Need help now! 3 Day Old Foster Kitten

[Ruby3440]

We just got our first bottle baby foster kitten for this season! We haven't even had him an hour yet. Just wanted to post him awhile with 1 question I had, but first what we told happened to the rest of his family.

The mom was a barn cat and had the kittens, but then when they were 1 day old or so they were attacked by a wild animal and the mom and the other kittens didn't make it. He was the only one to survive. He was then brought to the shelter, taken by someone else over that night until they could find someone who could foster him, and then given to us tonight.

Now for the question. His eyes are starting to open already, but he is only about 3 days old. I know it's not normal as we have had plenty of fosters before. Would there be a reason they could be opening so early? I don't believe anyone has messed with his eyes.

Now for pictures!

 

[Sarthur2]

How sweet! One of my kittens had his eyes fully open by 5 days old. He was just fine (and still is 5 years later). He’s the orange kitten with his mom in my profile picture. It’s early but not unheard of.

 

[Ruby3440]

Ok thank you! We have had kittens open up eyes late or at about the time it normally happens, but never this early. I wasn't too worried right now, but it's nice to know that it does happen.
I'm just happy that he seems to be eating well right now! The shelter we foster for actually just started use miracle nipples and gave us some. They are so much easier to use!

 

[Ruby3440]

So we are having problems with the kitten now. At first is was liquid diarrhea, then constipation, and now it's back to diarrhea again.
The first day we moved him to a bottle instead of a syringe (about 6 days old) he ate a ton before we realized it. 15-20 ml (I believe), since then he has slowed down eating closer to what the average is suggested about 7 ml. He started having diarrhea which was yellow like his poop before. Then a day or 2 ago he started having more solid poops to almost constipation.
Last now however I was feeding him as I take care of him over night and felt his stomach was hard so I figured he had to poop. I wasn't able to get anything at first, but then he did push some out. I let him go for the night after the feeding and this morning he just doesn't want to eat. We don't know if he still has a bunch in his stomach that's making him feel full or anything. Also today started with solid poop and now it turned to diarrhea again and it's not the yellow like it was it's like a greyish green yellow look...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Sarthur2]

Poor little fellow! What brand formula are you using, and is it powdered or pre-mixed liquid? The formula may not agree with him.

I’m going to suggest that you switch him to full fat goat’s milk, either powdered or liquid. No diluting, you just feed. Some kittens do much better on goat’s milk.

I also think you may want to ask a vet for Albon in case he has a bacterial infection in his intestines. The various colors of poop suggest this is possible.

And, in case he has gas, you can buy a bottle of infant simethicone and add a few drops to each feeding. It’s safe.

 

[Ruby3440]

We are using powdered GNC. We actually just fed him and he had more liquid poop. At the end when we were cleaning him off he actually started to have a clear like poop?
I believe my mom is going to the shelters vet tomorrow as I work. So hopefully they will provide something.
We are also wondering if coccidia could possibly be the cause for this.

 

[Sarthur2]

This liquid poop is very concerning. If it’s coccidia, the Albon would help, but coccidia poop is usually bright yellow. However, liquid poop is NOT normal, and is dangerous, so consider switching to goat’s milk, and in the meantime, mix the formula with unflavored pedialyte instead of water as that will help replace electrolytes he is losing through the diarrhea. I’m very worried about him at this point!

 

[Ruby3440]

We don't currently have Pedialyte, but hopefully we can get some of the stuff tonight. I am going to let my mom go handle that as I have to wake up really early for work tomorrow and am going to go to bed. Not sure what place sells goat's milk or what is open yet, but she is going to look up places. Might have to wait until tomorrow to buy everything at it's 8:36 pm here.
He did start out with bright yellow poop so I don't know.

 

[Sarthur2]

Walmart sells goat’s milk and pedialyte if you have a store in your area. I hope he gets better soon and the shelter can give him some Albon.

