Kitten seems unwell

[nomadicbry]

Hi our 12 week old (I think) kitten has gone from full of energy to sleeping a lot and not really eating much. It's also not done a number 2 in a few days. Could it be constipated? However in saying that I've not seen her trying to poo or dragging her bottom so may not be that not sure what to do. Any ideas?

We've been feeding her raw chicken, fish and liver with kitten milk which up until a few days ago it happily scoffed down. It now seems to sleep loads and isn't it's lively bubbly self.

Any suggestions help would be greatly appreciated.

I should add it got its first vaccination last Saturday.

Cheers,
B

[angieh]

I think I'd be a bit concerned myself (having a 10 week old here). First off, I'd change her diet - there are lots of good kitten foods out there and the raw diet may not be providing her with all the nutrients she needs for her rapid development. You may of course be wanting to feed raw - I don't know. Then I'd be concerned whether she has any raised temperature. It could just be a reaction to the jab, I'd take her to the vet if I were you. I do tend to worry though!

[Moli]

Think I would follow Angies advice, and take her to the vets to be checked....Have you wormed her since you got her??

[nomadicbry]

not that I'm aware of, my wife might know though. Could it be worms?

[Moli]

not that I'm aware of, my wife might know though. Could it be worms?
Is her litlte tum swollen??? I would worm her, will not do her any harm...

[dinahsmum]

Poor little poppet. I think at least a phone call to the vet is in order. Chances are they'll advise you to take her in anyway

[dandysmom]

Excellent advice above; cannot improve on it. Poor wee thing....

[pcspik]

If you have not already wormed her, I would do so with a good quality product (something from the vets as opposed to something stocked in a supermarket). Not all products are suitable for kittens, and most of them that are will require her to be at least 1 kg. So I would weigh her before going down to the vet.

Like angieh said, I would feed her a suitable kitten food. Again I would go for a good quality food, as some of the cheaper brands may not provide the good quality nutrients. Having a good start in life will help tremendously in later life. I would pick the highest quality food you can provide within your budget. I would look for the words "complete" on the bag if you are feeding dry.

If it has not improved for a couple of days, then I would definitely take it to the vet. Kittens (and even cats) can be off for a few days after either their first jab or booster. But if her symptoms definitely get worse I would phone your vet asap.

[nomadicbry]

hi thanks for the advise
we took the kitten to the vet and she reckoned that she may have picked up a parascite from the raw food we were feeding her. She also gave us worming tablets
remarkably she seems to be back to her manic best attacking my toes whenever they hang over the edge of the couch and chasing the cursor on the pc screen so all good apart from my scratched toes

thanks again
B

[dandysmom]

Glad to hear she's herself again. What did the vet say about the raw feeding?

[nomadicbry]

my partner took her so I didn't have the chance to question or challenge the vet myself but she said that raw meat contains a number of additives ie intensive famed animals and everything that goes along with modern industrial farming which are not good for the cat now as far as i understand cat food is what we don't want to feed humans and has even more additives so not quite sure of her argument if I was to be honest it seemed a gut reaction (excuse the pun) than a medically informed argument however i wasn't there so I don't know. I reckon the kitten ate a bit of meat that had been lying out to long. However we're back to the kitten food for now and I'll start giving her some raw again slowly to watch her reaction to the different types and will not leave it lying around. Basicaly I'm not convined a raw diet is not a healthy diet as long as it's balanced and covers all the dietry needs
however my partner is more respectful of authority and I respect her authority haha so that's the kitten on the cat food. the de-worming probably helped as well just glad she's better and back to her old self if I was to be honest

[angieh]

Glad your kitten is back to normal. Just have to say that whatever you may decide to feed your adult cat, kittens grow and develop at an amazingly quick rate and I personally would not want to potentially compromise her health. I do appreciate your views on cat food ingredients though.