Kitten concerns - help appreciated!

GreenMint

GreenMint

GreenMint

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Heya all, last Sunday we got 2 kittens, Ben & Lola (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18197664)

They have seemed to settle in very well so far, both seem full of life, chirpy, happy, playful and very affectionate when getting sleepy!

Lola has been very good, well behaved, although at 7 weeks only weighing 412Grams, but the vet (We took them both in for a checkup to make sure things were ok!) said she should be fine, Ben weighed in about 540grams.

Ben has been great too, really lively little thing, just like his sister, but he'ss not adapted toilet-wise as much as Lola, they spend the nights in the kitchen, and if he is in there, he will go to the toilet (now) in the tray, no worries, if he is in the dining room/lounge playing he will generally run back in for a poo, but doe still, a week later seem to be looking for a quick corner for a wee, rather than toddling back to the tray like his sis! We've been lovely to him, no shouting/mis treatment etc.. I know it takes a while for some cats to adjust, its all part of the learning process and such a huge change for them, I'm just trying to find ways to make him feel more at ease getting back for a wee rather than shortcutting, we still take him back to the tray and put him in etc.. Just trying to do our best by him! :)

Also one issue this morning was that he had some blood, only a small bit on (not in) his poo, the last little bit that came out had almost a dark red coating to it, and Ben had a little bit of redness around his bum, I'm honestly not sure if he has cut himself maybe? They do play quite hard sometimes, both giving as good as they get, but I'm not sure what the most possible causes are? We called the local vets emergency (only number on a Sunday) number, but got told they would call back, which they have not yet. This evening Ben went for another poo, but Lola was in the room too, heard a little miaow, but not sure if it was Ben having a bit of pain, or Lola being scared of the Fly she was chasing (And running away from when it bzzzz'ed!) his poo didn't have any blood on, but we gave him a little wipe with a wet tissue and it was a bit red again, again, not sure if it is a cut on his bum or what the usual suspects could be for such a thing?

The people we got them from said they had been wormed once before, and we have been given worming tablets by the vet to give them in just over a week, but not sure if worms could also account for their quite light weight?

Really not sure if I am worrying over nothing, this is the first kittens we have had as adults so don't want to look like we're doing the "New baby fretting" but don't want to ignore and miss out something that could end up making them ill or in pain.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would be very grateful, we'll try and call the vets again in the morning and monitor him and his bottom!

Sorry about the wall of text! :D
 
Don't worry too much at the moment. If he's still laying the smack down on his sister and generally well in himself (happy, eating and drinking), then he'll be fine. If he persists in producing blood in small quantities over the next couple of days or so, then take him to the vet, especially if he refuses food/starts producing runny turds. This has happened to my cats several times and nothing has really come of it (apart from one time when they both caught some annoying unidentifiable digestive tract infection from eating something they really shouldn't have from outside). Usually it's down to something they've eaten, so have you changed their food or given him something as a treat he's not had before?

The best thing to do for a cat if it has the runs (that is if he does develop diarrhoea, which commonly omes from a change in diet/treat) is to not feed it for 24 hours. Then give it something bland like chicken with rice or scrambled egg. If it then persists with the runs, then off to the vet.
 
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Just like us, Black/very dark blood = bad sign, worry. ....... Red blood = don't worry too much.

Go see the vet when they're open.

Best wishes.
 
When we got Murray 3 years ago he had a bit of blood in poo when he was a kitten, it's most likely because he needs worming. Give your vet a call tommorow but look at insurance for them both as well it takes the worry out of it all.
 
danza said:
Don't worry too much at the moment. If he's still laying the smack down on his sister and generally well in himself (happy, eating and drinking), then he'll be fine. If he persists in producing blood in small quantities over the next couple of days or so, then take him to the vet, especially if he refuses food/starts producing runny turds. This has happened to my cats several times and nothing has really come of it (apart from one time when they both caught some annoying unidentifiable digestive tract infection from eating something they really shouldn't have from outside). Usually it's down to something they've eaten, so have you changed their food or given him something as a treat he's not had before?

