Sick Kitten

[queerbychoice]

I'm pretty sure at this point that the kitten is going to be named Stardust.

I drove rhekarid over here to pet her today. She was happy about having company, but not quite fully awake - she played a bit, but not with a full level of energy. She was never really fully active at any point today, and she hasn't been eating very much today either. I gave her some canned kitten food, and she extremely eagerly gobbled up about a third of the can right away, but then she stopped, and she never ate anything more than that the whole day long. Even when I wave the canned kitten food right under her nose now, she won't take a single bite.

Based on this chart of symptoms of the most common "cat flu" viruses, I'm just about positive she has the feline rhinotracheitis virus (a.k.a. feline herpes-1 virus). Which means she's likely to be sick for about a month, or possibly longer because she's a kitten.

I don't think she's in any particular danger of death so far (I've had several sickly kittens who died before, when I was a kid, and Stardust does not seem that sick), but if I can't get her to eat more tomorrow, she's probably going to need to go back to the vet. Not that the vet can do much for her, really; he was just going to give her antibiotics, and they aren't going to help a whole lot if a virus is the main thing that's making her sick. But if she doesn't eat anything, at least he can feed her intravenously.

Comments

[lilerthkwake.livejournal.com]

I like Stardust!!!

I hope the kitten is okay. I've never had a baby cat get that sick. :-( It would make me very worried.

[wedged101.livejournal.com]

If the kitten has a stuffy nose she probably can't smell the food. my vet once told me to heat up some wet food for a little bit in the microwave. the odor is...pungent. this has worked for me with every cat i've had since then!

i hope she feels better- she is the cutest thing!

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I tried it this morning, and eventually convinced her to eat, but now it's not working again. :-(

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wonder why I spend the lonely night
Dreaming of a song...

[rampling.livejournal.com]

I hope she feels better soon! *hugs* and *kitty-purrs*

[saxifrage.livejournal.com]

oh I'm so sorry sweetie! *hugs*

I know that sometimes animals who have congestion will stop eating because they can't *smell* the food. In that case it's important to make the food as stinky as possible. Heating it a little in the microwave ought to make it more stinky. We had to do that all the time when our kitten had a sinus infection.

good luck, and *hugs*