Tuesday was a hard day for us
I felt so sick and could barely sit, lay down, eat or drink. A few times I thought I had found the magic solution by eating some Dutch biscuits (those are very dry) and this worked for a few hours until it didn't. I will save you the details though. This day was a business day for my boyfriend, who was on his own (until the little angel came back from school to help play with the kittens).
The day went over very slowly simply because days don't fly by when you're feeling the way I did. I was hoping so badly that I'd be better on Wednesday because then the kittens had to go to the vet for their testing and anti-parasite treatment. Fingers crossed.
Wednesday came
It was day 10 and thankfully for all of us, I woke up feeling a bit more alive. I knew this day was going to be better when I woke up, although I surely didn't touch any food that would risk my stomach getting upset again and I also stayed away from coffee that day. Because Guisante had to leave on Friday due to a long journey of 7 hours and a friend of the new family being in the city close by, we had to make sure all kittens were tested and saw the vet before her departure.
A long appointment
I did not realize this appointment would take hours, otherwise, I'd have sent my boyfriend away and picked us up after we were done, instead, he stayed outside waiting (it was horribly hot inside the vet's office, glad I was not feeling the way I did the day before), and later he sat in the car. Not ideal, but it had to be done. I was not prepared for this appointment in terms of what was going to happen, it was not pleasant honestly, I felt bad for the kittens.
Apparently (I didn't know) they take blood from the neck so first they need to shave a part of the fur in the neck and then after all kittens have been shaved, the vet comes. Three of us needed to make sure the kittens weren't escaping while the vet was pinching the needle in their vein in the neck. I didn't like holding them in this situation and I surely didn't like seeing how tiny these veins still were and how hard it was for them to get blood out of the smallest kittens. If I'd known this, I'd not have left our daughter in the vet's office, as now she witnessed it too. It was very clear that when the last one, Frijole was up, it was so much easier to get the job done with him as he weighs so much more than the rest and is much bigger so the vein is much easier to pinch correctly at once.
Normally the kittens have to weigh until they're bigger like Frijole and this situation would have been different but as they now had one sibling leaving this week, we had to take them all. After this, they all received a tablet for their regular anti-parasite treatment as well as a poop sample being tested. We only had to take the sample of the worst poop and I have to say that on Wednesday two of them already had normal poop again (or at least, close to normal) and Guisante never had diarrhea in the first place.
A positive test for Guardia
Unfortunately, the test came back positive for Guardia, the parasite that their mother had treatment for and so did the kittens for the past week. I was not prepared for them to say this was still there and another week was going to be added to the medication. They hate getting it, it tastes nasty so it seems and they try to escape the whole time when you try to give it. We have been giving it together with one of us holding them tightly so the other will be able to give the medication slowly. It's not as easy as you may think, the syringe is so small and not being used to using it meant it came out way too fast the first time we tried. Therefore we switched to giving them 1/2 of their treatment in the morning and the other 1/2 in the afternoon. In between these moments, we give them liquid probiotics so their stomach can hopefully relax a bit. They love the probiotics taste, so that helps.
No grudges
Thankfully, they fell asleep after the appointment and were not holding any grudges against me for holding them tightly while the vet tried to pinch the needle in their vein. I cuddled them a lot afterward and thankfully they seem to have forgotten about this quickly.
Another week of meds, also meant some more diarrhea, which also may have been caused by another tablet of anti-parasites they received at the vet. Either way, we had some more poop for half a day or so although it was great to see that Frijole's poop was looking quite good not long after this appointment. It seems that when they get bigger they are more resilient, which makes sense. Little Haba, Garbanzo, and Alubia were the ones still having diarrhea at this point but when you clean up after them right away, it's not that bad anymore, it only becomes really messy when they accidentally dig in it with their paw, then it's bathing time again. Yes, we had a few more bathing moments with some kittens because of this reason to avoid them spreading the poop.
It's amazing to see how one round of kitten bathing makes you a quick expert in how to get a dirty kitten washed within a minute or so and then dry it until the fur is dry enough to place them on a hot jug. I remember looking up to the task the first time, now I find it as easy as making coffee, lol.
That's all for today, tomorrow I'm back with another part of the Bundle of Beans Diaries!
Previous parts
- The Bundle Of Beans Diaries - Introduction
- The Bundle Of Beans Diaries - Day 1 - So Much Love!
- The Bundle Of Beans Diaries - Day 2 - Smelly Business
- The Bundle Of Beans Diaries - Day 3 to 8 - Bathing, Cuddling & Storytime