Long story short: I've got 8 twenty-day-old kittens that are pooping an extremely rancid, bright yellow, runny liquid poop all over themselves and each other. I took them to the vet this morning and am currently deep cleaning their room while I wait for the verdict. I don't know how to keep everyone clean -- any advice?
Long story: I'm a first-time kitten foster that picked up a litter of 8 kittens with momma from the humane society last week. They were approximately 10 days old when I got them (04/10), and only a few had both eyes open. Everyone was doing great for the first few days. Starting Monday, I noticed yellow spots in their bedding, which I figured was just from momma still stimulating them to use the bathroom. The next day, I woke up to find a lot of these spots, and a lot of kittens coated in a very foul-smelling yellow, liquidy poop. I've been in contact with the humane society since I first noticed the spots, and they do not seem very concerned, but the situation has gotten much, much worse, to the point where I'm washing their behinds 3-4 times a day (and my washing machine is running nonstop to clean all the bedding!). They're moving around on their own pretty well now and climbing in and out of their cat bed, but none of them seem even remotely interested in the litter box and prefer to just poop on the move and then walk all over their siblings to make sure everyone is fully coated.
Momma cat is stressed when they soil themselves, and I can't seem to keep up with it.
I finally convinced the HS to let me drop off momma and babies at their clinic to check them over, as I'm convinced something is very wrong for it to be this messy and foul. I used to volunteer very regularly at a shelter and have never seen such a mess. I will need to pick them up as soon as I get the call, and I just don't know what to expect. I'm disinfecting the entire room right now but I'm afraid it's just going to be a poopy mess as soon as I bring them back in. How can I keep everyone clean? Is there something I'm missing here? I feel like I'm being overly dramatic about the whole thing, but I'm so worried for their health and also going crazy from all the poo!
Long story: I'm a first-time kitten foster that picked up a litter of 8 kittens with momma from the humane society last week. They were approximately 10 days old when I got them (04/10), and only a few had both eyes open. Everyone was doing great for the first few days. Starting Monday, I noticed yellow spots in their bedding, which I figured was just from momma still stimulating them to use the bathroom. The next day, I woke up to find a lot of these spots, and a lot of kittens coated in a very foul-smelling yellow, liquidy poop. I've been in contact with the humane society since I first noticed the spots, and they do not seem very concerned, but the situation has gotten much, much worse, to the point where I'm washing their behinds 3-4 times a day (and my washing machine is running nonstop to clean all the bedding!). They're moving around on their own pretty well now and climbing in and out of their cat bed, but none of them seem even remotely interested in the litter box and prefer to just poop on the move and then walk all over their siblings to make sure everyone is fully coated.
Momma cat is stressed when they soil themselves, and I can't seem to keep up with it.I finally convinced the HS to let me drop off momma and babies at their clinic to check them over, as I'm convinced something is very wrong for it to be this messy and foul. I used to volunteer very regularly at a shelter and have never seen such a mess. I will need to pick them up as soon as I get the call, and I just don't know what to expect. I'm disinfecting the entire room right now but I'm afraid it's just going to be a poopy mess as soon as I bring them back in. How can I keep everyone clean? Is there something I'm missing here? I feel like I'm being overly dramatic about the whole thing, but I'm so worried for their health and also going crazy from all the poo!
I know they're super busy, I just worry so much for these little guys. Will let you know what I find out. Meanwhile...flashback to when they were clean. 
I'm resigned to the house smelling like kitten poop for the next week, I'm afraid.
Everybody hates the metronidazole, but they're taking it like little champs anyway. I was even able to bathe momma cat last night and we both made it out alive! She was COVERED in poop after traveling in the carrier with all the babies, and she would just sit and cry at the door. She seemed to settle down a lot more after a leg, tail, and belly bath and actually started grooming herself and feeding the kittens again. 
This is also super great news because they've mostly been either losing a tiny bit of weight or stagnating in weight gain since this whole thing started. Hopefully keeping the diarrhea at bay will get their weights back up again! They're all feeding like crazy so the low weights aren't from loss of appetite.
So glad I came across this site.
