Sickly sphynx cat?

[sullenwish]

We rescued a 7 month old sphynx kitten from a stone shop where he was a bit neglected and always cold. I washed him, clipped his nails, cleaned his ears and fed him. But he seems extremely lethargic. He's been just sitting in his basket under a blanket for a couple of days now. He occasionally gets up to eat/drink a bit and use the litter box He doesn't seem to want to explore, and he also seems kind of weak (he fell a few times while trying to jump on the bed.) He's been fed low grade food before and had very little grooming so maybe he is still recovering? All he wants to do is sleep under a blanket. Is he just still recovering or will this behaviour stay? What would be the best recommendation in this case? He is also WAY too small in size for his age. He looks about 4 months old.
Thanks very much.

[zodiacqueen]

I am sorry that the news wasn't better!  I was hoping to hear that it was just an infection that some antibiotics would get rid of!

I think that the most important thing is keeping kitty warm-I know the sphynx is a hairless breed.  Also, keep a check on his hydration.

Best wishes and prayers to you and ET!!  :D

[sullenwish]

So I took ET to the vet and the news are not good. He either has a congenital disorder that makes him weak or he has either FELV, FIP or leukemia which he couldn't be tested for because he ate an hour before the visit. I'm going to take him on Saturday to get tested, and his original owner agreed to pay for lab work thankfully, because I can't afford a $400 vet bill. He also had a scratch on the surface of his eye, which the vet gave me drops for. He said the only thing  I can do is make him comfortable and feed him some nutramalt(sp?) so he would fatten up. The vet said the sphynx are a weak and sensitive breed, so the poor guy caught a tough break since he's the weakest out of the litter. Thanks to everybody who helped me out with advice.  I will try to give  ET a decent and comfortable life for however much longer he has left.

[Ghilly]

I think that's probably a good idea to take him in the morning instead of later in the day.  I REALLY hope the vet is able to figure out what his problem is, both for his sake AND for yours.  I always feel so badly for people who go that extra mile for their pets and keep hitting brick walls at every turn of the road.  You and ET are in my prayers.  Please let us know as soon as you can how you fared at the vet.

Ghilly

[zodiacqueen]

I wish you the best with the vet visit.  Please let us know how it goes!

[sullenwish]

Thanks for your post. I am very concerned as well. I am going to bring him in the morning instead of after work.

[zodiacqueen]

Hi, I've been following this thread!  I haven't commented before because I felt like Ghilly and Savas pretty much covered everything.  Now, your last update has got me very concerned.  Is there a way you can get your cat to an emergency vet or make an emergency visit to a regular vet.  This does not sound good at all.  I would not wait for an appointment.

Best wishes!

[sullenwish]

Poor E.T. is getting worse... I came home and he pooped himself while sleeping, he hasn't done that before. Hopefully the vet will be able to figure this out sooner rather than later.

[Ghilly]

Awww, he's adorable!  Thank you so much for sharing pics of him!  

Savas had a great thought when he wondered about all the dust and stuff in the air at the stone shop, but after reading what you said about the other family having him, and the fact that you can't speak to the vet that neutered the cat and treated him for the stomach thing, well, now I can't help but think that the answer is going to lie with that somewhere.  Neutering is a VERY simple procedure, and if there were an infection, chances are good that there would be swelling or some sign that something was wrong in the area of where his testicles were.  He would also be doing a lot of licking.  Unless the hospital where he was neutered was completely septic, systemic infections following neutering are extremely rare.  How I WISH there was a way for you to get in touch with that family, even if not to ask them questions themselves, at least to find out who that vet was that did the neutering and treated the cat for the bloated stomach thing.  
PLEASE keep us posted.  This really has me stumped!
Good luck to you!  Give E.T. a hug from me!  He's so cute!

Ghilly

[sullenwish]

PS: Here are a couple of pictures of poor E.T. with mom and nephew:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31751388&l=f60d4&id=34602584
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31751389&l=6d261&id=34602584

[sullenwish]

You are right about the stone shop, they also do grinding and it's fairly dusty. I will let the vet know about this tomorrow. He has a brother who still lives in the shop and seems to be active and doing well. I found out he got like this after being neutered a month ago. Perhaps it is an infection.
Ghilly had a good idea about getting information from kitten's previous vet but it turns out that the owner let "some people" take the kitten in for a couple of weeks and THEY got him neutered and that's when he got his shots. So I have no way of finding out.
Thanks for your good advice, I will keep you posted.

