[green760113]

My 2 month old, 2 lb. kitten's white eyelids are half closed, he is lethargic, and isn't covering his pee or poop in his litter box. This has persisted for 1 day and I will take him to the vet tomorrow if he's the same or worse. He feels like he's got a fever but was just checked out at the vet's on may 23, 5 days ago. He received all his vacinations, and was checked for worms and feline leukemia-everything came out normal and he's fine. He does have ear mites and had an abscess on his forehead which is now just about healed and gets ear drops for 2 weeks for his mites. Could the drops be making him sick? He's been eating dry kitten food from the vet's office mixed with canned food from petsmart. He gets catmilk and has fresh water everyday. What's wrong with him? I have a female cat that has been separated from the kitten since I brought him home that has never been sick and is very healthy. I'm just worried since I've never dealt with a sick kitten or cat. Does anyone have a similar story or situation they've been through that they would like to share?

[rkb1013]

I'm sorry that I don't have advice for you but I truly hope that all is well. How is your kitten? What did the vet say?

[DocWill]

Calfs drink milk, not cats. Cats are lactose intollerant. Earmites can just barely be seen as a small white dot with the naked eye, but it usually must be detected by examination of a sample of ear wax under a microscope. Infection usually produces a characteristic dry black ear discharge commonly said to resemble coffee grounds. Because of the classical appearance of this discharge, infection is often diagnosed based on the presence of such discharge though without visual confirmation of the mite under the microscope, it is possible to be led astray. The discharge is composed of ear wax, blood, inflammatory biochemicals, and ear mites themselves The mite lives on the surface of the ear canal skin, though sometimes migrates out onto the face and head of its host. Eggs are laid and hatch after 4 days of incubation. The larva hatches from the egg, feeds on ear wax and skin oils for about a week, and then molts into a protonymph, which in turn molts into a deutonymph. The deutonymph mates with the adult male. What seems especially bizarre to us mammals is that the deutonymph has not yet developed a gender at the time it mates with the adult male.After mating, the deutonymph molts into either an adult male or an adult female. If she becomes a female, she will be gravid with eggs as a result of the mating. If he develops into a male, there are no consequences to the mating and he is ready to mate with deutonymphs of his own choosing. The adult mite lives approximately 2 months happily eating ear wax and skin oils. The life cycle (the time it takes for an egg to develop into an adult mite ready for parenthood) requires 3 weeks.SO THE BAD NEWS IS,, the reason I say its bad news is this is going to take at LEAST 30 days from the time of the first dose of midication. The long and short of why is easily over looked. The eggs that were laid seconds before the medication was applied will hatch 21 days from then. If you have any other dogs or cats, start the same treatment on them as well, that's easily overlooked, and the leading cause of unseccessful treatment attempts. Along with infected bedding and ewww the couch has ear mites on it too. See aren't you glad we met? I know I know someone else is going to read this and say DocWill is mean to that nice little lady. To bad, I have to make sure you know what to correctly the first time. Just think if you have to do it again! No the eye issue doesn't normal have those signs, I suspect allergy to an exposed airborne or they were scratched, Call your vet ask him for some BNP after you explain the situation. Good Luck.

[Hundalei]

I know this is an old post, but just in case any one else stumbles upon it I wanted to make 2 points. #1 he said he was feeding his cat "catmilk" not milk. My cat has "catmilk" as a treat all the time, as she cannot eat wet food. The lactose is removed and Taurine is added to help with the Cats bones & muscles.

As for the sick kitten. If your pet is lethargic within days of receiving vacciantions, it is most likely because of those vaccinations. Each vaccination contains a little bit of the disease that it is meant to prevent, which combined with the stress of a visit to the vet, can meake some pets quite dreary for a week or two after the event.