especially an intestinal one like this) because ironically, a LOT of cats are very sensitive to fish. And even if they're not allergic to fish, it's not usually the bland kind of diet that they try to stick to. More than likely, the vet is offering canned people chicken & rice or a chicken & rice cat food.

When tummies are upset, I'd generally steer clear of fish. At least until they start feeling better & eating other foods. I guess it's akin to giving someone something really greasy after they've had the stomach flu.

Bland food? No wonder he won't eat The stinkier, the better for my cats

My cat didn't have intestinal problems though. He has sore in his mouth and throat from the calicivirus. All my cats tolerate fish well, but don't even think about giving them milk---puke city!

 

[Tamar]

There is a Fancy Feast formulated for kittens that's pretty mild, and some vets have recommended chicken baby food. It is worth it to force feed a cat who hasn't eaten for a few days, their livers can't handle living strictly off fat, and you'll end up with a whole new set of problems. That's why I freaked and had all the expensive tests done when Annabelle-kitty wasn't eating.

In the future, I will try pepcid before panicking.

 

[jennyjinx3]

hope your kitty keeps getting well

 

[AlwaysMoving]

Baby food is a good option.

 

[squirrel]

I'm glad the kitten is doing better!

My family has kittens that like to get into plants and eat them.

My mom was kitten sitting my two kittens. When I got them home I noticed they were very sleepy. The next day they still were sleepy and weren't interested in drinking even when I put them in front of the water dish. I used the syringe that I had from their deworming medicine to give them water. I called my mom to ask if the kittens got into anything as they just wanted to sleep. She said no. My sister later said they ate her Aloe Vera plant. They both were fine later in the day after squirting water into them.

My mom and dad's new kitten got into one of her plants and was eating it and also became sleepy. She threw the plant out. Thank goodness my kitten (the other two have since passed) never ate that same plant. It looks like a clover and the leaves fold up at night-my mom gave us each one a few years ago.

 

[MomToOne]

Our cat went through something very similar to your story a few years ago. When I picked her up from boarding after a vacation, the lady I board her with (not a vet's office) mentioned she seemed a little under the weather that day. Well, I took one look at her and knew something major was wrong and headed straight to the 24-hour vet. Our kitty was running a high fever, and obviously had a problem in the stomach area (nearly bit the vet when they poked there - and she's the most passive cat in the world). Xrays revealed what they thought was a foreign body in there, but they weren't completely sure. So they put her on IV antibiotics and waited a day, then the poor baby had to have a barium enima because there still wasn't much real improvement The enima was in part to see better what (if anything) was there, and in part because of it's "restorative effects" (read: cleans out just about everything LOL )

The good news was the barium enima revealed nothing there (it had passed on its own was the guess), and IV antibiotics eventually brought the fever down to normal. But the poor thing refused to eat for DAYS. They even had us come in to try and coax her to eat, but nothing. Finally they gave her an appetite stimulant. That got her to eat a few tiny bites, at which point they decided just to send her home because they also thought the environment might just have her too stressed out. Almost as soon as I got her home, she went straight to her food dish and started chowing down

So....keep up the good thoughts, and maybe ask the vet about an appetite stimulant (but that may need to wait for the fever to be completely gone though).

 

[torinsmom]

One of my cats had a sensitive stomach as a kitten and only ate baby food for the first month I had her. So, I agree that meat baby food is probably a good thing to try.

 

[girli565]

I also recommend the chicken baby food. My vet told me to give my kitty half a jar when she was recovering from surgery because it's very bland; just chicken and broth ground up. Now my cats jump up and book it to the kitchen any time they hear the pop of new jars opening hoping its baby food for them lol!!!