New kitten not peeing or pooping - please help

I have no I sea how to work this site but here's my problem I have a 1 week old kitten. The mommy set it aside from her other kittens and will not take car of it. I have had it for 5 days.. Bottle feeding it replacement milk and stimulating the kitten to use the bathroom. It would pee so I used a warm wet rag and it actually used the bathroom for around 2 days by it's self. Now it won't pee or poop and I have feed it and try stimulating over and over again. I don't know what's wrong but honestly I cannot afford a vet visit! Please help!!

I hope you get the answers you want & neede!!! Good luck! 

kenderken97 said:

I have no I sea how to work this site but here's my problem I have a 1 week old kitten. The mommy set it aside from her other kittens and will not take car of it. I have had it for 5 days.. Bottle feeding it replacement milk and stimulating the kitten to use the bathroom. It would pee so I used a warm wet rag and it actually used the bathroom for around 2 days by it's self. Now it won't pee or poop and I have feed it and try stimulating over and over again. I don't know what's wrong but honestly I cannot afford a vet visit! Please help!!

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Ok, so you did step in when the mom abandoned it - correct!    And in the beginning everything went well.   But now its not eliminating at all, even after you stimulate...

The most probable - and which I hope, is it happened to get too little water.  Ie its dehydrated.   Its dangerous if not helped, but its easy to help.

It may also be some internal problem, and its why mom rejecteed it.  If so, she is probably a goner.  Even a vet will almost surely not be able to help it.

Unless this vet is very experienced with helping small kittens. Very few vets are.

Brw,  what  replacement milk you do use?  EXACTLY?

How long it wasnt  eliminating "use the bathroom"?

Is she still eating the replacement milk?

You do have some nice heat source for it?  Like a heat pad, or carrying it at your chest?  Such small kittens must not get chilled out, they cant keep their own body temp either, so its not enough with a bedding in a nice blanket.   TOO warm isnt good either, but the most common problem is too cold.

OK, how to give more water.   The easiest to begin with, is to dilute the milk with water somewhat.   That is almost standard.  It helps also it you happened to have the formula a little too concentrated.

Another tip may be, to give a few drops with a dropper, between the feedings.   Kitten tummy down, head up, a little diagonally raised up.  Dropper in the corner of the mouth, and put is slowly drop by drop into the cheek.  slowly and controlled, so you are sure no water (or replacement) goes into lungs.

So that is the basics against deydration, which also helps against many of constipation.   Essentially, more water.

A pedialyte, homemade or bought, can be used instead of part of the water.

It this doesnt helps, you can add a couple of drops of  some cold pressed food oil,  like  olive oil or canold (=rapeseed) oil, with her replacement milk.

Minerale oil is even more potent, but you must get some sort which is ok to take by mouth.   Most minerale oils are supposed to use outside.

There are more tricks for constipation, but its enough for now.  She isnt just constipated, I think she is deydrated, as she isnt peeing either.

Re stimulation for eliminating.

There is one nice trick, where Catwoman here had proposed a nice reinforcement:

Using running warm water!

You take the kitten in your left hand, holding her backside in your hand, the kitten steady and well.   If she is wriggling much, you can surely wrap her up in something.

You let warm water run.  A shade more than lukewarm, but nowhere hot.  

You put in the kittens rear end under the water - the kitten feels this as warm and cozy, and relaxes.   You tap with your right forefinger on her private parts and there about...

alike mom washing with her tongue....  (the tapping the this brilliant reinforcement!)

Works splendid, and they dont get sore from excessive stimulating which otherwise easily happens.

Just be sure she doesnt get chilled out.  No draught,  dry off her as well you can, be sure she is warm and on a warm heat pad afterwards.

I think this is it, for now.

Please come back with rreports,  answers to my questions,  and any further question you may have.

Good luck!

continuing!    You can write your answers while Im continuing.

ps.  What a vet could easily help with,  is to inject subcutant some  suitable fluids, essentielly a mix of water, salts, glucose sugar, with some extras to give it correct pH.

Because she is prob dehydrated, it would give immediate relief, I think.

As you dont afford to visit a vet (sure there is no cheap spaying clinic? they will prob do basic standard treatments too, for just a few bucks)

so you yourself must give her fluids, water, asap.   So begin with not just  diluting her kmr, but give her a good helping of water with this dropper, or even easier and better, a one ml 1cc  needle less syringe.  As described earlier.   More than just a few drops.  Several ml if she swallows.

Burp of curse afterwards, as usual.

I have a small area where I have a heat pad on low for her and I have given her pedialyte a few times and she is drinking her milk very well the brand is hartz precision nutrition milk replacement for kittens. I have tried a small amount of water in a bottle and last night she peed once! I am going to keep working with her!! I do however think she has an URI I've been googling and she has all the symptoms.. A vet visit is coming very soon! she's such a cutie! I'm not giving up on her!!