The best thing to do for a cat if it has the runs is to not feed it for 24 hours. Then give it something bland like chicken with rice or scrambled egg. If it then persists with the runs, then off to the vet.
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Thanks mate, he's not had the runs at all, usual Mr Whippy kitten poo, not too hard, not too soft!

The only change in food was that last night we gave them Felix Kitten Food (Cod) in Jelly, all the time we have had them it has been the meat food they have had, not the fish, the previous owners said that tuna made them ill, but I assumed that was giving them Tuna fish at too early of an age, but I think we might revert to and stick with the Meat based, rather thatn Fish based cat food. Since they have been with us they have been eating James Wellbeloved Kitten Dry food (Turkey) in small quantities so we're trying to get them eating more dry food for their teeth, breath, and general health.

singist said:
Just like us, Black/very dark blood = bad sign, worry. ....... Red blood = don't worry too much.

Go see the vet when they're open.

Best wishes.
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Have had a word with my girlfriend and she thinks the blood this morning was lighter red, but it was on the poo so looked darker, my eyes are a bit crap at the best fo times so I'll trust her word on it! But we will call the vets tomorrow to see what they say.

LOAM said:
When we got Murray 3 years ago he had a bit of blood in poo when he was a kitten, it's most likely because he needs worming. Give your vet a call tommorow but look at insurance for them both as well it takes the worry out of it all.
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Thanks, will do, we do need to sort out insurance for them, and we do feel they previous owner may have not been entirely honest about the worming, or it could just be that it needs doing again (They are now 7 1/2 weeks and its 12 days since they said they were last done).

Thanks all :)
 
The redness round his bum? Could that possibly be a burst anal gland? This has happened to both my cats. As for the random urinating get some lemon essential oils a put a few drops where he urinates a lot, cats hate the smell of anything with citrus in.
 
Thanks Tank :)

His glands around the underside of his bum looks to be as usual, but his bum hole itself is a little red, it may be that he pushed too hard and cut himself, as although he's growing, his produce is too!

But will keep an eye on him and call vets in the morning to ask their advice on the matter! :)
 
as humans we urinate 2 million red blood cells a day or something like that...nevermind how many we poo. Im sure cats will have something similar though obviously get it checked it its repeatedly clear red blood in the poo
 
Thanks, they're back on the meat orientated food tonight, to see if that helps/makes a difference, going to call vets for a quick question or 2 in the morning, too :)
 
Sonea Fifer said:
Without looking to derail this thread - thanks for that tip, should help us with our ageing pussy cat ;)
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When its a choice of over power cat **** or lemon, the lemon wins hands down. Ebay do some good deals on essential oils lemon, lime, orange cats hate them all with a passion :D.
 
^TANK^ said:
When its a choice of over power cat **** or lemon, the lemon wins hands down. Ebay do some good deals on essential oils lemon, lime, orange cats hate them all with a passion :D.
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Will remember that!

Any thoughts regarding his still quite random weeing? He was caught doing another random one while I was upstairs! :( (they always play supervised by one of us for now)
 
Please don't give kittens WET food give them dry food and get them used to water and milk watered down about 5 part water to 1 part milk.

Kittens stomachs are very fragile in the first 20 weeks and giving them WET food can cause all sorts of problems, increased chance of worms, bleeding of the anus all in all not good things for any little kitty. I made this mistake some years ago and never will never do it again. Any vet worth their qualifications will tell you the same thing.

If anything get them on a good solid dry food like hills science plan for their first six months it will keep their defenses up and give them a healthy start in life. Hills also do a WET food but it isn't full of all the carp that wiska's go cat etc etc has in them.

In regards to the anal bleeding it's pretty common among kittens if the blood becomes dark or sludgy then definitely go see your vet about it.Onset of worms can also cause anal bleeding i recommend getting milbemax tablets from your vets as a worm treatment ranges from £0.90p to about £3.00 depending on the weight of your cat/kittens and should be done a minimum of every 3 months.

