My kitten is cold, hiding, and drooling. What should I do now?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Based on your description and the pictures, I suspect that he has an upper respiratory infection. Many times upper respiratory infections can be contributed to the herpes virus in cats. I would recommend taking Catty in to be seen by a veterinarian so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. An antibiotic will likely be prescribed / administered to help with any secondary bacterial infections. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction and that Catty feels better soon. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hi and thank you for posting your question on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! You can also use maple syrup if you don't have honey or corn syrup on hand. A little bit under the gums will help bring his blood glucose level up. You may also try warming up her food (if it is wet food) and offering that to her. Sometimes warming the food brings out the favor and may entice him to eat a bit. I hope this has helped and I hope he has a speedy recovery!

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Storm. Applying some Karo syrup or honey to her gums and tongue will provide some rapid glucose for her body to burn. You should try to force feed her with a good kitten milk replacer via bottle or syringe but if she is weak she might not nurse. Your best bet would be to get her to a vet immediately so they can evaluate her and then treat her accordingly while trying to figure out what is going on. Make sure she is nice and warm since small kittens cannot regulate their body temperature. Their normal temp should be around 99 degrees to 102 degrees farenheit. Not sure how old she is but you need to be stimulating her genital area also to get her to eliminate. Again these little guys can get sick very quickly and it's important you get her help as soon as you can. Good luck with her. I would also advise deworming her unless that was already done. Deworming should be done every 3 weeks after 2 weeks of age for at least 3-4 times.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Oh no!! I am very worried about this kitten. I don’t think she will pull through. If you can get her to a vet I would do so immediately. Sometimes we never know who some kittens don’t make it, whether is a genetic or congenital issue or infection. But the mother usually knows. I with you the best!

I am very sorry to hear about Cujo. Unfortunately, if all the other kittens have died, he is facing very bad odds. I would be very concerned about infectious causes of death, including fleas, intestinal parasites, bacterial infection, or viral infection including panleukopenia. If he is not interested in eating on his own, I would recommend bottle feeding or syringe feeding kitten formula as he can easily get dehydrated and hypoglycemic. Try to get him warm - you can use a heating pad set on low or put a towel in the dryer for a few minutes to warm it up. You can also hold him inside your shirt and rub gently. Hypothermic kittens are much harder to treat than warm kittens. You can also try rubbing honey or Caro syrup on his gums as a way to get some sugar into him.

I am so sorry to hear about Kleo. These symptoms are very concerning and could potentially lead to if she goes untreated. It is impossible for me to say what is going on with her without an examination but with her symptoms we would worry about things like an issue with circulation due to a possible heart condition, hypoglycemia (very low blood sugar), neurological issues, toxicity. I would recommend rubbing some karo syrup or honey on her gums in case her blood sugar is low, wrapping her in a warm blanket or towel (one from the dryer if available to be even a little warmer if she is cold) and getting her to the vet right away. They will need to do an examination of her to try to determine the cause of the symptoms which will help determine if treatment is possible. I wish you the best of luck.

Since the mother cat is refusing to nurse or care for this kitten Brownie is probably suffering from a failure to thrive. If you are not doing so already, I would recommend supplementing her with a bottle of some kitten milk replacer. She’s probably not getting the nutrition she needs if the mother is not caring for her. She may also have a respiratory infection and/or intestinal parasites that need to be addressed. I would try bottle feeding her every 2 to 3 hours for a 24 hour period. If there is no improvement after this then I would recommend taking the small kitten into the vet to be examined. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.