My family and I got a kitten about 3 months ago from someone off of craig's list. When we got her she barely looked old enough to have been weaned and was sort of dingy, but she was absolutely adorable and I felt bad she was living in those conditions. That night we gave her a bath and discovered she had fleas. Not being the type of people to just give a kitten back or to someone else we were determined to treat her. It's been almost 3 months and she still has fleas ( possible reason for symptoms?).
We use a natural and safe kitty litter, and nine lives cat food, which hasn't changed since we got her (soft and now hard food). Yesterday she started having horrible diarrhea to where she couldn't even make it to her litter box. I am pregnant so I haven't had to clean it up until today, but it has been grayish (don't know if that is normal). I didn't look to close at it (once again, pregnant) but I didn't notice any worms. I would have chalked it off to her getting into something and eating it, but now her urine is wreaking of ammonia.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
I understand the ammonia smell is perfectly normal for cat urine, especially if you're not changing the litter often, but this is not the case. My boyfriend empties the litter box nearly everyday and he changes out the litter every three days. I hadn 't smelt this urine smell until about 4 days ago, and it has gotten so bad that the smell stings your nostrils. We keep the litter box in the bathroom and last night it was changed out, I just went in there a second ago and could hardly breathe the smell was so strong.
I've confined her to the bathroom to prevent having to clean up anymore feces and she has just been lying in her bed crying off and on. Her water intake seems to be good, and no signs of dehydration. Any idea as to what could be wrong with my cat? Serious, or should I just wait to see if it goes away on its own?
No, ammonia smell that strong is a kidney issue problem and a bad one. Get the kitten in to a vet, with a feces sample, for your vet to diagnose before the problem goes past the ability for it to be treated.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com One of the hallmarks in both dogs and cats is that the kidneys that are going into failure will give off the chemical smell. Get her in as an emergency appointment today. Don't take chances with her life.
She needs to see the vet. I don't know what the differential is for diarrhea + gray stools + smelly urine together but I do know that these symptoms can indicate serious issues (kidney failure, liver failure, UTIs, etc). I would have her seen as soon as possible.
She needs to see a vet asap. The ammonia smell and the fact that she's not making it to the litterbox is alarming - most cats are very tidy with their potty habits. Something is weakening her quickly. It could be a virus, bacterial infection, parasites, feline leukemia, anything. Fleas are more than an annoyance - that's how tapeworm is transmitted.
You didn't say if this kitten ever saw a vet since you got her. Kittens at that age can go downhill quickly if not taken care of. First you need to get the kitten to the vet to be checked for worms, infection and given shots and scheduled to be spayed by 4 months old.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Second, you are not feeding her very good food and that's probably the main reasons for her being sick. 9 Lives is at the bottom of the list of good food. You need to get her on high quality foods (canned and dry) if you want a healthy kitten.
I suggest you go get Wellness, Blue Buffalo, Natural Balance, Merrick, BG (before grain), Max Cat, or Royal Canin - yes these are expensive but feeding poor quality food will cost your kitten a lot more in vet bills. You will need to mix the good food with the bad for awhile so its not a sudden change.
You definitely want to treat the fleas, as they cause cats a lot of discomfort, and with the more exposure the cat has to flea bites, they can become allergic and need to be on steroids.
Walmart sells a product called Uri-Ease that helped the same problem with my cats urine. It is a paste you just give them a bit of it (my cat loves it).
After the fleas are gone (you need to treat them for at least 2-3 months) you should worm the cat (fleas give worms if your cat has eaten any of them). I was at the vet today and got a wormer you put between their shoulder blades so it is easier on their stomach.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
To treat the fleas I would get flea shampoo as well as frontline. Frontline is expensive but it is seriously the only sure shot at getting rid of them (I tried all the cheap ones first). Depending on where you live, frontline is way cheaper at a farm and home store if you have those.
