Help-starving kitten w/ projectile vomiting

Hi all, It's my weekend on the phones for our local feral cat coalition. I got a call from someone who has found a 6-7 wk kitten that appears to be starving to death-very thin with it's ribs very apparent. It gobbles food like it's starving and then immediately vomits it up violently. I thought of pyloric stenosis-which is a congenital problem where the flaps of the digestive system which let food move thru are still sealed shut--I know this about human babies- my question is - do you think a kitten could have this condition? and - Do any of you have any other ideas? I felt so bad that all I could do was refer her on to an agency that deals with pet emergencies and that won't be open again until Mon.

Is there not a Pet Emergency Center in your area? We have two in Memphis. Anyway, I know this is weird and I had never heard of it before but we had this happen around to a cat that was rescued and brought to our shelter. His name was Laptop. At about 6 weeks of age we couldn't figure out why this was happening. When we finally got him to a vet, he had no anus. This was terrible. The only difference was his tiny belly was so swollen. In any case, I would recommend getting it to a vet as soon as possible. Perhaps he was so hungry that he ate too fast? Could this possibly be the case? I know my cats do this as I have several that lived on the streets for quite some time and they were used to being hungry and not knowing when their next meal would be. The gobbled food like there was no tomorrow. Please keep me updated on this as to I would like to now what happens.

Your kitten could certainly have a congenital condition but surely such a blockage would have manifested prior to the kittens sixth week of age.

Worms and other parasites can cause blockages and/or vomiting in kittens as can FIP. Some veterinarians will administer a scaled back dosage of wormer for very young kittens - some won't.

Try feeding very small amounts at a time. Your starving kitten's little digestive and circulatory system may not be able to cope with a full sized meal. I have had experience with this and have found feeding 1/8 to 1/4 of an ounce at a time helps the kitten keep the food down. Give many small meals. Dehydration is a danger and the kitten may require subcu fluid from a veterinarian. This animal is young enough to draw a great deal of benefit from drinking KMR or Tiny Tigger or any other milk replacer made for kittens. Canned Science Diet A/D is very good for sick, weak and malnourished animals and is only available through a licensed vet selling Science Diet products. One can does go quite some distance.


Keep us posted.....