8 Week Kitten Constipated, Little To No Appetite

[Aj2015]

Hello!
I have been fostering kittens from my local shelter and they are 8 weeks today. Originally there were 7 kittens but 4 died early on from a sickness they got from mom. I have one little girl, Lily, who has been my fighter and has had a rough road. She has always seemed to have abnormal stool, such as diarrhea, but mom kept her pretty clean and she acted normal otherwise. I assumed it was from antibiotics she was on at the time. She is the smallest of my three and the slowest to switch to kitten food. The shelter has taken mom back (I know that isn’t ideal, but it’s how they do it).
Anyways, Lily has been constipated for quite some time. She was pooping small hard pieces of stool, but for the past 3 or so days I haven’t seen her able to get just about anything out. She doesn’t seem to be in pain, doesn’t meow when she is in the litter box, but does go frequently and strains without success. I took her into my vet at my own cost, because the shelter’s vet has limited hours. He didn’t want to do anything too drastic with a young kitten right away, so he gave me some gel like stuff that helps with hair balls. He doesn’t think that is the cause, but was hopeful it would loosen things up and help her begin to pass stool again. It definitely hasn’t done anything for her
She still is acting playful and doesn’t seem to be in pain, but I don’t think she is eating much of anything and I know it can’t be good for her to not be passing stool. It’s hard to tell just how much she eats or drinks because she is with her siblings, and separating her would be so stressful. I do think she vomited up a small amount of bile today, but again, is acting normal otherwise. I don’t know whether to contact my shelter’s vet’s emergency number because she doesn’t seem to be in dire condition.... Any opinions or suggestions? I would be able to take her in Tuesday afternoon with his hours, and it just seems so long to wait.

 

[Aj2015]

Here is a picture of the cutie

 

[mightyboosh]

Because a young kitten can go downhill fast I would err on the safe side and see a vet earlier, if you can accommodate the cost. Cats are also very good at covering up pain and discomfort. Always best to be safe than sorry I suppose.

 

[mightyboosh]

She is a cutie, no doubt about that.

 

[Bella's Mommy]

Hello!
I have been fostering kittens from my local shelter and they are 8 weeks today. Originally there were 7 kittens but 4 died early on from a sickness they got from mom. I have one little girl, Lily, who has been my fighter and has had a rough road. She has always seemed to have abnormal stool, such as diarrhea, but mom kept her pretty clean and she acted normal otherwise. I assumed it was from antibiotics she was on at the time. She is the smallest of my three and the slowest to switch to kitten food. The shelter has taken mom back (I know that isn’t ideal, but it’s how they do it).
Anyways, Lily has been constipated for quite some time. She was pooping small hard pieces of stool, but for the past 3 or so days I haven’t seen her able to get just about anything out. She doesn’t seem to be in pain, doesn’t meow when she is in the litter box, but does go frequently and strains without success. I took her into my vet at my own cost, because the shelter’s vet has limited hours. He didn’t want to do anything too drastic with a young kitten right away, so he gave me some gel like stuff that helps with hair balls. He doesn’t think that is the cause, but was hopeful it would loosen things up and help her begin to pass stool again. It definitely hasn’t done anything for her
She still is acting playful and doesn’t seem to be in pain, but I don’t think she is eating much of anything and I know it can’t be good for her to not be passing stool. It’s hard to tell just how much she eats or drinks because she is with her siblings, and separating her would be so stressful. I do think she vomited up a small amount of bile today, but again, is acting normal otherwise. I don’t know whether to contact my shelter’s vet’s emergency number because she doesn’t seem to be in dire condition.... Any opinions or suggestions? I would be able to take her in Tuesday afternoon with his hours, and it just seems so long to wait.

Maybe try to feed her wet kitten food away from her siblings so she can get the food in her? and make sure she gets water it helps but i never had stool problems with my cat

 

[stephanietx]

You can try adding a bit of plain canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) to her wet food. Definitely feed her wet food and stop feeding any kind of replacement milk if she's getting any of that. Sometimes that can cause constipation. If possible, feed her wet food about 4 times a day. I like to feed Royal Canin babycat, but if you're getting food from the rescue, that might not be an option unless you buy some yourself.

 

[Aj2015]

Because a young kitten can go downhill fast I would err on the safe side and see a vet earlier, if you can accommodate the cost. Cats are also very good at covering up pain and discomfort. Always best to be safe than sorry I suppose.

I would go ahead and take her to my vet tomorrow but with Memorial Day, he will be closed. :/ but I definitely understand what you mean, that she could be hiding her pain well...

 

[Aj2015]

You can try adding a bit of plain canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) to her wet food. Definitely feed her wet food and stop feeding any kind of replacement milk if she's getting any of that. Sometimes that can cause constipation. If possible, feed her wet food about 4 times a day. I like to feed Royal Canin babycat, but if you're getting food from the rescue, that might not be an option unless you buy some yourself.

I did feed her some pumpkin a few days ago and she ate it well at the time, but now refuses it... she has access to wet canned food multiple times a day, but shows no interest in it. She did eat a little dry kitten food mixed with water a few days ago, but since then has little interest in it. I don’t know if it’s because she’s plugged up or just not feeling well, but she does not seem to want to eat. Her siblings come running to eat the canned good, but not her. She could be eating some when I’m not there but I have no way of knowing for sure

 

[zed xyzed]

She is a beautiful little thing, I think your suggestion of taking her to the vet is the best course of action at this time. Best not to take chances

 

[war&wisdom]

If you can't get to the vet because of the holiday, try mixing a few drops of olive oil into her food. It can help move things along.

