A week ago I bought a 10 week old male kitten (Wrigley). My younger sister has a female cat who is about 2 years old. We've never had a problem with her cat and having lived with it I assumed I knew what I was doing when adopting this kitten. I've been in college for almost three years now and nothing has been as stressful as this kitten! When I first brought him home everything was fine. Then, I had to go back to school which is about a four hour drive. Wrigley seemed to do okay. He slept on and off and didn't cry as much as I had planned on. When we got into my apartment I set up his food, litter and water. He seemed fine until that first night when he started having diarrhea. He got up every couple of hours and did this. I got up with him every time and cleaned the litter box so it would be fresh for him. I called the vet who told me that the diarrhea was probably due to the change of houses and stress. I've then noticed that Wrigley has been sneezing a lot. When he went in for his checkup though the vet said he was fine and didn't have worms. I also heard Wrigley gagging and went over to see what the problem was. He gagged up a little bit of white foamy stuff. It didn't have any blood or really much of anything except foam. Today I thought Wrigley was doing much better since I didn't see any diarrhea in his litter box. There was only pee. Later while cleaning up my room I found that Wrigley had been going diarrhea underneath my bed close to the wall. Figuring that I would never be able to fully get the smell of his feces out of the carpet I set up ANOTHER litter box underneath my bed. I didn't want to move the one I had already set up because I didn't want to confuse him. Of course, a couple minutes after I set up the second litter box Wrigley goes behind my dresser and poops again. This is getting ridiculous and I have no idea what to do. I'm going to call the vet tomorrow morning and hopefully bring him in. I'm not sure whether he has a problem or this is all due to stress. I should probably mention that he is confined to my apartment room since my other roommate has a dog and Wrigley does not get along with other animals. I also am in college so I have to leave him by himself for hours on end. I bought a ton of toys though that I hope he's keeping himself busy with. I don't want to have to get rid of Wrigley because I would feel so guilty but this experience is NOT what I had in mind. Wrigley is also super dependent and getting my homework done, showering, ect is a challenge because he is always crying at my feet. My sister's cat was so easy going and didn't cause her any problems. I'm not sure what I'm exactly asking for in an answer other than advice if you've had similar issues or know a lot about cats.
Daily Kitten Chat Forum » Purrs
HELP!!!!!!!
(4 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago by Lauren Corrigan #
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First of all, going to the vet is a good idea. If he has a problem which manifests itself when trying to elimainate, he may associate the litter box with pain. From your description I would doubt stress unless the dog is making noise at the door trying to get at him and scaring him? Hope you are able to find the reason. Good luck, and welcome to TDK!
Posted 2 years ago by paulajeanne #
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Welcome to TDK Lauren Corrigan(LC), the only help I can give you is the pink tags I have added at the top right of the page. They take you to other threads about similar topics. I hope you can find some help from them.
I hope Wrigley gets better soon.Posted 2 years ago by Moonshadow_NZ #
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Hi, Laura, welcome to TDK and welcome to little Wrigley. Poor baby -- he is just that, a baby, and crying and pooping is what little babies do. He WILL be needy, that is part of what having a kitten is about. He is only 10 weeks old, he needs constant comfort and attention at this stage. A comfy bed with a soft stuffed toy in it and an old unwashed sweater of yours (or similar clothing smelling of you) may help to comfort him, as may leaving the radio on softly (public radio is good) while you are out.
When he reaches the 'toddler' stage of being a kitten and then the 'teenager stage' (and they will come sooner than you think) you may well be wishing he was still that little baby who loved to cuddle his mama and cried to be picked up, instead of zooming round like a crazy thing and wriggling to be put down when you try to hold him! If you're lucky, he will always be a lovebug but he will not always be so needy! But you are his mama now and you are all he has.
But, yes, your first step is to take him back to the vet. The diarrhoea could be due to stress, change of diet, some medical problem but you need to know that diarrhoea in kittens can be dangerous because they can get dehydrated very easily. So getting him to the vet is a must. If you are feeding him dry food, don't, because it will suck even more moisture out of him at the moment. Give him wet kitten food for now. Always make sure he has plenty of fresh water available. And talk to the vet about this problem.
The second thing I suggest is getting something called 'Kitten Attract' litter. It is a bit pricey I understand, but a lot of TDKers seem to have had great success with it, and you sprinkle it on the top of the litter box -- it seems to make the kitten want to use it.
You could also try a Feliway diffuser (pet store or your vet) to calm him down and comfort him.
Let us know how you get on :)
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