Failure to thrive with "thick" urine

I have an almost six week old kitten with failure to thrive. It has been in my care for 5 days. It weighed 7.4oz when it arrived and was cold, staggering and had diarrhea. He was started on Clavamox at once and 48 hours later was having firm stool but the colour was/is very dark. (I should mention that he has two brothers who are thriving and weighed over 14oz when they arrived.)

As of this morning he is hovering between 8.5 and 9.0 oz. His energy and strength has improved greatly. He uses the litter box faithfully.

However... I am using corn stalk bits as litter as I find clumping very messy for these tiny guys. The strange thing is..his urine clumps in the corn bits! I have never seen this before. Usually, it pools at the bottom and the kernels will get wet.

Anyone have any thoughts on why his urine would be so different? He is eating very well but will not eat on his own. I have to syringe food and water in. I'm slowly trying to get him off the syringe but his health is so compromised I don't want to force it.

He still has the big belly and skinny face and butt look. They have been dewormed with Profender.

If he hasn't started to gain a bit better my Monday, I will take him to the vet.

The three are barn kittens that mother would not feed but had human intervention and were hand raised.

(yes, I've considered perhaps mom knew best??)

Sorry for the long post..

If you can get a sample of his urine for the vet to test, maybe that would tell you something? I don't know what else to suggest.

Have you been giving pedialyte to keep them hydrated? I was bottle feeding a litter of 3 abandoned kittens (eyes still closed) and my vet told me it was fine to deworm them at 2 weeks, so we did. They got SO sick. I literally thought 2 of them were dead several times. They wouldn't eat, were lethargic, losing weight. I was frantic trying to figure out what went wrong. FortaFlora REALLY helped them. it's a probiotic and I split one packet between the 3 of them once a day. Could it be that the dewormer you gave them also killed some of the good atibodies? That's all I can think of.... hope the kitten makes it. I know it doesn't make you feel better or help at all but as you said, sometimes there is only so much you can do and there is just something wrong with the kitten and no matter what you try it may not help, and that isn't your fault. Keep doing the best you can! 

Yes, he was on Pedialyte for 3 days. He's drinking alot and peeing alot. My concern is how much he is actually absorbing as it looks like he's starving and acts like he's starving.

Tonight, one of his brothers started with foul smelling diarrhea with red blood. (tiny bit) Now, I'm wondering if they have coccydia. I have had kittens (all orphans) who have had it before and had failure to thrive. But usually they have diarrhea that is pale greyish. Since the amoxicillan seemed to cure the diarrhea, I didn't think it was coccydia and his brothers have been fine. (good normal poops)

They havent had a change in diet, I am only giving a tbsp at most of wet twice a day. Other than that, they are on Royal Canin baby cat.

I have been giving them FortiFlora as well. I gave slippery elm for a day or two when he had diarrhea.

My experience with coccydia is the kittens literally act like they are starving..all the time. You can feed them and feed them and they are never satisfied. This is what the little guy is doing. I've called him Raj ..going with the Big Bang Theory theme. (Sheldon and Howard)

All he thinks about is food. So, when I saw that Howard was getting foul smelling diarrhea, I thought I'd try a round of Baycox which is used to treat Coccydia. I HATE Baycox..it's a liquid that makes them foam at the mouth for like 20 minutes.

Honestly, it might be Raj's last hope. I'm going to contact the barn owners tomorrow and see what they want to do. I don't mind helping out with a vet visit but then what if he can't be helped and needs to euthanized...

Ugh.

So, Howard had a watery, stinky poop last night but this morning..only a tiny toothpaste poop! Yay!

Raj's poop is still black but I'm hoping that will improve. The Baycox thankfully, is usually only given once a day for 2 or 3 days.

Most sites recommend them having a dose prior to getting sick as it's so common.

I really hope this works for little Raj..worried about him.

Raj's poop is def dark brown now. But..he just doesn't seem to be putting on much weight. I am wondering about FIP. But they are not lethargic, I don't think they have a fever and they eat really really well...

