Worried Kitten Mom

[Shehar]

A little back story first… about 2 1/2 weeks ago a momma barn cat dropped off 5 kittens under my house, I managed to get a hold of 3 of them a tabby, a black kitten and a tabby and white (his Name is Simba and is my profile pic). Being wild animals already we decided to keep them on a Raw food diet, Simba was doing great on it until yesterday he started pooping blood in his stool, it’s not a lot but enough to be concerned and threading here. He cried this morning right before he pooped too. I’m a weird cat mom, I take him outside to potty, keeping him close by as to make sure he goes and to examine and make sure everything is on the up and up. Other than that, he seems to be a perfectly healthy active kitten. What is going on here? I haven’t had him long and I have him shoulder riding (he got the hang of it after a day or two), pouch riding (loves his pouch and car rides), and harness training (he likes the harness but it’s still a bit big so that happens in small spurts just so he is used to putting it on.) I’m definitely invested and attached and don’t want to lose him.

 

[Kris107]

What do his poops look like?

 

[Shehar]

They are mostly wet with a slight firmness.

 

[DeesCats]

I'm not familiar with feeding raw food but it would be helpful to know which brand/type you are feeding and if you are adding any supplements/vitamins to the food.

 

[fionasmom]

How old do you estimate Simba to be?

Without getting into any discussion of feeding raw diets in general, you might try to switch him to a good quality kitten food and see if that resolves the problem of the blood.

Parasites can also cause blood in the stool.

 

[Shehar]

We feed raw chicken and beef and eggs for now I have mixed in 2 blueberries into some beef (that was last week) and because they are so sweet to cats they can only have it as a treat. We have also given them an egg mixed with a very little bit of oats (1/16 a cup) and that seemed to go over well as well… I’ve been invested in learning what things they can and cannot eat as far as meats, grains, fruits and veggies.

 

[Alldara]

I would get his poo to the vet to have it checked. He may be too young to be eating raw.

I'd also recommend moving to a fully balanced for kittens/growth food until they are done growing. It's very serious to have a nutritional deficiency during growth and can happen quite accidentally.

 

[Shehar]

I understand you are trying to help, but momma cat does not cook her kitten’s food… please explain how they are too young for raw… they were about 8wks when she dropped them off, so they had definitely eaten raw birds, rats and mice before he came into my care which is what led us to keeping them on raw foods to begin with.

 

[Alldara]

Yes, and feral cats can be full of all sorts of parasites which can cause all sorts of problems. Worms, pathenogenic bacteria and more.

Parasites or infection cause their own issues, but on top of that can also cause nutritional deficiencies.

Young animals, like kittens, have a harder time fighting any infection or anything as their immune system is too undeveloped. That's why adult cats can fight off the same upper respiratory infection that can be fatal if not treated on a kitten. Hence, why I say too young. (You can check out Kitten Lady's videos on upper respiratory infections to learn more.)

On raw meat even that we get at the store there can be things like salmonella, ecoli, campylobacter, Staph, etc that we usually kill off by cooking the meat to an appropriate temperature. But when we feed raw, we don't kill these bacteria off and cats can get sick.


Anyways, that aside the first thing to do is get the kittens poo to a vet, especially if you haven't had them dewormed yet. The vet will check for illness or Parasite.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Along with the chicken and beef, are there bones included (or some other form of calcium), and liver? We have a raw sub-forum here on this site if you haven't already seen it, which discusses all things raw and homemade, just to make sure anyone feeding raw gets it right. I fed raw until very recently when one of mine got C. Perf (possibly from his food), and now he refuses anything raw .

I have seen young kittens eat raw without any issues other than the size of the bones they can't eat, but with blood in the stools, obviously there is some sort of issue. it could be the food, or it could be parasites. I totally agree with Alldara that grocery store bought meet can harbor all kinds of things, so I always bought either commercially prepared 100% nutritionally complete raw food for cats, or purchased meat from local farms or places like Hare Today. Here is our subforum if you are interested: Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food

 

[Norachan]

I understand you are trying to help, but momma cat does not cook her kitten’s food… please explain how they are too young for raw… they were about 8wks when she dropped them off,

Shehar feral kittens will eat prey that their mothers bring them, but will also continue to nurse from their mothers up until they are around 6 months of age. It is really difficult to provide a correctly balanced diet for growing kittens just by feeding home made or raw food. Even adult cats that are fed are raw diet will need a lot of extra supplements added to their food in order to make sure they get all the nutrients they need.

An inadequate diet at such a young age can cause stunted growth, weak bones and even organ failure. If you are serious about feeding a raw diet it would be better to wait until the kitten is closer to a year old before you try to do this. For now canned food formulated for kittens is much better.

I've rescued dozens of feral kittens. Never had one that didn't have worms. Please ask your vet to check for parasites.

 

[eevans3373]

Blood in stool... Raw meat... Could be salmonella.