u/Lost_Emu99

EDIT: I’m not asking for money or donations I’m
Okay and def not without food but on a tight budget till Friday for payday. Had a massive unexpected car expense that drained me temporarily and a walk-in doctor bill (no health insurance) that I also was not anticipating. I’m not trying to get sympathy and I did a good price breakdown as it does give others ideas who may need it.

1 pack Beef Marachun Ramen from the food bank (free)

2 poached eggs ($1.12 for the dozen)

2-3 pieces of Oscar Myer deli turkey ($2.50 for the pack)

Lots of seasonings (we bought a ton of these when they were on sale for 50 cents a bottle). I think I used salt (mainly just on the eggs, pepper, parsley, ground mustard, roasted sesame, and then a couple others maybe).

Ngl I love shitty broke food and this one came out delicious.

Drink is Grape Kool-Aid. The unsweetened packets are honestly fire and they’re like 30 cents a pack at my local grocery. Add sugar to it but that’s cheap too and sometimes I get it at the food bank. The unsweetened ones taste so much better since you use real sugar and it’s not the Sucralose they use in the little squirt bottles.

Hello everyone! Today is the day!! Finally ordered her an embark dna test and will pick it up at petsmart in the morning and get it sent right back out. I’m so excited!

Some more info on my girl:

*located in Louisiana, USA
*she’s an unknown street mix
*6 months old, 30lbs
*very leggy, pics don’t fully capture how tall and lanky she is
*tail rests naturally at a slightly upturned/curled position
*VERY high energy
*VERY athletic
*Loves to climb and jump. Run. Anything along the lines. She climbs the ladders and rock climbing walls on playground equipment. She thinks slides are the coolest things and will climb the ladders just to slide down and then up and around again.
*loves water but only if it’s muddy shallow water, kiddie pools or clean water from a hose is a no go
*super intelligent and highly trainable, very food and praise driven
*very cuddly, highlyyyyyy social. Sees a new person or someone she knows and it’s all the same, full body wiggles and licks. Never met someone she didn’t want to be friends with. Same with other dogs.
*non aggressive, very naturally submissive, not tense or high anxiety at all. Very go with the flow
*not a barker, but does whine a high pitch whine when she sees attention she isn’t getting

Any questions or guesses please send away! I’ll 100% be updating as soon as results are back because this has been a months long top wishlist item for me but it never made my budget till now.

Wish I had a better sub to share this in, hope this one fits okay. But damn this dude makes me smile and it’s such a sweet channel 🥹🪴🌱

Suspicious! Preposterous! Ludicrous, I say!

But since we’re already here, what say you? Can she stay? Or she not fruit batty enough for your fruit bat club?

Previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/kittens/s/yA4gmKRMyF

Those first pics were from a couple hours ago after a nice warm bath and soak since I finally felt confident she was feeling well enough for a true bath vs the wipes. She needed it! And her face doesn’t show it but she was loving the bath so much she purred and was in pure bliss the whole time lol. Another note, since I know baths can be risky and a hot topic- The room they’re in is kept at 85° so she never got cold even for a second. I wash in warm water using a soft warm wet cloth wrapped around them the whole time, with them sat in a small bowl of warm water, and I only expose little bits of them at a time as i scrub/clean each area. Keeps them warm and relaxed. The other pics are actually taken by my 3 year old lol didn’t know she took the one of me till I was scrolling to find the ones I took lol. Ok onto the updates.

Update TL; DR: tested and diagnosed with Giardia. Gray kitten was very dehydrated, tabby only ever so slightly. Both got subcutaneous fluids in office for dehydration. Prescribed: Pro-Pectalin paste for diarrhea, Pancur 10 day cycle for giardia, and muricin ointment daily for their sore bottoms. The 180° little gray baby pulled is truly amazing. She’s doing so amazingly well now, they both are!

Long update version:

First, thank you everyone who responded. I was in such a state of frantic desperation and helplessness when I made the original post in the very early morning hours yesterday. Just in case i wasn’t clear, I was fully planning on bringing them into the vet regardless of any responses I might’ve gotten here. I was just posting to look for answers, clues, ANYTHING that I could use to benefit these babies while I impatiently and anxiously waited for my scheduled vet appointment at 9:30am.

In the 2-3 hours between when I posted this post and the 9:30 appointment time the gray baby went downhill so fast. She entered that dreaded stage of “I’m too tired. I’m done. I don’t want to try anymore.” Just very lifeless and not moving much at all. Eyes closed. Head down. Laying down but not in a cozy position just laying down because her body was giving up on her.