Hope i helped a little i know how scary it can be seeing blood in a kittens poo as you always think the worst
 
TimBrad said:
Will remember that!

Any thoughts regarding his still quite random weeing? He was caught doing another random one while I was upstairs! :( (they always play supervised by one of us for now)
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This is very common aswell he may still be marking is places.

Best thing to do is if you catch him having a crafty pee somewhere other than his litter box then pick him up and place him in the litter tray he will then associate this with pee time, also reward him a treat if he go's in the litter tray on his own accord to do is business.

Another cause can also be dislike of cat litter choice or smell you should really have 1 litter tray for each cat/kitten scoop them after every poo, top them up every night and thoroughly clean them every week. After cleaning it's always a good idea to put a small scoop of old litter in with the new so they know whats happened. Nothing worse then giving ur tray a good clean only to find ur kitty just took a number 2 on your carpet because it was too clean. Other things if he is peeing in a certain spot they hate the smell of surgical spirit or wilkinsons get off spray.

May i ask what cat litter you are using?
 
Yeah thats pretty much the approach we have taken so far, although the :o moment picking him up mid pee! After every stray wee he does end up in his try, but gets out with a look to say "what? I don't need a wee!"

The litter we are currenrly using is Catsan hygiene litter odour prevention, we weren't honestly sure which one to get, but this seemed like s good one! His sis has no troubles, this evening we cleaned and emptied the trsy, within 5 mins of it being emoted, washed and refilled his sister had dropped a Mrs Whippy in there!
 
TimBrad said:
Yeah thats pretty much the approach we have taken so far, although the :o moment picking him up mid pee! After every stray wee he does end up in his try, but gets out with a look to say "what? I don't need a wee!"

The litter we are currenrly using is Catsan hygiene litter odour prevention, we weren't honestly sure which one to get, but this seemed like s good one! His sis has no troubles, this evening we cleaned and emptied the trsy, within 5 mins of it being emoted, washed and refilled his sister had dropped a Mrs Whippy in there!
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that happens to me a lot too lol

catsan litter is very good and it keeps the smells away pretty good too you can also buy 10 litre bags from tesco for £8 versus the £5 for the 5 litre ones.

best i can suggest is try and get them on dry food as it's much easier to make the switch when they are kittens, And keep monitoring the blood in their stools.

Did you ask to see a receipt from the seller in regards to the worming as a lot of people will say they have had them wormed and not. I always ask this and if they said they had them wormed but cannot show me a receipt i walk away.

It might be best to call your vet tomorrow and see what they say, most vets are usually pretty helpful over the phone.

Keep us informed how u are getting on with them nothing worse than a thread like this and 6 months later it hasn't been updated

Best of luck with your kittys
 
Fair enough, thanks for the advice on that, will look int getting them fully on dry, you know what it is like, ones source says do that, another says why would you dream of doing such a thing etc etc.. hehe

We didn't see a reciept, sadly, no, we haven't had kittens as a couple, I last did when 13 in 1994 and her in about 1996, we literally saw a local advert, went to see them at 4 /2 weeks and then collected them 2 1/2 weeks later, maybe a tad niaeve, I don't know, but at the end of the day, we just want to do what we can to get and keep them happy, healthy and bright eyed :)

Will be sure to keeo you updated, and luckily our local pet shop has Catsan on 2 x 10L for £11, we only bought a 5L bag first to try it, but think we'll buy i bulk next week! :)

Thanks again for all the help and opinions!
 
My kitten was the same when I first had him, it was the type of food I was feeding him (supermarket home brand) moved over to Wiskas kitten biscuits and it cleared in a few days. I was only feeding him dry food back then as well as I don't think their stomachs can take the rich flavours of wet food yet.

I buy cheap wood litter from Home Bargins and just remove stools asap.
 
Efour2 said:
heaven help you when you have children
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Thanks for the useful and wanted comments! :rolleyes:

Everyone else, thanks for your feedback :) had him on "meat" food last night and the redness seems to have gone down, maybe a coincidence but he seemed happy and well bouncing off the Walls like a nutter this morning! :)
 
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