My kitten is dying, refusing to eat, and the vet won't help - what do I do?

Question

She was rejected at 10 days and is now 4 weeks 1 day. I've been bottle feeding her kitten formula and she was doing great other than slight recurring constipation, which we've learned to deal with. About 4 days ago she started to refuse to eat, even pureed food, and she went into the vet after a day of that, but he just said she'll probably die and wouldn't do anything for her! I'm making her eat a little every half hour or so, but she's only taking in about 2 ounes every 24 hours, and her poo is turning dark and pretty solid - not hard, but not like it should be at this age.... what do I do to save her? (And this is the only vet here, I live in rural Montana so I don't have an animal shelter that might be able to help, either!)

Okay, to clear up any confusion, which there seems to be: She is on formula, from a pet nurser. She had been eating some pureed food, usually once a day, and then totally started refusing to eat. No matter how persistent I am with the vet, he *will not* do anything. I'd gladly pay - up front - for whatever he needed to do to save her, but he won't. We have no pet hospital here, and the human hospital wouldn't even consider anything. It's well over 80 miles to the next closest vet, also, and I have no car. None of them will come to me... believe me, I'd do anything for this little girl.

Kitten formula. Pre-made, store bought, kitten milk replacer. That's what she's eating, and has been. She was fine up until a couple of days. She's stimulated several times a day - will urinate every time, but gets constipated and has to strain about once a week.

Answer 1

Feed her Catsip. It's a milk formulated for cats and kittens and it is full of good stuff and calories. It worked for my kitten. He is very picky, yet he drank catsip easily and now he asks for it. Once your kitten gets drinking, start giving her Royal Canin kitten formula, little by little. You have to ween her off of catsip and only give that as a treat once in a while when she start eating normally. Because Catsip is actually a treat and too fatty for them. Catsip can be found at any supermarket or pet shop.
Also, find a new Vet. If everything fails, take her to the local Pet Emergency Hospital. They can give her intervenus food. It can get costly though. We kept our pup in the emergency hospital overnight and it cost us almost 2 grand. Good Luck, my Husky Brutus, my Maine Coon Baby, my wife and I, all of us will be praying for your baby.

Answer 2

ok, the constipation is because a mother cat stimulates the rectal area until the kitten lets go of the bm. at four weeks, the kitten may not need that anymore. try to give her something more tantalizing like canned food just until you can get her to eat more. you can take a Tablespoon of canned food and mix a little of the formula with it. i have had kittens that young take to this method of feeding. if it has been more than 24 hours since her last bm try taking a wet warm soft papertowel and stimulate the area like a mother cat would do during cleaning. also do some close contact with her on your skin and talk to her. at her age she should be nursing every 2-3 hours. i hope this helps. it is hard to see one that you have worked so hard to keep alive, give up.

Answer 3

Im really sorry to hear that, its heartbreaking.
He has what you call "fading kitten syndrome". A fading kitten refuses to eat and begins to get cold. The problem is that 20-40% of kittens will die of this, it is survival of the fittest and only the toughest will survive.
All kittens are at risk of this untill about 12 wks of age, i have just lost 4 two week old kittens due to this syndrome. They simple wouldnt eat and slowly moved away from the mother,
they get depressed and they become very weak. Its best just to give them the love you can and make sure they move on comfortably.

As for your vet..useless bastard...you can save a fading kitten of you have the right resources

Answer 4

The vet probably believes your kitten has Fading Kitten Symdrome. This person (link below) describes what she does in these cases. I would try it as it sounds like the kitten will die if you aren't able to get it to eat:

"I discovered many years ago that in such cases, if antibiotics are given, eating resumes 90% of the time within 24-36 hours. Originally I used tetracycline, but in recent years have used doxycycline as it does not seem to yellow the teeth as does tetracycline. I make up the antibiotic by dumping a 250mg capsule into a mortar and add about 3g of a cat vitamin powder for flavor and grind with 10g water to get a slurry. I give each kitten 1/4 ml. twice a day by eyedropper. They tolerate it quite well.
Some people have told me they get the same results with amoxycillin."
http://www.siamese-kittens.com/fading_kitten_syndrome.htm

http://www.fleascontrol.com/fading-kitten-syndrome.htm

You can get amoxycillin in a pet store in a product called "Fishmox" which is sold for fish for treatment of bacterial infections of fish.
http://www.ronsvetsupply.com/fishmox.html

You might try tube feeding him to keep him alive but this is really something someone should show you how to do. These are the best articles I was able to find::
http://home.att.net/~burmesecats/saving.htm

http://a1272.g.akamai.net/7/1272/1121/20001025191108/www.peteducation.com/images/articles/tfh_tube_feeding_kitten.jpg

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1388&articleid=927

It may still turn out that no matter what you do it won't save her. Hope I'm wrong. I really admire what you're trying to do.

