Kitten experts, please help!

[goodboy]

we were given a tiny little kitten yesterday. She's been to the vet and has a respiratory infection, and the vet gave us some amoxicillin with a dropper to give her twice a day. She's really skinny, and we could feel all the bones in her. We bought some kitten formula from the pet store and gave it to her, and she's eaten 3 times so far today.

Question: How much should we feed her, knowing she's weak?

Also, her eyes are weeping with mucous from her infection, and it's caking around her eyes...what is the best method for cleaning that up?

[ZenLefty]

1. Not that I'm an expert or anything...

Feed her a few times per day - three sounds good - as much as she wants to eat. If she's that skinny, don't worry about overfeeding her right now, though once she gets her size don't let her keep overeating.

Kleenex works pretty good for the eye boogers, maybe with a little water.

[sleepyhead]

2. Warm water on a cotton ball for the eye goop.

Or use saline solution (the kind used for contact lenses). She may need eye ointment too, if it's not clearing up.

If she is more than 3 weeks old you can start weaning her onto kitten food (you may need to water it down till it's more of a gruel). See if you can get hold of some Nutri-Cal, which is a concentrated paste with lots of calories. Or ask your vet for some A/D, which is a canned diet with a high concentration of nutrients. You may need to heat the food up to make it smellier and thus more attractive to her.

Keep her warm, keep her fed, and keep her breathing easily (you can take her in the bathroom with you and let her run around on the floor while you take a nice steamy shower - that will help with any congestion). If she is congested, try to find pediatric-strength nasal decongestant (eg Neo-Synephrine) and use 1 drop/nostril daily for no more than 4 days in a row - then discontinue for 4 days and repeat if needed.

[goodboy]

5. nasal spray? really?

[sleepyhead]

6. Yup. But make sure it's *pediatric* strength.

You used to be able to find it with a dropper instead of spray. That made it easier to get 1 drop into a little tiny kitty nose. But if all you can find is the spray, see if you can find a small dropper in the pharmacy. You can detach the spray nozzle and use the dropper to measure out 1 small drop for each nostril. It works well, but you need to stop after 3-4 days to avoid a rebound effect (meaning that the decongestant properties will stop working once the cat's system adjusts to it). So - on for 4 days, off for 4 days, on for 4 days if you still need to, etc. Most upper respiratory infections run their course in 2-3 weeks no matter what you do, but you want to try to control the symptoms as best you can.

If you have a health food store in your area, another thing that sometimes helps with stubborn respiratory viruses (those that linger on for more than a couple of weeks) is to get some L-lysine capsules and put a tiny pinch in each meal. The capsules are (I think) 250 mg, and the dose for an adult cat is 250-500 mg twice daily; so I would think you would just want a small amount for a tiny kitty (about 1/4 of the entire capsule or so).

Oh, and by the way, ask your vet about all this first. I am making suggestions, but obviously the doctor that is treating the kitty has more to say about this than I do.

[Lorien]

3. Kittens should be allowed to "free feed"

make sure that food is always available to them. Unlike dogs, most kittens won't eat until they make themselves sick.

It's also important to get the highest quality food you can find for your ailing kitten. Try to feed her only holistic, natural foods with human grade ingredients. The stuff that goes into most commercial brands-including Science diet, Eukanuba, and Iams- will turn your stomach! A good list of holistic brands can be found here: www.pookiesbowwowbakery.com

There are some eye wipes made by Halo, but water on a tissue should work nearly as well.

Good luck! You're a good soul for taking care of her. :hi:

[goodboy]

4. very helpful...thank you.

[goodboy]

7. UPDATE...not good.

The kitten is having seizures now. At least I think that's what they are. She'll be walking around, then all of a sudden fall over, and all her muscles seize, and her breathing sounds like she's struggling. My wife has taken her to the vet just now, and I'll let you know what's happening.

[goodboy]

8. update 2

the vet wants to test the kitten for 4 major diseases and said if she has any of them she'll have to be put down. The seizures may have been gas from the formula we gave her, so it's canned kitten food from now on. we should know the results tomorrow or the next day. they also said her body temp was low, and she was dehydrated. hopefully she'll perk up, and hopefully, she's healthy.

[goodboy]

9. it's over. I had to put her to sleep. she was seizing whenever she

tried to walk, and I just couldn't let it go on.

thank you for helping us.

[Lorien]

10. So sorry goodboy

you did what you could. She was lucky to have someone there who cared, and who wouldn't let her suffering go on and on. :hug:

[Eurobabe]

12. oh poor little thing....

I know kittens are very susceptible to upper respiratory infections and then they can progress to other things. you did what you could, it must have been heartbreaking....i almost cried reading this thread. :cry:

[OnionPatch]

11. So sorry to hear

It was nice that you were able to give her some love and care before she was gone.