Ugh. So frustrating.

Too young for it to be FIP.

Excellent that you are feeding them Babycat! I can't count the number of kittens I have turned around with that food, and daily canned, occasionally a dish of KMR.

They come with sparse, coarse thin fur, skinny butts and fronts, and a big pot belly. Always underweight with dull-ish eyes, some have their inner lids exposed. So sad, but they are young and you can turn them around, well the one who is tiny and unwell.

It will take a couple weeks to really see some changes begin, I hope you got him soon enough, but putting on weight after under a week is a positive sign at least.

The only ones I've been unable to save are those who came just a little too late to help

The bit of blood tells me coccidia. SO darn common in kittens who came from outside.

My med of chouice for this? Def. Ponazuril. Fast!

When I had my orphans the I fed them raw goats milk that i got from a local farmer and my vet gave me hills science diet a/d critical care. They didn't like the wet a/d so I mixed it with goats milk until it was "smoothie" consistency and syringe fed it. Eventually they started to like it and would suck it out of the syringe while i pushed down on the plunger. My vet also discouraged me weighing them everyday. I bought a gram scale for them and was weighing them after every feeding, he said to weigh them once every 2 days or so. Have you had a fecal done? I thought mine had coccidia as well but the fecal came back negative. I just could not figure out why they weren't really eating and weren't gaining weight even when they did it. It was like it went in and came right back out and they didn't absorb ANYTHING. Like I said it ended up being the dewormer. I would try to fortaflora if you can get it. It can't hurt them. Sounds like you are doing everything you can. Keep us posted on how they are doing. 

Thanks for your replies, I have been mixing Royal Canin Kitten Development wetfood from vet with a bit of pumpkin and fortiflora. He will not eat on his own, so I mix with a bit of water and syringe it. He eats very well.

his stool is much more normal after Baycox treatment. He is between 9 and 10 oz depending on whether he has a full stomach or not. He still does not play ..only searching for food constantly.

Have I mentioned that they have oily fur? Especially the little one..Raj. Never seen that before. I can bath them and it makes no difference.

I'm glad they are too young for FIP!! I only had access to Baycox as I have some from the many fosters that I've done. I haven't done a fecal because they are barn kitties that no one is really invested in.

I do have access to goat's milk as my friend has a goat barn. But I guess I'm thinking plain water would be better on the digestive system.

Here's a photo of Raj with my dane Gunner.

Progress!! He was actually content to be petted and snuggled for a short bit! He also seemed more aware of his surrounding,

watching his brothers play. All week, he only meowed and begged for food constantly. If one of his brother came near the syringe

when he was eating he would growl and carry on..tonight..nothing!

Now I just have to teach him that he can eat on his own!!! Little bugger <3

Aww!! I'm smiling

So, I got him eating on his own..sometimes. However, he still has this big bloated tummy. He burps alot too. He's been on FortiFlora.

Why would he be so gassy? His poops are good.

He's hovering around 10.5 oz as of tonight.

He'll eat from a dish now but still runs to me and cries most of the time. He does alot of suckling when he eats as well. Perhaps he

is taking in alot of air?

I gave them Profender last week..I have strongid here but it's too soon for that. He is still eating Royal Canin Development canned mixed with a bit of pumpkin. He's just started to eat a few kibbles of Royal Canin baby cat.

He probably just wants to nurse ad that's why he is fussy. You're right he could be taking in a lot of air making him gassy. My bottle fed babies r 4 months now and they still drink water weird... like they are suckling. Small kittens are just really vocal I think. My vet was constantly telling me "if the kitten is active, eating, and not losing weight they will probably be just fine." Every little thing worried me. As long as he is up and walking around, making noise, eating and pooping he is probably ok. Its when they r lethargic, not eating, and nothing is coming out the other end that u need to worry. Sounds to me like u r doing everything right. Do you have a heating pad for him? Keeping it on low where he can lay on it (if he wants to, don't make him lay on it) might help him digest his food better.