All Five Remaining Bottle Babes in Trouble

All five remaining bottle babies, now ten days old, are in trouble, with bloated bellies and yellow diarrhea.

The two one woman has were dehydrated and given fluids. The other three are going to have stools tested for distemper (panoleukemia) just be sure they don't have that. A dog parvo snap test is used. If they had that, I don't think any would be alive more than a few hours, so I really don't think they have that.

But you never know. Kitten survival rates at that colony have been almost non existent. That could also mean roundworms, however.

But, distemper lasts forever in an environment and Lebanon, because of the high numbers of unfixed and unvaccinated cats, is a hot spot. You would think that the four I had here, the teens, would not have made it if distemper were in the environment there.

I saw what looked like roundworm eggs, in the yellow stool of one of the two kittens the woman brought by yesterday. I could not find my magnifying glass, so could only use reading glasses and a flashlight to look. But there were two round little eggs in the stool smear I examined with my primitive methods. If that is what I saw, and they are that loaded in roundworms, they may not survive.

I told both woman I would take the risk and worm them. They won't survive anyway and if it is roundworms killing them, worming them might give them a chance. I'd take that chance, but the choice is theirs.

Roundworms kill tons of kittens.

I don't think distemper is in the environment there because there were some cats with heavy URI's and cats compromised in health like that would die if exposed to the virus.

I don't think distemper is in the environment there because those compromised three week olds with gunked shut eyes and abnormally low weights for their age, probably due to worms, would have died.

I'm going to guess the yellow diarrhea is either from undigested food, due to their compromised beginnings, over feeding, or bacterial, viral or protozoa infection, like coccidia. If it is roundworms, and not too heavy an infection, they stand a chance if wormed.

They were doing well and pooping normal stool up until a couple days ago, then suddenly the change. That's about nine days after birth. Something grew and thrived, robbed their guts of normal ability, something passed from their mother, in that time. Worms, bacteria or protozoa. That's my guess.

Will any survive? My guess is no.

That's a terrible prediction but I think it is reality.

These kittens were doomed by being born to such circumstance.