Unfortunately, I knew that this litter was going to get a URI. There mother was very sick with a URI and they got no colostrum from her. So their immune system is even more compromised than normal.
And on Monday, I noticed that they were starting to sneeze. Nothing too alarming. We decided to start them on famciclovir. URIs are almost always viral, and this is an antiviral. Unfortunately, there is almost no information on its use for neonates. UC Davis has started a trial on it. (Source) And I was able to find information on how to dose it in kittens on Austin Pet’s Alive Neonatal Procedure Handbook:
Compounding Famvir to (90mg/ml)
- Crush 1 pill (125mg/ml) with mortar and pestle
- Combine crushed pill with 1.38cc solution in a sterile medicine bottle. Solution
should be a mixture of Feline Solution (0.7cc) and Karo syrup (0.7cc). - Stir well and store in the refrigerator with with proper labeling- Expiration in 14
days.
Dose is 0.05 cc/# PO BID x 7 days
But despite starting it on Monday night, by Tuesday morning one of the kittens was gasping for breath and refusing to nurse. I’m being extremely aggressive in trying to treat this. This is what I’m doing so far:
- Fluids 2-3 times a day. Fluids can help thin the mucus in the nostrils.
- Lots of humidity. Since they are in an incubator, I increased it to 80%. However, if they weren’t I’d have a vaporizer going on.
- Nebulizer treatments with Vicks Vaposteam. I’m doing about 5-6 treatments for about 10-15 minutes at a time.
- Tube feeding.
- Saline Drops in the nostrils.
So far, I’m not having much luck. The following video is a clip of what Spots looks like currently for reference. Yes, it’s hard to watch, but the purpose of this blog is to share as much information as possible, even if it isn’t pretty.