Expert: Norman Auspitz - 7/12/2009

Question
Hi my cat had kittens on july 8th and delvered 2 still born babies then she delivered the other half 24 hours later on july 9th.Only one of the babies survived and he is now 3 days old today he is nursing off of his mom he has a fat round tummy and everything.And i have seen the mom cat lick him on his private area more then once to stimulate him to go to the bathroom.Well i really dont know whats going on i check on the kitten a few times a day to make sure all is well and when i do he has hard yellow diarrhea on his but and tail he has a pretty good amount of it to where it covers the opening of his butt where it looks as if he was to try to poop that would block it.This is been going on now for 2 days about 2 times a day it is yellow and looks to be loose bowels is this normal for a kitten 3 days old?He nurses from  momma cat and seems good all except for this.Everyday when this happens i have to clean him i even stimulate him to see if theres any backed up in there or if mom is not doing a great job of it.But when i do he dont hardly pee or poop so she has to be making him go one way or another.I just dont understand why he gets this dried hard diarrhea on him i have to clean his anal area everyday a few times a day and his little butt is so red i know its sore so i applied some antibiotic ointment on his red area and his little butt to help him.Can you please tell me is this normal?And what i can do if there is something i can do for this.And is antibitic ointment ok to apply to his red area?Bust most of all from him having diarrhea can this hurt him in anyway or is this normal?Thanks so much i really appreciate it

Answer
Evelyn,

It does sound mostly normal except it also sounds as if mon is pottying the kitten, but not doing a great job.  You should not need the antibiotic ointment. I would just soak the butt with some warm water and pat it dry with a clean cotton ball or tissue.

The less you do with it the better.

Best regards... Norm.