Questions about stray cat's kittens

Yes, I can imagine it is stressful. Let's hope some of this gets mama kitty feeling better tomorrow. And be sure it's canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix.

Pick up some unflavored pedialyte.

Do you have any KMR (kitten milk replacer) in case you need to supplement the kittens? Pet Ag powder form is good.  You can also use raw goats milk or full fat unpasteurized bought at a natural food store. And a small 1 -2 ml/cc needleless syringe.

Handsome Kitty said:

 
Pick up some unflavored pedialyte.

Do you have any KMR (kitten milk replacer) in case you need to supplement the kittens? Pet Ag powder form is good.  You can also use raw goats milk or full fat unpasteurized bought at a natural food store. And a small 1 -2 ml/cc needleless syringe.

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If you cant get any such raw or unpasteurized goat milk, a more common pasteurized bottled / cartooned - even powdered, goats milk works too.   These are also both not as costly, and much easier to find.

This goats milk useful for mom too.  The raw one may even help against the diarrhea...

KaylaKittenMom said:

Mamma cat Belle (a stray we took in the ended up being pregnant) has been having very runny, yellow diarrhea the last two days. I was hoping it was just something bad she had to eat since she seemed otherwise fine. Today, however, she has seemed a little lethargic and spent most of her time under the couch (which is very unusual for her). She has also started to ignore the kittens a little bit more. They turn three weeks old on Wednesday, so I am not sure if it is normal for her to be spending a lot more time away from them. When they started crying, she used to run over to them, but she didn't seem very receptive today. She still is nursing them every few hours and they mostly seem content and sleeping in a pile with little rounded bellys so I think they are getting enough food. But if they wake up and start making noise, she doesn't go over near as quick. She also has had a significant decrease in appetite the past day or two.

If she is still having diarrhea on Monday I am going to call our vet. Is there anything else I can do for her or the kittens? At what point do I need to take her to an emergency vet if things get worse this weekend?

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Im thinking on pedialyte, she needs both fluids, and electrolytes....   Forcefeed her if necessary!!!    In the corner of the mouth, a few drops at a time, so she manage to swallow.

Use a needleless syringe if you have, otherwise make do with what you have.   A straw, a little  spoon...

Continue soon

KaylaKittenMom said:

Mamma cat Belle (a stray we took in the ended up being pregnant) has been having very runny, yellow diarrhea the last two days. I was hoping it was just something bad she had to eat since she seemed otherwise fine. Today, however, she has seemed a little lethargic and spent most of her time under the couch (which is very unusual for her). She has also started to ignore the kittens a little bit more. They turn three weeks old on Wednesday, so I am not sure if it is normal for her to be spending a lot more time away from them. When they started crying, she used to run over to them, but she didn't seem very receptive today. She still is nursing them every few hours and they mostly seem content and sleeping in a pile with little rounded bellys so I think they are getting enough food. But if they wake up and start making noise, she doesn't go over near as quick. She also has had a significant decrease in appetite the past day or two.

If she is still having diarrhea on Monday I am going to call our vet. Is there anything else I can do for her or the kittens? At what point do I need to take her to an emergency vet if things get worse this weekend?

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Pedialyte, continuation.  Exactly which you give, depends on what you do have at hand.    Ask your neigbours for help, if the shops are closed!!!

If bought, the best is some unflavored baby version.   But if flavored are the only one at hand, you can use them to begin with.

Of homemade,  do you have mineral salt and glucose sugar = dextrose?  These are the best.

If not common kitchen sugar, and white caro syrup, or even honey, are OK.    Even common white sugar works, but much slower.

One basic receipt, is

1 litre water.   1,5 tea spoons salt  1,5-2 soup spoons  sugar source...  A little baking soda, bikarbonat, if you have.   Boil up, let it be room temp again. Use.   Dont spare too long.

Another is,   take some rice,  boil it too long, more than in a food recipe.

Use the water, add som salt.

My favorite at this moment, is you take a bottle of a good minerale water.  They contain lotsa of different, good salts and electrolytes.

