11 day old kittens w/ diarhea ?

[julieh]

Hello,

Storm gave birth to 5 kittens last monday. They are 11 days old right now and everyhting seems fine. They look like they are gaining properly but I'm going by eye. I can't them apart as they are all black so I have not been weighing them.

Here's my question: this morning, I woke up to a very messy cat box. There was poop in several places and many of the kittens had dirty bums. The consistency of the poop is pretty wet (yogurt like) and some was mucousy. It was the right color though - mustard yellow. I cleaned them all up and figured they must have been suckling on each other and stimulated a kitten by accident.

This afternoon, same thing again. They are obviously going without being stimulated by mom as there are several poop spots on the bedding. This time, one spot was rust colored instead of mustard yellow but the rest looked normal colored - just pretty wet.

1- Do they have diarhea ? What can be done about this ? They are still breastfeeding so I can't add anything to their food ...

2- Why, at 11 days, are they going on their own ? Isn't this normally around 3 weeks ? Anything I can do to reduce the mess of 5 kittens pooping all over the place ?

3- Why would momma NOT be cleaning them ? Everything else looks normal, everyones appetite is good. The kittens appetite is voracious and so is momma's.

Help !

Please !

 

[tnr1]

Originally Posted by JulieH

Hello,

Storm gave birth to 5 kittens last monday. They are 11 days old right now and everyhting seems fine. They look like they are gaining properly but I'm going by eye. I can't them apart as they are all black so I have not been weighing them.

Here's my question: this morning, I woke up to a very messy cat box. There was poop in several places and many of the kittens had dirty bums. The consistency of the poop is pretty wet (yogurt like) and some was mucousy. It was the right color though - mustard yellow. I cleaned them all up and figured they must have been suckling on each other and stimulated a kitten by accident.

This afternoon, same thing again. They are obviously going without being stimulated by mom as there are several poop spots on the bedding. This time, one spot was rust colored instead of mustard yellow but the rest looked normal colored - just pretty wet.

1- Do they have diarhea ? What can be done about this ? They are still breastfeeding so I can't add anything to their food ...

2- Why, at 11 days, are they going on their own ? Isn't this normally around 3 weeks ? Anything I can do to reduce the mess of 5 kittens pooping all over the place ?

3- Why would momma NOT be cleaning them ? Everything else looks normal, everyones appetite is good. The kittens appetite is voracious and so is momma's.

Help !

Please !

Julie...I'm not sure...I'd suspect worms....but if it were me, I'd give a quick call to the vet office. When I was fostering kittens, I called them quite frequently and they didn't seem to mind answering my questions. If you do call your vet...let us know what they say..it would be interesting to know.

Katie

 

[momof3rugratz]

11 days ol an using the litterbox... Are you sure they are not just playing in the box and making it a total mess..and them selves...

 

[beckiboo]

I would definitely call the vet, and take in a stool sample. Was the Mom up to date on vaccinations? Had she been treated for fleas or worms before getting preggers?

If they have worms, the vet may be able to treat them for it. Remember, if they have diarrhea, they aren't absorbing the nutrients. That is very dangerous for babies.

I've heard of people marking a paw pad with a permanent marker, or shaving one area to tell the same looking kits apart. I would also get a small scale to start weighing them...with diarrhea you are in danger of losing one, and weighing is the way to know who is doing poorly.

 

[wookie130]

Yes, it could be an internal parasite, such as worms. There's a homemade recipe for Pedialyte you can prepare, and offer it to them to help rehydrate them through a dropper.

www.kitten-rescue.com

If it is indeed worms, it is certainly treatable. In fact, most kittens automatically have worms while they are young, until they are of course de-wormed and treated accordingly. Try the pedialyte, and provide a warm, draft-free area for them, such a a box with a blanket laying on top of a heating pad turned on low. Do not place kittens on a heating pad directly...they will get burned. Another idea is providing rice socks, the instructions being on the site above too. They must be kept warm!

 

[wookie130]

Okay, I just made this a bit easier for you with the Pedialyte.

Home-made Pedialyte
1 cup water (boiled then cooled)
Small pinch of baking soda
Small pinch of Salt
2 teaspoons of sugar
Mix all ingredients well. Make sure the mixture has been slightly warmed before feeding to your kitten. The mixture will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Feed 1ml (1cc) every half an hour for the first two hours using a dropper or feeding syringe. Also make sure your kitten is on his tummy and not his back when you feed. Feed very slowly so the fluid does not go down the wrong tube and choke your kitten.


(This is directly off the web site.)

Also, I was reading on there that if your kittens bottoms are looking sore and red from the diarrhea, you can actually massage their tooshies with a couple of drops of olive oil to sooth irritated skin.

Rice Sock-
Take a sock and fill it with uncooked white rice. Tie the end of the sock off, and microwave it for about 60 seconds. Wrap the socks like a little body pillow around each kitten as they rest. The socks can be re-warmed in the microwave after a couple of hours.

Hope this helps in the meantime while you're waiting to hear from the vet!