If this is what having babies is gonna be like, count me out--erm...again, I guess

[trinityvixen]

One of our dear sweet baby kitties has been ill. I was away this weekend and missed the start of it, but feiran informs me that Oscar has been sickly since Saturday, vomiting and the like. Normally, this wouldn't concern me--my three cats at home routinely vomit up their food when they eat too much or too fast or something they shouldn't be eating.

But Oscar is so skinny, I fear for his very life when the baby isn't keeping anything down. He's never been as voracious an eater as Wally (who has got the rolly-polly look going on already), never really cared overly much for the dry food, but always ate his fair share of the wet food I set out for them in the afternoon. He's bony and light, and this being sick has made him feel more so, especially as Wally, who was the smaller of the two, has shot past him in size.

Beyond that, Oscar just isn't bopping around like a kitten ought to or like he was doing prior to getting sick. He's lethargic, and the most he'll show interest is when I stand up and walk towards the room where we kept them for the first week. But once there, he won't do much more than he does in other rooms, which is just sadly plop down and curl up. From a lazy adult cat, that would be fine, but he's a kitten. He ought to be flopping over balls rolled down our hallway like his playmate.

Last night, I let them come into my room for a while, and Oscar showed some interest in that. I managed also to get him to eat some tuna last night, so that I know he's at least had a little something in his bitty stomach. I panicked, seeing him so listless and energy-deprived, and I ran out to the grocery store to buy different wet and dry food to see if those wouldn't appeal better, which is also when I picked up the for-human-consumption quality tuna, which i know he likes. Keeping Wally out of his face so he could eat was a chore, but he ate a little. Not sure if the different kitty foods will appeal more to him, but I won't stop trying.

Gaaaaaah, I'm panicked and worried and anxious about my kitten! What if he's really sick? Not just "Kitty ate something stupid" sick? I've never seen a kitten so pathetic. Wally jumps on him and he just walks away instead of fighting back. He was soooooo bouncy and pouncy just a week ago! I can't stop worrying about him, poor baby. I was supposed to write something for class today, and that just wasn't happening because it was too easy to get distracted by Oscar, by checking to see that he was still breathing (yes, I really was looking over at him repeatedly to be sure he wasn't dying, I was scared).

We've made reserve appointments for them with a vet, but it's cheaper (even with gas factored in) to drive out to Long Island to the North Shore's clinic, so I might just do that. As they're the ones who sold the kittens to us and they have given us a month's worth of insurance on them, I assume I can see about claiming on the kitties should they have something more seriously wrong with them. Wally sneezes all the time, too, so maybe they can see if there's something they can do for him (and finally convince me that it's just dust not a URI)

Comments

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

I hope the little guy is all right.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I do too. He seems a bit better, or seemed to be when I was home just now. He's still dropping his head into his food and water dish when he eats, which could be a laziness thing or still some sickly weakness. At least he growled at Wally when Wally tried to pounce him today, that's an improvement over just sitting there and being gnawed on.