I took in 2 kittens from birth cuz the mom rejected them, been feeding them kmr every 2 hours, makin them pee but they wont poop. They pooped sunday but its thurs and they havent! And i stimulate them. Theyre my girlfriends 1st kitties and i want to keep them alive for her. One kitten is walking weird and cries seldomly. still eats but gotta force it. The other kitten is perfect!I let them sleep and keep em warm! what am i doing wrong!? Will they live!?
Daily Kitten Chat Forum » Cats & Kittens
Newborn kittens WONT POOP! and lethargic HELP!!!
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Babyboy, I hope so but none of us can tell you that for sure. Try adding a few drops of vegetable oil (canola or olive or rice bran etc) to their formula. If you click on the pink tags I've added, poop and constipation, you will see lots of previous threads on this subject, with lots of good advice and a link for a video on the 'triangle method' of getting kittens to poop. Powdered KMR does seem to constipate kittens a little but Sunday to Thursday is a long time. If their tummies are soft and bulgy keep trying today but if they are hard and bulgy, get them to the vet. If one of them is lethargic, on top of not pooping, get them to the vet. If they haven't pooped by tomorrow, get them to the vet. If in any doubt, get them to the vet.
It sounds like you are doing everything right but sometimes a mama cat abandons her kittens because she knows there's something wrong with them. I hope that's not the case here but you should be prepared. These are good sites for handraising kittens:
http://www.messybeast.com/handrear.htm
http://www.kittenrescue.org/pages.php?pageid=15
http://www.fanciers.com/cat-faqs/orphans.shtml
http://www.feralcat.com/raising.html -
My mom said our vegetable oil is mixed with canola oil so im scared to giv em it. I called the vet at midnite and they said maybe they havent produced enough poop yet? idk. also she might be hypoglycemic so i put maple syrup on her gums and later gave her a tiny bit of sugar water. It helped a lil bit but what worries me is the poop. 4 sure if i cant get them to poop tonite ima take them to the vet. The mom rejected them cuz she had them outside and in yuma where im at its 114 degrees and 2 out of 4 kittens died so me and my girlfriend took in the other 2 and they are still alive! its been 4 days! ive read endless amounts on the internet bout kittens i think i can be a veterinarian! Thanks for replying to me and tryin to help! I just really love cats and plus my girlfriend wants them to live sooo bad.
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BabyBoy, vegetable oil mixed with canola oil should be fine, canola oil is vegetable oil too.
I see from your other post they are only five days old. Maybe the vet is right, they just haven't taken in enough food yet and their little digestive systems haven't kicked in enough to produce food. If their tummies are soft, it's not such a worry. I do worry about the lethargic kitten, and it's good that you're giving her maple syrup (light coloured Karo corn syrup is also good). You can also try mixing their KMR powder with pedialyte rather than plain water -- if you don't have pedialyte, I'll give you a link for home-made pedialyte. http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf792836.tip.html
Good on you for caring so much and calling the vet at midnight and being ready to take them in to the vet tomorrow (and I think you should), you rock so much!
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Ive always been a kitty lover I have 6 cats lol! Its just kittens are helpless and its a need to help them. For sure if shes not better by tomorrow morning ima rush over to the vet. Thats the thing though were really tight on money and theyre expensive. I just fed both of them and the lethargic one chugged it finally. I had to spend a alf an hour on her hours ago every feeding. Her head was like stevie wonder all moving everywhere. Rolling over for no reason at all and when i picked her up she would slam her head all the way back for some reason. But lil by lil shes getting better. Ima try that vegetable oil next feeding and buy some pedialyte. Which one exactly? Shes walking a lil straighter now and meowing so im thinking her sugar was low.
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I know, it's terrible that vets are so expensive.
I'm so glad the lethargic one is doing better, sounds like you should keep up a little bit of maple syrup or corn syrup with each feed.
It doesn't matter which pedialyte -- well, make it unflavoured -- but any reputable brand should be all right.
