please help 4-5 week old kitten with liquid poop

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  • #36984

    my dad found a kitten yesterday its adorable very lively eats well drinks water from a bottle haven’t taken it to the vet really don’t want to unless Absolute necessary it was found in the wild i don’t know if someone was feeding it and its brothers im honestly not even sure how old it is but 4 to 5 weeks seems about right it eats softened cat food with water its all i had ive raised another kitten quite successfully this one however when i stimulate it to go to the bathroom i thought it was just peeing which it pees just fine not too yellow not too pale but i thought it couldn’t poop then i realized it was pooping but it was pooping liquid it is very active doesn’t cry unless it wants to be held it plays a bit its acting completely normal just no good poop i thought maybe it was because of the change to cat food from whatever it had been eating before also i gave it a bit of goats milk please help me i really want it to make it also it has some patches of fur missing but it looks to be getting better and its not tender to the touch its belly isn’t bloated its normal its got a little pouch of jello fat so i think that’s a good sign of health please help

    #553935
    jcat
    Participant

    Hi, Megan, you’re doing a wonderful thing by rescuing this kitten. Diarrhoea is not good for young kittens because they can get dehydrated and go downhill very easily, so I think a visit to your vet might be the best thing. The kitten could need deworming. (You mentioned its brothers — do you know that there are other kittens out there? What has happened to them?)

    I would keep on with the wet food drizzled with goats milk and try to keep up the kitten’s fluids (water, pedialyte or gatorade) as well. If s/he becomes dehydrated (check the websites below for the ‘tent’ test — grab a handful of kitten’s skin at the neck and let go — if it snaps back, kitten is all right, if it goes down slowly or stays up in a ‘tent’, kitten is dehydrated) or becomes ‘flat’, limp and unresponsive, he needs to get to a vet.

    These are very good websites to help with kitten issues:

    http://www.messybeast.com/handrear.htm

    http://www.kittenrescue.org/pages.php?pageid=15

    http://www.fanciers.com/cat-faqs/orphans.shtml

    http://www.feralcat.com/raising.html

    Check the pink tags, especially ‘diarrhea’, in the top right hand corner for previous threads and good advice on these subjects. There are some very experienced kitten foster mums on this site so please keep checking back for more advice. Good luck with your little one.

    #553936

    the other two got given to other people ive been giving it water about every hour just a drop or two and food every 3 hours it eats a few big bites and drinks the liquid i cant go to the vet tonight will it be ok until the morning its acting like normal

    #553937
    jcat
    Participant

    This is what the Messy Beast website says about diarrhea:

    “Severe Diarrhoea or severe Gastro-Enteritis is a serious inflammation of the stomach and intestine which causes abdominal pain, severe diarrhoea and often vomiting. It quickly causes dehydration and electrolyte loss due to excessive fluid loss. The kitten may cry in pain if it has the strength to do so. Seek immediate veterinary help. Antibiotics may be required to combat infection. If and when the condition stabilises, the kitten may be too weak to suckle and may require tube-feeding.

    Milder cases of diarrhoea are serious, but can often be corrected by the hand-rearer (if it persists, seek veterinary help immediately). It may be caused by overfeeding, milk replacer too concentrated, inappropriate diet, digestive intolerance/abnormality, viral or bacterial infections. Kitten faeces normally has the consistency of toothpaste and be yellow-brown in colour. Loose, yellow diarrhoea is a sign of over-feeding or feeding a too rich milk mixture. White diarrhoea indicates an intolerance to the milk formula. Foul smelling diarrhoea is a sign of E coli infection. As well as fluid loss, diarrhoea can cause a bowel irritation which aggravates itself. The bowel must be allowed to rest. Frothy vomit is associated with Feline Infectious Enteritis.

    Swift treatment is essential as dehydration, collapse and death can then happen very rapidly. If kittens become collapsed and dehydrated they need immediate veterinary attention if they are to survive. Kittens in a collapsed state become chilled very rapidly. They will usually be given subcutaneous fluids by the veterinary surgeon.

    Treat mild cases by diluting the milk 1:1 with boiled cooled water, which should be given until the diarrhoea stops. Severe cases should not be given milk, but given 5-10% glucose, glucose-saline, or isotonic electrolyte solution (e.g. “Lectade”), all of which can be obtained from a veterinary surgeon. These solutions should be given until the diarrhoea stops. Afterwards introduce milk diluted 1:1 with water, gradually returning to full strength milk 12-24 hours later. See: rehydration

    If the condition has not improved after 12 hours, seek veterinary advice. If the condition stops when electrolytes are fed, but recurs after returning to milk the problem lies with the formula used. A further period of electrolytes is needed to settle the gut, after which a different formula must be used. If you suspect that the kitten cannot digest one particular milk formula, seek an alternative (with veterinary advice) and introduce this after electrolytes instead of the original formula. If the cause was too rich milk, feed a more dilute mixture. Note: some kittens are less tolerant of lactose than others.

    Feline Infectious Enteritis is a major killer of feral and stray kittens and a hazard in cat rescue/shelter situations. Care must be taken to avoid cross-infection.”

    #553938
    jcat
    Participant

    Sorry, Megan, you posted while I was typing! If it’s still eating and acting normally, that’s great, keep getting the fluids down it. But keep a close eye on the kitten. Try the ‘tent’ test every few hours. If kitten suddenly becomes ‘flat’ — goes limp and unresponsive — you may need to get it to an emergency vet, if one is available, so check now for one in your area. Hopefully that won’t happen! The diarrhoea may be due to its change in diet, to kitten eating too much, or it may have coccidia, which is a parasite.

    #553939

    haha i think its going to be ok its rolling around and biteing my elbow i just gave it a tiny bottle of waterd down goat milk im in an isolated aera and nothing is open right now tommrow straight away im going to make a vet appointment and buy some kmr my other hand reared is crazy jealous im keeping them seperate though thank you so much for your help i just care about my animals so much it kills me when they get sick

    #553940
    jcat
    Participant

    Sounds good! Check with the vet whether s/he thinks goats milk or KMR would be better, I suspect goats milk may even be preferable if it’s easier and/or cheaper for you to get.

    Your other cat will be jealous, it’s a good idea to keep them separate if you can, just let the other cat sniff the new one through the door for a few days and only short (gradually getting longer) supervised times together. Your other cat needs lots and lots of attention right now — s/he thinks s/he is being replaced — so give him loads of encouragement and love and when s/he’s in the same room as the new kitten, try to ignore the new kitten (difficult I know) and lavish all your attention on your older cat, that way he’ll realise he’s not being replaced and hopefully will accept the new one.

    #553941
    anncetera2
    Participant

    Megan, there’s another good reason to keep the kitten separate from your cat right now. You don’t know if the kitten has a disease or parasite that can be passed on to your cat. Be sure to wash your hands immediately after handling the kitten, and before petting your cat. You mentioned some patches of fur missing, and that can sometimes be a symptom of ringworm (not a worm, but a fungus that can be easily spread and hard to get rid of).

    Pay LOTS of attention to your existing cat! This is so important! Your cat needs lots of reassurance that this little intruder isn’t going to reduce the amount of attention s/he gets.

    Definitely a visit to the vet is called for. At the least, worming, treatment for diarrhea/gastric bugs, and a check of what might be causing the patchy fur is called for. Good luck!

    #553942
    CSBM
    Participant

    try a little cooked rice in her diet

    #553943
    jcat
    Participant

    Bump for Megan.

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