armywife13
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2011
- Messages
- 2,319
I am so sorry, Ginger. (((Hugs)))
Crushed
- Thread starter justginger
- Start date
hawaiianorangetree
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2009
- Messages
- 2,692
Oh I am so sorry JG. He felt a lot of love in his life and he had you to thank for that. {hugs}.
Enerchi
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2011
- Messages
- 10,658
JG, I am sending you DUST and HUGS from Ontario - hoping for the best possible outcome for all the little ones you are caring for right now -- and the big one --- YOU!! I hope you are hanging in as best you can. {{{HUGS}}}
looking forward to a really AMAZING update soon about the recovery of little Filly!
looking forward to a really AMAZING update soon about the recovery of little Filly!
justginger
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- May 11, 2009
- Messages
- 3,712
I am guarded in my news that Filly has improved - she is by no means out of the woods.
Our three hours at the vet in the wee hours were composed of having her injected with 20 mLs of fluids, getting her heated up (her body temp was down two degrees), having some blood tests done, and doing some faecal exams. First stop: litter box. Her poo was less than an hour old. Nothing was seen, in fact the vet said it was almost clean of any sort of bacteria at all, including healthy gut flora. She 'leaked' a bit more while we were there, so the vet again examined the fresh sample and said she spotted what looked like flagellates zooming past but they were moving too quickly to be identified. By the time we left at 430, she was alert and eating very small amounts of wet food mixed with raw mince.
The entire day today was spent on the go. I had to get more wormer to deworm everyone again. I had to get more kitten milk supplement. I had to rush to the vet when Filly did a fresh poo, collect it, and run back to the lab where DH works so he could do a full faecal exam and culture/sensitivities on it. Sometimes working in medical science pays off! Saved about $260 by doing all that lab work ourselves. There were bugs of some type in the wet prep of her poo, maybe spirochetes. The issue is identifying what type they are because some are normal to be seen in diarrhea, others are the actual causative agent. So hopefully the culture will tell us more in the next couple of days.
In the meantime, her toxo treatment via clindamycin is continuing. Plus we've added in metronidazole, which is a broad range drug for parasites and any possible anaerobic bacterial infection. The clinda is the same - doesn't just treat toxo, will take a range of other bacteria down with it. Plus reworming and also some probiotics to get her normal gut flora growing as best as it can.
All of these treatments are being given to all four of the smallest kittens - the two largest of the litter remain completely normal in every way. They are above average weight, normal poos, eat like horses, and race around the house tearing everything in sight to pieces. This huge difference can be explained by the kittens' access to mum's colostrum. The ones that got the most have been protected and built up against whatever may be causing these issues. The ones that did not have become smaller and smaller and without intervention would probably die. I know Filly wouldn't have survived the night without that vet visit.
She has been checked out of the hospital and been taken, along with the second smallest kitten, to another carer's house. This lady works at a vet's office and has experience with dealing with critical care. She will be required to give her either 2 20mL subcutaneous fluid injections per day, or even 4 10mL injections per day until her diarrhea is resolved. As someone who is fairly phobic of needles, still sick myself, hormonal with cramps, and dealing with the emotions of Trifecta's death only 24 hours ago, I just couldn't deal with the situation properly on my own. I've only had 2 hours of sleep (had to drive and two and a half hours tonight to drop the kittens off at the new carer's, in addition to all of the back and forth between the pet hospital and the people hospital, and I've just found myself back home at 10:30 pm), and was actually dry retching for about half an hour this morning from pure stress and upset. I've had an order to fries to eat in the last 48 hours. I feel terrible shifting her to another house where she is unfamiliar (and the woman currently has TWENTY other cats/kittens in the home, though my two are of course on their own, in a bathroom)...but I had to accept that it was for the best. I am incapable of giving her these (literal) life saving injections without causing myself ridiculous amounts of stress and anxiety. And I'm afraid if I forced myself to do it, it would mark the beginning of a long break of fostering for me. Better to scale back how I am handling this particular situation and be mentally capable of taking care of others than burning myself out and useless to the next batch that need a home.
