# New kitty person, and very worried



## CFitzRN (Nov 13, 2012)

Hi everyone,

A tiny little kitten walked into my yard several weeks ago, starving and covered in fleas. We've never owned a cat because my husband has an allergy, but there was no way I could turn her away. I cleaned her up and fed her some canned cat food we had left over from another cat who visited us every night for awhile - found out it was a neighbor's cat - they had left her home alone to go the the beach for a week, jerks - and my kitty ate it voraciously, growling if anyone got too close lol. Took her to Vet who said she was about 4 weeks old - she was right at 1 lb. He put Revolution on her to kill the fleas and gave her a vaccination - I NOW realize she was WAY TOO YOUNG to get that first vac. I wish I'd known but I was going by the vet's expertise. She did fine though - absolutely no reaction or illness. She was very vigorous for a few weeks, but last Monday, after taking her to get her feline distemper and a deworming, she went down hill fast. I suspected a reaction from the vaccine but it didn't get better. She stopped eating and drinking completely and I began giving her water through a dropper, then tuna water. She would perk up, then go down again. She was peeing, but only tiny amounts as she wasn't drinking normally. She had diarrhea. I took her to the vet who checked for FelV - negative - and did a fecal - negative. He gave me some prescription food (AD), a syringe, and told me to force-feed a watery mix of the food with added water. I used purified water. We were going on day 4 and she had lost several ounces (for a less-than-2-lb kitty, it was significant). I did as he said round the clock and although I fully expected her to die Thursday night (she was so so sick) she perked up and started eating again at 2 am Friday morning. She woke me up and I fed her her regular food (Fancy Feast) and she attacked it. I sat and cried I was so relieved.

That was this past Friday - 4 days ago. She has been a ball of activity since, and eating voraciously again. She'd been waking me up at about 5 am to eat and I'd been feeding her small amounts about 6 times a day. She's been wide open, playing and running around, eating, pooping and peeing like normal.

I woke this morning to realize she had not awakened me to feed her. I came downstairs and she was hiding. I called out to her and instead of tearing into the kitchen like she does, she slowly walked in. I knew as soon as I saw her. She's got the look again. Droopy eyes and lethargic. Wouldn't eat a bite. She is now curled up on my lap when she would normally be attacking everything that moved at this time of morning.

I'm afraid there is something in this environment making her sick. We have no plants she can reach or has ever touched, and I don't think they're poisonous anyway. Can cat litter make a cat sick? We use fresh step extra odor control, and I wonder if it gets stuck to her paws and when she cleans them, she ingests it? Does that sound plausible? I just don't know what could be causing this again, and I don't think I can emotionally take another round of nursing her back to health the way I had to before, it was so taxing. I was a torn-up mess, not sleeping due to caring for her round the clock, and I kept forgetting to eat. I also got so behind in my work and everything else, I was a mess. Don't get me wrong, I am a total animal lover and didn't think twice about doing whatever I could for her, but it took a huge emotional toll on me. I can't stand the thought of her suffering AGAIN. Of course I will do whatever it takes to nurse her back to health, but I'd really like to get to the bottom of what could be causing recurring illness in her, instead of having to see her go through this again and again.

Any ideas, suggestions, advice or help would be very, very appreciated. Thank you.


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## shan841 (Jan 19, 2012)

the only way the litter could make her sick is if she is eating it. and sometimes, young kittens do eat it out of curiosity. You could get some non-clumping clay or pine litter just in case, as it wont clump in their tummy. If she is eating clumping litter, it can cause serious blockages. 

I would suspect a reaction from the vaccines and the revolution, but those reactions usually start a few hours after exposure and subside within a day or two, so I dont really know what else it could be. 

Thank you for saving this little baby! Why anyone would think a 4 week old kitten would be ok outside on their own, i dont know. Thank goodness you were there for her 

Did you give her a name yet?


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## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

Well done - I hope things have improved.


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## CFitzRN (Nov 13, 2012)

shan841 said:


> the only way the litter could make her sick is if she is eating it. and sometimes, young kittens do eat it out of curiosity. You could get some non-clumping clay or pine litter just in case, as it wont clump in their tummy. If she is eating clumping litter, it can cause serious blockages.
> 
> I would suspect a reaction from the vaccines and the revolution, but those reactions usually start a few hours after exposure and subside within a day or two, so I dont really know what else it could be.
> 
> ...


Yeah, how she ended up totally on her own is completely baffling to me. I live in a development and sadly people dump pets here at times, thinking -someone- will take care of them. I guess they're right but it's still a jerkbag thing to do.

My 15-year-old son named her Cleo, short for Cleopatra. It's also the middle name of my younger sister who passed away, so it's pretty special to me. 

Cleo has never eaten litter that I know of. She does groom a lot, and occasionally I have seen small amounts of litter stuck to her paws. I remove it when I see it so she can't ingest it, but I was concerned even a small amount could cause illness. 

She has done a little better today than I had feared and I am grateful. She did start eating again late morning, which is so odd for her. But she ATE, and I am grateful. I will be keeping a close eye on her...


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## Craig Fales (Oct 26, 2012)

I just did a quick search of the kitty litter you use and is a clumping type. You need to stop using it right away as they do eat it and will cause blockages. I'd take her to the vet again and have her checked out and tell of the litter you've been using.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Ditto what toomanykits said. Clumping litter is a no-no for kittens under 8 weeks as they absolutely eat it. It needs to be non-clumping. 

For my little guys I use Tidy Cats. It's relatively inexpensive (under $8 for a 20 lb bag) and does a reasonable job at odor control.