 

[zed xyzed]

miralax is a good product, my vet recommended it when my guy had issues and it is tasteless too

 

[war&wisdom]

miralax is a good product, my vet recommended it when my guy had issues and it is tasteless too

I would advise against Miralax in such a young kitten, unless you have spoken to a vet first. Olive oil is much safer.

 

[zed xyzed]

I would advise against Miralax in such a young kitten, unless you have spoken to a vet first. Olive oil is much safer.

This is a good read. If Kitten Lady uses it for a kitten you can be certain that it is safe. Dosing would need to be researched

Butt Troubles: Marlin's Story

 

[war&wisdom]

This is a good read. If Kitten Lady uses it for a kitten you can be certain that it is safe. Dosing would need to be researched

Butt Troubles: Marlin's Story

Yes, but notice that she recommends dietary changes first, like pumpkin or oil, and that she is in regular contact with a very throughout treatment.

 

[Aj2015]

I called the emergency number for the shelter vet and he recommended giving her more of the hairball gel (an inch 3 times a day) and then bring her tomorrow if she still is struggling. I hope it makes a difference, she still has not pooped and I don’t believe is eating. Thank you for the advice everyone

 

[StefanZ]

Her non eating MAY be because of the constipation. When you are full and constipated, humans dont have any appetite either. Lets hope this is the case.
That said, she needs help with the constipation, and you should work parallelly along several traces. Its not good scienceas you wont be sure what helped really, but good being practical.

This vet gel, its used against hairballs, but the solution is essentially paraffine oil. Which by itself is a potent help for loosening constipation.
So I agree with the vet. If you cant get liquid paraffine oil food grade - use simply this cat malt gel - more than you would normally.

Pumpkin as mentioned if she takes it.
Olive oil too with every meal, even if that gel is even more potent...

Be sure she is hydrated, gets more than enough with water or other fluids.

If you use supplementare kmr, goats milk is probably a safer alternative. While constipation from kmr isnt unusual (depends in part on the brand), its very seldom cats gets constipated from goats milk...

Also, massage her belly. Why, massage her over the whole body. You can use a toothbrush. But belly and anus especially.

There is also the trick of helping up pooing helding them under running warm water, and taping with forefinger on her private parts. But it wont help if she is constipated for real.

In nothing else helps, there is always the enema. And the vet will prob do this.

I called the emergency number for the shelter vet and he recommended giving her more of the hairball gel (an inch 3 times a day) and then bring her tomorrow if she still is struggling. I hope it makes a difference, she still has not pooped and I don’t believe is eating. Thank you for the advice everyone

 

[Aj2015]

Her non eating MAY be because of the constipation. When you are full and constipated, humans dont have any appetite either. Lets hope this is the case.
That said, she needs help with the constipation, and you should work parallelly along several traces. Its not good scienceas you wont be sure what helped really, but good being practical.

This vet gel, its used against hairballs, but the solution is essentially paraffine oil. Which by itself is a potent help for loosening constipation.
So I agree with the vet. If you cant get liquid paraffine oil food grade - use simply this cat malt gel - more than you would normally.

Pumpkin as mentioned if she takes it.
Olive oil too with every meal, even if that gel is even more potent...

Be sure she is hydrated, gets more than enough with water or other fluids.

If you use supplementare kmr, goats milk is probably a safer alternative. While constipation from kmr isnt unusual (depends in part on the brand), its very seldom cats gets constipated from goats milk...

Also, massage her belly. Why, massage her over the whole body. You can use a toothbrush. But belly and anus especially.

There is also the trick of helping up pooing helding them under running warm water, and taping with forefinger on her private parts. But it wont help if she is constipated for real.

In nothing else helps, there is always the enema. And the vet will prob do this.

Thank you so much for all the advice! She won’t eat any pumpkin and I haven’t been able to give her olive oil in her food because she hasn’t wanted to eat. I did start massaging her belly and have continued to give her the hairball gel. This afternoon she was really worrying me. She feels so much thinner and her energy level was definitely down. But she has started to push out small amounts of stool, though I usually have to use cotton balls because they are still partially stuck in her rump. It’s the most she has passed in four days though.

This evening was the first time she was hungry and ate a little kitten food. She didn’t want the canned food at all, but did eat some of the dry. She seems to be drinking well, so I’m less concerned about fluids. I’m hoping she will continue to improve through the night:

 

[Aj2015]

Another update. Lily passed her first “full” stool herself this morning! It was a good amount and her poor little bottom is finally completely closed.

 

[Aj2015]

These kittens can’t catch a break! I need some more advice please. Lily has continued to do really well. Today the kittens got their second round of vaccines from the shelter. My male kitten has been acting very lethargic since 7 or so. I just checked his temperature and he is at 103.8 which I know is high right now ge is sitting up, cleaning himself. Anything I can do to help with his fever?? I’m sure he is reacting to the vaccine but I don’t know how to help him...

 

[Aj2015]

Sorry, since 7pm and it’s 11pm now.