Kitten aging and poo color help!

Hi, 

A couple weeks ago I had taken in some abandoned kittens, unfortunately neither of them made it. Word had gotten around that I took two kittens in and this last week I got a call about another one. The mother was a feral cat and hit by a car they are unsure of how many kittens she had as they could only find one. When I first got the kitten on Thursday she weighed 9.5oz and today weighs in 10.7oz. She has some teeth that are in or coming (It's really hard to tell if their in all the way or not) and walking fairly well with only the slightest wobble. I am having some concerns about her poop, and was not able to get a hold of a vet today. It is a brown/ green color and somewhere between toothpaste consistency and formed. I had washed, bleached everything I used for the previous kittens, and threw out what I couldn't bleach to avoid any spreading just in case what they had was contagious. Any help is greatly appreciated!!    

The weight raise is very good, over 10g a day... The poo consistence good - toothpaste could be idealic, so be sure she does get enough with water and fluids.  Better a little too much than too little...

Re the age, its 3-4 weeks.   10Oz is supposed to come around 3 weeks, but ferale born tend to be somewhat undernourished/ underweight.  Hers good balance and abilty to walk too hints she is somewhat older than barely 3 weeks.

What kmr are you using?

I'm using PetAg powder kmr and mixing with water. I'm thinking I'll pick up some pedialyte and see if that helps with the poo consistency. Should I be giving her water in between feeds? When my husband first brought her home we tried feeding her some kmr from a lid but she seemed to have no clue what to do. We had guesstimated her to be older because she is much bigger than the other two I had taken and they died shortly before hitting the three week mark. I had looked at the alleycat.com age progression but I wasn't sure where to place her.

Newbie2016 said:

I'm using PetAg powder kmr and mixing with water. I'm thinking I'll pick up some pedialyte and see if that helps with the poo consistency. Should I be giving her water in between feeds? When my husband first brought her home we tried feeding her some kmr from a lid but she seemed to have no clue what to do. We had guesstimated her to be older because she is much bigger than the other two I had taken and they died shortly before hitting the three week mark. I had looked at the alleycat.com age progression but I wasn't sure where to place her.

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This KMR is very good, perhaps the best of them all.  Having pedialyte isnt wrong, but it becomes really necessary when they have diarrhea.

So you have two variations - dilute the KMR somewhat more - a common advice against easier constipation,

or give some water / pedialyte between the feedings.

This second solution has the advantage she gets the same amount of food, but more water.  Try with this at first.

There is an nice tip for giving kmr / water.  Using a sponge!  It may be such a little make-up sponge. Or some bigger sponge.  As long it doesnt go into pieces.  This way she may suckle for herself.

This is best for small amounts, ie either small kittens - or if she really doenst needs much, just a few ml.   You can have a dropper at hand, and drop on as she suckles.

Thank you, I'll start that today and see how that goes. Should I be concerned with the color? I do have amox from the first two kittens but I didn't catch it soon enough to be able to help them. I'm wondering if I should just start giving it to her? I know green poo is a bad thing, but it's not straight green, but there's some brown to it.

Newbie2016 said:

Thank you, I'll start that today and see how that goes. Should I be concerned with the color? I do have amox from the first two kittens but I didn't catch it soon enough to be able to help them. I'm wondering if I should just start giving it to her? I know green poo is a bad thing, but it's not straight green, but there's some brown to it.

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@Red Top Rescue   @catwoman707   what say you?

Others whom know for sure are also welcome to answer.

It looks to me like this baby is 3 weeks old.

Ears are not fully erect, still a bit wobbly but walking upright in hind legs, no clue how to lap up formula and needs to be bottle fed.

Kitten must get 8 mls of formula per ounce of weight, so about 88 mls a day for this one.

Feed every 4 hours on the clock, meaning regardless of what time it is when finished, 4 hours after the feeding starts.

About 15 mls per feeding.

This is to ensure kitten is in stable condition, for the first few/several days, then can be cut back so there's no getting up during the night!

Don't worry about the poop color yet, as @StefanZ  said, consistency is fine.

The colors to worry about immediately would be orange or white.

After kitten is good and stable, then we will look at the color.

Be sure to check weight daily, kitten is still fragile at 3 weeks.

Average weight at 3 weeks is about 12 ounces, but born outside means often a bit less.

It can potty on it's own, and unless it's cold where you are, won't need heating source, only some snuggly bedding.

They like a rice sock at that age, stuff a sock with rice, tie it shut, and heat it in the microwave just before you put kitty to bed after a feeding, and she will probably cuddle up with it.  It's not that she needs heat at this age but it's like having a mama cat and siblings in a pile, it just makes them happier.  I can't say how long to heat it as some microwaves are stronger than others.  Go by feel, if it's comfortably warm to you, then it's fine.

I have been feeding every 4 hours and she's for sure hitting 15 ml a feed sometimes a little more.

I have been stimulating her because I wasn't sure on age and wanted to be on the safe side. So do I just stop stimulating her, or how do you know when they've gone to the bathroom? When I do stimulate her she usually pees quite a bit which made me think she stil waits to be stimulated before going.

I have a hot water bottle I've been putting in an unused scentsy animal that she crawls all over and sleeps under. I am located in NW Iowa where we can hit all 4 seasons in one day so to be on the safe side I put it in with her.

