Constipated Kitten?

We found 3 kittens under a shrub on about 7/25. After watching them for a couple of days, with very limited visits from the probable momma, 2 of the babies disappeared and one was left behind. Long story short, we took in the little one about a week and a half ago. It weighed 105g and had eyes closed, eyes opened on about 8/4, so we're guessing about 2.5 weeks old now. We started syringe feeding for the first couple of days with liquid KMR. After about 2 days, a firm bowel movement happened followed by a few days of runny bm's. About 5-6 days ago we switched to dry KMR and now we're on day 4 with no BM when stimulated. A couple times we saw some brown spotting, but nothing we would call poop. Today we switched back to liquid KMR and began adding 3 drops of olive oil. Through this all, kitten isn't crying, gains about 10g+ per day(weighs about 225g now), eats well, pees every feeding. We're just worried about the lack of pooping for almost 4 days...should we be freaking out? Any thing we should do other than the olive oil? If we don't have some success by Monday we'll take it back to the vet. We had the vet give it a quick go over last weekend.

I should add that we feed about 9-10ml of KMR every 3 hours.

Which KMR are you feeding?

We started with the canned liquid, when that ran out we switched to the pet-ag powder. When we switched to the powder were happy the mild runny poo slowed down. But now we're going into day 5 of little to no pooping. Starting to freak a little...

...and....last night we read that a lot of kittens get bound up with the powder. Did a little reading and switched back to canned liquid and began adding 3 drops olive oil....and apparently at its 2am feeding...poop...glorious poop! The will monitor how it does on the liquid...maybe mixing in goat milk every other feeding will get her regular.

Yes, goats milk is usually good. Try with this too.

Powder KMR is usually more reliable, but some users are happy with the liquid one... So proceed with the premade as long its OK.

When you wrote you add 3 drops of olive oil. Each meal or once a day?

If in pinch, another easy home remedy is to take such a suppository cone of glycerin, the same as used by humans with constipation, showe off a tiny sliver, and put into the behind...
Harmless if done cautiously, but often works nicely on constipation.

We added 3 small drops to its 9ml bottle, so per feeding...too much?

So, we have an approximately 3 week old kitten. When we found it, it had maybe 1 solid poop. We started off feeding it pre-made liquid KMR, after about 1-2 days, it started having runny poop. For no reason other than we ran out of the pre-mixed liquid KMR, we switched to powdered KMR...began mixing per the instructions 1:2 with water and kitten loved it. And the runny poop stopped, actually all the poop stopped. After about 4 days, we switched back to liquid (adding a few drops of olive oil at first) and within 2 feedings it pooped pretty normal pasty poo. Now after about 2 days of the liquid, we are back to runny liquid poo. We don't know what to do to fix this...should we add something to the liquid KMR to help with the diarrhea or add something to the powdered KMR to help with the no pooping for 4 days? HELP ARRGGHHH!!! TIA

I never advise using the pre-mixed formula. It almost always causes diarrhea. Use the powdered and put 2-3 drops of olive oil in each feeding.

How much does the kitten weigh, and how much and how often are you feeding?

You can also buy glycerin suppositories, shave a tiny piece off and insert it. It will usually bring on a poop in a few minutes.

BRC71

Weighs about 272g, we've been feeding about 11ml every 3 hours. We also have goats milk and pumpkin at our disposal.

The kitten is a tad underweight. At 3 weeks it should weigh about 12 ounces, or 340 grams. Kittens should weigh about one pound at 4 weeks. However, you are feeding the correct amount for the weight. Does the kitten seem to want more or be full after 11 mLs?

You cannot give pumpkin to a three week old kitten.

Continue with oil and try the glycerin. Also, not all kittens will poop every single day, though four days is a long time.

BRC71

Kitten still seems hungry, today we were going to with 13mL until the diarrhea. We're never sure if we should limit it to the 10-15ml that most feeding charts recommend or feed until it is full. Our normal routine is to pour the measured amount in the bottle and when it's gone, its gone. Should we try giving extra if it seems willing to eat it? Thanks for the help.

We're actually guessing that it's around 2.5 weeks or so...eyes began opening on 8/4 or 8/5 and ears are still a little folded over. It's been gaining about 15-18g per day. We started cutting the liquid KMR 50/50 with the powdered for a few feeding to switch it back to powdered, then I'll add a few drops of olive oil. Last feeding had no runny poo, which is a plus.

Absolutely feed the kitten until it is full. It’s almost impossible to overfeed a kitten because they are growing so fast. Same for when it begins to wean to solids. Also, the kitten may want more at one feeding and less at another, but always offer more. They let you know when they are full.

Arrghh...we will up the amount in the bottle and let it go to town....we've been following the feeding charts we found religiously and trying not to overfeed...here is a pic of the little thing relaxing after a meal...

Oh, how adorable! I love black kitties. I have one myself!

You can trim the very tips of its claws as well. Those look sharp!

Sarthur2 said:

You can trim the very tips of its claws as well. Those look sharp!

Click to expand...

Yes...may have to do that...everyone sees the claws and thinks we have taken in a bear cub...lol Good news is the diarrhea seems to have subsided, could be mixing the dry formula back in with the liquid...yay

I see you mention you have access to goats milk. You can blend it with the powdered KMR, ratio 1:3 instead of 1:2 with water.
Add a couple drops of olive oil if you want.

And as said, overfeeding is seldom a problem, but its easy to underfeed...

The PetAg feeding schedule suggests the feeding too seldom!

If she gets runny poo again or diarrhea, give also some pedialyte, bough or homemade. To compensate for salts and water losses.

Kitten seems to eat almost all of 16ml bottle we've been giving the last couple of feedings, still about 3 hours apart. Still some runny poo but about 14 hours apart. Going to have her switched to all dry kmr by end of day, hopefully that helps with the runs. How do we know when is best to start feeding every 3.5 or 4 hours?