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About Jana Connell RVT, CVT
Expertise
I can answer most questions about small animal and wildlife care as well as small animal nutrition. I can also answer questions about all phases of dental care for small animals. I cannot diagnose diseases nor will I try to. That is only for a licensed Veterinarian to do. I DO NOT do birds (unless it is wildlife or songbirds) or HAMSTERS/GERBILS/CHINS/GUINEA PIGS so please submit these questions to the appropriate sections. I also do not know much about reptiles, so post those to the reptile experts also. Thanks!

Experience
I have over 35 years experience in the field of veterinary medicine. I specialized in small animals and did wildlife rehab for over 25 years, mostly raptors, squirrels and opossums. I am a nutritional consultant with 6 certificates from Hills Pet Foods, CNM and Purina.

Organizations
Audubon,World Wildlife Federation, American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians.

Education/Credentials
Licensed with California and Oregon, RVT and CVT. Certified Veterinary Dental Technician

You are here: Experts > Animals/Pets > Pet Birds > Ask the Veterinarian > Potentially Sick Kitten?

Ask the Veterinarian - Potentially Sick Kitten?

Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 10/7/2008

Question
Hi!

We recently adopted our first kitten, she is about 12 weeks old now. She has
been doing really well up untill about three days ago, when we noticed she
was pooping in our bedroom, and often had it hanging off of, and out of, her
bum. She was litter trained when we adopted her, and was absolutely fine
using her box until just three days ago. We feed her wet cat food, and a dry
mix as well. We have just been really worried, and hope it's not anything
serious. Could it just be a litter training issue??

Answer

Seven day transition s

12 weeks is still a very young age and I don't think she is starting a bad habit, but she might be having an issue with her diet.

If she is eating kitten chow she is getting cow's milk which cats are not able to tolerate. All cats are lactose intolerant after they are weaned.
So Purina kitten chow, for one is a bad choice since it is coated with milk. For this reason she might be having some sticky stool that she is not clearing out of her colon. Another thing that you might want to do is make sure she is wormed and that she has some hairball gel or remedy around as she may be ingesting a lot of hair when she grooms herself. Young cats are apt to lick a lot and get a lot of hair into their guts which makes the stool hairy and sticky.

You might want to cut back the wet food to get more dry fiber into her.
My recommendation is that you get her on Science Diet Kitten Growth. It is a very nutrient-concentrated food so it is highly digestible and that results in smaller and drier stools. She will also get all the nutrients she needs to grow strong and healthy for life.

It is the food most fed by veterinarians than any other. It is 100% guaranteed. So I would give it a try and see how she does with it. Give it at least three weeks to see some changes and be sure to switch her over slowly over a seven day period. I will enclose a chart that shows that for you. It is also on the bags.

Make sure the litter box is in a low traffic area also and do not change her litter BRAND often. Cats develop a preference for one kind and if you change it up a lot they get picky and start using the rugs instead. She is pretty young to be that picky but if the box is where people are walking all the time she won't want to use it.

So put it out of the way and stick to one kind of litter. I prefer the plain, untreated kind to the clumping stuff because of the chemicals.
It's a personal preference.
I hope this helps some. Please let me know if she gets better about her habits and how she does on the food.

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