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## Luvmyfurbabies (Jun 25, 2012)

I haven't had experience with my cats eating litter, at least not that I'm aware of. But when my Bocelli was just a kitten he would go through these blights of being just fine, running around playing, eating, and being loving and then out of no where he would be lethargic wanting to sleep all day, not wanting to eat or be held and he would cry out in pain when I picked him up. After months of this on and off behavior and in and out of vets and many tests, I discovered he was getting constipated. Once he was able to relieve himself he was a normal kitty again. 
My specialist advised me that the best thing to do was switch to an all wet diet. So, I switched all three of my babies. Since that day I switched, I have never had another incident with my Bocelli. The food was giving him a little bit of the opposite affect; diarrhea. So I had to switch to an all grain free wet and he's been doing fantastic.
I second the nutria-cal supplement. You can get it at Petco and gives your baby extra vitamins and calories. I put Bocelli on that to gain weight because he seemed too boney and it really helped.
Lastly, make sure for future reference that your plants in your house are truly non toxic. I had a really bad scare with an Easter lily that was brought into my home while I was away on vacation. Easter lilies and cats are dangerous!
Are you keeping the kitty? How's your husband doing with it?
I wish you the best of luck. He's very lucky to have you. All your nursing skills will pay off in the end I promise you. You are creating a life long bond with this baby.


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## RiddickandAgador (Nov 11, 2012)

I had a similar thing happen with one of my two kittens. Agador was only about 5 weeks old when we got him (and his brother Riddick) - but Agador was smaller and crying out in pain, he was very dehydrated and thing. He would try to go to the bathroom but would just cry and cry. He was very constipated and had to have help to get him through it. The boys are now about 8 weeks old and just this last few days does he seem like he might be completely over it. He would get better and then worse and better and worse, just like you said... I had to give a wet food and a dry food mixed and then I add hot water because it entices them more. Right now I am working on weaning them to dry food only but my old kitty Tiocy(17 yrs old) needs wet food because she has only one tooth, so they eat hers still once in a while. I use a canned food that is not solid compact canned food but is more like a stew(Whiskas packets, friskies, etc) and we use a high quality dry food(Taste of the Wild) - It really has helped but it did take a few weeks for poor Agador to adjust to his body working and processing food correctly... Hope this can help your little kitty! BTW, we use fresh step clumping litter as well and have had no issues with it.


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## FosterKittens (Nov 14, 2012)

Venusworld21 said:


> Ditto what toomanykits said. Clumping litter is a no-no for kittens under 8 weeks as they absolutely eat it. It needs to be non-clumping.
> 
> For my little guys I use Tidy Cats. It's relatively inexpensive (under $8 for a 20 lb bag) and does a reasonable job at odor control.


Is tidy cats okay?? Now I'm scared because I just bought some for our 5 week old foster kitties. The shelter gave us a bag of generic clay litter but it smelled SO BAD.


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## CFitzRN (Nov 13, 2012)

Thanks, all, for the advice and suggestions.

Well, weirdly, she has bounced right back again and is so full of her little self it cracks me up. I've scoured the environment to find anything that might be contributing to these bouts, but the only thing I could think of was a golden pothos plant, which is well out of her reach but which she may have gotten access to via a chair. I've moved the chair away and placed the dangling leaves up way out of her reach. It didn't have any bite marks on it or anything, but I'm not taking any chances.

She has never been constipated at all, since getting her, so I don't think that was the issue. I clean her box twice daily and there are always poops - I make sure of it. LOL, it sounds funny but we all know how important it is to monitor the inner workings of our little kitties.

My husband seems to be doing fine. I'm starting to wonder if that whole "allergic to cats" thing was a ruse.  He's never liked cats, but I've come home to find her on his lap and him petting her. He stops if he thinks I'm looking, LOL.

I'm going to keep a close eye on her and switch to non-clumping litter and see if things stay good. She is eating voraciously again, and behaves as though she'll surely die if she doesn't get food RIGHT THIS SECOND while I'm preparing it. It is hilarious.

I didn't mention that I have two dogs - a pembroke welsh corgi and a golden retriever. My corgi gave Cleo (the kitty) a good correction last night - scared the daylights out of the kitty - but she needed it. She'd been crossing the line with Maggie (the corgi) - bothering her and swatting her nose for no reason. Now Cleo keeps a respectable distance. I think she needed to learn that little lesson.

Thanks again for the help everyone.


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## wallycat (Nov 10, 2012)

What a great thing you are doing, taking her in and giving her a decent life.
I am no expert, but even my adult cats have "good" days and bad...sometimes my big boy never leaves the bed and other times, we cannot get him in the house....just like people. Do keep us updated on how the little one is doing!


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## RebelKittysMomma (Nov 15, 2012)

I just went through this exact thing with rebel. He wouldn't eat a thing!!! and he always beats me to the kitchen, even if he is sound asleep. he wouldn't eat OR drink. He had an upper respitory infection! After a few doses of antibiotics he is back to new.


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## amsong (Nov 16, 2012)

Maybe you could take these interludes where all is well, and before the next round of vaccinations, to choose a vet that seems really in sync with your needs, and who you trust. With a baby so young, you will be going to the vet for things for awhile yet... and if you need help in the future, it is always good to have confidence in someone you have already picked out. I picked up on the fact that you might not trust the first vet, who seemed to reflexively/ unthinkingly inject a very young kitten (who could have been anemic from fleas and have low blood sugar from hunger)... just a thought...

Oh, that just made me wonder... do you have food out for the kitten all the time? They can get sort of sick-acting when their blood sugar drops... maybe the kitten's system is getting out of whack due to longer-term hunger and periodic meals. I think that idea is a long shot... but worth mentioning.


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