My 7 week old kitten...

hi,

Im new here so...Hello.....

I adopted a kitten a week ago, his name is, (my GF called it) Tigger, although when I took it to the PDSA (vet), the man behind the counter spelt the name Tiger, now my names Shaun Woods, so, you can imagine the laughs the vets had at that.... (for those who are not inclined, Tiger Woods.....

So anyway,

The kitten seems fine in itself, it is playfull, it eats, its drinks, although, some bright spark put waterd down milk in its dish..., (At MY DISMAY)...

Anyway, the kitten has been Poo-ing really bad, smelly, runny and all...

Also it has been scratching its arse on the floor like a dog would....

My mum said today it had been the toilet about 7 times, all runny, she even thinks that it had blood in its poo...

apart from that it seems ok... Squeals a bit but seems ok...

It had an appointment for the vet tommorow so, we'll see what happens there....

what should I do, it seemed to overeat, now we only give it a spoonful of food....

Im a bit worried, that it has a bad disease or infection....

Also my mumj said that it may have ringworm, and that can be passed to humans, is that true???

or is she just paranoid?

Tell that "bright spark" not to ever give kitties cow's milk! Grr!

Yes, ringworm can be transferred to humans. Watch your skin for little round rings of red inflamation.

The bum scratching may be due to the fact that the watery poo has irritated his poor bottom or it may be due to worms or something. So MAKE SURE you save some of that poo!!! Seriously! Especially the stuff your mom thinks has blood in it! Tell her to turn a zip loc baggie inside out and put it on her hand like a glove and grab the poo with it. Then turn the sides of the baggie right and zip it up and stick it in the fridge. Yeah, sounds nasty, but it has to be done. You NEED a stool sample for the vet tomorrow. Preferrably more than one stool sample. Don't store the same sample in the same baggie, though. then put them in a larger baggie and put them somewhere in the fridge where someone won't mistake it for fudge

Good you have a vet appointment tomorrow. BTW - tell whomever it was who gave you the kitten that kittens need to stay with their moms till they are about 12 weeks old, not 7 weeks. Your kitty may be having a tough time cleaning his bottom because his mom never got the chance to teach him properly. By 12 weeks their mom is usually done training them and they can do it all themselves.

Good luck and welcome to the site!

The milk could be to blame for your kitten going to the bathroom so much. Esp. if it is Cow's milk. Kitten's aren't able to digest this properly and it causes them to have frequent trips to the litter box with runny stool as you described...

Switch the bowl to just water.

I would still take it to the vet if you suspect it may have ringworm.

How old is the kitten?

It is good that you are taking the kitten to the vet. There could be a lot of reasons for the blood you are seeing, anything from parasites, which I suspect it has because it is scooting its bum on the floor, or it could be an internal problem as well. You can try giving the little one a tiny bit of canned pumpkin with canned moist cat food, to try and bring some form to his stool and give him some relief. If his bum is sore, use desitin ointment on it gently, not a lot, use it sparingly. But yes, a vet visit is a good call especially considering the age. Try and push water, use some tuna juice dribbled in the water bowl to get it to lap up the water as you don't want the kitten to dehydrate

kitten glop may be good too? I don't have too much experience, but there's a recipe for kitten glop that may be a good source of nourishment becuse he's so young.

Cow's milk too difficult to digest-some of mine would get diarrea. My vet says cottage cheese ok though (they like that) and no tummy problems!!

Thanks for your help, will report back tommorow

Im very concerned, I love cats and would hate to see anything to happen to poor tiger...

I'm laughing at the name..Tiger Woods..lol. Seriously though, I am glad you're taking him to the vet, adn I hope he'll be back to normal soon. Seven weeks is still really small and young, so it wouldn't take much to throw his system off. The cows milk probably did it, but I'm glad you're checking with a 'professional'

Tiger Woods and fudge. Oh my, what a thread...

I didn't know you should keep kittens with their mom until 12 weeks old. I thought it was 8 weeks. Is it because of potty training? (cleaning their own hiney.) Forgive me if this sounds silly, but I thought cats would know how to do those kinds of things by instinct?

Waiting for my continuing cat education,
mrsd

MrsD, Yes, 12 weeks is best. At that time, the mom-cat has taught her kittens all they need to know about socialisation, the litter-box, eating, grooming etc. If you look at good registered breeders, none of them let their kittens go until 12 weeks. If a kitten is hand-raised, they may be ready to go at 8-9 weeks.

Kumbulu,
Thanks for your response. I appreciate the information.
mrsd

OK lets remember our basic biology.

RINGWORM is a fungal skin disease. Yes, you can get it from kittens...but not from their poo. What Shaun's mon probably meant was ROUNDWORM, which is an actual animal...and humans can get it from kitten's feces.