I sat there just cuddling and loving on her, her sweet little body cradled in my cupped hand, body against my chest but close to my face so I could gently love on her and stroke her and gently talk to her as I waited out the last bit of time before I could head to the appointment. As I had her on me I kissed her little cheek ever so softly and it for some reason was enough for her to give me the tiniest sweetest weak little purr and she scooted her little tucked paws over so she could be closer to me and leaned into my face. That little bit gave me so much hope that she wasn’t officially ready to be done and she was ready to try some more if we could get her some better help.

Finally get into our appointment and checked in, the vet was amazing. Truly such a gem of a human, so knowledgeable, but also the type of vet that is so intuitive and just KNOWS. She walks in and not even 2 minutes in and she says “I can guarantee you it’s giardia. Even if they’ve had false positives and even if I don’t get a positive, I can say with confidence this is going to be a Giardia diagnosis” all while sweetly and gently loving on and cuddles my babies as she checked them over.

Sure enough she was right. The test came back positive (false positives are so common in young kittens especially and Giardia is so widespread and common!). They got their subcutaneous fluids and then we got sent home with a 10 day cycle of pancur for the Giardia (and it covers a lot of other things as well), Pro-Pectalin paste for the diarrhea (a tiny dot of it 3 times a day through the whole Pancur cycle), and then Muricin ointment to heal their sore painful swollen bottoms (btw this is a miracle ointment it worked so fast!)

Over the next 24 hours little gray has made such an incredible 180. Night and day difference. If anyone else could have witnessed it I believe they’d also be in awe at the difference in that short amount of time. It’s Sunday at 2am now as I’m writing this and no can confidently say she’s the healthiest and happiest I’ve ever seen her, even when i thought she was doing great before. Tabby girl is also doing absolutely amazing but her symptoms were never as bad as the gray so that’s why I mostly touched on gray in this update lol.

Anyway. Sorry for the long update. Also last side note: DONT SLEEP ON PETCO CLINICS!!! That’s the one I had went to Saturday morning. Free first visit (was for me) and any tests , exams, etc were priced very affordably. This vet was truly one of the best I’ve ever met and if it weren’t for me being in the position I was I would’ve never even checked it out probably. But holy cow I changed my mind and now have so much respect for Petco vet clinics. I know they may not all be like that but don’t sleep on them!

Thanks again everyone and good luck to you and all your kitties 🩵

*Trigger warning: sickness, poop*

TL;DR: persistent digestive/poop problems. Bloody diarrhea and constipation.

I’m going to give an overview and breakdown as best I can of what I’ve been through with them the past 6 days I’ve had them.

Day 1, Sunday night (June 7th): Estimated them to be right around 14 days old. First formula I was using is shown in the second to last slide, the liquid premix Petlag KMR. I only had access to a cheap kitten bottle so that’s what I used. Kept warm in my bathroom with a heater (ambient temp 80-85F). Fed and stimulated to potty every 2-3 hours. Unfortunately I do not have a scale nor did I do well at tracking milk intake. I just made sure they showed no signs of dehydration or low blood sugar.

Day 2, Monday: Took them into the vet. Vet confirmed they were right around 14 days old. Said they were showing no signs of ill health or dehydration. Fecal was run to test for parasites which came back negative, but they were given a 5-day cycle of Albon just in case. Also each were given a single dose of S+P to reduce the chance of vomiting and belly upset due to the Albon. I was warned the Albon would likely cause diarrhea.

Day 3, Tuesday: solid gray kitten began having diarrhea Monday night and it continued through Tuesday. No blood or mucus just frequent diarrhea. Her activity and appetite remained excellent. Tabby kitten had no diarrhea.

Day 4, Wednesday: I began feeding them a new formula, the petlag powder shown in the last slide. Prepared following the instructions. By Wednesday night gray kitten’s belly felt bloated. Diarrhea continued. Appetite and energy level still strong. Tabby kitten had no problems.

Day 5, Thursday: Thursday morning gray kitten’s belly still felt bloated and her diarrhea now had some bright red blood in it. Also seemed to have some mucus and she was starting to seem constipated. Took them into another vet for an exam. Tabby kitten was still doing well. Gray kitten still was showing no signs of poor appetite, weakness, low energy, etc. Vet did a very thorough exam and also an ultrasound as she thought she was feeling a potential blockage in her kidney area. Ultrasound showed that her intestines and gut were in the right places, but her kidney was enlarged. Due to their size and age she recommended I continue doing what I have been and hope everything works itself out but to call as soon as anything changes.

