momma cat and dirrhea

I have not been here in a LOOOOONG time, but I have missed everyone! I recently have taken in a momma and her babies. The babies are 3 wks old. The momma, has dirrahea and it's DRIVING ME CRAZY because it's like she runs to the litter box and misses on the way there and gets the rest in there LOL! IT is very bad smell. Is this normal when breastfeeding? Or could it be the food? I have her on OHM food, which is natural product, but maybe she is allergic? Please let me know what's going on here before I take her to the vet and her babies. One baby doesn't have a tail, like her but there seems to be some kind of abcess on it's back area. Plus I can't find where it's going to the bathroom, it is like a round lump there? Ah, anyway....love being a hostess mommy and a busy mom of my own two

Many hugs to all!

Hrmmm, not familiar with that particular type of food ... do you feed her dry and canned? A little chicken boiled with rice might help to bind her up a bit. I just get about half a boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut it into small pieces and boil it right along with the long-cooking rice (can't use Minute Rice or the like with this). I don't add anything but water. Once the rice has finished, I grind it all up in the food processor (a blender works nicely too) and let it cool. I give about two tablespoons at a feeding, usually four times per day or as often as my queen will take it along with a high quality kitten canned food and high quality kitten dry food down all day.

I have absolutely no experience with your other issue - what does your vet think or has he assessed the kittens yet?

Hey Jellybean....I'm in the same position...I am fostering a mom and her 3 week old kittens. My mom did have a couple of runny poops...but fortunately, I have been using empty xerox boxes for the litterbox..so each day I simply change it out. So far so good. Today, I found a tiny bit of poop on the tiles...which means that the wee ones are almost ready to learn about the "box"...so I'm switching to the xerox box tops.

I feed my momma Eukanuba kitten dry and Sophisticats kitten moist.

Katie

I am taking her to the vet today for her appointment, everyone I've spoken with though seem a bit callous over the phone so it's been hard for me to find a good vet that is friendly.

I meant OMH food, here is the website wellness brand which I really like because it doesn't have empty fillers like cornbread, etc.

I am totally grossed out about the diarrhea LOL! And I don't have access to 'xerox' boxes which is AN EXCELLENT IDEA! I bought her a bigger box and I think I need to switch litter, I was using The World's best litter brand which is made out of corn and other stuff which was great for my other cat but for her it's not working too well with her problem. Grrr!

Well I'll let ya know about the kitty with the abcess on his back side and about the momma.

Great to see ya!

I had a cat once that after each time she had a litter, which was a 3 times that I know of, she had the most DISGUSTING diarrhea!!! It was so runny, that when I went to scoop the box, I thought it was urine til I saw some poo! IT WAS NASTY!
Now, this kinda worried me, but I figured it might be normal, so I just watched her. I checked her for signs of dehydration a lot, too. She drank TONS and TONS and TONS of water, and ate fine. After she quit lactating, it stopped.

Maybe your momma cat is the same way.

My kittens are in a transitional stage between nursing and weaning, and the momma cat has been having some diarrhea too! I've been watching her closely and she seems fine, but it's interesting that it seemes to happen to others. Maybe it's hormones?

Okay all is well with momma and her babies! Momma's diarrhea, they checked for worms because that was my main concern especially since I have two other cats who have annexed me LOL! and two little furless ones. The doc said that it seems that something may start, like worms so they went ahead and gave her some treatment for worms just in case and the babies the meds for it.

The abcess on the little one though, they are not sure, to me it looks like a puncture wound from one of the other kittens, but they weren't sure what caused it, so they gave antibiotics and some meds.

Over all all are healthy. The momma is about 1 yr old, and I have two boys and one girl, which for sure the girl will be taken because my neighbors wanted her (though they thought it may be a boy), anyway.... 'she' has a mustache and a goatee LOL! I'll send pics later on...

For diarrhea, the doc said to put the momma on the Science Diet prescription ID (intestinal digestion) canned food. Then he said the thing that usually works best is a 1/4 of Immodium AD, he said it actually works better than the prescribed stuff they offer. Then that I could also boil some hamburger meat and blend it with rice after it's cooked and give it to her as well. But hopefully everything should get better.

I also wondered the same thing, that maybe since she is feeding her babies that it could be that? Who knows....we'll see....

Thank you everyone for your replies though and it's a relief to know everything is okay with her and her babies

My vet recently advised me that it is very commmon for mum to have the runs while she is lactating. Boiled chicken with rice and also white fish seem to sort it out.

TO make sure she didn't get dehydrated, I made a kind of soup with the boiled chicken, rice and water that it was cooked in. also cook the rice in the same pan as the chicken to flavour it !

Good luck, it's a nightmare isn't it !

Whew!!! Now I feel better. My momma cat had her 1st (and may I mention LAST) litter (7 furbabies- but 1 has passed this past Sunday. And she has had the runs just as you all have described. Its like she runs to the box but misses it at first and gets some on the floor!! Poor baby.

It must be what some cats do while nursing their young!! I think I am going to try that boiled chicken and rice tomorrow for her though.

I have the same problem with a mamma cat we brought in from the outdoors a couple of weeks ago. The babies have almost been completely weaned but she still has the runs and I did the stupid thing of switching her food again to a less expensive food, which made it worse. So I'm going back to IAMS and working in the chicken/rice combo.

Thanks for all the great posts. It makes me feel better that I am not the only one suffering .

Wish me luck,

Goliath

My cats eat nutro... I love it and havent had any problems with diarrhea (except when I gave her soft food)...

I have a kitty with a mustache and goatee as well! haha I call him pistachio! lol

Hes a feisty one...

good luck!