Kitty Poo (TMI): Veterinarian-type Qs

Factual Questions
1

We have, as of 9 days ago, been adopted by a kitten. :smack: And I, for one, welcome our new feline overlord!

Said kitten is cute as all get-out, and performs satisfactorily in terms of chasing things in an amusing manner (the laser pointer was a wise purchase!), napping on my chest, and annoying my wife by playing with her hair at 2 in the morning… however, there is one small problem: kitty poo.

The kitten is now 9 weeks old, is litter-box trained, and is eating solid food; but her visits to the litter-box are a cause of some concern to me. So, a few questions for those of you in the know about kitty toiletry:

#1) How often should a 9-week-old kitty defecate? (she goes 3 or 4 times a day… would this be classified as diarrhea? Or is it normal? I understand that a kitten might have diarrhea for a few days due to the stress involved in moving to a new location, but a week and a half? Is that OK?)

#2) Is it normal for a kitten of this age to have very loose stools? (This necessitates me bathing kitty’s hind end about twice a day, as the loose bowel movements tend to foul the hair on her tail and hind legs. Kinda disgusting for me, and VERY distressing for poor kitty! Not to mention that my left hand [used to hold kitty still while I bathe her] is beginning to look as if it has been run through a paper shredder!)

#3) If it is NOT normal for a kitten of this age to have very loose bowel movements 3 or 4 times a day, what can I do to stop it?
I don’t know what kitty ate before she adopted us, but since that time, she has been eating: Purina Kitten Chow (left in her bowl, moistened… so she can eat whenever she’s hungry), IAMS canned kitten food (once a day, a spoonfull or two), and baked chicken (a little bit now and then… she likes this a WHOLE LOT!!! Hard to keep her off the table whenever we have chicken… but we only let her have a little bit). Also, she is only drinking water, left in a dish next to her food.

The kitty and I would appreciate a little insight here. :slight_smile:

2

I’d like to suggest that you call your vet to ask. Asking medical questions on a Message Board is liable to produce a mass of well-intended but irrelevant generic responses. A phone call to the vet will answer your questions, or the vet may ask other questions (“Is there blood in the feces?”, say) to determine whether there’s something wrong in your case. Generic answers may not be helpful at all, and may be harmful.

3

Agree with CKDH to call the vet. Could be worms. Even if she was already treated, sometimes they don’t all die; or she got them again from remnants in the litter box. Or sometimes vets treat for roundworm and not other kinds (roundworm medicine does not kill tapeworm, for example). Could also be some other kind of infection entirely and nothing to do with worms. Could just be a reaction to having a different kind of food than she was used to.

Check with the vet. He’ll probably have you bring in a sample to be tested. Tell him all the info you told us. Good luck with kitty!

4

I’ll answer your question by relating a story:

A few years ago, I was dropping off a friend who is a notorious stray-cat-rescuer. She has six cats and three dogs. I had at the time one dogzilla and one bitchy cat. She gets out of my car, looks down and sees this nice tuxedo cat rubbing around her legs. He’s barely a year old, if that, and the neighbors across the street let the mama cat have a litter, which he was one of. She unceremoniously tossed him into my car and shouted, “DRIVE!”

I am a cat-napper.

I take this little guy home (he’s now a spoiled, lazy fat-ass), where he promptly curled up with the Dogzilla (the dog, not me) and began to purr. I suspected right then something was wrong with him. Now, I have a policy of taking any new adoptee to the vet immediately, to start a chart if for no other reason. Even if it appears nothing is wrong – because cats tend to hide symptoms and you can’t tell until they’re half dead.

So after a couple days, I realize this cat has puked once or twice a day since I brought him into the house. Realizing he could have Feline Leukemia or FIV (Feline AIDS), I took him in. (Those can be contagious to other pets in the house.) Sure enough he had some sort of intestinal virus, was put on prescription kitty food for a few days and stopped puking almost immediately. Again, he is now fat and sassy.

My advice: I have no idea what normal pooping habits might be for a cat. I’ve never followed mine around and kept a chart or anything. Yours sounds a little excessive, especially for a kitten. I just can’t belive you’ve brought a new animal into the house and have not had a vet examine it yet. Make an appointment, get your cat in to start a chart, ask the vet about the pooping and let us know how it all works out. You need to start immunizations anyway and schedule the spay/neuter.

Good luck!

5

Check with a vet. Definitely.

I was once owned by a cat who, when we got him, had all sorts of parasites and stuff. It took forever to get that sorted out, but he had iffy intestines afterwards anyway, and had a couple of bouts of diarrhea for no apparent reason. The vet (who was very good, and saved his life on one notable occasion) said sometimes cats just get it. But we knew his medical history, you don’t know your kitten’s.

However, seeing as this is a new kitten, you should get said kitten to a vet. She’s going to need her shots and stuff anyway. And enjoy her, kittens are a blast!

6

Bowel problems in cats can be hard to diagnose. I speak as an owner of a 15-year old cat with serious ones that are likely not good for her.

Until you get to the vet, keep the kitty in a confined area with a litter box, just so you don’t have to go all over your house cleaning up after the kitty.

It gets really tiring after 6 months.

7

When I took in a stray kitten 2 years ago… he had poopy problems for the first week or so. I am talking VILE :eek: I did take him to the vet and had him fully checked out- he was perfectly fine. The vet said the poopy problems was mainly from adjusting to eating healthy kitty food rather than bugs and food-scraps and an occasional can of tuna someone put out for him.

I would say take kitty to the vet, get her some wormer medication (petsmart) or ask the vet to do it (more expensive) and get her vaccinated and eventually spayed.

Best wishes for you and your new kitty :slight_smile:

8

OK, 6 replies! Let’s toll up the results:

*Take Kitty to a Vet: 6
*Ignore and it’ll go away: 0
*Application of a cork: 0
*Tell Kitty to straighten up and poop right!: 0

Hmmm… what to do? What to do? :stuck_out_tongue:
The woman from whom we obtained Kitty is a Vet. Tech., so Kitty was already wormed and had her first round of shots… will get her second round in a couple of weeks.

So anyways, I called her and explained our small hygeine problem, and she said to bring Kitty to see her. So, off to the Vet.! (why it didn’t occur to me to call her before I posted the OP I have no idea… I blame lack of sleep!)

Thanks guys! We appreciate the replies!

9

Just in case the vet is stumped, I want to share a story. I had a cat that developed continuous diarrhea for several weeks. The vet ran tests and found no parasites or other obvious cause and recommended Kaopectate. Ever try to get a tablespoon of Kaopectate down a cat four times a day?? Not fun and very messy. Poor cat was covered in Kaopectate all the time and it didn’t even work.

Eventuually we figured it out. We had put a Shell NO-Pest strip up in the apartment to deal with flies. This is not a sticky strip but one that gives of a pesticide vapor. It affects the nervous system in bugs. It gave diarrhea to the cat. Once we got rid of the strip, Kitty’s problems ceased abruptly.

So, get her checked out but, if the vet finds no parasites or other disease, check around your house to see if kitty is being exposed to some sort of toxin. Certain plants are toxic to cats I believe as well as various household chemicals she may be getting into.

Best of luck - and don’t bother trying Kaopectate unless you have a Kevlar bodysuit and like to bathe cats.