So, July 27th I acquired a cute, spunky little black kitten from someone who provided me with a "medical record" and supposed bill of health. I found the person through a craigslist ad. About 2 hours after bringing her home I found a flea. I freaked out and put her in quarantine (my bathroom, I live in a one bedroom apartment and have another 2 year old cat). I also found that she was having the most foul smelling diarrhea you can imagine. At that point I had made up my mind to return the kitten, as I had realized I was in over my head. The woman I had bought the kitten from was and is no where to be found. Then I thought that I would take her to the humane society, who told me that they had just received 30 cats in that morning and had no room for her--pretty much a guaranteed death sentence--so I sucked it up and brought her back home again. At the humane society they gave her a de-worming treatment, some kind of oral flea medication, and a distemper shot.
The next day I noticed she was scooting her butt all across my bathroom floor, which was the last straw for my "disgusting tolerance" and took her to the vet. The told me that the kitten's "paperwork" was fake and that the kitten was not 4 weeks, but an underweight 6-7 weeker. She did a fecal float test and found "a large number of coccidia." She prescribed her Albon--on for five days, off for five days, and back on for five days. The float test did not find any other parasites, but about a week later I noticed her diarrhea had what looked like white boogers, I looked closer and they started MOVING. Eew! I took the kitten back in and the vet said what I described sounded like tapeworm segments and she gave her a tablet that was supposed to kill them off in one dose.
The kitten is now on day 14 of her 15 day Albon treatment, and as of yesterday her diarrhea had only gotten worse and was becoming streaked with blood. I feel I should also mention that for the first week or so I was scrubbing everything down with a diluted bleach solution daily, as I understand the primary problem with coccidia treatment is reinfection. Then I was browsing around online and read from a few sources that bleach actually does nothing to kill coccidia spores (which is fantastic considering I used the same mop for my kitchen floor as well). I have since switched to the sani-wipes we use in the hospital I work at for cleaning down isolation rooms. They're supposed to be quite strong.
Anywho, yesterday the vet also prescribed me amoxicillin and pro-pectalin to help with her bloody diarrhea and also sold me some low-residue wet food to reduce her "output."
I asked the vet about giving the kitten another general de-worming treatment, just to make sure all the bases are covered, and she pretty much told me that I shouldn't be treating the kitten for worms she doesn't have. My thoughts are that if the fecal float test came up negative before when she had tapeworms, then I really don't put too much stock in the test period. It also costs over $20 a pop and I've spent so much on this poor baby already.
So, if you're still with me after my whole story, what I would like to know is if any of you have dealt with a young kitten with any of these problems, and if so, how were they resolved? Also, when do you think I should consider testing for FIV and FeLV? I just don't see how it will be humane or practical to keep this little girl locked up in my bathroom.
Also, I may be overly anxious about this whole thing, but I am also worried for my own health. Within the past week I've been noticing occasional pain around my lymph nodes and I'm freaking out about having God knows what from this kitten. I have only one bathroom and I have been showering in my bare feet.
I made a Dr.'s appointment for myself this friday.
Suggestions anyone?