Support needed–foster mom in panic mode

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  • #822791
    jill316
    Participant

    Hi Everyone,

    I don’t post on here often, but right now I need some support and guidance and I don’t know where else to turn. I foster kittens for a local humane society and have run into a really horrible rough patch lately. The last 4 kittens I have taken in have all passed away or crashed and had to be put down because they couldn’t recover. I had a single kitten who passed after 2 days of being in my care. Then I took another single kitten about a week later after decontaminating my foster room, who seemed to be doing well. He ate normally, and then all of a sudden started refusing food and having diarrhea. Then after I force fed KMR for two days (with fluids and nutrical to try and boost energy) he crashed to the point that he couldn’t recover and we had to put him to sleep.

    I waited about 3 weeks after losing this last kitten to take another group. This last group that I took 5 days ago are about 4-5 weeks old. They were a little underweight, but ate KMR and wet food like little champions and seemed to be fine. 2 days ago the two boys (who were also the skinnier of the three babies) stopped eating on their own and then they started having diarrhea. I tried like hell to get them to start eating again, I gave them Subq fluids, nutrical and force fed wetfood/kmr, I put pedialyte in their water and sugar water on their gums. It seemed like no matter what I did they were still dehydrated, still not active and alert or playful like they had been just a few days before. Then this morning I went into my foster room to find that one of them had passed away overnight. I immediately brought the other failing kitten to the vet at the shelter and she looked at him and we both agreed that he was suffering and it was cruel to let him continue on.

    Now I just have the little girl of the litter left, I named her Joy. She was always bigger and thriftier than her brothers and she’s spunky as can be. She’s running around the room right now playing with about 10 toys at once, and she’s eating well and her bowel movements seem normal. BUT, regardless of all of those good things I AM FREAKING OUT! I have been fostering kittens for 3 years and up until 2 months ago I had only lost 3 out of 47 of them. I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable about raising kittens and I don’t know what I am doing wrong, or what I can do better. I am feeding them the same type of food each time, and watching them to make sure they are eating enough.

    The vet at work is going to take a blood sample and check for low white blood cell counts to see if it’s distemper, I don’t know what to do for Joy if the other two passed away from distemper.

    Basically I’m just at a loss of what to do and so so so worried about Joy. I get so attached to them and I honestly thought that this litter would be fine, everything had been going so well. Any advice or guidance would be so appreciated, I’ve become a basket case about this.

    Jillian

    If the pictures show up…this is Joy <3

    #822794
    CheetahBoysmommy
    Participant

    Is it possible that the KMR is contaminated? Have you changed the brand of wet food? I understand why you are questioning yourself, and I sympathize with you about those kitties who have gone to the Bridge. It takes a special kind of person to foster and I do admire you. Don’t give up; many young kittens don’t make it without their birth mama.

    #822797
    Audrey
    Participant

    Although I cannot offer any advice or guidance with this matter, I cannot even imagine losing those kittens. I sympathize with you, as earlier this year my sister’s kitten got under our recliner chair, and I was the one sitting in it when I moved just the wrong way and she passed. It was awfully tragic, so the prospect of losing that many makes my heart hurt for you.

    I do hope that, whatever happens, you are able to find out what is causing this, and I hope that the future with your foster kitties is much, MUCH brighter.

    #822881
    jill316
    Participant

    I used three different cans of KMR between these groups of kittens, but I had the same thought. And as far as the wet food goes I have been giving them the same brand the whole time, Friskies (I know. I tried to get them to eat the grain free kitten food I bought and they wouldn’t touch it!) seafood blend.

    Sadly, the blood test that my vet ran came back as positive for distemper 🙁 There was nothing I could have done to help these babies, once they were symptomatic it was too late for my help. Luckily, Joy still seems to be doing well so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. She has a vet appointment tomorrow afternoon to give her extra TLC and hopefully she’s strong enough to not catch it! I keep telling her she’s not allowed to get sick, I’m not sure that she understands because she just keeps meowing at me 🙂

    I’m in a much better mood today than I was yesterday, it nearly broke my heart to have to let those kittens go. Thank you for the kind words, hopefully the vet will have nothing but good things to say tomorrow!

    #822883
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    Jill I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your kittens. And that the blood test has come back positive for distemper is really distressing. Hand raising kittens with no disease is difficult enough, but this is heartbreaking. So glad you feel better today. Keep us posted on little Joy and bless you for the job you are doing with fostering kittens.

    #822890
    jcat
    Participant

    I’m so sorry, Jill, it’s always heartbreaking to lose kittens. You have to concentrate on how many you have saved, and how all of your kittens, however long or short their lives, were safe, warm, cherished, loved and given the best veterinary care available while they were with you. I know it’s easy to say but all of us who have fostered have lost kittens, it’s the very worst! — and so often we never find out why.

    And feline distemper (or panleukopaenia) is one of the nastiest viruses a cat or kitten can get, it’s easy to transmit and resistant to disinfection (can survive in the environment for up to ONE YEAR) so there really was nothing you could have done for these babies. The only protection is the vaccination before they get it but if mama cat hasn’t had her shots or they come into contact with another cat — or that cat’s faeces etc — with the virus, before they are vaccinated, then there is not much that can be done, except to give supportive care and then hopefully the cat or kitten will be strong enough to get through it but kittens are so fragile at the best of times. Kittens usually get it from their mama cat while in the womb and I imagine that’s what happened here; you were given an infected kitten to foster. (You should alert the shelter who gave him to you in case they have been infected too.) The mum’s colostrum in her milk can mask it for a while but if kitten is no longer being fed by mum, then that’s often when a virus will rear its ugly head.

    Here is some more information on the virus: http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_ct_feline_panleukopenia

    It is not related to canine distemper but I imagine is commonly called it because it is just as nasty. (My Millie was exposed to it in her mum’s womb — through vaccination, we think, it is a live but weakened virus which is injected — and has cerebellar hypoplasia or wobbly cat syndrome because of it). Because of the possibility of re-infection, you will want to talk to your vet about making sure you manage to get entirely rid of it in your home.

    My heart goes out to you, you are a wonderful angel to these kittens and this has been absolutely horrible for you. {{{{HUGS}}}

    #823063
    jill316
    Participant

    Okay, so the vet check on Tuesday went well! Turns out that Joy…is actually a boy! S/he was so small that it even took the vet a minute to really tell, lol. We’ve named him Joey now.

    Our vet took a blood sample from him and his blood counts look good. He gained a little weight and we gave him his first FVRCP vaccine and dewormed him again. I’m still on pins and needles about him and it’s killing me to keep him isolated in the foster room and hear him crying in there, he must be so lonely without his brothers and now I shouldn’t really be cuddling him until he’s in the clear.

    Has anyone been through this situation before, with a kitten that’s been exposed to distemper? Does anyone know how long the incubation period is before he would start showing symptoms? Both of his brothers started showing symptoms on Saturday morning and were lost causes by Sunday morning, so I’m hoping that Joey won’t catch it. I had them in a large dog crate in my foster room, but they did get out to run around. So I soaked the cage in bleach and removed it from the room. I also put Joey in a carrier and then cleaned the floor with bleach and water. I also got all new litter boxes, food and water dishes and toys for the room and had to throw all of the possibly infected ones out. My concern is that the floor in that room is old hardwood and there are cracks in the floor, so I’m not convinced that I got everything clean. I’m hoping it’s just my paranoia though.

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