Foster Kittens

[nancyjac]

Maggie Moo and Baskin Robbins were adopted yesterday!  Yeah!.  All of my fosters were bumped from the surgery schedule on Monday because there were just too many others to do, but hopefully, all but Good Humor Man and Blue bunny, who are still too little, will be spayed or neutered tomorrow.  Blue Bunny will probably be ready for adoption in about another week and Good Humor Man will still be with me for a while.  Once Blue Bunny is at the shelter, I'll probably bring 3-4 others home for fostering.  I need to keep the numbers at 5 or 6 max I think.  10 is just a bit too much while I am spending so much time at the shelter with kitten day care and other things.

[nancyjac]

Both GHM and Tucker have had marked improvement this week.  Tucker has finally stopped sneezing and his infected eye is almost back to normal.  GHM still has a little off and on wheezing but his eyes are looking much better.  One eye looks a bit cloudy and if that persists, it may indicate some vision loss in that eye, but his behavior is completely normal.  Both of them are growing like weeds.  Even though GHM is a month older than Tucker, he is still and may always be a runt size wise.  At almost 4 months, GHM is still barely over 2 pounds, while at almost 3 months Tucker is about 3 1/2 pounds.

[nancyjac]

Took both GHM and Tucker to the vet today.  Both have conjunctivitis which the vet said could linger for quite a while but the prognosis for a full recovery is quite good.  Gave me some new eye drops to give them and keeping them on doxycycline for up to 3 more weeks.  GHM still has some off and on nasal congestion so still using the nebulizer on him and putting both of them in the bathroom at night with the vaporizor running.

[nancyjac]

Thanks for that site opus.  Some excellent information.  I'm concerned because the serum treatment isn't clearing up GHM's eyes as quickly as I thought it would.  Part of that though is because he was so severely congested for so long that when the congestion finally broke, there was a ton of discharge, and his eyes and nose are still draining.  The serum treatment has thinned the mucus that is draining but is making his eyes very sticky and wet.  The redness has diminished some and there is very little if any swelling so that is a good sign.  Since the eye symptoms didn't start until he was already dxed with pneumonia, I think the conjunctivitis is more a result of the pneumonia and URI rather than the other way around.  And of course with everything this poor little guy has been through in the last 3 weeks, his developing immune system has been severely strained which might also account for time it is taking for it to clear up.  

I thought at first that Tucker's problems were just a mild URI resulting from exposure initially at the shelter and then from contact with GHM.  But his symptoms have been constant, neither getting better nor worse for a month now, so I am beginning to wonder if his isn't related to GHM's.  He only has one eye that is slightly irritated and it seems to be  only near the top of his eye.  

In any case, I'm taking both of them to be looked at today and I'm just about out of all the meds both of them have been on, so probably time for a protocol change anyway.  Will let you know what I find out.

[opus88]

well thats some good news isn't it, but his poor little eyes.
FWIW...there is a good site for info, I'm sure most of these measures within cost restraints have already been tried.

http://www.petplace.com/cats/ocular-eye-discharge-in-cats/page1.aspx

[nancyjac]

GHM is pretty much back to his old self, behavior and eating wise.  He has gained back just about all of the weight he lost when he first got sick and that is without any tube feeding for the last 3 days.  His eyes are still pretty blood shot though.  I'm taking both GHM and Tucker in tomorrow to have the vet tech look at their eyes.  I'll also pretty much be out of all the meds I've been using on them, so need to find out if I should continue the current protocol or go to something else.  I'm still concerned about GHM's eyes, but he is out of the woods in terms of the pneumonia and the weight loss, and dehydration that went along with it.  In fact, I couldn't hear any more congestion today at all.  From his behavior, he seems to be seeing fine, but I'm still concerned that the eye irritation could result in some permanent vision loss.

[AppleBr]

Happy from hearing your good news,you and the kittens do deserve those and much more.
Had appointement in S.P yesterday (eye stuff) and felt very sad in taking Lo outside home in such a quite rainy day.They had to wait for my return at night to eat as well ( from 12pm til 9pm - poor girls)
Praying for the situation continue improvement,big hug!