Day 6, Friday: I woke up now to both kittens struggling with diarrhea and blood in stool. Both seemed constipated on top of the diarrhea. This was their last doses of the Albon medication. Neither showed any signs of energy loss, appetites still strong, very vocal and active, curious and alert. No signs of dehydration either.

Day 7, Saturday. Still diarrhea and constipation for both of them, blood and mucus along with it. Both are less bloated but their diarrhea and constipation is so concerning. They have their normal healthy appetites and are still vocal active and alert. Still getting bottle fed, but it’s closer to every 3-4 hours now. They have an appointment at the vet in a couple of hours.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I ask the vet to run any specific tests? Should I change the formula? Add probiotics? I’m at a loss and it’s making me feel so sad and helpless trying to cure them when I know there’s not much else other than wait pray and hope and keep a close eye on everything. Can anyone please send any advice my way 😭

On another note I really understand how badly I need a scale and a few other important supplies. I’m working on that 😩

*Trigger warning: sickness, poop*

TL;DR: persistent digestive/poop problems. Bloody diarrhea and constipation.

I’m going to give an overview and breakdown as best I can of what I’ve been through with them the past 6 days I’ve had them.

Day 1, Sunday night (June 7th): Estimated them to be right around 14 days old. First formula I was using is shown in the second to last slide, the liquid premix Petlag KMR. I only had access to a cheap kitten bottle so that’s what I used. Kept warm in my bathroom with a heater (ambient temp 80-85F). Fed and stimulated to potty every 2-3 hours. Unfortunately I do not have a scale nor did I do well at tracking milk intake. I just made sure they showed no signs of dehydration or low blood sugar.

Day 2, Monday: Took them into the vet. Vet confirmed they were right around 14 days old. Said they were showing no signs of ill health or dehydration. Fecal was run to test for parasites which came back negative, but they were given a 5-day cycle of Albon just in case. Also each were given a single dose of S+P to reduce the chance of vomiting and belly upset due to the Albon. I was warned the Albon would likely cause diarrhea.

Day 3, Tuesday: solid gray kitten began having diarrhea Monday night and it continued through Tuesday. No blood or mucus just frequent diarrhea. Her activity and appetite remained excellent. Tabby kitten had no diarrhea.

Day 4, Wednesday: I began feeding them a new formula, the petlag powder shown in the last slide. Prepared following the instructions. By Wednesday night gray kitten’s belly felt bloated. Diarrhea continued. Appetite and energy level still strong. Tabby kitten had no problems.

Day 5, Thursday: Thursday morning gray kitten’s belly still felt bloated and her diarrhea now had some bright red blood in it. Also seemed to have some mucus and she was starting to seem constipated. Took them into another vet for an exam. Tabby kitten was still doing well. Gray kitten still was showing no signs of poor appetite, weakness, low energy, etc. Vet did a very thorough exam and also an ultrasound as she thought she was feeling a potential blockage in her kidney area. Ultrasound showed that her intestines and gut were in the right places, but her kidney was enlarged. Due to their size and age she recommended I continue doing what I have been and hope everything works itself out but to call as soon as anything changes.

Day 6, Friday: I woke up now to both kittens struggling with diarrhea and blood in stool. Both seemed constipated on top of the diarrhea. This was their last doses of the Albon medication. Neither showed any signs of energy loss, appetites still strong, very vocal and active, curious and alert. No signs of dehydration either.

Day 7, Saturday. Still diarrhea and constipation for both of them, blood and mucus along with it. Both are less bloated but their diarrhea and constipation is so concerning. They have their normal healthy appetites and are still vocal active and alert. Still getting bottle fed, but it’s closer to every 3-4 hours now. They have an appointment at the vet in a couple of hours.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I ask the vet to run any specific tests? Should I change the formula? Add probiotics? I’m at a loss and it’s making me feel so sad and helpless trying to cure them when I know there’s not much else other than wait pray and hope and keep a close eye on everything. Can anyone please send any advice my way 😭

On another note I really understand how badly I need a scale and a few other important supplies. I’m working on that 😩

Sisters, strays, 2ish weeks old. Only had them a little over a day and I’m so in love. Calling them Smol Bean (gray) and Sweet Pea (tabby) for now but some other ideas between my 3 year old and I are listed below (I’ll let yall guess which ones were her ideas lol). Other suggestions welcome!

Miso and Sushi
Duck Duck and Goose
Chicken and Dog
Egg(s) and Bacon
Pickles and Burger
Tofu and Feta
Soup and Grilled Cheese
Orzo and Risotto
Spicy and Meatball
Beans and Toast
Couscous and Quinoa
Puppy and Bunny
Cheerios and Chex
Bagel and Toaster