Plus, the new carer is off work until next Thursday, so will be able to monitor her constantly, while I'll be working all week long. When she returns to work on Thursday, she will take Filly with her to keep in a crate behind the desk at the vet. It truly is the best I can do for her, entrusting her care to a very competent woman. I handed over all of the meds, explained everything, and just about cried myself home. I have literally hit my emotional brick wall.
The good news is that the three I had here (before sending one with Filly to the new carer) were eating like horses all day, and were very alert and active. Moreso than they have been in at least a week. The two that remain are playing tag and racing around the bathroom, ripping toilet paper off the wall with great gusto. This leads me to believe that they are feeling better, which leads me to believe that perhaps it IS toxo - the clindamycin they've had four doses of, while the mtz they've only had one. I was told that the clinda would clear up toxo in a matter of 5 days, so that's only another 3 to go. I am having bloods of my own taken on Monday, as I've been extremely run down over the last 3 weeks or so - I'm going to have a toxo titer added on to see if I have an active toxo infection myself. If I do, that would explain a lot for both me and the kittens. In all likelihood, I'm just very low on iron as I gave up eating red meat about 6-7 weeks ago now. We'll see.
So, a ton of bricks is off my shoulders in terms of getting up hourly and being ill over massive horse-sized injections into a 475 gram kitten. I will be in touch with the other carer continuously and the moment her poo starts solidifying and she no longer needs the injections, I will be racing to collect her and bring her home. I just hope that's how it plays out. Trifecta taught me how very quickly things can go from fine to deadly. In fact so very many things that have happened in the last 48 hours have been massive lessons in animal medical care.
Please continue to keep my cherubs in your thoughts and prayers. Your support during such a terribly difficult, stressful time means so much to me. Big hugs for you all.
Our three hours at the vet in the wee hours were composed of having her injected with 20 mLs of fluids, getting her heated up (her body temp was down two degrees), having some blood tests done, and doing some faecal exams. First stop: litter box. Her poo was less than an hour old. Nothing was seen, in fact the vet said it was almost clean of any sort of bacteria at all, including healthy gut flora. She 'leaked' a bit more while we were there, so the vet again examined the fresh sample and said she spotted what looked like flagellates zooming past but they were moving too quickly to be identified. By the time we left at 430, she was alert and eating very small amounts of wet food mixed with raw mince.
The entire day today was spent on the go. I had to get more wormer to deworm everyone again. I had to get more kitten milk supplement. I had to rush to the vet when Filly did a fresh poo, collect it, and run back to the lab where DH works so he could do a full faecal exam and culture/sensitivities on it. Sometimes working in medical science pays off! Saved about $260 by doing all that lab work ourselves. There were bugs of some type in the wet prep of her poo, maybe spirochetes. The issue is identifying what type they are because some are normal to be seen in diarrhea, others are the actual causative agent. So hopefully the culture will tell us more in the next couple of days.
In the meantime, her toxo treatment via clindamycin is continuing. Plus we've added in metronidazole, which is a broad range drug for parasites and any possible anaerobic bacterial infection. The clinda is the same - doesn't just treat toxo, will take a range of other bacteria down with it. Plus reworming and also some probiotics to get her normal gut flora growing as best as it can.
All of these treatments are being given to all four of the smallest kittens - the two largest of the litter remain completely normal in every way. They are above average weight, normal poos, eat like horses, and race around the house tearing everything in sight to pieces. This huge difference can be explained by the kittens' access to mum's colostrum. The ones that got the most have been protected and built up against whatever may be causing these issues. The ones that did not have become smaller and smaller and without intervention would probably die. I know Filly wouldn't have survived the night without that vet visit.
