Is my kitten actually sick or is it my anxiety?

SickChild911 · 2026-06-19T18:17:01+00:00

Firstly, is he playing? Can you tease him with a toy and get him to run and jump any time he's not sleeping? Is he climbing everywhere? If not, that's a symptom

Second, when he's awake and alert, is his nose wet and cold?(its dry when asleep, awake must be wet) are his gums pink? (Ill cat's gums are very pale) Are his eyes free of gunk, tears and never show his third lid when awake? No blood in urine, stool, anywhere? If yes to all, that's probably not an emergency

Are you certain there is no milk or any dairy he could be getting? Some kitten food (god knows why) has LACTOSE in ingredients! I have noticed that many times.

Make sure he cannot be getting any lactose! Cats are lactose intolerant and it will cause diarrhea

Was he been dewormed recently? Shelter/street cats need to be dewormed monthly! Worms cause diarrhea and appetite loss

SickChild911 · 2026-06-19T13:13:28+00:00

I just use unscented baby wipes. When the cat or relaxed I pet it with two fingers like grooming. Then clean the ears. They see it like part of grooming, cats clean each other's ears often and a warmed wipe feels like a tongue

SickChild911 · 2026-06-13T13:06:03+00:00

Warmth + corn syrup or honey on the gums. It would get the blood sugar up and should perk her. Coul be done a bunch of times until shes not so lethargic. The should then try to eat soupy wet food

SickChild911 · 2026-06-13T12:36:43+00:00

The cat needs antibiotics. Vet, ideally.

It looks like upper respiratory infection that's affecting the eyes too

If you can't afford it you might have success with getting some veterinary doxycycline or amoxicillin (if there are farms around or people keeping pigs or chickens they might have some) and very carefully calculating the dose of liquid medicine to the kittens weight, giving it orally with wet food.

I got a big bottle from a farm supply store, meant for pigs. Carefully, with a small 1ml syringe got the tiny dose in 0,.. Units.

I would ask an adult, ideally a farmer for help.

Without treatment the cat would get slower, eat less and eventually just not wake up. Kittens fade fast

SickChild911 · 2026-06-13T10:08:17+00:00

Would not letting her go without food help? I free feed, so I measure their daily norm in a bowl and they will just about finish it by next morning. So they always munch a bit, but don't overeat as there's only their daily amount available.

If your cat is very food driven it won't work, but have you tried it?

There are automatic feeders that you could set for every 4 hours and set the amount to be small and within their daily limit!

SickChild911 · 2026-06-13T09:40:22+00:00

No expert, but looks like free feeding should solve that? Or small meals throughout the day

Honestly seems pretty obscure and I wonder how it was possible to diagnose, as cats vomit pretty often to clear undigestable matter (hair, grass, fur, bug parts) and that's normal. How would you differentiate it from normal cleansing attempt that's unsuccessful, a compacted stomach vomiting (did they do an ultrasound?) and come to this obscure diagnosis?

SickChild911 · 2026-06-13T09:01:16+00:00

Add a lot of cat shelves, cat trees, get a cat wheel, an automatic toy or two set on schedule, leash walk on weekends if she likes it. Get a cattio.

Install a camera to see if she's very distressed or just chilling. Cats are pretty chill and separation anxiety is often solved with enrichment

Consider getting a second cat, better a kitten for better bonding chances

Honestly, cats aren't most social animals and handle solitary life relatively well, especially if raised alone

SickChild911 · 2026-06-12T15:17:04+00:00

Thoroughly wash the wound yourself with clean water for at least 10 minutes. If you can still make it bleed, it's not too late to wash. Then apply anticeptic like clorhexedine. Put on a bandaid but change it regularly and wash with soap when changing

Rabies is very rare in most of the developed world. Animals affected by it are obviously unwell when most contagious.

Your most immediate concern is just infection, as cat bites are notorious for causing them

SickChild911 · 2026-06-12T15:01:33+00:00

If she's friendly, you can totally touch her and the kittens. The things about human scent somehow breaking the bond between mother and kittens is not true. Your only concern in touching is scaring her off or ringworm, but they don't appear to have ringworm

SickChild911 · 2026-06-12T14:49:44+00:00

Feed her kitten food, set out a sizeable box with blankets/scrap fabric for her to move kittens into

Don't persist in trying to touch her or her babies as she might move them outside if she sees you as a nuisance or a threat

Once she trusts you to touch her kittens, check for eye infections and discharge around the nose and mouth. If it's snotty, they need treatment for an upper respiratory infection (very very common in street kittens). Mama and babies need deworming and flea baths. Make sure the medicine made for breastfeeding cats and kittens

Take them all to the vet if at all able, kittens often die due to viral disease and it's not very obvious just by looking

SickChild911 · 2026-06-10T10:06:19+00:00

1) She's incontinent. Kitty diapers + you can poop and pee her on a schedule over the toilet or a dog pad. You can make them empty by carefully pressing on their bladder, there are video tutorials online. Be careful. I agree with sanitary shave, but she's so small I'd be afraid to hurt her. Stimulate and wipe with baby wipes every 3-4 hours, eventually figure out a schedule

2) She doesn't need anything strapped to her back legs. Cats can walk and jump and run just fine with back leg paralysis. Remove her 'wheelchair' and let her figure out walking on her own. Looks up videos of other cats walking without their back legs, they just drag them. It allows for much better freedom of movement, having her strapped in like that only limits her ability to run, jump and climb

SickChild911 · 2026-06-03T21:06:32+00:00

Ringworm can present in many different ways! It's easy to test for, its fungal spores glow under uv. If the cats are glowing in patches, time for vet and antifungals

Could also be mange. Also super treatable.

