Animal Welfare Professionals

In this popular and surprising Million Cat Challenge webinar, Drs. Jody Gookin and Sandra Strong discussed the results of their study of survival statistics and novel treatments for orphan kitten diarrhea at an open intake municipal animal shelter. We let their half-hour webinar go about 37 minutes before we had to stop, but that left many, many questions unanswered. I'll be posting some of those unanswered questions here, and Drs. Gookin and Strong will be stopping by to respond.

For those of you who were unable to attend, I'll post a link to the on-demand version of the webinar once it's ready.

Love a webinar with a surprise ending!!! This was a great one. 

Thanks! Sandra and I are thrilled that you liked it!

I'll go ahead and answer the first question myself! Q: Where can we read the study? A: The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, online at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1098612X19840459?rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed&url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&journalCode=jfma

Hi everyone!  The on-demand webcast is ready: click here to watch! 

Q: What determined which kittens would get the vitamin supplements?

Kittens that came in for a veterinary appointment for diarrhea because the foster parent was concerned.

Currently we tell fosters if they are eating, bright, alert etc give it a few days and then contact us. 

 Q: Were kittens that received SQ fluids, pen g, tube feeding and were associated with non survival sicker when enrolled?

Our presumption is yes because these kittens were less likely to survive. 

Yes- the kittens getting these treatments were more critical/ill.  Everyone was 'enrolled' in our data tracking but some were not treated due to panleukopenia or severity of clinical condition (fading quickly) at the time we saw them for a veterinary appointment.

Q: Were you putting the probiotics in the formula with bottle feeders?

No we have not done this, but it is an interesting idea :)

At Abandoned Animal Rescue (Magnolia, TX), some of our bottle baby foster have added Forta Flora to the KMR formula.  Some fosters feel this is very helpful and others are not so sure of the benefit.

Q: Were any anti-nausea or appetite stimulants used in any treatments? Cerenia, Mirtazapine?

Not in this study group. We find most kittens start eating with vitamin supplement or warming the food.

Since then I have used dermal mirtazapine (extra label due to age) a few times but it's rare.

Q: What are your thoughts on use of PCR diarrhea panel on kittens that do not respond to typical (supplements, supportive care, antibiotics) to try and come up with diagnosis? Many of ours come back corona positive, but not sure how relevant this really is.

I think these can be hard to interpret. Some  (most of) of the infectious agents on these panels can be observed in cats with and without diarrhea. I will run these on cats with an acute, bloody or febrile diarrhea as a broad look for things like Salmonella, Campylobacter, etc. It also might be a reasonable approach to surveying what kind of infections are endemic in a population of cats.

On the incoming protocol, was Revolution applied under 2 lbs? Or only on those over 2 lbs?

Yes, if they are a pound they get revolution on intake.

I just watched your video with Dr. Gookin and it was EXCELLENT! As a rescue, I am currently modifying my own intake protocol (including those kittens I pull from WCAC) and was wondering if you have ever used Diagel or Synacore. I currently use Diagel as a last resort, after other dewormers/anti-parasitics have been used. I have also been using Synacore and/or Pro-Pectalin, so was wondering if you had ever used those. I use HiVite for the most severe cases, but may look into using it more frequently based on your study results. 

Our volunteer rescue vet at Abandoned Animal Rescue (Magnolia, TX), likes to use Panacur for kittens with diarrhea.  These are kittens that have already been treated with Strongid on intake and show no signs of parasites.  Does anyone else do this and do you think it helps?