[vdek]

Hey folks. My cat had 4 kittens 6 weeks ago. 1 of them passed away within 12 hours. the rest however have been growing up quite well. Ive been tracking their weight every few days and they are above average in weight, that is around 660g at 6 weeks old.
On saturday i noticed one of the kittens(Tumbles) was sleepier than normal but didnt think anything of it. On sunday I noticed execessive drool on his face and that he was acting lethargic. i checked his mouth and saw yellow splotches on his tongue and gums. So i took him and the gang to the vet right away. They were dewormed and the doctor told me he had a slight fever of 102.3 while his siblings were at 99.6. He gave me antibiotics to give the kittens and told me that i might want to isolate tumbles.

So following his advice my girlfriend picked him up the next day and took him to her house. prior to that i kept him isolated in his pet carrier. We have been force feeding him kmr with a syringe. He couldnt eat before because his mouth ulcers hurt so much. We also started to mix in some EVO wet food with the formula and he has been eating it like a champ, still from a syringe though. He is much more active now and peeing regularly, however we havent noticed him poop so weve been mixing a bit of olive oil in his formula and also some kitten laxative. i think the little guy is making an excellent recovery all told.

Now comes the problem. Because he is so young i want to bring him back to his siblings once he fully recovers. i plan on getting them vaccinated on friday and that includes calici. would it be a bad idea to reintroduce him? Im mostly worried about getting the other 2 kittens sick. they havent shown any symptons of calici and seem to be doing fine. Considering how contagious it is, could they be immune to it already? How long should i wait before i bring him back with the others? Will the vaccine make it safer to reintroduce them? I plan on asking the vet as well when i go.

Thanks.

 

[vdek]

This is the little guy by the way:

That's just a bit of KMR milk on his mouth and his fur is a little wet from just being fed and spilling.

 

[librarychick]

...TBH I don't think there's any point in seperating him and I have no idea why the vet would tell you to. He's been with his sibling since birth, so if he was exposed then they all were. Seperating him would do no good whatsoever, and he should have the comfort of his mother and sibling nearby. If anything the stress of being away from them could be bad for him.

I'd put him back with his mother and siblings, but weigh him twice a day on a food scale, and supplement his feeding as well. At 6 weeks he should eat about every 4-6 hours, so you should feed him about that often.

I would also wait to vacinate them for at least one more week. Their little immune systems are probably already fighting off the calcivirus, meaning you should NOT vaccinate them for that. It would be like vaccinating someone with the flu against the flu...why bother? it'll just stress their system.

If you do decide to vaccinate the rest of them then this little guy needs to wait until he's all healed up. He for sure doesn't need the extra stress to his system.

Good luck! I hope me makes it

*PS we'd love to see pics of mum and the rest of the kittens!

 

[vdek]

That's a good point. I figured that they might have cacili as well but their immune systems are probably stronger. Tumbles was the runt of the litter after all, although he's only about 60g lighter. He's actually doing quite well now. He finally pooped after being constipated for a few days and left quite a bit. He's running about and playing constantly so I think he's recovering from Cacili I believe.

I think I'm going to reunite him with his siblings tomorrow. The main reason I separated them was mainly because I work 7-4 and then have class 6-10 so I barely have any time in the day to feed him except in the mornings and at night. My girlfriend who was taking care of him this week had a bit more time and was doing an excellent job

These are his two siblings:

And his mom:

 

[vdek]

I reintroduced him to his litter mates and he seems to be making a full recovery There was a bit of a problem the first day where the momma cat was hissing at him. I'm guessing because of his different smell. However after letting the kittens play with each other, and keeping him in the carrier over night in the same room, everythings back to normal

His lips are still recovering from his Ulcer, but he's so much better and energetic right now. To the point where acts like the boss in the room when play fighting. He's also eating canned food!

 

[Greenport ferals]

Great job pulling this kitten through a crisis - not easy to do, requires a lot of devotion.