You let the gas out, and add some sugar source, about half soup spoon  in a 33 ml bottle.   Be sure its  diluted in there as it shall.

And voilá, you do have an excellent home made pedialyte...

Basic pedialyte is the main weapon against the great manslaughter  Cholera,  so dont underestimate this....

And I truly believe she is in danger of a collapse.   Be sure you give her pedialyte, forcefeed if necessary....

Ok I got pediatyle (I hope grape flavored is okay, it's all they had!) and pumpkin early this morning. She had only a few bites of the canned pumpkin (which was not the pumpkin pie kind, don't worry) but I have gotten her to drink a few ounces of the pedialyte today. Her diarrhea is much much better today, down to only a small amount and she isn't dripping it anymore as she walks around. She seems a little perkier today, though still not her normal self. I did not see goat milk or KMR, but I will drive to the closest town tonight if needed. She is still nursing the kittens and when she leaves them to take a break they all are sleeping and happy (till they decide they are hungry or bored again and then the four of them can cause quite a ruckus). I am really hoping that was the worst of it and she continues to improve. I am going to keep giving her pedialyte every hour or so. Anything else you guys can think of?

Continue with the pedialyte and offer her more pumpkin mixed with her regular food. You can offer her a scrambled egg, which many cats like. Assess her in the morning to determine if she needs to see a vet, even for sub-q fluids.

Glad she is a tiny bit better and no longer dripping diarrhea. Since she is nursing we need to get her back to 100% asap!

I recommend you take her to the vet soon. It's possible that she has an intestinal parasite and if so, it's very likely that she could spread it to her kittens. All kittens should be dewormed anyway as a precaution, so I suggest you bring the whole family to the vet for a check up. Collect a sample of mama's stool to bring with you too so the vet can send it out for testing. And I agree with the others, canned pumpkin, boiled rice and chicken and scrambled eggs are what your mama cat should be eating. Best of luck and keep us updated!!!

Ok as soon as I typed that last message Belle started with the diarrhea again. I am making an egg now to see if she will eat it. The diarrhea is very runny and dripping from her again. At what point do I call an emergency vet? I am getting pretty worried

Take her now! This does not sound good at all! She needs to be seen immediately.

She needs treatment for whatever it is ailing her. She can really turn bad overnight, especially with babies to nurse. You may soon need to feed them for her anyway if she gets weaker. You MUST get KMR and a syringe from a vet too.

Please update us as soon as you can!

I called our vet and he told me just to keep an eye on her and keep trying to feed her since she isn't acting lethargic today. He said as long as I can get fluids in her every few hours she should be okay till the morning. He said if she starts vomiting or gets weaker then he will come by and see her (he lives down the road. That is one good thing about small towns).

Scrambled egg was a no go

I force fed her 4 more oz of pedialyte though. Diarrhea is still better than yesterday and has so far been that one episode.

Okay, I feel better knowing your vet is on call and down the road. Keep pushing the pedialyte and pumpkin, like I said before. And keep a very close eye on her.

How is your cat's diarrhea today? Hoping you're taking her to the vet today. I agree it could be an intestinal parasite that needs medication.

Belle seems much much better today. She hasn't had any diarrhea since that one episode yesterday and she is eating pumpkin mixed with her regular wet cat food as I type this. I gave her pediialyte every few hours yesterday but I don't know if it helped or not. I woke up with every intention of taking her to the vet today but she seems much better and we really don't have the money for a vet visit unless it is an emergency. If the diarrhea starts again though I am going to take her in. Thank you everyone for your advice! I tried almost every food suggestion listed yesterday (which she ate none of, but it gave me something to do to feel like I was helping). I will let you know if the diarrhea starts again (fingers crossed that doesn't happen!!)

Well, this is a very good report! I hope it was just a bug that has now run its course. I think the pedialyte most definitely helped (it never hurts), and thankfully she at least ate some pumpkin.

I'm glad to hear she is so much better, and hoping it remains that way!