[nvnvgirl]

Originally Posted by Woogie Man

There's quite a few things that would cause the symptoms you're describing. Have you seen any worms in his stool? Another possibility is that he has coccidia, an intestinal inflammation caused by a bacteria. The treatment for that is Albon but he really needs a fecal to determine just what's wrong. Watch out to make sure he doesn't get dehydrated. If he seems weak you can give him a little Nutrical or, if you don't have any, use some karo syrup or honey or molasses. You only need to use a dab at a time. This may help to keep him from going downhill on you until you can see the vet. Good luck with everything.

Thanks for your nice wishes! I thought about worms after doing extensive reading on the web yesterday (I've never had any experience with worms but some of the symptoms SOUNDED like it was a possibility), so after reading about what they use for all the different types, I went to Petsmart and got some SafeGuard and intended to give it to Madison, but since he wasn't eating up to that point, I knew it wasn't going to happen. Plus, then when he DID want to eat, I didn't want to add ANYTHING different that might upset his digestive system anymore. So I think I will hold off and let the vet decide.
With him having been alone and starving for I have no idea how long, there's so many possibilities of bacterial, amoebic, or other infections he might have going on.
My big "plan" was to find his owners , who then could take him to the vet, but that didn't work out, so then it was get him healthy enough to go get his shots at the low cost clinic and then get him to the vet for a physical. I just couldn't get him healthy for long enough.

I'm going to try to get him into the vet in the morning. Do you know offhand about stool samples? I picked up some of his yesterday, which I imagine won't be good by tomorrow? And should they or should they NOT be kept in the fridge (nice talk, but I need to know in case he goes tomorrow before I can get hold of the vet's). Thanks again!