Welcome to TDK, you are the kinda cat-loving guy we like a lot! :-)
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You're very welcome, that's what we're here for.
No, it won't, but if it's easier, you can use Gatorade (if you have any) or you can use this simple one especially for kittens, from the Messy Beast site:
"To make an emergency rehydration mixture: 500 ml cooled boiled water, 12 grams glucose powder, quarter teaspoon salt, pinch of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). It can be stored for 24 hours in a refrigerator. Electrolyte solution can be fed by itself for up to 24 hours after which a 50/50 mixture of electrolyte/milk can be fed and the proportion of milk gradually increased to 100%."
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Babyboy, this is in case they have dehydration, which can happen if they refuse to drink their formula, or are vomiting or get diarrhoea. If your kittens are drinking their formula normally, they should be hydrated ok. But if they are not eating and/or drinking, Nutrical (which is a high calorie paste) or Karo corn syrup and pedialyte will keep them going until they start eating again.
Your kittens may not need it. Try the tent dehydration test (I am particularly thinking of the lethargic one). Take a pinch of skin at the nape of the neck and let go. If it snaps back immediately, kitten has enough fluids.
If it takes a second or two to go back down, or, worse, if it stays up in a 'tent' shape, kitten is dehydrated and needs fluids. This is when you give them pedialyte and, if they don't get better quickly, get them a vet.
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That is cr****. The best thing would be to get her to the emergency vet so they can subcutaneously inject fluids. Otherwise, just follow the instructions on the packet and give it to her, as much as she'll take, little and often. You NEED to get these fluids into her, if it's sticking up like a tent, she is in real danger of not making it.
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Great, so you don't need to do anything else to it, just get it into the kittens. This is the info from the messybeast site (it's a great site):
Initially give 1 - 1.5 ml (depending on kitten's size: roughly 1 ml per 100g bodyweight) every 20-30 minutes until the kitten is rehydrated and can urinate when massaged. Weak kittens will require tube-feeding. When its condition improves, gradually increase the amount and decrease the frequency. If all goes well, diluted milk can then be introduced after 24 hours, and full strength milk 24 hours after that. For severe dehydration, parenteral (injected) fluids must be administered by a veterinary surgeon. Constipation will require an enema administered by the vet.
That will be why they've been so constipated. No fluids inside them means no moisture in their poop.
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No, it won't. I have to leave the computer now but I'll keep checking back every 15 minutes or so.
Good luck, I hope these little ones pull through. They are VERY LUCKY to have you looking after them. Bless you for doing that. If you have any questions in between times, the messybeast site is the first place to look but, as I said, I'll keep checking back.
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You're very welcome. I hope it goes well. If the little girl keeps getting worse, an emergency vet is your best option (I'm sorry, I know how expensive that is but subcutaneously injecting fluids means they get into kitten much faster. You can also ask him or her to show you how to inject the fluids so you can keep taking care of kitten and don't need a vet to do it next time.)
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The dehydrated one, just concentrate on the pedialyte for the next 24 hours. The normal one, feed as normal. Stimulate her to pee before you feed her though, as you've just filled her up with pedialyte.
You can also give a smear of Nutrical or Karo corn syrup or maple syrup to the dehydrated one to give her a bit of energy.
Don't forget with the normal one, you can mix her KMR powder with the pedialyte instead of with plain water.
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Yes, the normal kitten does need formula as well, so if you mix her formula with pedialyte, she'll be getting both in her normal feed.
With the dehydrated one, the most important thing is to get her rehydrated again, so that's why you should concentrate on the pedialyte for the next 24 hours. After that you can give her diluted milk and then bring it up to full strength again. But the pedialyte is the most important bit.
You're not bugging us at all, that's what we're here for.
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Thank YOU for caring for these little ones and working so hard to save them. I think you would make a great veterinarian. Yes, please, do keep in touch with us. By the time I go to bed (I'm in New Zealand) all the experienced foster mums in the US will have woken up so you'll usually be able to find somebody on the site. (And I'll still keep checking back.)
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