Thanks for all the help and advise I will keep you posted!

kenderken97 said:

she's such a cutie! I'm not giving up on her!!

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Re the brand of kmr.   You must know Hartz gets uneven results.  For many it works OK, but for some it its disastrous.   Why I dont know, probably an uneven quality control.   I mean, there are many brands, some better some tends to give constipation or diarrhea.  But  very few of them are known for sometimes direclty dire results with kitten collapsing.

Try to find some other brand.  That  made by PetAg, KMR in powder, is the best.  Royal Canin  kitten milk replacement is also OK...

Goat milk is OK, and raw goat milk is excellent.

There are even useful kitten glops.  Levi68 has now a tread, where he uses a homemade, rather basic kitten glop based on dry milk. It seems to work.

Update on the kitten.. Today she has used the bathroom more times than within the week I've had her! By her self to beat it all we are taking a trip to the vet tomorrow for the URI! Hope everything is still okay though!!

Okay do we have another problem.. I took the kitten to the vet yesterday and he confined she had a URI. He gave her oral antibiotics and told me when her eyes open he would give me some eye ointment. Today one of her eyes is still shut and crusty the other is swollen and it's barley open like half of her eye and when I look inside of her eye I can only see the infection. Is it normal for her eye to swell and have at least some gooyness or is this a complication from the URI? Please help!

@catwoman707  could you advise?

i would take a warm wet rag and wipe his eyes and keep it clear of crust

If there is swelling in the eye it is critical to get help ASAP, this confirms that her uri is herpesvirus (nickname only, no relation to human herpesvirus) technically called rhinotracheitis, the most common uri in cats.

The eyes are affected and need antibacterial eye ointment several times a day, and without it can cause it to ulcerate/burst and the eye is permanently destroyed, usually needing to be removed, so act fast, call the vet ASAP and say you must get antibacterial eye ointment now.

Be vigilant! Once swelling occurs it is well on it's way into bigger trouble.

You will need a warm water washcloth, holding it on her eye one at a time for as long as possible. Wait a minute more and then do it again, but this time very gently swipe her eye to help remove the softened crud.

You will likely need to do this several times a day, and even when you are applying the eye ointment, often times you will wake up and go check her and see her eye is sealed shut with crud again, NEVER force or pry eyes open. Soften the eye crud, allow it time to get soft, then eye will open and you can apply the ointment.

Once you have the ointment, I use this sometimes to soften, swipe a strip right on the line where her lids come together, you will soon see her eye open once softened, and then apply it directly on her eyeball to get at the infection inside her eye.

Now, if the swollen eye she has now is allowed to be open enough to drain the infectious fluid, the swelling should go down soon.

I assume she is getting liquid clavamox correct? This will help her clear up soon, but meanwhile be SURE to feed her as much as normal, whether she wants it or not.

Amount to feed is 8 mls per ounce of weight per day.

So if she weighs say 5 ounces, 5x8=40, so 40 mls per day total.

She needs to gain 8-10 or more grams a day, so this is important to monitor daily.

Good luck!

He gave her liquid clindamycin. And I just got the medicine he have her terrimicin eye ointment. Her eye is swollen very badly though her is beginning to open and the pus and infection is all that I can see inside of her eye. She refuses to let me get near her eye so I have to hold her down it's swelled all the way into her check area but I could put the ointment on until today because her eyes were opened at all I will take the advise and help and reply how it goes! Thank you so much for the help!

Terramycin is what I use too.

Don't allow that swollen eye to glue shut again, it has GOT to drain or will be big trouble for that eye.

Clindamycin is okay too, I just prefer clav but nothing wrong with clindamycin either.

Can you post a pic of her eye?

When I look into her eyes I can only see white puss :/ but here's some pics

I've tried and tried.. Maybe you have an email or a cell phone I could send you a picture on? I really want some one to look at her eyes because they don't look good at all to me.

You can send an email to me at AbbysMom @ thecatsite.com (remove the spaces) and I can try to post it for you.

kenderken97 said:

He gave her liquid clindamycin. And I just got the medicine he have her terrimicin eye ointment. Her eye is swollen very badly though her is beginning to open and the pus and infection is all that I can see inside of her eye. She refuses to let me get near her eye so I have to hold her down

it's swelled all the way into her check area but I could put the ointment on until today because her eyes were opened at all I will take the advise and help and reply how it goes! Thank you so much for the help!

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Wrap her in a towel like a burrito.  This way you dont need to held her by sheer force.  Also, being wrapped up and helpless, they tend to cease resistance.

The same tip if  they are for example difficult to cut nails.

Good luck!

AbbysMom said:

You can send an email to me at AbbysMom @ thecatsite.com (remove the spaces) and I can try to post it for you.

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If you post pic of the eye will you please @ me so I can see? Thanks!

AbbysMom I am sendin you pics right now! And also I have a question catwoman707 for really anyone would hurt her to try some baby food to get her to gain weight?