Cautionary Vet visit

It’s been almost a week since the boys and their mum visited the vet.

On that visit, the kittens & their mum were vaccinated, and the chaps had their microchip implants. At home,  the chaps and adult cats were all wormed. ✔️ ☑️ ✅. 

Over the last few days however, the appetites of the lads has dropped quite significantly & while they are still drinking & feeding from mum (when she will allow them) and though at times I’m energetically run in front of as I head towards the kitchen when given their food they are either just picking at it, or completely walking away. To go from 8-10 pouches hoovered up in a day to eating almost nothing is of great concern. Since yesterday I’ve been mixing up kitten milk again, offering that as well if they’ll take it.

They’re bright eyed. Inquisitive. Playful. But less so. 

I wanted to see the vet with them before anything got out of hand and so rang earlier to ask to see them and get some recovery food. This is a food in a mousse that is calorie dense meaning they can eat less but still get all of their needs met. 

Each lad was examined & weighed & each has lost a little weight. A slight oss of weight can happen when weaning from mother’s milk occurs and we know of course that Prune is trying to discourage them from suckling her so this could have impacted them. 

Another possible is that the worming over three days may have associated the nasty taste of that with their food thus making them refuse it. And again, this could have merit. 

However, bearing in mind that they just had their first exposure to the outside world, plus the 3 day worming , their vaccinations and add in mums vaccine booster and worming which is likely crossing over slightly into her milk - the combination is likely to be affecting them in some way. Any of this should wear off and they should pick up but I didn’t & don’t want to take chances with these precious babies.

The vet was pleased that there was no other physical signs of concern (other than weight loss). She liked that they were alert and bright eyed. She has given me the recovery food I asked for plus 5 days of a broad spectrum antibiotic to cover them just in case they have picked up anything from being outside or even from being in the vets surgery when we were there last week.

I’m giving the antibiotics from later on this afternoon evening as it’s to be dosed to them twice a day. She says I’m to continue to offer their usual food, and I can continue to offer the kitten milk as well and now I’ve the recovery food and if necessary can give that by syringe. 

Things to watch: The sudden change in diet (different food) & antibiotics are likely to cause them some diarrhoea so I’ll also give a kaolin paste called Pro-Kolin which will help with that aspect of things. Pro-Kolin btw is a useful standby product to have around for cats/kittens to give if they ever suffer diarrhoea symptoms (and it doesn’t require a prescription, Amazon sell it even!). Some vet supplier stores offer their own (cheaper) take on this too! 

I hope that a day of the recovery food will perk them up and reinforce their appetite again getting us over this slump. This is not uncommon & I’m ever watchful of my little beauties.

I’m sure that I’m being overly cautious & that tomorrow will bring positive news (apart from diarrhoea!) 

{little update: Basil & Humphrey came asking for food but declined the offer of their usual food, however, they hoovered up half a tub of the recovery food! Grogu & Vincent were offered it, sniffed it and declined. Each of them have now been syringe fed a few ml of kitten milk replacer & they will be topped up every couple of hours this evening. All kittens have also now had a first dose of the antibiotic cover. As whatever has upset them dissipates, I’ll look to see a definite upturn in their appetites}. 

On another subject: 

I had a viewer /new overnight subscriber to my you tube channel who left a comment on yesterday’s video which read “I love that one of these little raisins is named Grogu!” She hadn’t of course picked up that Vincent is Vincent Poe from the same film - but it did make me smile because it’s such a coincidence that two kittens in this litter have names given them that are inspired by the same film and that Vincent’s big brother is also named Gilbert Grogu. I also loved them being termed as Raisins. Raisin would be a good name for a Sphynx -maybe I’d consider using it one day if I didn’t detest that particular food ! 

