What can I do for a 7 week old kitten with bad diarrhea?

Question

We got her 2 days ago. We've been feeding her a mixture of hard kitten food mixed with soft kitten food and water with a little bit of milk in it. She is very tiny and scrawny and frail. We think the other kitten in the same cage at the pet store was not letting her eat much. I would appreciate any help.

I want to thank all of you for all the advice. We don't have a problem with her eating, she eats about every half hour like she's starving...lol. We stopped the milk last night and only giving her plain water now. I've been holding her all night and she seems to be feeling a little better. Will try the pumpkin and if there isn't a change by tomorrow I'll take her to the vet. Again thank you all for the good and quick advice.

Answer 1

milk.. fish

Answer 2

Your kitten sounds so cute! Are you feeding the kitten the same food she had in the pet store? Often, a change of diet will cause a kitten to have diarrhea. If you are feeding the kitten cow's milk, that might be causing it too. Cow's milk will oftentimes cause stomach upset in cats and kittens. Just feed her the soft kitten food and nothing else but water untill she starts having semi-soft poo. Then you can add in the hard food. If it continues and she looks dehydrated (gums not moist or fur on the neck continues to stand up after being pinched) you should have her evaluated by a vet. It might be a very good idea to have her checked out by a vet, anyway. She might have a viral infection from being at the pet store or worms (easily treated at the vet's office).
Hope this helps, and good luck with your little kitty!

Answer 3

It's not unusual for a kitten going to a new home to be stressed and get diarrhea. Regardless,

DIARRHEA CAN BE FATAL TO YOUNG KITTENS.

1) Kittens may develop a milk intollerance after the age or 4-5 weeks. My vet finally changed my mind - wean those babies early. :-( (Never had before). Your feeding is good other than you need to elimate the milk. This includes milk products made for kittens as was suggested by others.

2) A major change, like going to a new home, may cause diarrhea. Not unusual. They have gone through stress. Again, don't ignore it because it can be fatal to a young kitten.

3) Very important is that you feed her what she has been used to eating. If she is eating "A" and you suddenly feed her only "B" she can develop diarrhea. Make the changeover gradually.

4) Others have suggested pumpkin. Though I haven't personally used this, the recommendation from others is Libby's pumpkin - not for pie (it contains sugar which can also cause diarrhea) - but just plain pumpkin.

5) One breeder I know strongly recommends Iams Hairball formula. Theoretically this corrects the problem with diarrhea; use specifically that brand (we use Science Diet Hairball for some of our cats - but not for the same reason).

It is very important that your kitten not get dehydrated from the diarrhea. Give her lots of liquids, try some of the solutions above until you hit the one that works. But please remember this is almost urgent for a young kitten and your best bet may be your vet!

Answer 4

Just so you know, kittens are lactose and tolerent. so your not suppose to give them milk or any dairy. I foster kittens, and i know a lot about them. we have one that keeps throwing up after she eats, because her sister and liter mate usually eats all the food so that when she does get the chance to eat she eats so much she makes herself throw up. you might want to try gradually give her more food. Start with a little bit, then a few hours later give her a little more. i'll get back to you with a canned food that plugs up the digestive system and makes the poo more formed. Also if your kitten was just wormed it usually makes the have diarrhea. and if it continues you may want to take your kitten to the vet because it may have a virus, and some are deadly. two of our kittens just had a bad virus that cause diarrhea and were on anitbiotics for almost 3 weeks, and another one that we previously had, had a virus so bad that she would have died if she had gone another hour without vet treatment, and then she was getting fed through an IV for about 4 days after that. But you shouldn't worry about that unless you see a dramatic personalitly change in your kitten, it stops eating, or starts have diarrhea everywhere. It usually occurs in the runts of the litters too.
hope that was some useful information, i'll go find out the food that helped our kitties.

Answer 5

This sounds wierd, but I take care of foster kittens and it is wonderful. Pumpkin. Pumpkin will help with the diarrhea, I just buy the regular stuff that you would use to make a pumpkin pie. The vets at the shelter told me about this and I doubted that they would eat it, but they love it. Watch for dehydration though, you can pinch the back of your kitties neck and if it doesn't snap back then he/she may be dehydrated. Once kittens become dehdrated, you can lose them so fast so watch. Make sure they are getting plently of liquids, watch to see if she is drinking. Corn syrup helps with dehydration too, add a little water to it and put it in a syringe and inject it carefully in her mouth (don't shove it or it can get in her lungs.) I don't use corn syrup unless they are pretty bad. Make sure your kitty is eating but do not give her milk. It will make the diarrhea even worse. If the pumpkin doesn't work, you can give her plain yogurt, but it's not as good for her because it contains milk. It still works for diarrhea. If you need to, e-mail me and I can give you any other info on little kitties.

Answer 6

With a seven week previous kitten, diarrhea and dehydration could be an extremely risky mixture. Pinch her epidermis, and it would leap back. If not, she is dehydrated. not sure why you think of biscuits, which many times refers to dry cat/kitten kibble, is undesirable. If she likes it, and does properly, and the same old is effective, there isn't a subject. in case you unexpectedly switched her from biscuits to moist foodstuff, that could carry forth diarrhea. Any foodstuff replace needs to be completed progressively. And till it replaced into kitten replace milk, she might already be lactose illiberal so common milk ought to be prevented. provide water. to help with the diarrhea, provide her some mashed pumpkin (not the pie filling because it has spices). The fiber will help.

Answer 7

If she were my kitten I would be giving her pet milk at this stage since she seems to be undernourished. Atleast twice a day. You can buy kitten formula or carnation pet milk (wal-mart). I also had a young kitten who had diarrhea and the vet recommended a very small dose of kaopectate. Check with your vet for dosage. As soon as she is fattened up it would be good to put her on crunchy kitten food, that should help.

Answer 8

try using only hard food and maybe kitten milk. or mix hard food with some water to make the kitten think it is wet...but stop the reg. milk to much of it is bad for a kitten

good luck =]

Answer 9

Do not give her cow's milk cause cats are lactose intolerant and this could be the cause of the diarrhea itself.

If you give her milk make sure its goat's milk or cat's milk from your pet section.

Also, you may want to change her food to a better quality kitten food and see if that helps.

Answer 10

no cows milk cats cant process the fats in cow milk get it some kitten milk comes in boxes in the pet stores, it has the problem element removed from it. also it could have a bad case of worms, you might want to see a vet.

Answer 11

Seperate her from others & give her "feline milk" with few drops of wormer in it. Try small diet of soft small bite kitten foods, until appetite increases & bulk improves. Watch for worms &/or blood in stools.
Don't give her hard or adult type foods until digestive system is restored & she is in relatively good shape. She sounds to be in too bad of a weakened state right now.