I have 2 orphaned kittens, I've had them for 3 days now. They're about 3 weeks old. One boy is 13 oz, the other boy is 12 oz. They seem to be healthy, and quite content with their new mom (me)...they eat very well, play with eachother and are little purr bugs. The only problem is, though I can stimulate them to urinate, they have not given me any poops. I have tried stimulating them with cotton balls, a washrag, and paper towels. I use very warm water. I massage their bellies...which they love, but it doesn't help them to poop!
I originally was feeding them formula mixed with a little bit of baby food because the bigger baby has attempted to eat on his own off a plate (even though he snorts as much up his nose as he actually eats), the smaller one gets his food syringed...neither wanted to be bothered with a bottle. I also give them 1 cc of Nutrical everyday. I called up the vet today hoping to bring them in but I was told that I should stop with the baby food and just feed them straight formula for a few more days. They also told me that it's a shock to the babies system to have this new diet but that they will give me poops eventually.
I know that the babies are quite irritated about being constipated. Everytime I pet them, they roll over on their backs and stick their rear legs in the air...almost to tell me that I need to do my job and get them pooping already! When I raised a litter of 5 day old kittens, they were constipated but the vet taught me how to give them enemas on my own. I'm very tempted to do the enemas with these babies but...I don't know. It has been atleast 3 days since they last pooped and I don't know how much longer they can go before running into some problems.
Does any one have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
I originally was feeding them formula mixed with a little bit of baby food because the bigger baby has attempted to eat on his own off a plate (even though he snorts as much up his nose as he actually eats), the smaller one gets his food syringed...neither wanted to be bothered with a bottle. I also give them 1 cc of Nutrical everyday. I called up the vet today hoping to bring them in but I was told that I should stop with the baby food and just feed them straight formula for a few more days. They also told me that it's a shock to the babies system to have this new diet but that they will give me poops eventually.
I know that the babies are quite irritated about being constipated. Everytime I pet them, they roll over on their backs and stick their rear legs in the air...almost to tell me that I need to do my job and get them pooping already! When I raised a litter of 5 day old kittens, they were constipated but the vet taught me how to give them enemas on my own. I'm very tempted to do the enemas with these babies but...I don't know. It has been atleast 3 days since they last pooped and I don't know how much longer they can go before running into some problems.
Does any one have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.