[DanTheMan]

Edit: <Problem solved>

My wife and I recently adopted a cat about a week ago, we discovered her in the back of the building that she was working in and discovered that she was very pregnant, so we decided to take her in.  She gave birth a few hours later.

Now, I swear I haven't seen this cat poop the whole week.  I think she's only pee'd once.  My wife and I both thought the other was cleaning out the litter box until today.  The cat seems to be fine, eating, drinking, she has 2 more de-worming treatments to be given on may 10 and may 17, the vet did the first one when he did her immunization Monday.  We looked all over the basement and found no traces of cat poo/pee.  I would imagine we could find some.

So am I just clueless?  do nursing cat's just use everything they can to produce milk (this cat was very skinny when we found her, she's still very skinny, but not as much, she's plumping up slowly.)

We gave the cat a small dose of laxative today, but nothing yet.

I would assume from the posts that I've read so far that she would be having diahrea, not constipation, but I guess it is possible.  Is it normal for a nursing cat to have constipation.

p.s. 3 live and kicking kittens.  one was dead when we found him/her after the birth, another died because it couldn't nurse properly and our interventions failed.  

[DanTheMan]

My plan is to monitor the cat closely for bowel movements, she is now in my office here upstairs, and there is very little space to hide any "suprises"

[DanTheMan]

Well, problem solved.

With a little laxative, and her being put in a smaller room we had a very full litter box by morning, about a weeks worth, very messy :o

Thank you for your time.

[koriani]

Sorry I missed your post. I've been sick lately and away from the computer.

I'm glad it all worked out for you!

Regards,

[DanTheMan]

After reading some of the posts around here I appreciatte what you do here online for people and there pets. The kittens are 4 weeks old and doing fine.

Anyway, when they are ready to eat, will they be ready for dry cat food, or should we try and see if they will eat canned food first. (Would prefer dry food, since it is better for them, but we will be finding homes for them as soon as they are finished weening)

[koriani]

Hello Dan,

Thanks for the kind words.

Usually, when weaning kittens to dry food, we at the clinic take a high quality kitten dry (like Iams) and soak it in either warm milk replacer or plain water. We then mush it up with a fork until it is canned food consistency.

You are right, dry is better. Once you get a cat or kitten started on canned, they hardly ever want the dry again.

Hope this helps!

Don't forget... kittens need to stay with mom at least 8 weeks! This is very important for their mental development as well as their physical development.

We have found that kittens taken away from mom too soon can have aggressive behavior as adults.

Regards,

[DanTheMan]

Awesome advise.

My wife will be glad to hear that we keep the kittens another 3.5 weeks at least. Our original cat can't wait for them (and the mother) to leave though, have to keep them separated. The original cat is a jealous little woman. :P