hey everyone today I want to talk about
something a little itchy I want to talk
about how to deal with diarrhea in
orphaned kittens earlier this week I
started fostering some kittens who all
have diarrhea so I wanted to share with
you guys some tips for how to deal with
it so these little guys are going to be
our helpers today
moving on soba Haru and Shira if you
know me you know that I'm a little bit
obsessed with keeping poop and that
might sound really gross but if you care
about saving kittens life you have to
care about what their poop looks like
the reason poop is so important is
because it's one of the best diagnostic
tools that rescuers have to understand
what's going on with the kids think of
it as a smelly progress before it coming
straight out of the shin telling you
what's going on with them a kids poop
will indicate whether they're in good
health or whether they're in trouble so
please take it seriously if you see
something that doesn't look normal for
reference I'll start by showing you what
a normal kitten poop looks like this is
Texas piece you can see that he's
proudly showing off his perfect little
bottle baby poop when a kitten is eating
formula or a bottle it's normal for
their troops to be mustard yellow and
well-formed like a gross little churro
what you don't want to see is diarrhea
with their stool coming out more wet and
not as formed if you're caring for a
tailless diarrhea
take it seriously it can quickly become
very complicated and even fatal for
immunity no kitten in this video I'm
going to show you a little bit about how
you can start to treat some of these
symptoms and the causes of diarrhea so
before we can talk about treating it
let's talk a little bit about how to
monitor kittens that have diarrhea
because it can cause such a rapid
decline in their health it's critically
important that you're weighing your
kitten is frequently during this time I
suggest getting a little food scale like
this something's digital and they can
weigh in grams so that you can measure
the kittens in a very small unit place a
bowl on scale tears scale so that it
says zero and then place your kitten in
the bowl you want to do this at least
once a day at a bare minimum but I'm
really more like three times a day if
the kitten is not gaining weight or if
they're lose
that's going to be assigned if something
is seriously wrong and you're going to
want to address it immediately one of
the really nice things about weighing
Canyon is that as we start to feel
better you can see their body retaining
that fat content and retaining those
nutrients and actually turning it into
new body mass so you can see as they
start to recover from diarrhea that
their weight begins to grow
exponentially so please take this stuff
seriously get a digital scale write down
their weight at least once a day and
monitor their progress okay so now let's
talk about treatment you want to be
treating both the cause and the sentence
so first up what's the cause well
diarrhea is complicated it can have many
causes everything from stress to
changing diet viruses bacterial
infections and of course parasite the
first thing you want to do is rule out
potential causes here's the three main
things that I considered one two issues
could it be something about what you're
feeding them kittens cannot digest dairy
products or home remedies and they need
a special kitten formula that meets
their unique meet you can find links to
some of the formulas that I recommend
that can lady gorge class supplies so if
you're feeding the kid in something
other than kitten formula please
immediately stop and get them on a can
formula if they are on a confirm EULA
check to make sure that the formula is
fresh is it expired are you storing it
properly in the refrigerator kitten size
are so sensitive so you want to make
sure that what's going into them is
fresh and clean another food-related
issue that's across the area is
premature weaning if you've recently
introduced solid foods to the kitten and
their health has started to decline
consider stepping it back a notch and
putting them back on the formula
remember not to brush meaning and
kittens because it can cause GISS if you
think this might be the car step it back
and put them on the formula for a few
days and then once they're a bit better
you can start slowly introducing that
wet food through Slurpee okay
the second thing I would be thinking
about is parasites if the kittens two
weeks or older you should already have
her on a dewormer so make sure that you
do but some parasites are not going to
be covered by your standards you armor
for instance the noodle kittens have
both coccidia and Giardia which are both
so and parasites that require special
drugs so they are on Panettiere and to
Nazareth which will help kill the
parasites that they have if you suspect
that your kitten might have a parasite
please take them to a veterinarian and
Jenna fecal analysis you have to know
what they have so they can know how to
treat it
remember that parasites don't go away on
their own so you do need to get them in
and get them medicated the third thing
you want to consider is viruses if your
kitten is seriously ill with diarrhea it
might be a good idea to get them a
Pamlico Pina test panleukopenia is a
very contagious virus that can lead to
