beauty healthy happy
14 Mar
Please help if you can- kitten question?
friday a family member came to be and asked me to take in an 8 month old kitten for her. her friend got this kitten for free without thinking and was going to throw it out her front door. it is winter here mind you. she couldnt take it home herself so she asked me if i would take it. im such a sucker for animals, so i did.
im worried about this new kitten. she sneezes a lot. she will get into these spells that she will do it several times at once too. she also keeps biting herself. she has a few sores on the back of her neck and a couple bald spots on her where it looks like she might have bit her fur off. overall she is eating. her poop is fine. she runs and plays like nothing is wrong. she does breath kinds loud from time to time. but it doesnt seem like she has trouble breathing and doesnt seem like her heart is racing or nothing like that. im not sure what is wrong with her and what i should do. i checked her for fleas and i dont see anything else in her fur. i gave her a bath with some baby shampoo thinking this may help if she has some type of skin allergy. i didnt want to use flea shampoo in case it would be to harsh on her skin. she is still biting herself but not as bad.
my problem is im between jobs and cant afford to take her to a vet right away. i dont want to release her to a shelter cause the ones in my area are always full and im scared they may put her down. any suggestions on what i can do to help her in the meantime till i come up with the money to get her looked at?
4 Responses for "please help if you can- kitten question?"
Unfortunately by having good intentions you've now exposed your cats to whatever this little one has. It's never a good idea to bring a cat in – untested for FeLV and FIV – and just put them with your healthy cats. They need to be flea treated, tested, dewormed, and isolated from the others to make sure they aren't carrying any illnesses. This one sounds as though she is coming down with an upper respiratory infection, and now you may be treating 4 cats for that not just one. She most definitely has fleas from the sound of things. You'll need to get a safe and effective flea treatment for all of the cats. Do NOT get anything from Hartz, Sargents, Zodiac, etc as they contain ingredients that can cause seizures and death in cats. If you don't have the money for a vet visit, then you surely don't have the money for an emergency visit due to flea product poisoning. Get tubes of Advantage or Frontline from the pet store, and treat all 4 cats. If this little one has brought fleas in, then your cats will get them too.Isolate the new one in a room by herself, and keep her away from your cats. If she just continues to sneeze, and the discharge from her nose/eyes is clear, then it's just a cold and you don't need to get her into the vet. If the discharge gets thick or discolored (green or yellow) then she's got a bacterial infection and must see the vet for antibiotics. And keep an eye on yours as well for any similar symptoms. Hopefully yours are all up to date on their FVRCP vaccine, just in case she's harboring something nasty. Make a vet appointment for her regardless of her getting over the cold. She needs to be tested and found negative for FeLV and FIV before you can responsibly introduce her to your cats. Fe LV is very contagious, often has no symptoms, and there is no cure. Call your local shelters to see if any of them will allow you to bring her in for testing – that generally costs about $20 and is *extremely* important.That's an admirable thing you did, and I don't mean to sound critical or harsh, but you do need to be very careful so as not to risk your current cats. She's probably not spayed, and at her age could also come into heat if she hasn't already. When your calling the shelters about the FeLV/FIV test (they will know it as a combo test) ask them about low cost spay programs, and get on the list for that as well. Our local shelter charges from 0 to $50 depending on income – quite a bargain. Source(s): many years of cat rescue
I use to rescue stray cats all the time. I wa working temp assignments and had no money. I found a place in the city that actually paid for her medical care. she was a stray. Email me your location and I'll see if I can find some place near you that would pay for the kittens medical bill. Seems the kitty does have a cold which is common but the biting and bald spots mean the skin is irritated most likely by food allergies or dermatitis. Do you have olive oil at home? Wipe irritated area with a warm clean cloth and then rub a little olive oil in area to keep lubricated. No harm if kitten licks area since olive oil is good for skin. I'm here if you need me. Marina
Aw. Bless that poor cat. Maybe you should go and get one of those tubular things that go around pets' necks. That way she won't bite. I don't think those are too expensive. I wouldn't know what else to do. Get well kitty! Source(s): me
If I were you I'd do anything and everything to get her to a vet soon. If that kitten has anything it could effect all your healthy cats. I know how you feel money-wise I'm going to pawn stuff to take my kitten to the vet because she is sick. I'm not knocking you for not taking her to the vet, but you really should because it could turn into a really bad situation. She might just have an upper respiratory infection or it could be something really bad. Good luck!
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