Kittens with diarrhea and vomiting

The vet visit went well. The kittens made me look like a crazy person because they were acting totally normal and energetic! They tested the kittens for what they could and everything came back negative so that’s good. They are treating them with a course of fenben and also a course of panzur just to cover all the bases. They also sent me home with more sub q in case things go bad fast again. I really think the sub q last night is what saved the sickest one as she couldn’t even keep water or pedialyte down. They are back to loose stool which is much better than the diarrhea and eating a little now – not much but a few bites here and there.

I really don’t know what to think. The vet seemed to think maybe a reaction to their shots last week or I wonder if they could have picked up a bug while they were at animal control getting those shots.

As for what they are eating, I was trying to wean them when this all started and they were not interested at all, in fact they acted like any sort of wet food or wet food formula mix was poison! When they all started feeling better this morning, I tried to give them a bottle which is what they always demanded and no one would touch it so I got out some wet food and they all ate maybe a teaspoon or so and that is what they have been eating all day now. I’ve been offering it every 3 hours and they will take a few bites then walk away. I figure with all they have been through, lots of tiny meals are better than a few big ones.

I also said that I would update with what I ended up doing last night in the hopes that maybe it would help someone else. I ended up taking all food away from them around 5 and leaving only a small bowl of water. I also started giving 3 to 5 ml of pedialyte via syringe every hour or 2 to the 3 that were not vomiting and then gave the sickest one 10 ml sub q – she had pretty much collapsed at this point. I got up throughout the night and smeared nutrical on their gums every 2 to 3 hours – just a tiny amount because I was concerned about their blood sugar. Around 2, I noticed that everyone seemed a little more alert. When I went in at 4, they acted hungry so that is when I tried the bottle, they refused so I put out a little wet food. Everyone ate a few bites then I took it away because I was worried the diarrhea would start again. After an hour with no illness, I gave them a few more bites. We are now to 3 hours between meals and everyone is doing well so far. They may have recovered in a day but I’m going to need a week to get over this one!!

Thanks so much for the kind words. I always find that they hardest part of having a sick kitten is the second guessing every move that you make.

They are all doing great and polished off a whole can of kitten food between the 4 of them at their early feeding this morning. Their stool is improving – the one that was the least sick has what I would consider ‘cow patty’ the 2 that were in the middle are a littler looser than that and the one that was extremely sick still has what I would call diarrhea but it is controlled meaning that she makes it to the litter box and it is only happening maybe twice a day so a HUGE improvement.