Help, 9wk kittens sudden poop problems!

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Captain_Obvious78
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Help, 9wk kittens sudden poop problems!

Post by Captain_Obvious78 »

Hi, I'm new to this forum, so forgive me if I make mistakes or whatever

History:: Stray cat had 4 kittens, which we ended up bringing inside. One (Mango) started with appetite loss, diarrhea, weight loss, getting dehydrated. Noticed Mango was the smallest at about half the size of 2 of the 3 siblings & his brother (Pumpkin) was about a 1/4 size smaller than the 2 siblings. Mangos diarrhea got worse in a matter of a day & turned watery. Vet was booked & took us 2 days to get in. Was feesing him via syringe with unflavored pedialyte, picked up some kaolin-pectin for diarrhea & also would offer kitten formula when he went without trying to nurse. Took to the vet, they wormed with pyrantel pomoate, gave him fluids & cap start & ad his outcome looked very poor. I kept on giving him little bits fluids every 30mins or so. I was also keeping him on a heating pad on warm bc he couldn't retain body heat. He was also passing (dead) worms. Prior to this, he was eating canned food. He stopped eating & ended up passing. All this happened in less than 4 days. About 3 daya before he passed his stool smelled really bad, kinda like when a kid (or adult) has a stomach virus like the rotavirus. Idk if this was an additional worm infection or not? He was 8weeks old.

Remaining 3 kittens, stray momma cat & my 5 cats were wormed the same time Mango was.

Fast forward a few days later, Pumpkin, 2nd smallest kitten started same symptoms as his Mango had started with. I continued the same treatment (Vethad originally told me to do the above treatment). He was pooping out so many more qorma than Mango did. They looked like tiny/skinnier angel hair pasta noodles. Long story short(er), his battle lasted a week & he passed at 9wks of age.

I was going to try to remove the remaining 2 kittens, but they are still pooping worms), and they still have diarrhea.....and to add on to that, they JUST started walking & have diarrhea at times. This started yesterday. Its not all the time, just randomly. Sometimes they will have solid/formed stool, other times diarrhea. Idk what
else to do. I already spent $220 with the vet stuff & I can't afford to spend anymore money. They are both still eating. Though one is kind of starting similar symptoms to his 2 (late) brothers.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I love cats & this is breaking my heart 😔 On a side note, my 5 cats seem to be fine. One is now passing gas since she has been wormed & wasn't previously, but that's it. They are all due to be wormed Monday 8/24. I do have worm med in hand to give (pyrantel pamoate) for Monday. The vet I went to 2weeks ago wasn't my regular vet & without paying another $45 each kitten to have them seen, i can't get advice 😕 I do have a Tractor Supply locally, so if I can get anything from there on or off/extra label, I can do that.

Thanks in advance!
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Kay
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Re: Help, 9wk kittens sudden poop problems!

Post by Kay »

I have no experience of worms or kittens, for that matter, so can't advise you, but am wondering if a rescue would give you the benefit of their experience, as the kittens' mother was a stray

they would likely have lots of experience of poorly kittens, so a quick phone call might be useful
Michele B
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Re: Help, 9wk kittens sudden poop problems!

Post by Michele B »

I can only speak from my experience with dogs. Don't know if it's the same virus with kittens.

This sounds EXACTLY like Parvo-virus.

VERY contagious and difficult to treat. I had to give intravenous fluids every 4 hours for a couple days. Even then, only half the litter lived.

You might want to research if kittens get parvo. I don't know, just know it sounds like exactly what we went through. It went through the whole litter.
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fjm
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Re: Help, 9wk kittens sudden poop problems!

Post by fjm »

Canine parvovirus is thought to have mutated from Feline Infectious Enteritis, and what you describe sounds very much like FIE. Both are extremely infectious, affect mostly young animals, and both are very difficult to treat. Vaccination is essential - I would make sure your cats are up to date.

https://icatcare.org/advice/feline-infe ... nia-virus/
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