Caring For A Megaesophagus Kitten - Practical Tips & Product Links
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- Опубліковано 27 сер 2020
- This is a quick overview of what it was like caring for Jolly Fish in his first few months, along with several resource and product links below. This video was made back in March and I'm super happy to report that he is doing even better now! Watch for another update video with a few more tips in it.
Jolly has a playlist with all of his videos linked below. You will find videos from his diagnosis journey along with pics of his xrays.
Litter #38: • Litter #38 Jolly Megae...
This is an Amazon list of suggestions for elevated feeders & fountains that I found when I started my research:
www.amazon.com/shop/influence...
Jolly's first video about his diagnosis:
• A Sick Kittens Journey...
Jolly's 2nd video:
• Update On Jolly The Me...
Design for Megaesophagus feeder on Thingaverse:
www.thingiverse.com/thing:340...
Mega Feeder 3000 $220:
www.adaptivetechandconsulting...
Lighthouse Forge 3D Printing:
www.etsy.com/shop/LighthouseF...
/ lighthouseforge
The Facebook group, Feline Megaesophagus, is a great place to meet other MegaE parents and get tips and support!
Bowls at Dollar Tree:
www.dollartree.com/printed-me...
The Amazon links mentioned are affiliate links that help me earn a small commission on eligible purchases at no cost to you. Anything I earn goes to buying litter for the foster kittens.
Be sure to follow us of Facebook and Instagram for daily updates!
Everything I recommend For Kittens & Cats Can Be Found Here. --Food, Gear, Toys... All of our favorite cat related stuff:
www.amazon.com/shop/influence...
Wish List:
*If you'd like to send a gift to help cover fostering costs, we have an Amazon Wishlist set up: a.co/aGNGDLj The shelter covers all healthcare but we pay for all other fostering costs so any donations are very much appreciated and will help us save more lives through fostering!
Before Commenting, Please Note
*These kitties are NOT ours. We foster through our local shelter. The cats come into the shelter as strays or owner surrenders.
*ALL cats are vaccinated, spayed and neutered before the shelter allows them to be adopted
*Yes, these kittens are adorable but not all of them are lucky enough to make it into foster care for the chance to survive. PLEASE Spay & Neuter your pets!
*YES, their bedding is changed and litter boxes are scooped throughout the day. Sometimes I clean AFTER a video so I can catch something they are doing on camera.
*The shelter covers all healthcare but we pay for all other fostering costs out of our own pocket. These costs include food, litter, bedding, toys, gas to drive to & from the shelter, etc.
*Some Amazon links I post are referral links. Any small amount earned goes directly toward buying kitten supplies.
*Yes, we have a Wish List on Amazon & the link is above!
*You can email Missi at FosterTheFelines@hotmail.com
Best Cat Toys List: sagablaga.wixsite.com/fostert...
Thanks for watching & I hope you'll Like & Subscribe for more Kitten Cuteness Overload! Liking and subscribing will help us spread the word about the need for foster families and the importance of spaying/neutering our pets! You can also Like us at www.Facebook.com/FosterTheCats & @Foster_The_Felines_OK on Instagram for more current updates.
www.Facebook.com/FosterTheCats
Instagram @Foster_The_Felines_OK
Our fostering blog Foster The Felines:
sagablaga.wixsite.com/fostert...
Music: B.there.4.u
Musician: Jeff Kaale - Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
❤thank you!
Thank you! I just found out one of my rescue cats has this condition! This has made me feel so much better about his condition
Carlie, I'm so glad! My biggest advice is don't give up. Even our shelter kept trying to "prepare me" to lose him but I have found that so many people think it's not manageable because give up too soon. It is SO hard watching them go through this but once you find a groove, it gets much easier ❤🙏
My biggest advice with Megaesophagus is don't give up! I have talked to countless other foster parents who were told that there was no hope and they needed to consider euthanasia. Our own vet was even afraid to be optimistic. I can honestly tell you that out of all of the Mega E foster parents I talked to, none of them ended up losing their kitten and they were all able to be adopted out and go on to be healthy adult cats. This is obviously not the case 100% of the time but there IS hope. Feel free to email me, Missi, directly at FosterTheFelines@hotmail.com. I'm terrible about remembering to check for comments every day but I DO check my email every day. Good luck!
Thanks so much for posting this! I'm so glad to hear that he's doing well 😊
We are currently fostering a kitten with megaesophagus, and this video has offered a lot of reassurance! She has been labeled as a hospice kitten, so we are planning to adopt her. Despite her diagnosis, she's doing really well! She rarely pukes or regurgitates her food, even when she eats dry food. We do not have her food or water bowl elevated yet, but I'll definitely look into doing that! Any other advice that you may have to offer would be greatly appreciated 🙂 Thanks again!
So I'm so late! I'm so glad she was doing well; how is it going now?
