Bottle babies and hard stool

Hey!
As some of you may know, my sister and I rescued a litter of 5 one week old kittens about 5 days ago. They're all doing fine and are growing at an increadible rate, but we've run into a snag. They're all having trouble passing their poos. Fortunately, I'm still able to make them go, but when picked up in a tissue afterwards the consistency is on the hard side and they sure do have to strain to get it out. We tried watering down the formula and day after day they're drinking more and more at each feeding (at this point about 4 tablespoons per feeding for all 5=one kitten bottle). Watering down the formula didn't seem to work. I'm not sure if we should water it down more, or use a small bit of oil or what. I can't find much info on hard stools on the net either...seems that most people have a harder time with diarehhia.
I figured this would be the forum to ask in, since you would be the most likely to have bottle feeding experiences. I tried to get ahold of the woman at the SPCA that is helping me today, but no one picked up at the number she gave me. I'll try again tomorrow if we can't come up with anything. Failling that, maybe I'll call the vet.
Hope you can help,
Jess

I'm going to move this to the Pregnant Cats & Kitten Care forum. I know that our Bottle Baby experts read there and are most likely to see your question in that forum.

Sylorna, Are you using the powder KMR and mixing it yourself all the time or do you use the already made KMR liquid. I learned/read that if you switch between these 2 formulas can cause constipation/hard stools. I had the same problem with my little Kricket. First I added more water, if I'm remembering right its 2 tsp water to 1 tsp powder. I would end up doing 3 tsp water to 1 tsp powder. That loosened her up some but also made sure that when it was mixed together every little bit of powder was mixed up. Also i added like 3 drops of oil to 1 full bottle. Doesn't seem like much but it worked good. I wish you the best of luck and hope this helps some. Another thing that can loosen them up is baby food but watch out theres a fine line between loosening up and diarrhea. I found that out the hard way when i allowed a fellow vet tech feed Kricket a bunch of it to wean her off the bottle and onto hard food. Poor little girl and poor me. hehe I dont think i would of allowed it any other way and if i could get another bottle baby i'd do it in a heartbeat. The kind of bond you have with them is unimaginable. Good luck with your 5, keep your head up too I know its hard work.

Hey Footers!
Thanks for the suggestions. We've pretty much tried all of that, with the exception that I've been giving them individual drops of oil with a seringe because there are so many kittens drinking from the same bottle and I want to make sure that they're all getting some. It's only once a day that I do that, and I skipped yesterday because I'm pretty stressed about the kittens right now. The vet suggested I start putting vitamin E oil on their bottoms to help with any chaffing and also lubricate. I haven't tried it yet, but it's an idea. The lady at the SPCA thinks that it's probably a result of a shock to their systems after not eating for 24 hours +...and it's true that beteween regimented feedings, extra water in the powder and a little oil, their bowels are starting to come around one at a time. I'm really looking forward to them being able to go by themselves! I'm glad to hear that you had such great results with your bottle baby. I've read some stuff about behaviour problems and that's got me a little concerned (although really, not terribly so ). Oh! And an older friend of mine is thinking of taking one of them! It's exciting because she'll be a great mom!
Take care
Jess

Hi!

As I posted in another thread, I'm currently fostering a 10 days old kitten. My only problem so far is I'm having a very difficult time getting it poo. Pee? No problem. *sighs*

I'll have to try the oil when I get home...

Good luck w/your five!

Originally Posted by Cheska

Hi!

As I posted in another thread, I'm currently fostering a 10 days old kitten. My only problem so far is I'm having a very difficult time getting it poo. Pee? No problem. *sighs*

I'll have to try the oil when I get home...

Good luck w/your five!

Click to expand...

Welcome to TCS....this is a really good page for orphaned kittens:

http://www.kitten-rescue.com/pooping_and_peeing.html

Katie

Thanks for the link and welcome TNR1!