A day of play

I’ve noticed over the last couple of weeks Prune increasing her provision of (toy) mice as she calls softly to her sons. I delight in the instinct that somehow informed her that, while she has NEVER seen a rodent in her life, she somehow recognises these toys (of various material & size) as mice and that this is the natural prey species to start her kittens on. There are other creature toys (fish & birds) but always it’s mice she delivers to them. Having watched outdoor going mothers who must regularly hunt, bring indoors a live shrew or mouse and holding it down with a paw while her kittens learn to become little predators, that Prune is doing this for her litters is fascinating to me

Over the last 2/3 days when as asked for suckling time (i.e every time she stops and her tummy is visible) she is now beginning to refuse it or allowing for seconds before stopping them, she has obviously decided that it’s time they stopped milk feeding. She will get up to walk away or, fed up with the barrage of greedy muzzles has taken to lying tummy down rather than being able to relax into sleep on her side. To give her a break, and help form a barrier for her I’ve popped on a long t-shirt. She wasn’t keen to be dressed (she dislikes any form of restraint hold (as it needed to dress her) as she is a very timid girl and sees danger in being caught (such as to be put in her carrier to go out to vet or heart scanning, get a bath, be giving worming meds etc), but I hope that she realises now that I was attempting to help her. It doesn’t stop them totally as you’ll see in the images below, but makes it harder and hopefully starts to encourage them to take the next step to independence. Well, that’s the plan. 

In one image you’ll see Prune’s posture looks decidedly uncomfortable, as if she is biting her lip and counting to 10 before walking away - which she did! And yes in another she does look oddly headless! I know they will still suckle a bit until they leave, I’m just trying to give mum a break!

The adults and kittens were all worked at the weekend (the kittens are currently wormed at specified intervals whereas the adults are on a 3 monthly treatment) and, I’m not sure if it’s this, the effect of the jabs having hit them or if they are stealing & filling up on the adults Orijen dry food, there is a lot less Natures Menu being eaten than before. The litter trays are fine but I did find a little puddle of vomit last night suggesting that one of them (& so probably all of them) are feeling a bit off (or had gorged on the unfamiliar dry food). I’ll give it a day or two more and see if I can catch them eating the dry food as an alternative (when the adults get their timed/auto dispensed portions). If things don’t alter back to their previous levels of gluttony I will visit the vet. I’m keeping a close eye on tummies, fluid intake and general appearance, and if their appetites are still as poor tomorrow I’ll need to weigh them too. Another source of change to them will be that mum was wormed & had her vaccination the same day they did and so something may be crossing the milk barrier that they are not used to. 

As you’ll see in the video taken today for their new families to see their new pets daily lives, despite being off their food a bit, they are still engaged and active, either in play together or up to something else alone. Play involves engrossed life skills (such as you’ll see in the film, learning patience in stalking their prey, or in their laying in wait (inside the box) for a passing brother/aunt they can hook. When playing as a pair or group it’s either dashing around chasing each other - climbing, jumping and building strength, agility & ability or they wrestle. 

A warning!

Today, I was blissfully aware of some energetic play going on in the lounge. I took 5 minutes to scroll on my phone (as you do!) when the clattering noise was coming down the hall. 

What is that? 

I got up, and around the doorway came Humphrey, completely trapped inside his favourite toy!

The bottom section containing the batteries, vibrating gizmo and tweety noise was missing. Humphrey was essentially caged, like a cute Hanibal Lector! 

His head was all the way through to the other side. While his chest, shoulders, arms and tummy were inside the cage. Tweety-pie itself was poked out squashed in the top against the roof. Poor Humphrey had push limped with what of his front legs could reach the floor and his back legs to find help. Bless his poor heart. God though, he’s so laid back. Not a whimper to tell me he was in distress. Maybe he wasn’t and thought it was a bit of a lark but I thought not and quickly picked him up. I took him to the kitchen and on the draining board I tried to ease his elbows in to the same part his chest and tummy were in, thinking maybe that would release him, but I had only one set of hands and as his head was also stuck that would have required another person to try to force open a wider space so he could come out backwards. There was no way either that he could go forward. Thinking fast, how do I fix this? I contemplated washing up liquid and water but did he need the stress of a bath while trapped? Should I call my son to come? No I didn’t want Humpty to wait the 5-10 minutes more that would take. My jewellery making tools were on the kitchen table with wire snips inside. Would they cut through the plastic bars of tweety-pie’s cage?

Turns out (thank goodness) they do. 

Snip. Snip. Snip. I went around until tweety-pie and his would-be captor were freed. Lifting away the cut open cage I was then able to extract Humphrey, who no longer has a favourite toy. 

Just a warning about this toy, in case you have one!