Kitten with bloated belly..

[Erica]

Hey everyone! We've got a kitten about 8-9 weeks old now who is at the vet today. Her belly keeps getting bigger and bigger. Just wondering if I'm being paranoid after Gabriel & Grey Bear or did I do the right thing by getting her to the vet? It's noticeably bigger since yesterday and it's worrying me to death. She will only eat wet food, won't touch the dry food & I'm wondering about her water intake as well. She has serious diarrhea (sp?) and is getting over a URI. She's been on amoxi and the URI is almost gone and Albon but the diarrhea is not getting any better. I hope I'm just being paranoid and the vet will say she just has a serious pot belly or that it's worms but...I have no clue at this point.

[Tina B and crew]

The vet should be able to get to the bottom of it....could be worms...if that's the case Albon won't do a thing and it will need deworming meds. My experience with diarrhea caused by coccidia and treated with Albon is that it usually starts to clear up within a day or two. Yes you did the right thing getting her to the vet....IMO you can never be paranoid with kittens especially. I'm sure it's nothing serious. Congrats!!!

[Erica]

The vet is a total moron. he gave me eyedrops for her eye, he told me to use science diet mixed with wet food to give her more fiber (she doesn't eat dry food....at all) and said that "I should watch her belly". I've had her for two weeks! I think I would notice that her belly has gotten noticeably bigger over the last 2 or 3 days.He says "it might be a precursor to FIP" well...can I get a better answer..oh for cryin out loud. New vet!!

[Tina B and crew]

yep...new vet...honestly sounds like worms to me...has she been de wormed? Mine were with Strongid but needed a second treatment for roundworms. had awful diarrhea but no bloat. I hope you get some answers.

[Erica]

she was dewormed a couple of weeks ago. I'll do it again, I can get some Drontal and try that. I'm hoping to get her into another vet tomorrow. The problem is, she's not really my cat. She's technically a foster but we'll probably keep her. It's so funny to see her and Geoff together. It's like him & Gabriel all over again, she'll crawl up his shirt and head butt him. But the vet we went to we didn't pay for since it's rescue so any vet I take her to will come out of my pocket. I'm not too worried about it since we're probably keeping her but I just wish I didn't have to do it. This vet should be perfectly competent and address my worries. He did everything for problems that she didn't go in for and barely addressed the issue she did come in for. Her belly is NOT normal..I've seen kittens bellies before. I expect them to be a little pot-bellied but this is obscene and he should have done more than just look at it. I hate vets sometimes, I think I'm going to take her to Gabriel & GreyBear's vet. She's pretty good at taking care of things that I"m worried about.

[Traci]

It could be a combination of the food and worms, and also excess gas in the intestines (especially if her abdomen feels hard rather than normally soft and palpable)

Don't use the drontal until you know what was used last time. Strongid is given for roundworms and hooks, usually two doses, one initially, the second 14 days later. Drontal only needs to be given once for tapeworms. Neither should be given together, space them apart by at least a week of one another, and both of course, need to be given by weight.

If the stool hasn't been tested, ask for a fecal immediately. Also rule out coccidia and giardia, camphylobacter, clostridium (through the fecal analysis, this might also show bacterial overgrowth which could be causing excess gas in the GI tract and distention of her abdomen).

While Science Diet kitten food is an excellent food, some kittens do better on something else, you might try Iams instead. You can also try weaning her onto dry by mixing canned Iams Kitten with Iams dry kitten food. My kittens always prefer Iams dry during this weaning stage, it is also less dense, meaning not as hard to crunch on.

[Erica]

Just picked her up from the vet. We talked to him & I'm not as irritated anymore. ) I am a little worried still though. He said that the swollen belly doesn't feel like a typical FIP belly but that there was a build up of tissue on the eyes. I can't remember exaclt ywhat he called it so we got steroids for that to keep inflammation down. Also, her stool is apparently grey which in an older cat he would suspect chronic hepatitis but in a younger cat, would generally mean other liver problems. Yikes! I guess we just keep an eye on her and if the eye and stool doesn't get better within a week, she's going back in, probably for a blood panel, fecal whatever I can have run. ) Thanks!