Please help! My daughter's cat is sick.?

Question

Before anyone asks why I'm not taking her to the vet- we have no money- we're struggling to put food on the table since my husband lost his job!
Its breaking my heart to see her sick. She has diarrhea and is losing weight fast. She has always been thin so there's not much to lose. I noticed a couple of weeks ago, her tummy was bloated but its gone down. I treated her at home for ringworm but she just vomited. I saw no evidence of worms in her vomit or feces.
Anyone out there a vet or vet assistant with some good advice?
Would any vet college's have free clinics here in Ontario?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

She is about two years old.
The dewormer I used was for ringworm.

WHEEL: she is a CAT!

There has been no change to her diet.

Answer 1

Try to contact local vet offices and explain the cat's symptoms and yoru finances. Most vets (in the US anyway) are pretty sympathetic toward the animal and will allow you to pay slowly on a sliding scale or give a cut cash rate. You may also try contacting the SPCA if you have them in your area. They are a wonderful non-profit organization that will help pet owners in dire situations. I'm not a vet, but I wouldn't wait since she is losing weight and has diarrhea. They can become dehydrated quite easily and possible start convulsing.

Answer 2

Kaopectate will kill the kitten. Without knowing more details it would be horribly wrong to suggest what would be best to treat diarrhea. 1/2 tsp Pumpkin will help but so long as there are no other medical problems causing the diarrhea. Did you change the food suddenly? Cats get sick if food isn't changed slowly over time. How old is she? Ringworm won't show up in vomiting is a skin fungus. Dewormers don't work for ringworm. The tablet you gave works differently for ringworm than the other worms. You need a different tab for those.

You know some shelters will offer low cost veterinary services for families who are low income. Maybe you could call them tomorrow and see who can offer this to you.

Diarrhea can be very bad and your kitty needs to be hydrated quickly. Pedialyte will work, I just don't remember the correct dosage info for cats as too much may be not good either.

Answer 3

Yup, bloated tummy = worms.

What have you been feeding her? If she's got diarrhea, then you need to find a way to stop it. When all else fails, old farm trick to save dying calfs: BURN some corn meal, let it cool, put twice as much water in it, stir well, then force-feed the WATER to the animal. Your guess as to how much to feed her, though. You'll have to use some sort of eye-dropper (NOT a glass one!!!) or converted straw even to get it down her throat.

It sounds to NONvet me like the worms have won. Please, don't feed her "real" fish or ANY sort of liver now, either. At this point, only cooked beef/chicken/turkey puree (read: baby food) would be best since I'm pretty sure you probably can't afford the "good" kind of cat food either.

Now, call around to ALL local vets, you might luck up on one who would allow extended (tiny) payments. Some vets actually like animals and are willing to help them.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I don't know what might be causing this but I can tell you ways to avoid the cat dehydrating and losing so much weight. For dehydration give her some pedialyte or suger water and some soy baby formula. Make sure it is soy because cats don't digest lactose well, but it will aid in keeping the weight and vitamins your cat needs at least untill you can figure out what is wrong. Check into actors and others they may be able to assist you with the vet bills or refer you to someone else that can. I know they will help with costs of spaying and neutering so maybe they can be of some assistance to you weather it be financial or informational.

Answer 5

SORRY< caught that, here is the adjusted answer for a CAT
there are a lot of different kinds of worms that a cat can get. Hookworm, ringworm, pin worms, tape worms......... Hook worms can drink up to a pint of blood a day. You probably won't see worms as it usually takes a microscope. Call the local humane society and see if they have help available. Pyrantel is a good wormer but make sure you use the correct dose. Most feed stores sell wormer for horses that can be used on dogs but you should get a cat specific wormer. Main thing keep the cat hydrated. put it on a mild diet i.e. hamburger and rice or even some soup broth. (low salt contentkind). and or Tuna fish.
Isolate the cat though because there are other things that it could have that cause diarrhea such as parvo, distemper, etc..... Pedialite is a great suggestion. dogs can take pepto bismol but be careful cats have completely different reactions to human over the counter medicines.

Answer 6

My mother in law's vet told her to give a bit of kaeopectate to her cat when it had diarreha. I think the vet school near me takes animals to treat at a discount. Call the one near you. Petsmart might know where they take them. Check there. Give plenty of water and try chicken broth to eat for a while (get the sodiium free kind with NO sort of onion in it. Onions cooked, powdered, or raw are toxic to cats). Can you work out payments with your vet? I truley hope everything works out. It's sad when you have always been able to provide for your family (pets included) and then something happens. Good luck!

Answer 7

So sorry to hear about your daughter's cat. The "pot belly" and rapid loss of weight rang a warning bell in my head recalling something I had read about FIP disease in cats. Check out these sites to read about it.
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/fip.ht...
http://www.animalhealthchannel.com/fip/...

Whether it is FIP or not, since the cat has diarhea, you may assume that he is getting dehydrated. So you need to give him water... and some food so that he can keep up his strength. Get a can of really pasty cat food and dilute it by mixing it with water. Then force feed the cat using a medicine dropper if he won't eat and drink by himself. Keep him warm and away from drafts. I hope it is NOT FIP becuase that is often fatal. Some cats survive it though. So give your kitty plenty of support: food, water, warmth, lots of love and attention so that he will have the WILL to live.

Answer 8

Cold showers: They not only burn 500 extra calories every day, studies from The New The uk Journal of Medicine cite the icy water also activates ‘brown fat’ – the nice type of body fat in which creates body heat, increases metabolic rate and burns off naughty bright fat.

Answer 9

Time your consuming and exercise appropriately. Never eat prior to work out, and wait 30 to 60 minutes after training to make sure you catch your metabolism on its highest.

Answer 10

So sorry to hear about your daughter's sick baby. Whatever else is wrong, give the cat Gatorade or Pedialyte to help replace the electrolytes the cat has lost. Also, if you recently changed food because of your financial situation, this could be causing the digestive problem. I hope someone in your area answers as well with information about a free clinic for you.