 

[Ruby3440]

So my mom took him to the vets today. Sounds like they did nothing put give him dewormer.... She doesn't fully believe in the goat's milk and I am still trying to convince her.
His stomach is huge for not eating anything. Could it be gas or something else? He still has liquid poops and is not doing well for all. I don't have much hope for him.
Here is a picture of his stomach.

Sarthur2

 

[Ruby3440]

He also seems to be shedding/losing fur. Which isn't normal for this age.

 

[Sarthur2]

This is very concerning, as I mentioned in my posts 5, 7, and 9. He clearly has something terribly wrong. It may be a hernia or an intestinal blockage.

Can you get him to a vet yourself and see that they respond to his actual problem? If it is not a good prognosis, have him humanely euthanized.

However, it seems we still don’t really know what the problem is. It could be easily resolved. I cannot tell from the picture, but I know it’s not normal. Please take him to another vet asap. He needs help!

 

[Ruby3440]

My mom just got back home from the store with Pedialyte and we are going to try that until we can get him to the vet. I read somewhere that it is suggested to do 50% Pedialyte with 50% water for 24 hours.

I don't believe we will actually be able to take him to a different vet because my family doesn't want to spend a bunch money on him. That's why we foster for the shelter because they provide mostly everything for the fosters.

 

[Sarthur2]

I don’t know what to tell you. Did the shelter not have concerns about his belly? Did he see an actual veterinarian at the shelter or just a shelter employee?

 

[Ruby3440]

I am pretty sure there was a vet there that saw him and they tested for cocidia and wormes and didn't find anything. They also gave him a dewormer. I don't believe they said anything else. They also suggested not to use goat's milk like I was telling my mom that you suggested. I still want to try it, but my mom doesn't want too.

 

[jefferd18]

Somebody needs to step up to the plate and advocate a little more forcefully for this baby. Is there anyway you can get somebody on the phone right now- vet, someone from the shelter- and explain to them exactly what is going on?

 

[Ruby3440]

Sorry for the late response. We were talking to the shelter and we will hopefully be able to go in tomorrow. We are hoping to get albon instead of the regular dewormer they gave because we are thinking he might have cocidia on top of whatever else he has going on. If they don't give anything and don't do anything either we plan to go to a rescue when help for with puppies and we will get some Albon there and probably better advice. We like fostering for the shelter because it's closer to use, but the people running the rescue seem to know more and are generally more into the care of the animals.

 

[Ruby3440]

We haven't been able to do much today sadly. My mom's car broke down and with my dad and I working and having both of the other cars we have only been able to continue feeding him Pedialyte mixed with his formula and a small dap of nutrical after every other feeding give or take. We have also been trying to feed him less formula, but waking him up more often just because he gets so tired really quickly when having to force him to feed. So like every hour and a half to 2 hours instead of every 3 hours we feed him.
However he is a fighter he is trying to survive. Some feedings he is really lethargic others he is really trying to walk around looking for food. Just the last feeding he actually started to suck on the syringe and eat himself! It wasn't the best, but it was definitely much easier to feed him as he didn't fight as much as he did all last night!
He does still have really watery poop, but it seems a little more consistent then the other night we believe as it wasn't running down our hands. We are hoping that with this the shelter can try and test his poop again because it seems like the dewormer might be helping.
We honestly don't know and are just hoping for the best. His stomach still looks pretty big, but I don't know if my eyes were tricking me when I got home, but it maybe seemed a little smaller?
Anyways we are crossing our fingers and are hoping for the best.

 

[Sarthur2]

Thank you for the update!

 

[Ruby3440]

I was just thinking and I don't know, but at this age is there any possibility that we could mix a little bit of pumpkin pure into his bottle to help with the poop?
We have used the pumpkin for kittens before who have started to wean already at about 4 weeks old. However we didn't know if it was safe and if we could do it so young.

He actually just turned 2 weeks old today.