Answer 5

What are you feeding her? I've had kittens do well on meat baby food,plain,unsweetened yogurt,and goat's milk,mixed with an egg yolk and a teaspoon of Karo syrup ( 1 cup goats milk,beat in egg yolk and Karo and heat to a simmer,stirring constantly) Feed small meals,as you're doing,and keep the kitten warm.She may rally and be OK.Oh,and my kittens poo was dark and firm at that age.If she gets worse,I would ask that vet to at least try a feeding tube and antibiotics for a few days.Good luck.

Edit:The constipation may be giving her a tummyache.Try mixing just a tiny bit of regular cow's milk into her formula.This should make her go and may make her feel better.

Answer 6

Even though you live in a rural area of Montana, please Try the highlighted link to search for an emergency vet...

http://www.healthypet.com/hospital_search.aspx

The vet you are using is obviously not in it because of his compassion and love for animals...just thinking about $$$. He sounds like a piece of crap. Find another vet...even if you have to drive many miles.

Sounds like you really want to save the kitten, so you might have to drive many miles to do so.

There is also the chance that the kitten will not survive no matter what you do...that's nature. I have lost many pets, and the first sign that they are giving up is when they stop eating. The Kitten could have a problem you or the Vet are not aware of or can treat.
If it comes to that, please believe that you were an Angel to that kitten, gave it comfort, love, and affection and I hope you find peace in knowing you did everything you could to help it survive.

Answer 7

So sorry to hear this. I have 2 cats. I would recommend force feeding with a syringe if necessary and possibly changing the brand of kitty formula milk if possible. The cat may not want it but it needs food to live. Also looking around on the net might help you. Good luck to you both..Also try calling a vet from any state--look up some on the web-just ask to speak to them and tell them its condition and why you cannot make it to their office. If you try hard maybe you can get the right answer to the problem.

Answer 8

You have gotten *some good info and a lot of bad info!

At four weeks old, an abandoned kit should still be getting kitty milk replacement formula, not solid food, even if it is pureed!!!!

You wean a kitty by *offering* solid food! If they take it, they are ready. If not, you keep feeding *formula* -- and I mean formula, not cow's milk. I do hope that is what you have been feeding her.

I have found that feeding with a medicine dropper is the easiest way to feed kits. Just make sure the chin is up, i.e head back. She may be too weak to suckle a bottle -- deliver with an eye dropper.

Offer her solid food when she is feeling healthier. Weaning is a process in which the kit gradually moves from milk to food. Don't make the switch all at once.

Good luck. Hope the little dear gets well!

INFO:

Good info about what to feed her: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_orphan_kittens.html


Introducing solid foods is toward the bottom of this page:
http://www.hdw-inc.com/tinykitten.htm


More good info about weaning on this page. States that kits without moms usually wean later: http://www.kittenrescue.org/handbook.htm#Orphan


How to raise on orphaned kitty: http://www.kittenbaby.com/

Answer 9

Are you making sure she's getting water as well as the food?? Since you said her pooh was pretty solid, that's a sign of dehydration. It's great that you're feeding her (and you'll have to force feed her it sounds like), but don't forget about water too. You can check for dehydration by lifting the fur & skin up between the shoulder blades. If her fur doesn't go right back down (like if it stands up for a second), then she's dehydrated.

Also, your vet sounds like a jerk. Take her to someone else even if you have to drive a ways. Maybe he doesn't like cats (since vets see mostly dogs, some aren't good with cats).

You should also get her some Nutrical (you have to buy this at the vets). It's a high calorie sweet food that comes in a tube to give malnourished animals calories they need to survive. Someone above suggested Hills Science Diet A/D, which would be very good for your kitty too, as it's a high calorie food for cats who need to gain weight.

Answer 10

If the kitten has now stepped forward to vomiting, you want to, no less than, call your vet health middle & enable them understand. As stated above, kittens can get dehydrated very rapidly. Diarrhea with vomiting could nicely be an illustration of many quite some issues: heavy intestinal parasite (trojan horse) burden, undesirable foodstuff (not inevitably by using form/form of foodstuff, yet only a foul batch), something she were given into (garbage, string, dental floss, and so on) between different issues. easily call your vets workplace & lead them to conscious of this new symptom. it is also achieveable that the vomiting could nicely be from the antibiotic (perchance she's unable to tolerate that distinct one?). call your vet's workplace & talk with someone there. in the journey that they don't look to be open then call your interior sight emergency vet - enable them understand the indicators (not ingesting or ingesting, diarrhea, vomiting) and enable them understand what drugs she's been positioned on, at the same time as they were very last given, what dosage you're giving, and so on. to attempt to help allure to her to eat, you may attempt blending a small quantity of warmth water at the same time with her foodstuff. you may even likely positioned it contained in the microwave for some seconds to warmth it up. Cats purely eat what they could smell & what smells sturdy to them. If she would not like the smell of the foodstuff that you've for her, attempt yet another style (salmon, tuna, pink meat, chicken, and so on) also attempt her with some canned foodstuff as well. best of success such as your kitten! **And to human beings which have stated "she's too youthful for kitten foodstuff" - you're easily incorrect. Kittens are able to leave their moms at 8 weeks of age & are many times ingesting all alone some weeks earlier to this**