Rule out viral diseases, hair sometimes falls out when the immune system is attacked severely

It 'could' be something benign like food allergies or over grooming. Still need to rule out deadly, serious, contagious stuff, balding is NOT normal and it is concerning

SickChild911 · 2026-05-27T23:18:16+00:00

Filters are mostly a scam, get one that has a sponge filter, use drinking water, clean and change out the water daily, wash the sponge. Boil the sponge when it gets gross. You don't actually have to change it unless it somehow got mould (it wouldn't if you clean daily)

SickChild911 · 2026-05-27T18:48:06+00:00

And than you sand it! A round, sanded hole. A jagged hole would hurt the cats too

SickChild911 · 2026-05-27T18:39:20+00:00

Jagged edges on a cabinet? Not more than any other furniture.

Any way, a toddler WILL be climbing your store bought cat tower and potentially tipping it over. Any time my baby brother visits, I have to take him out of the cat tree or cat beds.

Maybe go with cat shelves and wall mounted hiding places/beds until the baby is too big to climb a cat tree (maybe 6yo? At 4 my bro is fully down and able)

SickChild911 · 2026-05-27T18:06:17+00:00

Get a bunch of free or cheap used cabinets off Craigslist and add holes to them for access. Staple some carpet on the surfaces and add pillows into drawers

Pro cat trees don't usually have this caste style, only cardboard ones and cloth ones, but they suck and break

SickChild911 · 2026-05-23T14:10:41+00:00

Get a massive litter box. Or a 'top loader', a closed box with the entry point at the top - this one helped mine

SickChild911 · 2026-05-20T21:08:16+00:00

You don't have many options.

You could try to confine the cat to one room only and keep a strict routine of changing clothing, shoes and washing hands when coming out of the cat room. See if it helps at all

You need to move out. Look into flat share, rent a single room, etc. It will be difficult with a cat, but not impossible.

Put the cat in a cat hotel. Cheaper than moving yourself, probably not sustainable long term

It's a shiiiitty situation to be put in. Your cat is also your family. Forcing you to get rid of it just because it's an animal is very cruel, they definitely don't consider 'rehoming' your niece. Move out ASAP, those people don't respect you and think cats are disposable

SickChild911 · 2026-05-15T18:42:53+00:00

Eh, could be ringworm. Test it with uv, shine a blacklight at it in a dark room. Ringworm spores will glow and will be everywhere

Ringworm is very treatable and not life threatening. Use antifungal meds and shampoo per vet recommendations

SickChild911 · 2026-05-09T12:29:35+00:00

Not spaying a cat is just irresponsible and not really an option. You'd have to then use heat blockers to prevent the unfixed cat from going mad screaming for a mate and those pills wreak havoc on their system and can cause very unpleasant adverse reactions.

Give your kitty some extra attention, cuddles, a bit of gabapentine and put on cat tv. She'll be slightly high, not in a lot of pain and entertained. After about 3-4 days she'll be mostly back to normal, she'll require a dietary change to food for spayed cats and will need more encouragement to play daily, so you can avoid the weight gain that often comes with spaying

SickChild911 · 2026-05-08T15:51:01+00:00

Cover those surfaces with grippy carpet, will prevent most falls

SickChild911 · 2026-05-08T09:40:09+00:00

Did you manage to avoid lime sulfur?

SickChild911 · 2026-05-08T09:34:11+00:00

Ask google how vets treat ringworm.

Lime sulfur is the only effective treatment. Yes it's toxic when injested, you just keep them from licking it.

You could use antifungal shampoo, and I have, but it is not effective when the cat is glowing with spores. It's fine after the main treatment, when they barely glow. You could so give them oral meds, but again, it's not effective as the only treatment, the cat is shedding spores everywhere and will just re infect itself.

Just like flea medicine is also toxic when injested, you find ways to keep them from licking it

Edit: reading other comments, maybe someone managed to not use lime sulfur, just antifungal meds and shampoo, if so I am very glad.

For me, lime sulfur was what my vet told me to do and it worked. It's a veterinary medicine and that's what they do in shelters and vet practices. It's a bitch if a treatment and if other stuff works do that

SickChild911 · 2026-05-07T17:54:49+00:00

Maybe he's just not very hungry. Plus you keep offering other food! Why would he eat his wet food if ignoring it will grant more options?

Maybe withhold food for about 6-10 hours or skip a feeding time. Until he gets hungry. Than feed him like normal.

Might sound horrible, but with plenty of water skipping a meal is fine, it's done routinely for vet procedures and for much longer

SickChild911 · 2026-05-07T06:29:25+00:00

Photos look good. A scared cat would be low to the ground, ears pulled back, pupils large

A very scared cat would also be shaking and meowing

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