Introduction and a few questions (cross posted to paralyzed)

[LassieCat]

Hello all, I am happy to have found this forum. I live in New York City and have recently acquired a 7 week old kitten named Alaska (aka Lassie). She was brought into the vet office I work at by her breeder to be euthanized. I was not able to let that happen to this sweet little baby, and took her home. She has a congenital defect, her right leg is deformed as well as her tail. The deformity keeps her foot flexed at the hock, the leg is also mostly paralyzed. The left leg is mostly paralyzed and she drags it. She has no control of her sphincter and I have started her wearing a diaper. When I first got her, she was not urinating on her own and had a big, distended bladder because the breeder never helped express it. I have been expressing it for a few days and since last night, lo and behold, I saw some urine come out on its own, and saw the diaper full of urine this morning. I will continue expressing it to help it regain its tone, and hopefully she may regain some sort of bladder control, or at the very least she will just leak freely, which is better than having to always express it in my opinion.

I started out wanting to adopt her out. I live in a 400 sq foot apartment with my husband, dog, cat, two rabbits, three birds, and a tortoise. I have zero space. And right now the little sweety is in a crate in the bathroom with a heater. Today I found out she also has coccidia and I will begin treatment. After that, I may still try to find a home for her, but I am so extremely nervous attempting to adopt her. Because who knows what kind of hands she will fall into?

Basically, I just wanted to introduce myself. I also was wondering if anyone has any tips, as these last few days were the first time I have ever cared for a special needs animal. Should I attempt to do water therapy with her in the tub? Should I get her a cart? Since she has absolutely no sphincter tone and poop comes out freely whenever it is in the rectum, is there anything I can do to do the poop on demand methods, or am I stuck keeping her in a diaper? Is there anything else I am not considering?

I feel extremely discouraged as I spoke last night to a vet i usually trust, who owns a cat and rabbit practice, and she yelled into the phone for ten minutes about how I am being selfish in keeping her alive, that it is animal abuse, and she is doomed to live a life of pain and misery. She strongly urged me to euthanize, and I don't know much about the topic, but I think she deserves at least a fair chance.

Thanks, everyone in advance

[CarolC]

I feel extremely discouraged as I spoke last night to a vet i usually trust, who owns a cat and rabbit practice, and she yelled into the phone for ten minutes about how I am being selfish in keeping her alive, that it is animal abuse, and she is doomed to live a life of pain and misery. She strongly urged me to euthanize, and I don't know much about the topic, but I think she deserves at least a fair chance.

Good grief! I thought that went out with the Dark Ages. Sheesh! The first thing you need to do is find another vet for this particular kitten. I haven't heard anything like that in a long time. I am very surprised. You really don't hear much of that anymore, thank goodness. A year from now you might want to take your healthy, happy disabled cat back to this vet so she can see for herself, and maybe she will learn something.

There is no reason she would live a life of pain and misery. Why does she think that? Are you having any issues of sores on her legs? That would be about the only issue of possible pain I can imagine. Misery, certainly not. Here is a video that is a good example, about a cat named Pookie. You can see he is a happy cat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdIBtw8_7No

Cats do not usually like carts too much but there are exceptions. Cats are pretty good at getting around without one.

It's great that you know how to express. I think you want to be kind of careful about letting feces or diarrhea soil her female area, there is risk of a urinary tract infection. A good way to express the bowel on a cat is with intestinal massage. Cats have such soft pliable tummies that you can really feel the colon and help mobilize the stool toward the exit by massaging it along. Any time you notice stool in the rectum, you can kind of pop it out, just put a kleenex over her rectum like you would over a child's nose, and kind of pinch the skin around the rectum and the stool will pop out. Kleenex is optional.

It would be great if you could post a picture of this little kitten. I'm glad you saved her!

[BendyMom]

that vet should be ashamed of themselves.
there is no reason that little kitten can't have a good life wth a dedictated owner.
an off label treatment for coccidea, btw, it a rabbit treatment.
http://www.allthingsbunnies.com/product-p/med132.htm

and is far better than Albon, in that this actually kills the parasite. i dose .01mls/ounce of kitten x 3 days, repeat in a week.
it is off label so a vet can't really recommend it, but you can google and read up on it.

i have three diaper cats. yes they can be a lot of work but they are happy.
expressing the bladder is important to prevent urinary infections. expressng the colon is important for obvious reasons. these guys are prone to urinary infections and megacolon.

if you check out my website youc an read up on some of my diaper crew. i regret that t is out of date due to lack of time to keepit updated. butterbean and black cherry are on there. they are both hind end deformed. Hopper has manx syndrome and is incontinent, she is the latest.

certainly sounds like you have a full house! do you have cat trees or other climbing spaces for the cats? vertical space helps tons with cats when floorspace is tight.

there is a facebook group with a ton of diaper cats...
they can also help you with finding a home.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CatsWithParalysis/

I am beyond full here with 3 diaper cats and a host of others on top of that (and a bunch of reptiles but they don't need much).

I can give you nothing but encouragement, these cats can have great lives!