kitten won't poop

[mary]

A few days ago my daughter brought home a tiny rejected kitten.  I wan't able to get it to take a bottle, but have it drinking goat's milk from a saucer several times a day.  

It seems well, plays, sleeps, pees, but it hasn't pooped since it's been here.  I have tried several times trying to stimulate it with a warm wet cloth but to no avail.

So I'm wondering how normalish this is.  Should I be concerned?  It is not eating solid food, just milk.

[shellymay]

mary, the stimulatjing it with a warm wet cloth after every meal is important and I would continue to do that until it learns togo without you, until then let me tell youwhat happened at my vets office yesterday,I took my pup into have a puppy check up and puppy shots, part of this involves alsochecking puppy for worms, standard procedure for new pups, the vet sticks a plastic thingy up pups anal area and it has a littlespoon thingy on the end and when he removes said tool it has the pups poop sample on it and then he tests the sample for worms....with that being said the PUPPY now has the urge to go poop because this foriegn object was placed up puppies anal area, so my advice would be to use a pet thermometer and put a little vasoline on it and stick it about 1/2" length up the kitties butt and yes get the temperature reading while its there to make sure kitten has no temperature, once removed maybe this will give the kitten the urge to go also?? or you might add a little oil to kittens milk tohelp move things through, hope this helps!

[aoconnor]

If she was malnourished it may take several days to have enough in her to poop out. Plus, on just milk, it will more than likely urinate more than poop anyways. Do you know approximately how old the kitten is? What I have done multiple times with orphan kittens 3 weeks and older is I buy a bag of Purina Kitten Chow (it really, really is the best kitten chow on the market, I have a huge amount of experience with it), and I let it soak in a little warm milk until it is a mash consistency, then give the kitten the mash to eat on it's own. If the kitten eats that, then slowly lessen the amount of milk until it is eating the dry kibble and has a water dish for fresh water. After 8 weeks of age kittens generally don't need milk any longer, I have always had them eating dry kibble and drinking from a water dish by that age, they do just fine.

[hobbitlady]

mary,Some kittens have a block or skin-together anus that has to be opened by a vet.I had no clue and had a kitten die once many years ago. It's just a condition that happens that they can't pass solid food. Make sure the baby's hole is actually Open but the kitten I had ate food and got bloated so that Is different. I just wanted you to know and everyone else to know this birth defect condition happens sometimes.

Also we got a barn kitten once that had no clue what solid food was.I thought the Mom may have fed it mice by then, but cat food was something it didn't "understand". I rubbed Canned cat food right on it's little face so it would lick. Once it got a taste it started eating solid food like crazy and didn't mind going from canned to "chow". That one just didn't "understand". The look on his face when he figured it out was "priceless"!!!

[Deleted]

Add some sugar to the milk. That is what we always did with kittens and it worked. I've done it with other bottle babies too with good results.
Good luck!

[mary]

May 15, 2016 1:23:44 GMT @hull said:

Add some sugar to the milk. That is what we always did with kittens and it worked. I've done it with other bottle babies too with good results.
Good luck!

What is the purpose of adding the sugar?

[Deleted]

I don't know why it works but it gets the bowels moving.

[aoconnor]

mary, how is the kitten doing?

[mary]

She's doing very well as far as drinking her milk, peeing, playing, napping, doing all the things a kitten is supposed to do except pooping. She appears to be bright and healthy otherwise but this one thing still concerns me.

I don't know an age on her. I don't think she could be more than a few weeks.

[aoconnor]

May 16, 2016 13:27:45 GMT mary said:

She's doing very well as far as drinking her milk, peeing, playing, napping, doing all the things a kitten is supposed to do except pooping. She appears to be bright and healthy otherwise but this one thing still concerns me.

I don't know an age on her. I don't think she could be more than a few weeks.

I would consider calling a vet and getting a second opinion! If the kitty isn't pooping, there is a problem!! 

Is there a possibility that another animal is eating the little bit of poop the kitten may be putting out? A dog, another cat...anything? 

[countrymom22]

I agree with aoconnor, if the kitten still hasn't pooped a vet visit is in order as so much time has gone by. I wouldn't wait any longer.

Please come back and update us. Thanks and good luck with the little one!

[mary]

She finally pooped!! I never thought I would be so excited to see a kitten poop.

I took aoconnor's advice a couple of evenings ago to start her on Purina Kitten Chow soaked in milk. She loves it. When she finishes a meal, I start more soaking in the fridge, and zap it for a few seconds right before I give it to her.

I've watched her and worried over her and she's okay.

