Trying to stop kitten's strange diarrhea

Home The Daily Kitten Cat Chat Forum Cats & Kittens Trying to stop kitten's strange diarrhea

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #814902
    Lucy
    Participant

    Hi everyone, I’m new and desperate! I’ve been googling for kitten care help for the past 4 days and threads from this board keep coming up. You’ve been so helpful but I’m still at a loss with a poor little baby I found on Friday afternoon so I’m hoping someone will have more suggestions.

    My husband and I found him in the middle of a busy highway exit, he was sure to have been killed within minutes if we hadn’t passed at the right time. I have had cats as pets all my life but never had to raise a kitten by hand so it was new territory for me. We immediately went to Pet Smart and bought a bottle and some formula powder, took him home and tried to get him to drink, which he did.

    We took him to the vets on Saturday where he was given worming treatment (for roundworm and ringworm) and they said he was just 14 days old as his eyes were still opening and he has no teeth yet. He also hadn’t been to the toilet even though I’d tried stimulating him. The vet got him to pee but not poop. On Monday night he finally went but did a lot of diarrhea. It was light brown/yellow with dark specks that looked like it could be grass or something, it was strange. Every time I have stimulated him to go since Monday night, he has had diarrhea. It’s changed in consistency though – yesterday the specks stopped and it seemed to have small white lumps in it instead and today it’s just been pure yellow liquid with nothing else in it.

    I freaked out when the diarrhea started and bought Pedialyte as recommended on here. I’ve been making his formula with it instead of water since yesterday but the diarrhea hasn’t stopped. I read that it could be too rich a formula so I reduced it and made it more ‘watery’ but as yet, still no change.

    I’m really worried about him 🙁 His behaviour hasn’t really changed, he’s still quite curious and sleeps a lot when he isn’t wobbling around but he loves to feed and seems to have become hungrier. How many ml should he drink in one sitting? Could I be overfeeding him? I’m sure I’m keeping him hydrated as he’s had quite a lot of Pedialyte and I’ve done the ‘tent’ test. His pee is either clear or pale yellow which I know is healthy. I had a bad day yesterday crying thinking that he was going to suddenly die but he’s still with us thankfully and I’m just desperate to get this diarrhea to stop. We can’t afford to take him back to the vet yet so any suggestions would be so gratefully appreciated!

    Lucy

    #814906
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    Hi Lucy, welcome to TDK! I can understand your concerns, diarrhea in kittens is scary. It’s hard to know what’s really going on without a vet visit. There are some single celled parasites that can cause it along with the kitten having worms. The change in the color and consistency of his poop probably has to do with him getting a good diet now. The vet would have to test his stool to tell what’s actually going on and to see if there are parasites. This is common and treatable. The good thing is that you are making sure he is hydrated which is the big thing with diarrhea. He isn’t vomiting so that is a plus. You could try him on pasteurized goat’s milk, it’s very good for them and settling for their tummies and full of good flora for their gut. I started my kitten on it when he had a bout with diarrhea and it helped him a lot. You can find it in the cold milk section in groceries and in can in the baking section at Walmart. The canned is condensed to you can add water 1 to 1. You could also add pedialyte to the goat’s milk which is what I did. Keep us posted on his progress. Obviously, if his diarrhea doesn’t clear up, you are going to need to find out what’s causing it. Maybe you could call the vet and discuss a payment plan and give them his list of symptoms and see what they recommend.

    #814925
    Lucy
    Participant

    Thank you so much for the reply kittyzee 🙂 I will definitely look for goats milk, after you mentioned it I did some reading and it really does sound like it has a lot of good properties. I’m going to continue the pedialyte and formula for today and see if there’s any change but I suppose if it continues then we’ll have to find a way of getting him back to the vet. It breaks my heart every time he does some, and he cries so I know it’s painful 🙁

    One quick question – amongst all the good things I’ve read about pedialyte, someone said that kittens can ‘OD’ on it, is that true?

    #814934
    Kittyzee
    Participant

    I don’t know about a kitten ODing on pedialyte. The thing is that diarrhea is not normal and the pedialyte is used to keep the animal hydrated. The cause of the diarrhea needs to be found and fixed. IMO pedialyte shouldn’t become a part of the animals’ diet regular diet, it’s only a fix to give them the needed electrolytes, sugars, etc. that are lost during vomiting and diarrhea. Keep us posted on your kitten!

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.