kitten sick

[jlc1210]

My 6 mth old male kitten, Lucky, had his first set of shots yesterday. The vet said he would be sick yesterday afternoon but he still isn't feeling well this morning. His body feels warm and he refuses to eat. Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this? He had his feline distemper, leukemia and rabies shots. Thanks.

[Crystal211]

I know my cats were out of it all night the day of the shots, but the next day they were fine. I'd call the vet and ask them if you should be bringing him back in.

[ihave4kitties]

My cats were out of it for a full day, very, very tired and not wanting to eat. If I recall, Marcellus slept for longer. It would depend upon if your kitten got his shots in the morning or afternoon too. If your kitten got them in the afternoon he still may not be his normal self right away the next morning. It never hurts to call the vet though. If you have concerns, for sure call and they'll let you know if you need to be concerned.

[coaster]

Goodness....that's a whole lot of shots all at once!! No wonder the poor kitty is feeling poorly. It may be several days...

If it's not terribly inconvenient, I'd recommend in the future you do just one vaccination at a time. Wait a week to do the next. But do this with the concurrence of your vet. I know my vet won't vaccinate a cat unless it's had a physical exam within the preceding month. So that's the longest I can wait if my cat needs two shots.

[Curlikat]

I recently just did the annual distemper combo for my cat and he had an adverse reaction, which strangely he did not have at his first kitten distemper vaccination. He developed a fever, and just wanted to lie in one place and not be touched or picked up at all. I got worried when he refused food and water and followed up telephonically with the vet the next morning. She said it was a common reaction but to come in if it lasted more than the weekend (the vaccination was on a Friday). There was no improvement by Sunday so I force fed him some liquid took him in on Mon. She gave him some sub-q liquids and something to bring his temp. down (it was still elevated). Some cats have a stronger reaction to the vaccination than others, and she explained that some cats even go into an allergic shock reaction and cannot be vaccinated at all. I have to space out the vacs for him and now she knows in advance to automatically give sub-q and I think she said an anti-inflammatory shot at the same time.

Just keep an eye on your cat and don't let him get dehydrated with the fever and not eating. I syringed water and Nutro pouch juices into my cat's mouth to keep him going till he saw the vet. If it takes more than 2 days to recover his appetite and some normal behaviour then I personally would return to the vet. My learning from this was to never schedule vaccinations close to the weekend in case there is a problem.

[jlc1210]

Thanks so much. He finally did eat a few bites of wet food earlier today. But he's still sleeping alot. If he isn't feeling better monday morning, I'll take him in. And next year, I definitely won't do all 3 on the same day.

JeanieC