Kittens with Diarrhea

[Tammie]

To make a very long story short. I picked up a litter of abandoned kittens who were approximatley 6-8 weeks old at the time(this was the end of July). The kittens were flea infested and had runny eyes and noses and within a few days to a week developed diarrhea. I flea bathed the kittens and took them to the vet in mid September and they were dewormed with strongid and put on cefa drops for 14 days and metronidazole for 10 days. The 2 kittens with the worse diarrhea were given injections for the diarrhea and all of them were put on centrine tablets to help get rid of the diarrhea. They seemed to improve but now I am noticing that 2 of them have liquid diarrhea again. They all have good appetites and do not act sick. I am at my wits end on what to do for these kittens. I have already spent a few hundred dollars taking them to the vet and really can't afford to keep racking up vet bills. I planned to have them all spayed and neutered so I need to save for that if I can get them healthy that is. One of the four kittens seems to be completely healthy now its just the other 3 that seem to be having trouble. I also want to add that we had already adopted a healthy kitten the same age as these kittens and he has been unaffected so it does not seem to be anything contagious. I am giving these kittens probiotics daily.

If you have previous experience or any ideas or suggestions they will be greatly appreciated...I just want to be able to help these poor babies without breaking my bank account.

You can email me at [email protected] or post your repsonse here.

Thanks!!!!

 

[HGFarm]

AUGH!!!! You need to have them tested for Giardia or Coccidiosis (sp??) This is what it sounds like and it will not go away without 10 days of medications made for that. It is a parasite that is very spreadable and WILL transmit to other mammals!!!!!! Things will have to be cleaned and bleached where they are as well, etc.... Get at least one of the tested right away- it can be deadly!!

 

[JourneysEnd]

I had a very young kitten we found ( maybe 2 wks ) and the diarrhea never did really stop.

Vet felt it was from severe dehydration at a young age.

I just rescued another kitten and it has Coccidiosis, ringworm, hookworms, roundworms, whipworms,

ear mites - BUT it doesn't have diarrhea.

It could be Giardia as that's hard to test for. The stool samples have to be super fresh and they they can still miss it. I've had that show up in stressed puppies. It's easy to treat but you'll have to have a vet for the meds. Okay, I just reread your post and they've already been treated with metronidazole which is what you use for Giardia.

Back to my first answer. That kitten had a healty appetite too but you could tell it wasn't quite right.

I have a goat that was bottle raised by a vet tech and she will go through the diarrhea state a couple of times a year.

Wish I could be of help.

 

[White Socks Miniature]

Take a FRESH sample (as in less than 30 min old) into your vets and have an ova and parasite run. My bet would be isospora sp. (aka coccidia) also pyran is a weak dewormer and isnt good for much, milbemax or interceptor is much better.Also I would get them tested for Felv and FIV if the diarrhea continues to persist. but start with the ova and parasite. (im really surprised your vet didnt run one...usually when you hear diarrhea the first thing you do is run one.)

Hope that helps!

 

[Bunnylady]

A little different slant on this problem, but what are you feeding these guys? I've had two cats (our new kitten Oreo being one) that get "the squirts" if they drink milk. Lactose intolerance or whatever, it doesn't seem to take much. Hope you can get on top of this soon, it's so worrisome when things aren't right with our furbabies!