New kitten isn't doing well.. please help.

lauren8792

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Jan 14, 2008
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I just adopted a second kitten at the shelter because they were getting ready to euthanize her. She is absolutely emaciated.. shes 4-5 months old, and extremely skinny and her hair is falling out in places, I guess because she is malnourished. I think she's around 3 pounds. When I pet her, all i feel are bones. I feel terrible that she is in this condition.

Anyway, I am so worried about her. We picked her up yesterday right after she got spayed and had a very deep infected cut on her paw stitched up (she is on antibiotics for this). she is extremely lethargic, isn't very interested in solid food, her eyes are half-closed, she's having trouble moving around, etc.- I have to pick her up and move her to her litter box, water, and food because she won't do it herself. She isn't acting like a normal kitten (she isn't interested in anything, not the least bit playful). She also can't meow, she is trying but no noise is coming out. I am bringing her to the vet tomorrow, but I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on what to do until then? Is this normal after a cat gets spayed and has an infection? All the cats I have have been neutered, and I know spaying is a more serious surgery. Or maybe she's just overstimulated because this is all new? She was fine when we adopted her- she was in the community cat room and got along with all the other kitties, and was playful and happy.

A friend suggested I get her some of this http://www.petco.com/product/5863/P...nts-for-Kittens-and-Small-Animals-Liquid.aspx even though its for baby kittens, she said it might help get her energy level up.

Also, I have a 9 month old male kitten in addition to her. I am keeping them separated for now. I let them meet before for about 2 minutes, but she seemed very annoyed and uninterested and was growling. My 9 month old kitty was very excited and wanted to play, so it wasn't working out and I have them back in separate rooms. Anyone have any advice for how to make this whole situation easy with introducing them to each other?
 
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also, here is a picture of her. i think she is beautiful and wanted to share. she stays in this position all day long and doesn't move though :sad:
 

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She's a beauty!

Give her at least a few days, and keep her away from your other kitten. She will need time to recover from the spaying. It's a big surgery, and even kittens need time to bounce back.

Good luck at the vet tomorrow -- hopefully they will be able to give you some more info.
 
She's a beauty!

Give her at least a few days, and keep her away from your other kitten. She will need time to recover from the spaying. It's a big surgery, and even kittens need time to bounce back.

Good luck at the vet tomorrow -- hopefully they will be able to give you some more info.

Thank you! I guess I am just worried because the shelter said she would bounce back from being spayed very, very quickly. And she seems to be quite the opposite, so I am getting concerned. I have no idea if this is true because like I said, all my previous cats have been neutered and it is a lot different!
 
I would also be really worried. Do you have an emergency vet nearby (and can you afford to take her there--they tend to be really pricey)? You could try giving one a call and asking their opinion. In my mind, it could be one of two things. First, the shock of the stimulation and medicines could be making her lethargic (when my cat comes back from the vet he usually sleeps the whole day and isn't interested in eating or going to the bathroom). Second, she might have already been very weak and the surgery might have been too much for her to handle. My gut reaction would be to get some liquid into her, and re-evaluate whether she needs to go to the vet right away.
 
lauren, I'm very pleased to read you're taking your gorgeous kitty to the vet. My motto is, if ever in doubt, always head to the vet ASAP. Waiting can mean all the difference in something minor turning into something serious.
 
awwww she's such a pretty kitty :sad: so sad she's not doing well.
taking her to the vet is the best idea. hopefully she just need something to perk her up a little bit.

if she is not feeling well then it is not surprising that she wanted nothing to do with your other kitten.

please update us when you get back from the vet!
 
Hoping for an update too, time to get her some Petromalt (high calorie liquidy-goo-ish junk) if you don't think she's getting enough food in her to recover.

But obviously ask vet first before beginning any extra attempts at adding new items to her diet.
 
Hello everyone! Thanks so much for your comments.

I have a long update: :biggrin:

I just got back from the vet about 10 minutes ago. She was doing much better this morning than she was yesterday- she is a little more active, but still not 100% compared to how other kittens act at her age. The vet says its most likely because she has been through so much the past few weeks, and because she is so thin, it took an extra long time for the pain medication to wear off.. and it might be a combination between that and her antibiotics (she's on a pretty high dose twice a day). He also noticed quite a bit of flea bites all over her body from before we put frontline on her, so that's just an additional thing that is making her so uncomfortable (poor thing has been through so much already, and I'm sure this is just making it worse...) He gave me some stuff called Nutri-Cal gel to give her, its really high in calories/fat/vitamins. She seems to like that. I also purchased KMR kitten milk replacement (which she really enjoys), the vet confirmed that it was good to give her some for added nutrition and calories even though she is older. They did some blood work just to be safe, I should get the results back tomorrow morning. But the vet didn't think I needed to be concerned that something was very wrong. I feel a lot better to hear this news and I'm glad I was able to take her in!

One thing that is kind of alarming to me is how much she hates my other kitty. I've been googling some advice on introducing a new kitten to your existing one, and the shelter gave me a pamphlet on advice on how to do this.... but the only stuff I am reading is how to get the older one to like the kitten. But the thing is, he really loves her and is very interested in her. She is the one who has a problem with him. He snuck in her room this morning while we were getting ready to go to the vet, and was following her around and trying to innocently play with her, but she was growling and hissing a few times, and just curled into a ball and had a look on her face that looked really evil, lol. I'm worried that this is because she is a bit older and she is having a harder time adjusting, as opposed to getting a very small kitten, like 1-2 months old. We were watching a neighbor's kitten a few weeks ago while she was out of town and the kitten was about a month and a half old, and she took to my kitty right away and they got along perfectly-- so I am surprised that this little girl seems to dislike him so much. I know that it takes time and patience, but is there anything I can do to make her accept him besides waiting and keeping them in separate rooms? I think I am reading into it too much, and I have made myself extremely nervous because a lot of the information I'm reading says that it is possible for them to never get along sometimes, even though most of the time they work it out. Has anyone had experience and been in my position before, and now the kitties get along? It would make me feel better and put my mind at ease to hear some success stories. One of the reasons I wanted to get a new kitty was because I work such long hours, and my existing kitty is very social and seemed to be very lonely when no one was around for several hours.

Thanks again everyone :smile: will keep you updated on any additional progress!
 
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