Kitten poops... a LOT!

Hi--

I have a 3-4 month old kitten that my fiance and I adopted from an animal shelter about 6 weeks ago (my fiance is actually the one who adopted him as a surprise for me!) Anyway, when he came to us, he was pretty scrawny, but now that we've been taking care of him he's gained quite a bit of weight which led us to believe he's probably older than we first thought. The place said he had all of his first-round shots (I don't know which specific ones, sorry) and he has also been neutured. He is an indoor-only cat.

Well, we noticed that ever since about a week after getting him, he poops about 3 or 4 times a day and urinates about the same amount. Sometimes when he's dehydrated he gets diarrhea, but other than that, the stools are normal. We feed him 2 times a day, about a half a cup of dry kitten food each time, and sometimes he gets treats. No milk or any other foods/liquids. He has gained a LOT of weight in the past 3 weeks or so. I read on another site that cats should only be going to the bathroom twice a day. At this rate, in total, he probably goes about 7 or 8 times a day!

Also, he was very rambunctious when we first got him, but now, he will play for about half an hour to 45 minutes then sack out on our laps or in his bed for a good 2-3 hours. When he is wanting to nap, there is no waking him up, either. If we try to play with him, he goes right back to sleep.

anyway, just wanted to find out if this is normal kitten behavior or if we should be considering him taking him to a vet. He doesn't seem sick otherwise... he definitely has a healthy appetite and we make sure he always has plenty of water.

Any thoughts or comments? Thanks!

How many times he goes potty is relative to what is normal to the cat. For example : my mom's girl Cookie pees 4 -5 x daily but only a little. Her other girl Piper pees only 2x per day - however the amount that is peed is about the same. Both are healthy as per their last check-up.

The best thing you can do is take him for a check up especially right after you bring him home. That way you can be sure that what you were told is true and in case there are problems they can be corrected immidiately. This is especially important when they are that you and very fragile.

Good luck with your baby!

hi,

i think that it's pretty normal and it really depends on the cat how often it goes, my cat Meggie when she had her kittens i remember they use to go to the littler box more often ... i have kept one of the kittens and he's about 16 months old now and he's not going to the litter box as often as when he was a little kitten.

so just keep an eye on it and make sure that when they poop it looks 'normal' that it's not too runny or to hard ...

best of luck to you and your new baby.

-radek

I have two kittens 3-4 mos old too and I swear they poop and pee more than my other two cats put together! They also seem to go poo MUCH more often. I spend a few hours a day in the same room with them and they go at least twice each while I'm here. Of course it is right after their dinner.

Have you check out the stool?...Is it normal looking?? Brown or mustard color, and solid.......

Are you sure they are peeing...sometimes cats take frequent trips to the box with little to no urination when their bladders are in distress..(UTI, blockage)

These are growing kits, so it is normal for there to be a lot more waste going out, concidering their appitites.....but if you think there is a problem there is nothing wrong with calling the vet.....

But if their urination is fine and their stools look fine, and they are eating, drinking and seem ok I dont think it is something to worry about at this moment....but keep an eye on them and call you vet just in case

From what you guys say, this seems pretty normal. But I have a new concern now.

My fiance and I both work and we got home about 5 this evening. The cat seemed pretty normal and ok; although I noticed he seemed kind of lethargic and lately he's seemed kind of depressed. I don't know; there's just a change in his behavior where he seems sad some of the time instead of his normal playful self. This has also coincided with him sleeping more, now that I think about it, and he has been a lot more "clingy" than usual.

Anyway, we left again to go to the grocery store and when we got home I had him on my lap and noticed that there was a horrible smell coming from his anus. Not a normal "poopy" smell... it was more putrid than that. I noticed he had some fluid (looked like mucus) on his anus so I wiped it off with a tissue and had my fiance smell it; he agreed it smelled awful but NOT like a normal feces smell.

He's been sleeping on me for about half an hour now, and he doesn't seem to want to get up to do anything. He went to the litter box before he laid down but I don't think he did anything. Should I be concerned about this really bad smell? The mucus that I wiped off was clear, but you could definitely tell something was there.

His anal glands could be infected, when they release it can make a putrid fish smell...

I would definitly talk to the vet ASAP....lethargy is never good

Or could he possibly have worms?
He needs to see the vet to find out what it is for sure.
I hope your baby is OK....let us know, will you?
Linda

Yes, I'm thinking he needs to be taken to the vet anyway for a full check up. I'm hoping to get him in tomorrow afternoon!

Yeah, I'm worried.. my fiance actually proposed to me with Stuart (our little baby... he had the ring around his collar!) and the thought of him being sick breaks my heart.

I'll let you all know how it turns out.. thank you SO MUCH for the advice and thoughts.

Well, we took little Stuart to the vet today. She did a check up and said he looked very healthy; he didn't have any vomiting or diarrhea, and no extra fluid in the belly, and the only thing that concerned her is that we adopted him from a shelter that was known to adopt pets with diseases. She talked to us about FLV and FIV and FIP or whatever it is, and we decided to test for FLV and FIV, which came back negative.. woohoo! In the end she ended up giving him some fluids and vitamin b shots to rehydrate him since not eating tends to couple with not drinking enough water, too.

She said if he wasn't feeling better in a few days then we should go back and test for FIP. Well, she also mentioned offhand that when kittens are about 5 months old, they lose their baby teeth and get their adult teeth. We checked his teeth and sure enough... he's missing a few baby teeth and even has his first adult tooth starting to come in! So we suspect that the hard food was just a little too hard for him and his gums might be sore, so we bought some canned food tonight and he gobbled it all up. He's definitely acting like his old self again. I think he missed eating (he's such a little pig!)

Sooo thanks for all the great advice, everyone! I think Stuart will be just fine.

Awww...How sweet that Stuart was there for your proposal!!! That is the cutest things I've ever heard!!

I'm glad Stuart is ok!!!