u/RrresearchIt

I have posted about my sweet little 4-5 week old Dottie before, but a 4th visit to the vet today has me really upset.

I rescued her from the street (injured, eye infection, alone) on June 21. I have never had a bottle baby before but I knew they were very delicate.

Visit 1: Took her to the vet within an hour of finding her, where they gave her subcutaneous fluids and antibiotics. They advised I feed her KMR.

Visit 2: She seemed to improve a bit but then I had to bring her back for constipation a few days later. They gave her an enema. They told me to start mixing in wet kitten food. They also had me get a stool sample - it tested negative for parasites.

Visit 3 (3 days ago): She started getting diarrhea and losing appetite. They said her stomach was harder and more bloated than it should be and said they would like to take a $500 x-ray to see what was going on. It didn't make sense to me, so I said I'd watch her for a couple days and return for the x-ray. At this point I was talking to other fosters I knew and they were confused about the x-ray too. They suspected she just needed wormer.

Call with the vet (yesterday): Dottie was losing more weight. Vet told me to get Rx Royal Canin GI wet and dry, so I did, but still was feeling confused about changing her food since everything I was reading said not to switch over and over. I let her have some of the food and she threw up all of it a couple hours later.

Dottie became more lethargic and dehydrated as diarrhea continued and appetite was still low. The only thing I could do the past 24 hours was give her tiki baby thrive and drop a tiny bit of KMR in her mouth.

Today, vet visit 4: A new vet I hadn't seen before immediately got her subcutaneous fluids, two womer meds, and dextrose. He also taught me how to do subcutaneous fluids at home for the next 5 days. And for food he said she needs to stop wet foods and go back to KMR only, then add KMR step 2/cereal. It struck me that this vet was the first who seemed truly to understand kittens this young, and he said he didn't know why the other vet at the practice had wanted an x-ray. He said it was so common to give wormer to street kittens he didn't know why they even took a fecal.

I finally feel like I'm in good hands with this new vet. But I am so upset that Dottie has gone through so much already and got to a point of losing many precious grams of weight (@ 385 grams now), and needing twice daily subcutaneous fluid. She has suffered a lot, and maybe I just want someone to blame but I am so so sad and mad about how long it took to get here. I'm also super sleep deprived after staying up nearly all night with her for a week...so maybe just need a place to vent. I feel like I need to complain to the vet's office but I don't even know what I expect them to do. What's done is done.

Can anyone relate? Am I totally out of line?

Update! I picked the girl tabby tonight but it was truly a tough call... pics in comments below 💜

I rescued a kitten off the road last week and she's doing much better now - it's been my first time having a cat so young and it's been overall a great experience. I'll be keeping her (name's Dottie) and want to get her a buddy. Dottie is a bottle baby just starting weaning and playing, does not pee/poo on her own quite yet (hopefully this week!).

My friend who is fostering a mama and babies will have them available in the next couple weeks. They will all be spayed/neutered as soon as they're able. They're all precious of course but I've narrowed it down to two:

- a slightly larger orange male tabby, a bit more outgoing at the moment (he's available a little sooner due to his size)

- a brown female tabby closer to Dottie's size who is a bit more shy but not skittish

I feel like I can't go wrong either way but I can't decide. My only concern with the male is urinary tract issues later in life. My last cat was female and lived to 18 before succumbing to kidney disease.

Any ideas to help me pick?

First photo is Dottie ♥️

I posted about my 4 week old screaming bloody murder during stimulation, and I've done much better with all of your help! Peeing is much smoother if I do it every other feeding and have her belly down instead of in my palm vertically.

For poo, I seem to have found a new position that does not make her totally miserable: I rubbed her belly gently and stimulated her on her side and she fell asleep within 60 seconds instead of going #2. I'm counting it as a small win for now!

I gave her the tiniest dab of 100% pumpkin puree with her KMR+water as well, so hopefully that will help later tonight or tomorrow. If not, back to the vet we go. Keep us in your thoughts!

Hi all, my new rescue kitten is overall doing great, gaining weight, learning to play, and being snuggly. But whenever I stimulate her she screams and squirms and it's heartbreaking.

I found her on a road, inured and dehydrated on June 21. She weighed 263 grams and had a small puncture wound and infected eye. I took her to the vet and got terramycin and clavamox (twice a day for 7 days).

On June 22 I went back to the vet and they gave her a warm water enema because of her constipation.

She has had at least one very tiny poo every day since June 24 but they are kind of dark and sticky, once with a tiny speck of blood. I took her back to the vet yesterday and they said she's probably just sensitive in the area and still getting her gut built up again. I'll be taking a fecal sample for testing as soon as I get a good enough poo from her.

She's now at 378 grams and gets a mix of KMR and tiki cat baby thrive supplement at every meal. I will start mixing in Purina Pro Plan kitten food (and water) this weekend.

I hold her with her back in my palm so she's supported and use a warm wet cotton ball to stimulate her, and she pees much easier than she poos. But without fail, she screams, wiggles violently and bites every time. I also try to put her into the box with paper unscented litter sometimes after stimulation but she shows no instinct to dig yet.

I feel terrible for her, and I feel a bit lost. Just hoping someone has words of wisdom.

Any advice?

OG here: https://www.reddit.com/r/FosterAnimals/s/GvvRxeK6rO

Hi all, the cat distribution system has worked its magic! I had a wonderful cat for 18 years who passed away earlier this year, and two days ago I found a little kitten in the road - injured, dehydrated, and no mama around. Here's everything going on so far:

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-Took her to the vet: they assessed her crusty eye and puncture wound on her leg, and prescribed terramycin and clavamox for 7 days. They also gave her subcutaneous fluid. I'll have a follow up in 5 days.

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- Watched a bunch of Kitten Lady videos as I've seen her recommended a ton on reddit - these have been amazing to help me get everything set up for her and learning the basics!

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- Feeding every 4ish hours: a mix of replacement milk and puree pouches, about 15ml but not exact each time.

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- Stimulating for potty: pees fine but only had one tiny poo on Day 1 (now it's Day 3). Watching videos for triangle method, etc if needed.

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- Started weighing her on Day 2. Day 2 weight was 263 grams, today (Day 3) she's up to 291 grams.

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- Sleeping: Day 1-2 was pretty unsettled, and would wake up a lot crying and hissing a bit. Last night she started calming down and slept well overnight in her big Tupperware bin with a blanket over a heating pad (I interrupted once to feed and stimulate). Today she's been sleeping for about 5 hours since her last feed.

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Please wish me luck and let me know if you have any other advice or things you wish you knew with a little one like this!

I just planted my first pollinator garden and set out my first feeder in the past few weeks and I've gotten a few consistent visitors. I've noticed sometimes this one chirps as he flies around and it's so dang cute.

I have a large amount of river rock I need to remove from around a live oak on my property, and I've used some of it for a drainage ditch on the edge of my patio (the previous owners also put some already around the foundation). Is there anything else I could use it for? I am just starting to build my pollinator garden in my backyard and reading through this channel has been so helpful!

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The previous owners laid fabric and rocks around the live oak in the front yard, so now that I've joined this channel I've learned that the best thing is to remove all of that and replace with mulching and plants so I plan to do that this summer. I also will get it trimmed by a professional in July or August. One concern is it has one very long branch that extends almost the length of the house over the garage and driveway, and when we have had freezes, that branch bends way low down and rests on my recycling bin. Maybe that will need support eventually?

Anything else I could do for this tree to make it happier and healthier long term?

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