Hi TDK,
I’m fostering my first bottle babies and quite possibly have first time mom syndrome. According to when the lady found them these babies are about 17 days old, but the way they’ve been more active made me think they might be slightly older than that.
The first few days they were pooping quite well, the lady who found them had been feeding them with the canned premixed KMR. I used that the first few days until it ran out, they pooped fine yellowish and soft-serve consistency sometimes quite a lot. The shelter gave me powdered KMR and the kittens seem to be quite constipated now.
After two days I emailed the vet and according to her suggestions I used my last can of the premixed stuff and then diluted the powder a little more. When that didn’t work I scoured the internet and decided to add a few drops of mineral oil to their bottle. Day before yesterday they did poop a little, one was dry enough to crack in half but then was soft again. Now the poop is fairly soft, but a really tiny amount and fairly mucousy which has me concerned.
They also scream bloody murder when stimulated. I’m not sure if they’re straining or raw (I’ve applied a little Vaseline to try to soothe the area) but I notice that sometimes their anus will bulge outward. I’ve emailed the vet and am waiting to hear back but any advice in the meantime would be comforting! They’re still gaining weight and active and otherwise happy kitties outside of bathroom time.