Extremely Sick Kitten

by Charlene
(Mount Savage, Md)

About 4 days ago my dog died from some unknown illness that took him surprisingly quick. My cat seems to have the same illness but has slightly different symptoms.

The Dog: He was a 140 pound Bull Mastiff, he had no health problems up until this point. He began vomiting at 10:30 am it was a greenish liquid at first and became more of a foam. He was drooling uncontrollably and he refused food and water for 36 hours before he died. He did go to the water bowl and stare at it. We tried giving him high nutrient puppy paste and water that we would put in his mouth. About 3 pm the day he died he began vomiting a dark brown liquid that was the color of Coca Cola. The smell was horrible. He then defecated the same brown liquid with a few small hard fecal pieces that were about the size of cat waste.

He was in a lot of pain and seemed to be paralyzed when he died. His extremities became extremely ridged and cold about 6 hours before he died, as if his body was reserving blood flow to the central part of his body where his organs were. This chest and back were warm up to about 10 minutes before he died and then his body temperature began to drop.

The Kitten: My best guess is that he is about 8 weeks old. He was not directly in contact with the dog, however, he likes the same carpet that the dog threw up on. I cleaned the carpet with antibacterial carpet scrub and a bissle little green cleaner. This apparently did not kill whatever he was infected with.

We went through three different options, parvo, Cyanobacteria poisoning (blue green algae poisoning), and distemper but got no resolution.

The kitten became ill yesterday morning. He did not show serious symptoms until 08/13/11 at 7:30. He then laid there as if he were paralyzed all night. We forced fluids with a small medication syringe and a subcutaneous saline injection every 2 1/2 hours. We also gave him high nutrient paste to stimulate appetite.

He got up and started walking around around noon today (08/14/11) however, we noticed he was really wobbly and running into things. Turns out he cannot see at all and bumps into everything. He was not blind before this, whatever it is hit him.

He was holding down food up until about 4pm when he began throwing up, a watery substance that looks more like saliva, because it is bubbly. He is not running a temperature, we had to check his temperature rectally. He is now throwing up violently standing on his back legs with his front feet off the floor,(he is keeping solids down only liquid returns, pet formula stays down but water comes up) to the point where his body shakes as if he is seizing, even though he is not. He is screaming as though he is in pain. He is constipated as well and a laxative does not work. He is passing hard pellet like stools. The vet has no idea what it could be.

Reply
Oh My goodness this sounds terrible.

I am not a vet and this sounds like a very extreme illness. My first thoughts were it is either poisoning of some sort or a very very nasty virus like the calici virus which i know can be awful. But as I say I am not a vet and so could not possible try and diagnose this awful condition.

You say your vet has o idea what this could be. i hope he has not left it there and that he is doing tests and consulting with other vets in the country. My vet did this for me recently when our cats were his with a very nasty virus. Part of a vets job is to continue treating and finding information for as long as he can until the animal is recovered.

i am so sorry to hear of your recent loss and hope that your kitten pulls through soon.

best wishes Kate