She has been checked out of the hospital and been taken, along with the second smallest kitten, to another carer's house. This lady works at a vet's office and has experience with dealing with critical care. She will be required to give her either 2 20mL subcutaneous fluid injections per day, or even 4 10mL injections per day until her diarrhea is resolved. As someone who is fairly phobic of needles, still sick myself, hormonal with cramps, and dealing with the emotions of Trifecta's death only 24 hours ago, I just couldn't deal with the situation properly on my own. I've only had 2 hours of sleep (had to drive and two and a half hours tonight to drop the kittens off at the new carer's, in addition to all of the back and forth between the pet hospital and the people hospital, and I've just found myself back home at 10:30 pm), and was actually dry retching for about half an hour this morning from pure stress and upset. I've had an order to fries to eat in the last 48 hours. I feel terrible shifting her to another house where she is unfamiliar (and the woman currently has TWENTY other cats/kittens in the home, though my two are of course on their own, in a bathroom)...but I had to accept that it was for the best. I am incapable of giving her these (literal) life saving injections without causing myself ridiculous amounts of stress and anxiety. And I'm afraid if I forced myself to do it, it would mark the beginning of a long break of fostering for me. Better to scale back how I am handling this particular situation and be mentally capable of taking care of others than burning myself out and useless to the next batch that need a home.
Plus, the new carer is off work until next Thursday, so will be able to monitor her constantly, while I'll be working all week long. When she returns to work on Thursday, she will take Filly with her to keep in a crate behind the desk at the vet. It truly is the best I can do for her, entrusting her care to a very competent woman. I handed over all of the meds, explained everything, and just about cried myself home. I have literally hit my emotional brick wall.
The good news is that the three I had here (before sending one with Filly to the new carer) were eating like horses all day, and were very alert and active. Moreso than they have been in at least a week. The two that remain are playing tag and racing around the bathroom, ripping toilet paper off the wall with great gusto. This leads me to believe that they are feeling better, which leads me to believe that perhaps it IS toxo - the clindamycin they've had four doses of, while the mtz they've only had one. I was told that the clinda would clear up toxo in a matter of 5 days, so that's only another 3 to go. I am having bloods of my own taken on Monday, as I've been extremely run down over the last 3 weeks or so - I'm going to have a toxo titer added on to see if I have an active toxo infection myself. If I do, that would explain a lot for both me and the kittens. In all likelihood, I'm just very low on iron as I gave up eating red meat about 6-7 weeks ago now. We'll see.
So, a ton of bricks is off my shoulders in terms of getting up hourly and being ill over massive horse-sized injections into a 475 gram kitten. I will be in touch with the other carer continuously and the moment her poo starts solidifying and she no longer needs the injections, I will be racing to collect her and bring her home. I just hope that's how it plays out. Trifecta taught me how very quickly things can go from fine to deadly. In fact so very many things that have happened in the last 48 hours have been massive lessons in animal medical care.
Please continue to keep my cherubs in your thoughts and prayers. Your support during such a terribly difficult, stressful time means so much to me. Big hugs for you all.
Rosebloom
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- May 23, 2012
- Messages
- 3,943
Oh Ginger! What an ordeal. You absolutely did the right thing getting someone to help. Please get yourself well as soon as possible. One of my hardest mom lessons to learn has been that I have to take care of myself so that I am strong and healthy (physically and emotionally) to be able to take care of my little ones. This is certainly the same in your case. You are doing very hard work!
I've never had a cat (used to be quite allergic but it has gotten much better in recent years). The enormous love and devotion you show these kittens makes me want to run out and get one (rescue of course)! They must be very special animals to have such a dear place in your heart. You're an inspiration!
I've never had a cat (used to be quite allergic but it has gotten much better in recent years). The enormous love and devotion you show these kittens makes me want to run out and get one (rescue of course)! They must be very special animals to have such a dear place in your heart. You're an inspiration!
MichelleCarmen
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2003
- Messages
- 15,880
I'm so sorry 
stepcutnut
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2008
- Messages
- 2,839
I am so sorry to hear about your kittens! It is just heart breaking!!!
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