Expert: Norman Auspitz - 8/1/2009

Question
Hi Norman,

I recently moved to a Greek island with lots of stray cats. Withing two hours of stepping off the boat, my huband and I adopted two kittens who had been left out to die of thirst in the midday sun by an old greek lady. We have been feeding them special kitten formula milk in bottles, and recently weaned them onto solids. One of them doing very well. The second a tiny pure white one is finding things much tougher. She refused the bottle for a long time and had to be fed with a syringe to keep her alive. We thought we had made a breakthrough when one day at death's door, she suddenly started eating solid food and drinking water of her accord. She was much better for a day, an even started scampering around and playing, gobbling down food from a plate. But now two days later, she has suddenly taken a turn for the worse. Refusing all food, and totally lacking in energy to move. She had not passed a stool for two days, no matter how much we stimulated her bottom or rubbed her tummy. This morning we took her to the vets who gave her an enema. The only problem is he is most qualified to deal with goats and donkeys, so we are worried that he may have given her two much, as she then produced an unbelievable amount of poop. She is still refusing to eat, but will lap water from a bowl. We believe she is about five weeks old, what should we do from here?
Any advice you can give appreciated,
Megan

Answer
Megan,

Remember, I am not a vet!!!!!

Assuming the enema loosened things up, she may not poop for a day or two. If she cannot poop on her own and continues to get constipated, she may have a disease called megacolon where the nerves which would control the muscles to move poop out of the rectum may not be working correctly.  This always results in death. Have you tried some goat's milk with her?  This is good for kittens and may get her back to eating again.  If her stomach is not quite recovered form the enema, she might not want to eat immediately, but you need to be concerned about her getting dehydrated.  Thus, if you can entice her to drink a bit of goat's milk and she then begins to think about eating again, she may begin to feel better.

If you can get human baby food (beef, veal, lamb, etc., where the only ingredients are strained meat and broth or gravy, she might like that, and, although not a complete diet, getting her to eat anything at this point would help!  Sometimes, human tuna in oil, is a really good appetizer for cats.

Please let me know how she does.

Best regards... Norm.