Kitten Care - from a Foster Based Rescue

 Some basic kitten care all rescues and fosters should be aware of!! Melissa, hope you don't mind I copied this to help educate potential fosters!

Those of you who follow my FB posts and previous posts here, know that I recently dealt with a BAD rescue and then a karen who failed to ask even the most basic questions. After said karen made some nasty posts on FB I learned that she operates her own rescue a few towns over - one that is NOT directly linked to her FB profile!

When said karen came into my home, she failed to ask a single one of the questions below:

 

 

Melissa Sewell  ·

This is a post from our foster Facebook page - thought it might be helpful to someone. (I am the foster coordinator for Midwest Kitten Coalition in Topeka KS)

>>>An almost comical amount of our kittens are having diarrhea right now. We do want to know when your fosters are having diarrhea because it can be life-threatening. This guide isn't so you can solve it on your own - but thought I would elucidate our process of problem-solving diarrhea so you can follow along.

The NKC chart is helpful as a jumping off point but we've adapted our processes to our geographical location and the particular challenges associated with being a foster-based rescue.

A foster kitten has diarrhea:

1: We will check on the date of last dewormer. We use pyrantel 3 times 2 weeks apart, but if it's been at least 10 days, that's what we'll try first.

We use other broad spectrum dewormers, so if they had pyrantel on 6/1 and then tapex on 6/15, that counts as the second dose.

2: If a kitten is at least 5 weeks old and they came in with fleas, we will deworm for tapeworms. Tapeworm larvae is carried by fleas. It can be ingested when kittens are grooming fleas off of themselves, or when mom eats a flea while grooming, it can pass through the milk. Normally I will ask if vomiting has been seen. Vomiting is almost always tapeworms, but we also see it with coccidia.

If we don't see fleas at intake and there isn't diarrhea or vomiting, I will avoid treating with praziquantel (tapeworm-specific dewormer) because it is SO expensive and can be rough on their little systems especially with diet change, vaccines, flea meds, etc.

3: If this is a newer kitten from an unknown area, or coccidia has been present in other foster kittens in that home, or we're seeing vomiting even after the litter has been treated for tapes, we will treat with 3 days of ponazuril. Frequently a kitten not wanting to eat is because of coccidia. We are making a habit of treating with one dose of ponazuril at intake which creates some immunity.

4: Failing these, we move to antibiotics. Sometimes with recently orphaned neonates, or freshly weaning kittens, we will use amoxicillin even without seeing diarrhea first. Diet change is a big cause of diarrhea for this age group.

5: It is at this point I will frequently take the kitten in for a fecal because I am running out of time and ideas, or we're lost track of problem solving and just need a clear answer. Most often fecals will show us:

-spirochetes that are not being solved by amoxicillin (at this point we will switch to metronidazole, which is a last resort because it is nasty)

-giardia (again, metro - and fenbendazole/panacur for any kittens that may have been in contact)

-nothing, which is frustrating. But this just means we need to continue to support the kitten as best we can and hope the issue is something viral that will resolve with supportive care.

Most of you know I will stay in close contact during the problem-solving process because diarrhea is frequently fatal in kittens. Steps 1-5 happen over the course of 24-48 hours because I want to see something working before letting our guards down. If your kitten is lethargic, not eating, not playful, this is an emergency. They need warmth, fluids, and a close eye on their food/water intake. Our more experienced fosters are comfortable handling this, but if you aren't, or you have to be away all day and have a bad feeling about one of your babies, you can drop them to me.

PLEASE weight your kittens daily when they are having issues. Even if you have healthy kittens, weigh them every 2-3 days as a rule. When dealing with diarrhea, we need all the information we can get so we know how dire a situation they are in - knowing how much weight they have lost, if any, gives me an idea of how much time I have to solve the problem without immediately rushing to the vet.

We love and appreciate our vets - every kitten will see a vet - but with close to 200 kittens in the rescue, we try to solve as much in-house as we can.

When you reach out for help, I will ask you

1: How long the problem has been happening

2: If it is one kitten or the whole litter

3: If vomiting has been seen

4: If the kitten is eating and drinking

5: If the kitten is dehydrated

6: What the diarrhea looks/smells like. Go ahead and send me a photo - don't be shy.

 

 

 

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These are hands down things experienced fosters do automatically, without hesitating and sometimes on autopilot due to lack of sleep because of caring for the sickly ones. 

 

Once we reach the point of needing the rescue's help, we EXPECT to be heard, listened to and that help is relatively immediate when the situation is dire.  MOST rescues are good about obtaining that help. Sadly, some are not. That is what I dealt with in the most recent batch of foster kittens. When said karen forced the bad rescue to pick up the sick kittens, then I dealt with the rescue attempting to deny taking kittens under their care because they were sick!!! I was even accused of having an issue in my home - which, if that were true, other kitties in the home would have been sick too, but they weren't! 

Another thing fosters know hands down is that the foster CANNOT authorize the vet care of a sick kitten that is under the care of a rescue - only the rescue can authorize that care. This means a foster cannot just hop up and take a sick kitten to the vet WITHOUT the authorization of the sponsoring rescue. When dealing with a bad rescue, this authorization may not happen and sadly kittens may die because of it. 

Fosters also know that they cannot have another rescue step in WITHOUT the spoonsoring rescue signing off. It puts fosters in a delicate situation for sure, but it is one fosters gladly accept because they want to help the furbabes!

That being said, it is gonna be a scorcher today and I have things to do to prep for this crazy heat! Have a blessed day and never stop helping the furbabes simply because of a bad rescue or a karen who only wishes to make herself look good! We are praying for you karen!