If you have never rescued a small abandoned kitten then you might not know that little kittens can’t poop on their own! Who would have thought? All that loving on them that Mama Cats do isn’t just to clean them, it really is to help them with digestion and to get them to poop and pee. I had remembered this from when I was growing up and my own mother told me about it. I didn’t however ever remember it being this hard to make happen!

Part of Abandoned Kitten Care

Stormy kitten had not pooped in two days! A little back story is that stormy was abandoned by his mother, a man took all the kittens in, was feeding them cow milk, and didn’t have the time to help them go potty, he thought they would figure it out.

Seems Not.

So we did the common warm damp cloth and massage the belly and bum for a few minutes around kitten meal times. For this little one that is every 3-4 hours. Let me just say what great “don’t get pregnant” education this is for my teenager! She loves kitty but she also hates getting up in the morning!

So the damn cloth wasn’t working, next we tried a gentle warm water soak. That didn’t work. It turns out powered kitten formula is known by some to actually cause constipation in kittens. So what did work?

Vegetibale oil! A little bit in the kitten bottle, and more that spilled onto the outside of the bottle and before we knew it the kitten was licking he outside of the bottle clean. Not long after we had success!

These kinds of things are not taught in schools but that doesn’t mean they are not important. I am glad we get to include animal care in our homeschooling lessons!

—– P.S. I am not a vet! Please make sure you take rescued animals to the vet! —–