[sullenwish]

Hi Ghilly,
Thanks for the response. I only had the kitten since this weekend and so far i gave him one bath. I do wipe him down with a warm went cloth every day, since he is also doesn't lick himself after going to the sandbox. And my apartment is warm, I also bought him a sweater. I think the problem has something to do with what happened before he got to us, I am taking him to the vet tomorrow.

[Savas]

A quick question;

A stone shop?

Do you mean a business that just sold marble/stone or they actually did some grinding and shaping?

If the latter is true, then there is a possibility that particles from the shaping process (stone, marble, silica dust, etc) have lodged in your kitty's system and are creating problems. Remember, everything in your cats environment ends up in its stomach and lungs.

[Ghilly]

I've been thinking about this kitten all day.  A couple of questions have come to mind, if you wouldn't mind me asking them.  Do you bathe him regularly?  Sphinx cats, not having hair, have no natural means of absorbing the oils that are secreted through their skin.  Because of this, Sphinx cats need to bathed once a week to remove the oils from their skin, because their pores get clogged up and it's not healthy for them.  The other thing that I was thinking about is what is the weather like where you are?  Is it cold and snowy (or even just very, very cold) where you are?  If so, perhaps the kitten's lethargy is being brought on by the fact that he's cold?  It might be that he's more comfortable all cuddled up and sleeping than he is moving around because the house is too cool for him to be comfortable?  If it's not warm enough in the house for him, he might be trying to stay curled up and sleeping as much as possible because he's warmer that way.  Could this be possible?

Ghilly

[Mrs_Savas]

You're certainly welcome!  Let us know what happens and don't hesitate to let us know if there's anything we can help with.

PS, Ghilly is right, you should take a fecal sample.  The best way to do this is to replace the litter in the box with some newspaper (the day before you go to the vet or the morning of the same day).  That way you can just pick it up and put it in a plastic bag without litter sticking to it.  Nice job, I know, but it will be helpful for the vet to check for parasites.

Good luck!

[Ghilly]

Poor little guy!  It's wonderful that he has a loving home with you now!  Mrs. Savas is absolutely correct.  He needs to be seen by a vet to rule out intestinal parasites as a cause of his lethargy.  A seven month old kitten should be acting like a lunatic, not sleeping 98% of the day.  Can you contact the people where you got him from and ask them which vet they took him to?  I would then contact that vet and explain that you now own the kitten, and you would like his veterinary records so that you can transfer them to your own vet.  This will do two things - it will give your vet something to go on since he can see exactly what went on when the kitten's stomach was extremely swollen, and it will let you know whether or not the people were telling the truth about having had him to the vet.  Sometimes people will tell you what they think you want to hear, whether it's the truth or not.  If it turns out that the kitten hasn't been to the vet after all, it's even more imperative that you get him in there for an examination and a fecal sample.  Please let us know what happens.  

Ghilly

[sullenwish]

Thanks for the reply Mrs_Savas.
We will take him to the vet to see if he has some parasites or viral infections. Supposedly he has already seen a vet before and gotten his shots. Also, we were told that he had an issue some time ago where his stomach was severely swollen. He seems to be doing a bit better- he doesn't miss the litterbox anymore, and he cleaned himself a little after eating which he hasn't done before. But he still sleeps 98% of the day.

[Mrs_Savas]

Has he been to see the vet since you took him in (good for you, by the way!)?  If not, there are several diseases that he needs to be tested for and, if the tests are negative, innoculated against.

Given his living conditions previously, he very likely has internal parasites (like worms) if he hasn't been to the vet for wormer.  This could be causing it, it could be one of several viral conditions, it's just hard to say without more information.

In the meantime, make sure he does drink water and eat canned food as well as dry, to keep him from becoming dehydrated.  Otherwise, it seems like you are doing everything right.

Side issue - be very careful about clipping his claws.  In fact, I generally counsel people not to do it at all - it can crush the claw and let in bacteria which can, and often does, cause a really nasty infection.  A scratching post should do fine, he'll keep his claws under control.