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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / November 2004Kitten severed nipple in half! won't deficate.
First, the info: Male 4-5 weeks old Found in good condition/health after mother cat died. A vet's visit revealed no apparent blockage in the intestine, and teeth development which indicated age to be 4-5 weeks, although the kitten is smaller than average for that age. We have had our new kitten for close to four days now. In that time, I have not been able to get it to defecate. On the first day of its rescue, it was in my mother-in-law's custody. She claims that she saw a small brown smudge in the basket she was keeping it in. She cleaned the basket out and I did not see the substance so I do not know how much was there. When we first got the cat, he was very active and energetic. I did have some trouble with feeding though. After trying soft kitten food, and kitten food mixed with Heartz MRF (milk replacement formula, we began bottle feeding just MRF. The kitten appeared to have a hard time getting the formula out for those first few days. He was biting the nipple hard and out of breath. Eventually, through a combination of making the hole larger and applying more pressure on the bottle, I was able to get the kitten to latch on and suck without biting. (His ears "bobbed" up and down, indicating correct flow) Today, my wife was feeding the kitten. She appeared to be doing it correctly, but the kitten was biting the nipple. I came over to help apply pressure when the kitten bit the nipple completely off of the bottle (he didn't swallow it). I'm assuming this means that the kitten is ready for solid food. Over the course of the past four days, the kitten has become progressively less active. Assuming that the vet's office is open tomorrow (Veteran's day), I will take the kitten back for some stool softener and I will ask about the nipple and how to encourage the kitten to progress to solid foods. However, I would appreciate some more info, even if the vet's office will be open. So... 1. Why would a kitten completely bite off a nipple? 2. What else can I do to encourage him to eat solid foods? 3. Beside stimulating the kitten's privates, how else can I encourage defication? 4. Any other tips? Thanx. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DO NOT REPLY TO RTPB123@HOTMAIL.COM. IT IS NOT MY REAL EMAIL. IT IS BEST TO REPLY TO THE GROUP ANYWAY. [adult swim] Thanx »Tony > First, the info: > Male 4-5 weeks old Found in good condition/health after mother cat > died. > A vet's visit revealed no apparent blockage in the intestine, and > teeth development which indicated age to be 4-5 weeks, although the > kitten is smaller than average for that age. <snip> > Over the course of the past four days, the kitten has become > progressively less active. Assuming that the vet's office is open [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > 1. Why would a kitten completely bite off a nipple? I don't know. Could be that he was frustrated with the bottle. > 2. What else can I do to encourage him to eat solid foods? Try mixing some formula in with canned kitten food, making a soft mixture. The kittens I've had around that age love it. You can gradually decrease the formula until he is used to the food. > 3. Beside stimulating the kitten's privates, how else can I encourage > defication? Make sure you are doing this correctly. Take a cotton ball moistened with warm water and gently stroke his butt. He may not know to go in the litterbox, so place him in it soon after eating. If it's been four days, however, PLEASE take him to the vet tomorrow! I can't imagine all the vet offices will be closed for Veteran's Day. Kittens can go downhill very quickly, and you say he's gotten less active. NOT a good sign! Keep a close eye on him tonight and take him in first thing tomorrow. > 4. Any other tips? Also make sure he is warm enough, but not hot.  Signature-Kelly kelly at farringtons dot net www.kelltek.com Check out www.snittens.com >> 2. What else can I do to encourage him to eat solid foods? > > Try mixing some formula in with canned kitten food, making a > soft mixture. The kittens I've had around that age love it. You > can gradually decrease the formula until he is used to the food. Good suggestion. My new 8 week old kittens had never eaten canned food, and since being weaned from KMR, ate nothing but Kitten Chow. They could pick up the pieces and chomp them well enough, but when it came to getting them to eat canned food, they tried to lap it like they would drink water. This resulted in the food being compressed against the bowl and they didn't know to bite into the "smoothed over" soft food to eat it. I got them past that by mixing in some water to make it more liquid so that they *could* lap it up and gradually lessened the amount of water, so that now it is all just canned food (Innova). They won't even touch dry food now unless they are *starving* (read: I am late getting home from work). SignatureCheryl > First, the info: > Male 4-5 weeks old Found in good condition/health after mother cat [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > > Thanx. > Thanx > ?Tony The vet is a good idea, 1st thing is to get the kitten lapping out of a bowl. You can put some of the kitten formula in a bowl. Dip your finger in the formula and see if you can get the kitten to lick it off your finger. If he'll do that keep dipping your finger into the formula and gradually lower the finger toward the bowl while he's licking. The point is to lure him to the bowl and then have him discover there is much more food there and to try lapping it up. Once you get him drinking the formula out of the bowl do as others have said and start mixing in canned kitten food. If he doesn't take to that right off try mixing the formula to a thicker consistency then try mixing with food. As far as the lack of bowel movement, if he hasn't been eating much there won't be anything much to poop. The lethargy could be from his not eating/drinking more than from being constipated. W Sucess! First, I would like to thank everyone for their help. I have gotten the kitten to lap formula out of a bowl. The next step is to mix with kitten food. I know that you guuys have suggested soft food, however the vet recomends hard. I'll expiriment with both. As for the lethargy, last night Mr. Socks seemed to have come alive. I have never seen a kitten so small so hyper before! It was like he got a hold of some "kitty crack"! (you know, cat-nip) After another attempt to get him to deficate, he produced some rather pugnent gas. This tells me that either their is not enough solid waste in him to pass any, or that he has a blockage that is not let solid matter through. In either case, I am about to call the vet right now to find out about stool softeners and such. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DO NOT REPLY TO RTPB123@HOTMAIL.COM. IT IS NOT MY REAL EMAIL. IT IS BEST TO REPLY TO THE GROUP ANYWAY. [adult swim] Thanx »Tony Vet's visit very good. After a small enima, the doctor discoverd that Mr. Sock's is not constipated. I will attempt feeding him a mixture of formula and kitten chow. Hopefully, he wil produce some poo! :) Thank you everyone for your help. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DO NOT REPLY TO RTPB123@HOTMAIL.COM. IT IS NOT MY REAL EMAIL. IT IS BEST TO REPLY TO THE GROUP ANYWAY. [adult swim] Thanx »Tony > Vet's visit very good. > > After a small enima, the doctor discoverd that Mr. Sock's is not > constipated. I will attempt feeding him a mixture of formula and > kitten chow. Hopefully, he wil produce some poo! :) Hmm. I wonder if Mr. Socks pooed but you somehow missed it? > > Vet's visit very good. > > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Hmm. I wonder if Mr. Socks pooed but you somehow missed > it? I suspect Mr. Socks just hadn't eaten enough solids to have anything to poo. I see this a lot with rescue kittens I have to bottle feed. They usually take a day to get used to the nipple and then another day or so to eat enough to have to poo. W Tony, there is a good dry product out there for weanlings. Royal Canin's baby formula (comes in a pink bag). RC has two kitten chows, one for small kittens just learning to eat solid food up to a couple of months old and one for kittens 4-6 months. We find that first mixing the kitten chow with a/d (gotten from your vet) or chicken babyfood (hold the onions) is a good introduction to a kitten transitioning to solid food. The gas can be alleviated with a few drops of pure peppermint oil or a health-food product called "Stomach Ease," which is a combination of mints and camomile etc. Works wonders with upset tummies. The kitten could have been quiet because he had severe stomach pain from gas, by the way. Good luck with the little monster. Sharon Talbert Friends of Campus Cats www.campuscats.org >First, the info: > Male 4-5 weeks old Found in good condition/health after mother cat [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >cleaned the basket out and I did not see the substance so I do not >know how much was there. at that age, mother cat licks their behind and that makes them defecate and urinate and she picks up the eh crap. wiping him with a moist, soft, warm cloth might do the trick. he needs his mommy. [...] >1. Why would a kitten completely bite off a nipple? accident? it doesn't mean he is ready for solid foods. it's too early for him to eat only solid foods. he'd still be nursing at 5 weeks. >2. What else can I do to encourage him to eat solid foods? you can give him the mild replacement formula to lick out of the bowl and to leave soft food for him in a bowl, but he is way too young to eat only solid food. >3. Beside stimulating the kitten's privates, how else can I encourage >defication? he will eventually defecate on his own. -L |
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