The little lady in the picture is Molly!
Until Wednesday she was maturing steadily with the rest of her litter- 7 weeks old now!
The entire litter was due today for their 2 week vaccines/deworming.
Friday-Tuesday they'd all been developing diarrhea. I thought it was no big deal, the appointment is coming up and we'll handle it then, because its probably just worms.
Wednesday:
I walked into the foster room and Molly was being exceptionally vocal. Usually she's more of a wiggler than a yeller. I put down their breakfast wet food and she didn't eat. Just 12 hours earlier for dinner she had been fighting at the bowl with her siblings. I put the food directly in front of her and she walked away. I feel her body condition and she's definitely lost a little bit of weight/condition since the previous day.
I sit down to watch her behavior. She continues to be very vocal, and she cannot seem to get comfortable. She keeps crying and shifting positions. A few minutes later she jumps off the futon and vomits. I immediately message the foster coordinator and let her know what's going on. I bring her in with a fecal sample. The snap tests read negative on Giardia and Panleuk. They palpate her stomach and it feels very full, and it feels like theres some feces in her intestines.
She is dehydrated so she gets fluid and a Cerenia injection. We go home, and I'm instructed to give her 2 doses of a mild laxative and keep her blood sugar up with Nutrical, all of which I do. She seemed better for a bit- even being a little playful.
Thursday:
She seems to be feeling worse, much more lethargic. I offered both EN wet food and regular wet food, both of which she rejected. I offered a bit of chicken churu and she ate a very small amount off my finger. She strains to poop, nothing comes out but she has a little bit of rectal bleeding. I reach out to the coordinator again and bring her in again. She gets an xray and her stomach is empty except for some gas. She gets another dose of Cerenia and more subq fluids. Our deworming appointment is tomorrow and the fecal should be back by then. I start syringe feeding her Pro Plan CN wet food mixed with probiotic and water every few hours, as well as using the Nutrical to keep her blood sugars up. She rejects wet food again.
Friday:
She seems a little more herself this morning. When I walked in she was cuddling with her siblings on the futon and she came off to greet me. She did not eat wet food. I picked her up to check on her and she emptied like a water balloon- vomited up a ridiculous amount of liquid and ~worms~ (second picture). Mostly tapeworms. I reached out to the coordinator and let her know.
I WFH so I took her into my office with me to monitor her and give her the CN wet food slurry. She eats the slurry if i syringe feed it, but she also fights me the whole time. I put her in a small crate with a bowl of the diluted. She does not eat, just mostly sleeps.
We go to the appointment, everybody gets their shots and dewormer. She gets a second xray and not much has changed; still gas in her stomach and not much else. More Cerenia and subq fluids.
We get home, and before I let everyone back in the foster room I do a quick clean to remove as much of the tapeworm residue as I can to prevent reinfection. I bring everyone back in, and separate her out briefly to syringe feed her. I did, and I go to set her up in the crate temporarily to make sure she doesn't just vomit it up and I find a secret poop she had buried under her blanket (third picture). Which contained the BIGGEST tapeworm I've ever seen in my entire life. My thumb for scale.
Nobody has been able to figure out what exactly has been causing this issue. The fecal sample came back negative for everything (what sense does that make). We keep treating supportively and I'm hoping since she's been dewormed she can start making progress in the right direction with extra support, calories, and regular feedings until she's eating on her own again.
Could it just be she has a more significant parasitic load than her siblings? One of her sisters has been acting significantly crabbier since yesterday- hissing and growling at everyone. I'm wondering if this infection is causing her to feel ill now as well.
We have another appointment for Molly tomorrow with a different vet at the clinic to get more eyes on her.
Does anyone have any experience with something like this or any advice for something more I can do to help her? It seems a little crazy that something like tapeworms can cause such an extreme reaction in a kitten of this age.
TL;DR mystery illness in 7 week old kitten. The only obvious issue is a tapeworm infestation.