Stimulating is fine.  I just raised one on the powdered KMR from 10 days to 8 weeks (when he went to his forever home) and he only pooped about every 4-5 days, nice solid formed poops, no diarrhea, no problems at all.  Once he started eating solid food, he pooped more and more frequently until it became a daily occurrence.  Hope that helps you not to worry.

She pooped once yesterday and once today and the consistency was between formed and toothpaste, but the color was concerning me because the previous 2 kittens I lost had green poop. So I kind of hit panic mode. @ Red Top Rescue you had actually helped/commented on my thread about the two kittens lost.

Problems have now escalated with the poo situation. She has diarrhea and it's the same green as the other kittens that died. I have started giving her the antibiotic I have and will be calling vet in a.m. but I am starting to think I'm doing something wrong. With that being said I'm hoping you guys could help me determine what I'm doing wrong. I am feeding her every four hours around the clock and she eats anywhere between 15 ml and 18 ml. I stop her at 15 ml and if she starts trying to suck on my arm I give her a bit more and that usually settles her down, in between feeds I try to get her to take about 5ml of water but she gets fiesty and turns away when she realizes its not milk. I am boiling the bottle nipple after every feed and the bottle too if she finishes it all. If I have some milk left over I store in fridge till next feed (only if it's 1tbls or more). I use a tupperware container to make using hot tap water and store milk to pour in the bottles. Everyone washes their hands with antibacterial soap before handling her. Please tell me what am I missing or doing wrong.

If it starts to get diarrhea, use pedialyte as part of diluting water, and the extra water.  You know the recipes?

Im not saying it will help to this green poo, but it will help against losses of electrolytes.

Newbie2016 said:

Problems have now escalated with the poo situation. She has diarrhea and it's the same green as the other kittens that died. I have started giving her the antibiotic I have and will be calling vet in a.m. but I am starting to think I'm doing something wrong. With that being said I'm hoping you guys could help me determine what I'm doing wrong. I am feeding her every four hours around the clock and she eats anywhere between 15 ml and 18 ml. I stop her at 15 ml and if she starts trying to suck on my arm I give her a bit more and that usually settles her down, in between feeds I try to get her to take about 5ml of water but she gets fiesty and turns away when she realizes its not milk. I am boiling the bottle nipple after every feed and the bottle too if she finishes it all. If I have some milk left over I store in fridge till next feed (only if it's 1tbls or more). I use a tupperware container to make using hot tap water and store milk to pour in the bottles. Everyone washes their hands with antibacterial soap before handling her. Please tell me what am I missing or doing wrong.

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It sounds to me like you're doing everything right except that you could be feeding her more. You could try mixing her formula with pedialite and then she shouldn't need extra water.

Can you remind us which formula and powdered/liquid you're using?

Hoping Sarthur2 catwoman707 red top rescue can chime in!

It all sounds just fine, the amt she is feeding is good too, that puts her right at the needed daily intake, is her weight increasing well?

Green poop can be caused by a number of things, bacterial infection or imbalance, even overfeeding which I doubt is the case since it was green from the beginning..

At this point the only thing I can think to advise here is to keep an eye on her for any beginning signs of illness, or get her in to be checked at the vet.

What is the antibiotic and how often are you giving it?

Green poop indicates bacterial infection. It sounds like you are keeping her hydrated.

A vet check is advised, but the cure is the correct antibiotics along with fluids. Vet can also offer anti-diarrhea meds.

I dont really have anything to add here.  You keep getting kittens who have a sad start, no mother cats around to help, born feral, so you never know what they were exposed to.  You are doing all you can, feeding the right amount.  I am ASSUMING you are keeping the canned owder in the refrigerator also (I only mention this because one foster just left it on the counter, rather than refrigerating it, and her kittens got diarrhea.  When she called me and I saw the can on the counter, I asked her and she had not read the "keep refrigerated" notice on the can.)

The only other possibilities are (1) that the powdered formula was somehow bad/contaminated recent PetAg formulas have not been, but there was a year when many were], or (2) that the previous kittens had something contagious (also unlikely since you cleaned so well and are using all new things.)

It isnt unusual for bottle babies to get diarrhea.  In the past we added something called Bene-Bac which was basically probiotics to their formula.  The new PetAg KMR actually has the probiotics included in the powdered formula, and I had no problems with the last 3 cans of it that I bought and havent heard of anyone having bad KMR recently.

You can only do what you are doing for these babies.  It's heartbreaking to lose babies but it happens a lot.  We save the ones we can save. I hope for your sake this one comes around. 

I am using PetAg powder kmr and last night when I made more milk for the day I did half water half pedialyte. She did not poo through the night or yet today so I'm hoping things are starting to clear up.

Her current weight is 13.3 oz from 10.7 on Saturday.

Vet advised to give her the antibiotic (amox) and check back in a couple days if it hasn't resolved.

Even with all this she is still super active and walking around really well.

Oh, that's really good to hear!  We are all pulling for you and this baby.

Amoxicillin is good. Weight gain, eating well, playing, and less diarrhea are all very hopeful signs! Keep up the nice job! [emoji]128077[/emoji]