fatality and kin so it's important to
know if that's what's going on the
positive result doesn't have to mean a
death sentence it just means that you
have to take extra precautions around
sanitizing and quarantine and that
you'll need to really ramp up your
supportive care the important thing
about finding the cause of the diarrhea
is that you have to know the cause in
order to be able to treat it so if
you're not sure what's going on please
do get the kitten into a vet so next
let's talk about the symptoms of
diarrhea and some of the supportive care
that you can do at home or with the
veterinarian the most serious symptom of
diarrhea is dehydration kittens need to
be hydrated in order for their muscles
and their organs to function properly so
when they have very liquidy stool their
body is purging a lot of that moisture
content and a lot of the nutrients that
they need to keep them healthy one quick
and easy way that you can boost the
kitten hydration and help them feel a
little bit better is to replace the
water in your formula with Pedialyte be
sure that you're picking up unflavored
PDA Pedialyte contains electrolytes
which helps the body replace the vital
minerals and nutrients that are lost
when the kitten has diarrhea you can mix
it with your powdered formula in place
of water just make sure that you're
keeping it refrigerated after opening it
and then warm it gently before feeding
with the formula when I have kittens
that have diarrhea I immediately stop
with water and start with Pedialyte
instead in some cases you may need to
provide additional hydration in the form
of subsidy Gnaeus food subcutaneous
fluids are special fluids you can get
from a veterinarian that are
ministered under the skin if you're a
kitten rescuer this is going to be a
really good skill and resource for you
to have it can be a major lifesaver for
dehydrated kittens another tool in your
supportive care kit might be probiotic
there are several different types of
veterinary probiotics such as for de
flora and Bennett back these contain
different strains of healthy bacteria
that helps the gut do its job you can
add these directly to the kittens
formula just be sure that you dose it to
the weight of the king you may also
consider boosting the kitten vitamins
with an oral supplement or even an
injectable vitamins I like to turn to a
product like highlight a multivitamin
which you can add the formula and a
small dose or even injectable b12 which
you can get under the supervision of a
vet and will help replenish some of the
b12 that is being lost there are lots of
other tools that your veterinarian can
give you to help fight diarrhea so
you'll want to find a good vet is
comfortable treating neonatal kittens
additional treatments might include
pancreatic support to help the kitten
side s their foods better or even plasma
therapy which can help boost the kittens
healing talked to a bet about what
actions are available to you finally if
you've got kids and have diarrhea you're
going to have to deal with the crappy
stuff that means you have to do a lot of
cleanup if the kitten is having diarrhea
in their bedding be sure that you're
changing out the blankets afterwards and
at least once a day they're already
using a litter box
scoop it many times a day to prevent
them from walking in the diarrhea and
spreading it around
keep the kittens butt clean by wiping
them down with a baby wipe I like to use
organic fragrance free baby wipes and
wipe down the area all around the butt
and anywhere else that the diarrhea may
have ended up which might even be on
their back or even in their head who
knows of course make sure that you're
washing your hands as well
that means having hand soap with you not
just at home but even hand sanitizer if
you are going to be out and about with
the kids then really messy situations
you're going to need something stronger
than just a baby wipes you may end up
needing to save the kittens if you need
to give the kittens a bath exercise
caution use comfortably warm water and
something that will quickly and safely
break up the feces and wash it away
most rescuers use either a fragrance
free baby shampoo or a dish soap like
stones I personally prefer to use a
cruelty free natural dish liquid to do
this watch the kittens body gently
avoiding the eyes ears and mouth you can
spot clean the head as needed but never
fully dump a kitten or run a kitten head
under the water dry them off with the
towel immediately and keep them warm
remember that they can't regulate their
own body temperature so towel dry them
until they're completely dry or use a
hair dryer on a low setting from at
least two feet away once they're fluffy
and clean put them back into their warm
space with some kind of heat source like
a swivel face it's so important to keep
Tintin's clean not just depends gross
when they're dirty
so also because their skin is so
sensitive and can become really
irritated by this stuff so keep the
kitten clean and if they do become
irritated you can apply an ointment to
the area to help soothe them while
they're recovering diarrhea can be so
frustrating but don't give up on your
Chin's by treating the cause of the
diarrhea and also addressing the very
serious symptoms for supportive care
you'll have a great chance of getting
them back to a good healthy food