Very young kitten having a hard time pooping.

by Alyssa
(Washington, USA)

I have been nursing an abandoned kitten for a few days now. I imagine she can't be more than a week old, as she still has her umbilical cord and her eyes aren't opening. When she was first discovered she had a very goopy bowel movement. Now all she has are hard little poops. They are all the normal brownish color, but they seem to really hurt her coming out. Her very last bowel movement was very large. It just kept coming out and this one really seemed to put her in pain. It even left her little butt red and swollen (the swelling has gone down by now). I've tried diluting the formula I feed her, but it doesn't seem to be helping. The last cat I hand raised had almost the same problem, but he was always going back and forth between too runny and too hard, she only has hard ones.

I would really just like to comfort her somehow and it's really starting to bother me.
Also, since her last poop she seems a little more restless than usual. Is this cause for concern?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Answer by KAte
Umm hard poops are a sign that the kitten is not getting enough fluid which is strange if she is only eating cat formula.

With older cats you stop feeding so much and encourage more water drinking to help the constipation

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-constipation.html

but in a kitten they need their food especailly one so young.

It could be that she needs some anal stimulation ton help her go. this is what the mother cat would be doing for her. see this page for more on this the video will kelp you with this

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/kitten-feeding.html

best wishes Kate

---