@@FosterTheFelines It's going well! Her symptoms seem to have improved quite a bit! She regurgitates food occasionally, but not often enough to be concerning. She's really coming out of her shell and has begun to play with her siblings, which she was never up to before 😊 We're hopeful that her prognosis is better than what was originally expected :)
Thats amazing! Good work!
My 8 months cat have this she just gave birth with 3 little kitten and found out that she have this it so hard to see her so stress and can't eat properly. Hoping she will be okay soon
What an adorable, sacred precious cottony piece of heaven miracle of love! I’d still kiss that sweetheart! Such a softy! Would a baby bjorn kinda deal work to keep him upright?
Nirma, Yes! I'm actually getting ready to put a couple pet slings on the Megaesophagus Amazon list. I never tried it with Jolly but looking back, I wish I had.
I have a question, do you have problems with hair balls getting stuck and maybe causing him to regurgitate his food because the hair ball builds up in his esophagus? because my kitten has been regurgitating his food and he was doing fine before. What do u do if this happens ?
@Breanna Johnson Jolly does not have problems with hairballs which is kind of odd considering he has long hair but it's never been a problem for him. But I imagine this does play a part in the puking for most cats with ME. Were you able to try adding more liquid back into his food?
Hello I‘m texting you from Germany and First I want to appologize for my bad english 😂
My kitten ela has megaosophagus and the docs told me that she wont have a long life:(
That that was the worst thing I‘ve ever heared..
And I dont want to give up, because my Kitten Ela ist still fit and active. I love her so much and we must fight against it...
Please pray for us I‘m just crying since the doc told me that😢💔
S.u. 01, You're English is better than a lot of the folks here in the States 😂 I'm so sorry about Ela's diagnosis. While it's important to remember that there are a lot of varying degrees of Megaesophagus, to biggest advice is don't give up. There7 were several times when our shelter vet tried to prepare me for the worst because she had never seen a kitten with Megaesophagus make it. I believe its because so many people don't know what is wrong until it's too late (it took Jolly Fish a while to stop that reflexive gag and let his esophagus heal from excessive vomiting. Thankfullyhe was able to come back from that point) or never know HOW to take care of it. There were times when I felt like the vet wanted to suggest euthanasia because she didn't want us to have to watch him waste away. Simply put, people have learned to not EXPECT them to make it.
It was absolutely heart breaking to see him getting weaker and weaker but once we knew what to do, he started to get better. And while that part was hard too, it's one of the most worthwhile things I've ever done in my life! I can't believe that last Christmas morning this boy was literally dying and this month I'm posting videos of his very big butt playing in the snow!
As I said, I don't know your girls case like your doctor does but I know what I and many others have gone through. I have come to know several foster parents who also were told their kitten wouldn't live a long life and a year later the condition has virtually reversed itself. Jolly sometimes start to choke a little bit and it takes him a minute to get it together but this doesn't happen often. He learned very quickly that he needed to slow down and take his time. He still uses that lesson when he gets choked up and works right through it. It is VERY rare for him to actually vomit now.
I'm sorry for the long novel of a reply! All this to say, don't give up yet. You and your girl may have a very long life together ❤
Thank you. I was also told that I should just euthanize my boy. I need to try and do whatever I can. Was surgery a option? My vet said it could be but would cost lots if the hospital would take him in as a patient.
It depends on the case. Some kittens are good candidates for surgery and some are not. It's been a few years now so I honestly can't remember any of the qualifications for surgery. The surgery is very expensive though I don't have numbers for you. Our Jolly Fish was not a candidate for surgery so I don't have experience with that route
We've been looking for a feeder like that for our cat Smokey. Instead we just prop up his bowl on a few takeout containers, but I'll look into the feeder you have!
Great video! Subscribed to your channel and hope you can check out ours!
Nemo, Thank you! That is what we did for the first week or so while our friend made our feeder for us. It worked but it would move around a lot. There are some more elevated bowls in my Amazon list in the description
Any specific types of food you would recommend for my cat with megaesophagus
Just any canned food. If you're just starting out in this journey, you may want to start with a "meatshake", canned food mixed thoroughly with broth or Kitten formula. With Jolly, we had to start with puree and move towards the thicker canned food as he could tolerate swallowing it. My go-to for kittens is Royal Canin Babycat and my adult cats eat Dave's canned chicken formula. You can find both of these on my Amazon "Food, Treats, Supplements & Feeding Supplies" list. bit.ly/FTFAmazon
Hey guys how is jolly now ?
I am the girl from Germany an I commented before :)
Ela still has the esophagus and it is so hard to feet her :(
I hope jolly is better and I also hope that ela will be better.
S.u. 01, He is doing so well! I'll be sending you & Ela love and prayers ❤🙏🏻
How is your kitty doing?
Zenaida, he is doing so good! He doesn't have any issues eating anymore. Every now and then he will get a bit choked up but he just slows down and is able to correct himself with no vomiting. ❤️