Thanks to all for the concern and advice. I'll put up a picture to reward you.

[mary]

This picture was taken the evening we got her.

[mary]

She's such a friendly thing. Earlier she disappeared after playing at my feet for awhile, and I found her sleeping next to where my husband was working in the other room. He's the one who doesn't want a house cat but I noticed that when he went to a different room to work, he carried her with him on his shoulder. lol

[hobbitlady]

mary , I'm so happy for you; waiting and wondering is so hard! What an adorable little baby kitty and precious news about your DH too! She's smart already,teehee,she knew how to win him over.

[countrymom22]

mary, I think the men try to be tough, I know my hubby does. But a baby animal is a direct path to his heart. I can't tell you the number of pets we've had that he "wasn't interested in", that became his best buddies!

Kind of like the way a house cat always wants to sit on the lap of the person who is allergic to cats! My animals always seek out the family member that least wants them around.

[aoconnor]

She is a doll:-) I'm so glad the Purina Kitten Chow worked!! Congrats on such a pretty little kitty. And hubbies are softies...mine sure is when it comes to baby kitties or puppies or horses or cows or...yep, he is a softy for babies:-)

[mary]

I was so proud of her for taking herself to the litterbox last night to poop that I neglected to put her there after her breakfast this morning, and she peed on the floor. Still a baby.

[paquebot]

Really all she needed was some solid food in order to create waste. Not much of that in milk.

Be careful teaching her to be a shoulder cat. Used to be cute when ours would jump to a chair and then my shoulder when she was a kitten. When a 16-pound cat does it when one is wearing just a T-shirt, it is NOT cute!

Martin

[mary]

lol I imagine Right now I'm teaching her that the keyboard is not a good place.

I've raised little kittens before but it's been awhile and I had children at home to entertain them. It's kind of funny to me how much raising this baby is really like raising a baby. She wants to be entertained or cuddled all the time. When she goes to sleep on me, I wonder whether I should move.

I still have to put her in her litter box when she needs to pee or she'll go wherever she is. A few minutes ago, though, I heard her cry, and said to myself, she's not hungry, oh, she needs to poop. lol. I got up to check on her and found he in the litter box doing just that. Yay! She went in the box.

[mary]

all played out

[manygoatsnmore]

Oh, she's CUTE! I just want to reach out and tickle her tummy. Luckily, I have a couple little guys here to love on. Kittens are just so much fun.

[aoconnor]

What a sweet baby!! I love that full tummy look:-)

[mary]

She's grown into her tummy and is looking lanky now.

And she's very good about going in the litter box to poop but I'm still fighting with her about peeing on the carpet. I don't know what's with that.

[Use Less]

Has she been to the vet? She may have a urinary problem. If it hurts to pee, she could be rejecting the box. If she or another cat peed there, she could be responding to odor, even though you don't smell it. Try lemon juice or white vinegar to clean the area.

[gracielagata]

Is it always the same spot she pees? Maybe just try a slow win by putting the litterbox right in that spot, so she can't help but use it?

I have never had a non-box using cat, so am not of much help... except that I agree with Use Less, it could be a bladder issue. My little cat got chronic kidney disease when she was 18ish... she used the box all the way until her death at almost 22-23. She only ever didn't on one spate- she had a massive UTI and would literally come stand in front of me and pee bloody urine on a vertical surface while screaming at me to get my attention (Or to apologize? Or in pain? But you get the idea.). Took us forever to fight that infection bc we didn't realize the 'good for nature' biodegradable corn hull litter I had switched her too was reinfecting her each time she tried to use it again. I obviously do not recommend that stuff!

[feather]

I'm just glad the kitty didn't explode. Always a good thing.

[paquebot]

There are some cats which need two litter boxes, especially if one is near their feed bowl. I know since that's the case with our cat. There is a litter box just for urinating and that's all that it is ever used for. She's over 10 years old and has done that from the beginning.

Martin

[mary]

She actually would probably like a separate box for peeing. If she has already pooped in the box and I haven't cleaned it out yet, she does not want to pee there.

Funny thing is she will often sneak around to where the box is and go right beside it if I am not watching her to pop her in. I've caught her going in other places, but right next to the box is her favorite place besides in it. (She usually goes in it, just sometimes she won't.)

I really, really don't think there's anything wrong with her.

[Deleted]

To ease clean-up, you can put a pee pad in front of the litter box. I have about an inch of the pee pad under the box to keep the pad from moving. I have an older cat that sometimes doesn't get all the way in the box. The pads are 21" x 21" in size. If she's going right beside it, you could place the pad accordingly.