Dangerously underweight kitten

SkinnyCat_2

Inexperienced kitten owner hoping for some advice!

Our kitten was small when we got him, and though he was active and cheerful enough, he was very much a lap cat who would rather be curled around my neck than chasing after imaginary mice.

Recently he lost about 25% body weight. He stopped washing himself, was always cold, and slept most of the time. Since then we’ve done everything possible to get him healthy again – changed his food (previous food had very high beef content and the symptoms started soon after getting him onto it – so I’ve removed that in case it’s related, plus he seems to have gone off the taste anyway), changed his eating patterns from free feeding to several (supervised) sessions a day, bought nutritional supplements, plied him with treats – and he’s put on some weight now and is starting to perk up a bit. Sporadic diarrhoea but think this is to do with diet changes more than anything else – I know we shouldn’t change his diet suddenly but when it’s a choice between doing that versus having him eat nothing at all, I’d risk the runny poo.

The vet has no suggestions right now and although I'd love to tell them to put him through a barrage of diagnostics and get him on emergency care, there is a limit to what we can afford with this.

I’m hoping that a bit of TLC will get him back on his feet (otherwise we will go back to the vet to see whether they want to take any immediate action) but, having read stories of drastically underweight kittens elsewhere on the internet and how quickly they can go downhill, am preparing myself for the worst. Does anyone have any tips on how else to look after him?

pinkteapot

Forget the insurance. It'll be obvious to any vet that he's been poorly for a while. You'll be in more trouble if you try and fiddle this through the insurance.

Please, please take him to a vet. Borrow money if need be. I'm sorry, but it's cruel to be withholding veterinary care in this way. Phone some local vets, explain that you don't have insurance, and book a check-up with the most sympathetic sounding one. My brother recently had to take their hamster to a vet and the vet went above and beyond to keep the bill down.

If you absolutely can't afford it, take the kitten to a rescue centre and hand him in, or back to the breeder if they'll take him - to anyone who'll give him the medical attention he needs.

So we’re stuffed, and I’m a bit gutted that we’ve been caught out by a provision that’s meant to stop people from hastily arranging insurance as soon as their cat gets ill – which clearly doesn't apply in our case given how long ago we arranged it.

You might have arranged it early, but you didn't set it up to start straight away. You took a gamble on him not getting ill during the uninsured period and it hasn't paid off. I am sorry for that as you've been unlucky, but your kitty's health comes first right now.

GBNI

Kittens can go downhill seriously fast. You need to get these poor thing to a vet asap. I'm sorry to be blunt but if you can't afford treatment for an animal you shouldn't have got it in the first place, especially two animals.

SkinnyCat_2

I should be clear that he has been to a vet. He's been seen a couple of times, standard checkups etc., for which we've paid. We were just told that he was very thin and to be aware that he could go downhill quickly (a phrase I seem to be finding everywhere). The barrage of diagnostics and rehabilitation is what we can't afford. I'll take on board your point about a rescue centre - but to be honest I think they would have him destroyed. If he doesn't continue to improve, or if he seems like he is in any pain, then we will rethink treating him at home.

donnac2558

Get the poor wee thing to the VET ASAP.

It no doubt has a gastro infection of some sort and could die while you fart about. Tell the vet you will pay by the week if you have to.

pinkteapot

SkinnyCat wrote: »

If he doesn't continue to improve, or if he seems like he is in any pain, then we will rethink treating him at home.

You said you're inexperienced with cats. They're exceptionally good at hiding pain - it can be nigh on impossible to tell if they're in pain.

Have you tried the PDSA eligibility checker?
https://www.pdsa.org.uk/pdsa-vet-care/eligibility

Not many people are eligible for vet help from the PDSA these days but worth a look at least.

tea_lover

SkinnyCat wrote: »

Does anyone have any tips on how else to look after him

GET HIM BACK TO A VET, URGENTLY. It's really very cruel to stop him having potentially lifesaving treatment because you want to fiddle the paperwork.

SkinnyCat_2

Ok, a bit of hysteria, I shouldn't have implied that this was happening completely vet-free. We've seen the vet twice. They don't think he has an infection. They haven't actually suggested anything, other than one vet saying a series of blood tests could maybe be run if he doesn't get better, and the other saying that they might want to put him on a drip if he loses any more weight.

tea_lover

Have the vets advised doing anything in the meantime, if they're not recommending the blood tests as urgent?

SkinnyCat_2

No, just to keep an eye on him, with the aforementioned warning that there could be some sudden bad news. I think I should have amended my wording here; I didn't think I was going to have to fend off accusations of irresponsible ownership and animal cruelty. When I say "I'm aware he needs to go to a vet" I don't mean "I'm keeping him away from the vet" or "I'm ignoring the vet's recommendations". What I mean is "we've already taken him to the vet, they don't have any ideas, I'd love to tell them to throw the whole works at him and have thousands of blood tests and put him on a drip for a week, but we can't afford that so I'm going to try to maintain his recovery and if that doesn't work we'll take him in again, but any suggestions about how to get his weight up are appreciated".

Edited: I tell a lie - one of the vets did also say we could think about changing his feeding pattern to little and often rather than big meals or free feeding - which we've since done - and just about everyone in the world has told me to give him kitten-specific food, rather than adult cat food, which we were doing in the first place anyway.

pinkteapot

Ok, that makes sense. If you read your original post back (or get a friend to), you'll see that it really did sound like you hadn't taken him to a vet at all yet. There was absolutely nothing in it to suggest you'd consulted a vet. You said that you know he needs to go to a vet, that you've changed his diet and that you're hoping TLC does the trick. Each one of us who replied misunderstood it in exactly the same way.

You can edit your original post - if you don't then there's a chance that people will reply having only read the first post, rather than reading through all the replies.