Bottle feeding and stool

yep, he's with her right now. the other two don't seem to be too interested haha. but maybe she can bring him back to health.. i'll wait on introducing him to mush, he needs to gain more weight and i don't want to upset his stomach. but okay! i'll try giving the girls some next feeding time.

Let us know how it goes!

hershey is doing a LOT better! he's caught up with his sisters in terms of nursing, and he likes to walk around quite a bit.. i don't even think he looks to see where he's going, he just goes! he's gained a lil weight back too.

today i bought some kitten food, and made a "milkshake" with pedialyte, formula, and the kitten food, and a lil water when it was too thick. they all seemed to enjoy it.. any idea how often i should give that to them? they seemed still pretty full when i fed them four hours later.

Did they lap it on their own? If it's filling them up you can stretch the feedings out by another hour or so.

How old are they now, and are they still nursing?

I love hearing that Hershey is doing so well, and I like your milkshake ingredients.

let's see... it will be a month since i got them on tuesday! so abt four weeks now. i can't even believe it! 

no, it's thin enough i've been feeding it to them like the milk, in a syringe. every time i put food or milk out where they can get into it, they seem to just walk all over it and not know what's going on.... 

they are still nursing! i've been feeding them the "milkshake" every other feeding. they seem to drink less of it than the milk, too. they drink anywhere between 25-40 mL of the milk every feeding but only 10-15 mL of the milkshake.

they're also starting to try and run and climb.. albeit clumsily!

Their diet sounds wonderful!

Sometime in the next week or so they should begin to eat mush on their own. You may have to sit with them and let them eat it off your finger and then lead them to the bowl. They need to be good and hungry to be interested in their milkshake in a dish. Just keep trying because they are getting to the age where they are able to transition.

It's exciting when they begin to toddle and climb! We'd love more pictures when you have time!

omg guys, i need help again. harley has something going on with her skin around her butt. i thought it was just grime i couldn't get out of her fur, but i took a closer look during her bath today, and the insides of her legs seem raw and pink, and there's a spot that bleeds on the base of her tail. her skin is bumpy and looks like it's peeling. any idea what this is??? i've got a vet appt for her on friday but i need some peace of mind until then and google search isn't returning anything similar.

Has she had diarrhea?

yeah, she has.

Can you post pictures of her leg and tail?

Is that the soonest the vet can see her?

It's a burn  from the diarrhea.

She needs  A&D ointment.

it looks horrible!

it's the soonest we can afford to take her. the exam alone is $45 and i don't get paid until friday.

so some A&D ointment will help?

i also think there's still just some gunk chilling on her tail but i don't want to make it worse / hurt her trying to pick it off. 

Oh my! She must be in pain! It looks very raw!

I would try to let her soak her bum and tail in a small amount of comfortably warm but not hot water in the sink or tub. The tail and bum need to be clean with no gunk left. You don't want infection to start, but she needs a vet asap.

The ointment is Catwoman's advice to you.

Also, I want to ask about her diet and the diarrhea.

She had bloody stool about 2 weeks ago, but I thought that was better. Or was that a different kitten?

A couple of days ago they started self-feeding the "milkshake".

When did this round of diarrhea start? Or did it never quit? How often is it and what does it look like?

Is she self-feeding well? How much and how often? Are you supplementing in any other way?

We need to get this little gal fixed up right away. Diarrhea is always serious, especially in kittens.

yea, poor girl. but i cleaned her up tonight some and put some A&D cream on her and it looks a lot better.

she's not the one that had bloody stool, her brother did, but she's consistently had diarrhea the entire time i've had her. the vet told me that it was to be expected since we're bottle feeding them and that they didn't seem dehydrated (last time she checked, abt two weeks ago).

but it's green and watery, despite the pro-pectalin she's still on. i haven't seen her have any outside of when i stimulate her after feedings, so i want to think it's only after feedings that she has the diarrhea.

they're still on formula and the milkshake, today they started drinking water out of a tiny cat bowl too. should i try feeding her some dryer ground up cat food?

i'm also starting to think maybe half of the rawness is because of water temperature during baths, maybe i've been getting it too warm?

Well, I am happy to hear that the A&D ointment is giving the kitten some relief, but this kitten needs to see the vet ASAP for the diarrhea AND her raw skin. None of this is normal at all.

Continued green, watery stool is not healthy. Kittens do NOT consistently have stool like that because they are being bottle fed, no matter what the vet says. Perhaps it is time to see a different vet.

The kitten clearly has something wrong and needs a stool culture and probably different medicine. She probably needs prescription cream for her raw skin as well.

How hot is the water? It should be lukewarm only. Are you suggesting that perhaps you scalded the kitten?

Sure, you can offer moistened kitten chow. They should be able to eat it.

Are you able to get this kitten to a vet tomorrow? This is very serious!

Also, I notice that you asked for advice this morning. What has happened with this kitten between then and now? I also understand that you do not get paid until Friday. Please see if the vet will see this kitten tomorrow and take payment on Friday.

aaah so i should go to a different vet? well i can do that. i think there's another in town.

i don't know, do you think it's possible? i kept the water pretty warm, but there's probably a difference between my own skin and a kitten's sensitive skin... at any rate, when i bathed her today i used much less warm water, and she didn't seem to mind it as much as how i've been regularly bathing her.

since i asked this morning, i went and got some A&D cream and put it on her, and gave her another bath (with cooler water) and put some more cream on it. she's still eating and running around/playing when i have her out between feedings.

i don't know if i can get her to the vet tomorrow, but i know i can get her there on friday. i can't go any sooner unless i can work with the vet on a payment system, which i asked already but i'll ask again.