I took in a kitten, she was reported to be about 10 weeks old. I don't know much about house cats so this is why I'm asking...

What should her butt look like? She has loose stool, not really diarrhea, just a semi loose stool. She is active, eats well and isn't exhibiting any signs of sickness.

The problem seems to be, she leaks poop from time to time. Not from being scared or anything, most of the time she's sleeping when it happens. Her butt hole looks like an outtie belly button. Is the loose stool possibly due to her age? I havenot personally taken her to a vet yet, and can't afford to for a week, so please don't just tell me to take her in, because I can't. I love her and want to keep her, I just need some reassurance or some real answers for the meantime so I can keep her.

I have no other animals, nor is she allowed outdoors so that is of no concern. I have made her home-made cat food consisting of rice, potatoes, metamucil, and dry boiled hambruger to try to regulate her. I have fed her this diet since yesterday.

I don't know when I should expect results, or what the problem is, maybe it's due to moving and a change in diet, I don't know. But seriously her butt hole looks nothing like an adult cats butt, and it seems to leak occasionally, so that's what concerns me. I have no clue what a kittens butt hole should look like. What might the problem be?

Please don't give her any human medications (Metamucil) unless a vet has said okay.

Since I can't see her back end, I'm wondering if she has a rectal prolapse (Rectal Prolapse, also called Protruding Rectum, in the Cat (http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2122&aid=348)). She may have worms or other parasites in her gut.

Does she eat what you are feeding her (hamburger, potatoes, rice)? Can you afford canned kitten food? Please don't give her any cow's milk.

I have regular cat food, but I looked around online to see what I could do about her loose stool and many sites suggested making food instead of buying it as bought cat foods contain a lot of crap that's not good for them. The plain cooked hamburger, rice and potatoes is supposed to be hearty and thicken the stool while being better than most store-bought food. These sites also suggested the adding the fiber (Metamucil or pumpkin purée, I didn't have pumpkin so... )

No milk has been given to her.

She eats well and is completely normal aside from the appearance of her butt and the leakage. Well, she also doesn't clean herself too well around that area, I have to wipe and bathe her all the time. She is very active, playful and healthy otherwise.

I looked at images of the rectal prolapse and I don't think that's it. Her butt just looks like the very tip of a hot dog I guess you'd say. It is enlarged as far as what I'm used to seeing in a cat (I've only seen my parent's adult cat lately, I haven't seen or handled kittens in forever), I'm not sure if it's normal for a kitten or not. I thought maybe her young age might be why it looks like this. There's definitely no inner tissue protruding out, it just looks, as I said, just like the tip of a hot dog.

I wonder if she's even 10 weeks old? I'm not quite sure how I'd tell.

It's so frustrating! Is there an all-around wormer I can buy without having to see the vet right away? What else can I try? I'm freaking out that I might not be able to keep her if she has some kind of major problem, so I want to try everything I can first! She has to be kept in the bathroom now due to her issue, so I feel absolutely terrible for her. Thanks for any help!

Also-her poop is not completely liquid, it's just a bit loose. It's always been the same color, a sort of orangy-brown.

A kittens bum looks like an adult's, only smaller, basically.
Most of the time when there is a 'leaking' of softish to liquid stool, some of it will be present on the skin of the rectum for some time. This pasty stool, and the liquid especially, has digestive juices that have not been completely 'disarmed', if you will, by going through the intestinal tract at the normal speed. An inflamed intestinal tract will pass it's contents through faster, not giving the digestive juices time to properly react, absorb the extra water, and minimize the digestive ability of the contents. Thus, it is partially digesting the mucosa and tender skin of the rectum, cause an inflammation and tissue swelling of the rectal area. The longer this occurs the worse the inflammation will become.

Try this... take a tissue and moisten with luke warm water and dab her behind to remove the fecal material. This will soothe her sore behind and speed up recovery. Do the as you see, or think, she may have leaked some more. In a few days her behind should be back to normal size. Next problem is to figure out why. I presume you know nothing about her mom or litter mates. This may be parasites, digestive upset from a different food than she was accustomed to, or who knows what... until you can get to the vet, stop with the home made food and get regular kitten food from the store. Moisten it with water and mix it with about half of what you are giving her for a day, then go all kitten food, moistened. If this corrects the problem within the week, still take her to the vet, just because she could use a good checking over. If the vet thinks she is over her stress, he may suggest vaccinations for her.

Best wishes.

Thanks, and I do plan on getting her to the vet ASAP! I wasn't really prepared to take her, but she was just going to be abandoned so I didn't want that to happen! I will do everything I can to get her taken care of!

paleophlatus-Perhaps wiping and bathing her is irritating as well. As soon as I read your answer, I thought I wonder if it would be beneficial to apply a bit of petroleum jelly to her butt as a moisturizer and skin protectant after each cleaning? Would that be advised?

I will put her back on the kitten food as well until we see the vet.

Didn't say to bathe her. And petroleum jelly would just seal the urine or fecal matter to her skin. BLOT, don't rub her backside. Don't get the water too warm or too cool... be empathetic?

No, you misunderstood, I meant I had been bathing her and wiping her already, I thought maybe it might be contributing to the irritation. So I shouldn't put anything on her butt? If it's clean when I apply it, won't it help protect her skin? I thought that's what vaseline did. Like when a baby has diaper rash, and you use A&D ointment I guess.

In that case, OK. About pumpkin in the diet to treat the diarrhea... it needs to be canned pumpkin, NOT the pie filling type. About a teaspoon per feeding as I don't imagine she eats a whole lot. Two if she does.

Just wanted to report back that using the vaseline was a miracle! Her butt was at it's worst as of yesterday afternoon, I cleaned her up and applied the vaseline, and again a few more times that day, and this morning her butt was near normal. Still have a little way to go but wow, it's sooo much better. It was also FAR easier to wipe her, and caused her much less distress, while using the vaseline as it didn't allow the poo to stick to her at all. I am so elated for her! Yay! She's been able to come out of the bathroom to play today, which is absolutely WONDERFUL!

Thanks for the report, Smiling. I totally love cats and am so happy to hear this kitten will be okay! Please still take her to a vet, though, for a good checkup.

Yes, we will get right to the vets ASAP, after going through this I certainly don't want anything else to happen to her, especially something that could be prevented! I love this kitty sooooo much! Thanks for your help!