Member

Posts: 123
From:Vancouver, WA USA
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 07-23-2003 11:21 PM         

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I came home tonight to find my 8 week old kitten limping!

I've only had him for about 5 days, and hes my first cat ever so I'm lost as to what to do.

I called the local 24 hour animal hospital. They told me to watch him for a few hours to see if he is acting differently or not improving, and to take him in if I feel that I need to.

So far he has been much less playful, just sitting in my lap and sleeping for the last 2 hours. How am I to tell if he's improving if he isn't up and about?

He has fleas and is too little yet for any flea control, so I'm busy vacuuming everyday and keep him in a bathroom while I'm asleep and at work so that he is getting fewer fleas in the carpets. I'm dreading leaving him in there tonight and while I'm at work tomorrow. He always meows for the first 10 minutes or so. I know it will break my heart even more to hear it now knowing he's hurt.

Back to my question. How long should I observe him? What am I looking for? Do you think I should say screw the fleas and let him sleep in my room? Please tell me if I'm overracting.

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New Member

Posts: 2
From:
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 07-23-2003 11:52 PM         

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Well, perhaps you should do an inspection of the kitten, first of all.
Pick him up and gently examine the area he is not using properly. Make sure to look in between his toes for any slivers of glass that could be causing the limp.
In observing, obviously he's going to be less playful if he's sick or hurt, but consider how he's doing progressively. Today he's still playing around a bit, but if he definitly doesn't come around and there's no improvement in his personality or limping, then it's definitly time to take him in.
As for the fleas, I have 3 kitties and at one time they were the outdoor/indoor cats, until the fleas came. I actually bought the cheapo $1.50 brand collars, which are in a tan box, are dark brown and have a one use white clasp on them, gave them a bath in flea shampoo, put a collar on them and then removed them from the house while I gave it a good bombing and there were no more fleas. Check around to see if these products are suitable for use on kittens before you go running to the vet for the spot (which makes your cat very oily) or the pills (which are fun to try to feed them).

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Member

Posts: 49
From:
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 07-24-2003 10:08 AM         

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When my kitten was two months old, she started limping too and seemed down. I took her to the vet and he said she was running a very high fever. He said that was why she was sleeping so much, but that was also why she was limping -- he said sometimes kitty's joints swell if they have a high fever, making it sore for them to walk. I don't know if this is the case with your kitten, but if you think it's a possibility, the vet is probably needed. Hope your kitty feels better soon!!!

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Member

Posts: 123
From:Vancouver, WA USA
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 07-25-2003 12:00 AM         

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Thanks to all who replied.

Footsie is much better today. He's still limping. But he is running and climbing and playing and getting into mischeif again.

I'm glad I waited and didn't end up spending a fourtune at the emergency vet. They probably just told me that it would just get better with time.

This silver lining is that his lethargy yesterday made today's vacuuming for fleas a much shorter job.

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New Member

Posts: 1
From:New York
Registered: Dec 2003

posted 12-12-2003 08:15 AM         

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A flea comb is a good solution for the fleas until the kitten is a little older. Comb the kitten and then deposit the fleas in water to kill them.

You should also consider adopting another cat or kitten as a campanion for your kitten. Kittens do not do well when left by themselves overnight or while you are at work. Cats are highly social animals and kittens become desperately lonely when isolated. They are accustomed to playing, sleeping and socializing with their littermates. Most responsible rescue groups never adopt kittens by themselves but always in pairs.

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Member

Posts: 120
From:West Chester, PA.
Registered: Nov 2003

posted 12-12-2003 02:21 PM         

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I adopted 2, 11 weeks old kittens from the SPCA, and they were infested with fleas, and were both sick when I adopted them. Because kittens are too young for regular cat shampoo or flea shampoo, my vet recommened giving them a warm bath in a MILD soap.....DAWN dish detergent. And believe it or not, it really did work! The only disadvantage was I only had the 'green apple' scented Dawn in my house, so my kitties smelled like apples (which was kind of cute) After their bath I gave each a dose of Advantage, and within 12 hours there were no more fleas

You really need to get the fleas off the kitty becasue they feed on the kittens blood, and the kitty can become anemic if untreated for too long......
Hope this helps

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Member

Posts: 123
From:Vancouver, WA USA
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 12-12-2003 03:30 PM         

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This is an old post from back in July. Footsie has been free of fleas for months now.

I had used a flea comb every day for about a week, and then changed to a few times a week once I wasn't finding a lot. I also vacuumed all the carpeted rooms that he spent time in, and kept him in the bathroom when I wasn't around to reduce the number of fleas in the carpet.

Flea treatments, including advantage are not recommended for kittens under 12 or 15 weeks of age. When he was old enough he was treated with advantage and hasn't had any fleas since.

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Member

Posts: 120
From:West Chester, PA.
Registered: Nov 2003

posted 12-13-2003 07:09 PM         

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Advantage is fine to use on a kitten as long as they are a certain weight (over 4 lbs, but under 8 lbs) and at least 8 weeks old. They make different "levels' of the dosage.....I checked with 3 different vets to make sure before I gave them the dose.

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