Kittens with bad tummy's

[Annabell]

I resuced two kittens from a French man who was about to go home and strangle them and have now had them for just over a week.
Since i've had them they have had the runs. I tried just giving them water and dried food, that didn't work, so i tried them on just milk and that didnt work either.
I spoke to another forum member on the telephone and she suggested that i try them on plain boiled rice and to also post here for some answers.
Should I be alarmed yet and take them to the vets or is this normal for 6 week old kittens?

[Russethouse]

How old are the kittens ? I'm no expert but think that Cows milk is not good, and I'm far from sure about the dried food.
I think the rice probably is good.

I think it may be better to go to the vets sooner rather than later. If nothing else they will give you good advice about food for the age of your kittens

We once rescued a cat who had cat flu and gastro enteritis , at one stage we were taking him to the vets twice a day ! He recovered and lived to a ripe old age and although he was one of the ugliest cats I ever saw, he had a lovely nature and had quite a little fan club among the neighbours !


Gay
http://www.quimperclub.org/

[Penny29]

Hi,

Please don't hesitate - get them to the vet now.

My retriever pup had the same problem when we first got her, despite my following exactly the same diet as the breeder, we tried various things including egg and rice, white fish and rice - no-one was ever sure what the problem was but an intolerance to lactose was suspected, the diarrhoea (sp?) caused dreadful dehydration and luckily we got her to the vets in time and they probably saved her life by putting her on a drip.

If you read this message this evening, bearing in mind that your vets won't be open until the morning, then the most important advice I can give is for you to make sure they take in plenty of water - this may mean popping it down their throats (best done with a needle-less syringe but if you don't have one of those, then try using a small cake-icing pipette or one of those droplet things you get with ear drops, if worst comes to worst use a steady hand and a small plastic tea spoon). Also leave plenty of water down overnight - cats are very sensible creatures - they know when it is important for them to drink water.

They may have a complete intolerance to the cat milk, so stop using this. In your worst case scenario the mother-cat has passed on some sort of virus to them - this is why you should get it checked out. At 6 weeks old they are too young to cope with stomach upsets for many days, so a vets advice is needed quickly.

Hope this helps - keep us updated.

Penny

[Jsensiba]

Annabelle;

As suggested, take the kittens to the vet ASAP. They most likely have worms, and maybe other parasites - from drinking dirty water rotten food/whatever.

They are lucky to have you!

We have four cats, and one outside 'dumped' cat - wormed and treated with frontline, but needs to be castrated.

Julia

[Annabell]

Decided to take kitty's to vets after all and now can say that they are thriving happily, playing around with the dogs etc.
They are taking some kind of antibiotics which are obviously working. Just wish I knew how to post a picture of them on here!!