Hi all

Flossie had her babies - 5 of them! She is a wonderful mum and kittens are all very healthy. HOwever, I have just had to pay a visit to the vet as mum has the most awful bad tummy and is being very unwell from both ends..

Vet said that it was probably floss cleaning up the kittens, eating afterbirth and generally a change to her system that has upset her. She has given her something to stop the sickness and also an antibiotic - I also have more tablets to help with sickness.

What do you think and should I stop feeding her the rich kitten food & kitten milk? She has water down too and JW kitten dry food.

Oh and kittens arrived last Wednesday night. All placentas eaten - I checked each one came out.

SHe is quite bright in herself too but is trying to drink water from very strange places ie. bath and toilet....

Sorry to hear she is unwell....I am sure one of the experienced breeders here will be along soon to offer good advice.
I was told that eating too many of the afterbirths can upset a cat's digestion, and when Nellie had 4 kittens I took away 2 of the afterbirths to stop this. This could all be an old wives tale of course!

I have moved her and family to the kitchen as she still has the most awful Diarrhea so the tiled floor seemed a far safer bet!

It was just dripping out of her... poor thing. But she has just used the litter tray so am hoping she is starting to gain more control again.

She is very happy in the kitchen, purring and very settled so will leave her in here tonight and see what the floor looks like in the morning...

Does anyone out there have any experience of this type of problem post kittening?

Just bumping this back up to the top and hoping for some advice and reassurance from some experienced breeders.

Flossie has now stopped being sick, her diarrhea is slightly better but still pretty bad but she stopped eating for 24 hours yesterday, ate a small amount last night and a further small amount this morning.

Her kittens are absolutely fine – in fact they are really very very healthy, fat little bundles.

Kittens are 9 days old.

Flossie ate all the placentas – which I now believe might have been a bad idea!

I called the vet last night and she told me not to worry too much – Again said that it was not uncommon for mother cats to suffer like this. She is drinking though and seems bright albeit now very thin and not as strong as a few days ago.

When the diarrhea started I moved her and the kittens into the kitchen onto the tiled floor for obvious reasons but she seemed to get quite stressed out by this and was trying to move the kittens every time we opened the door. Could this have affected her appetite rather than the bad tummy? She is now under my son's desk/bed in a large basket and the whole area is covered with a black out cloth so she is much happier. My son however, is complaining about the smell....

Please, any advice from experienced breeders please would be great. Thanks

I have to admit I would be concerned that the diarrhoea is still ongoing. I would ask your vet for some canakur to sprinkle on her food to bulk her out a little and maybe even a course of antibiotics such as metronidazole as that tends to help with diarrhoea. She will just lose more and more condition and then will struggle to feed the babies.

I would give her sensitive food for the next few days too such as RC sensitive pouches and biscuits and also some boiled chicken or white fish. All these things should help but I would definately get it checked.

Hope this helps

Thanks Cooniemum - I have taken her to the vet on Tuesday and rang them last night but both times - different vets - they were not overly concerned - said it was not uncommon for new mums to have this type of problem.

I am very concerned - she is very thin and I am very worried about her and the kittens.

I think Metronidazole is contra-indicated in queens that are nursing kittens, unless it's the only drug of choice for a particular condition to safeguard the health of the queen.

I can understand why you're worried, flossiemum - I would be too. I've had queens with awful diarrhoea after kittening and it always gives me the dilemma of whether to stress her her and go to the vet and possibly get some antibiotics. Nine times out of ten, my vet has agreed with yours; it's just a result of mum eating placentas, cleaning up kittens and the general shock to her system of having given birth, etc. Occasionally my vet has a course of Synulox just to be on the safe side.

I think I'd be more concerned if the diarrhoea was severe and on going for approaching a week - that would really prompt me to go the vet. Though having said that, if it's a bacterial infection (which would need treating) it's most likely that she would have passed this onto her kittens and you'd be seeing, with a reasonably close eye on a good mum who cleans up her kittens extremely well, at least a bit of mess on the bedding/around the kittens bottoms.

Did you stop giving her the milk? If that's something she doesn't usually have it might be exacerbating the problem. If she were mine, I'd stop the milk and try a balancing act of keeping her a bland diet but ensuring it was something she liked enough to eat plenty of... certainly wouldn't do her any harm just for 7-10 days.

Diarrhoea, including really quite bad diarrhoea, is indeed very common in lactating queens. However the fact that she isn't eating would concern me greatly, that is certainly not normal, they normally eat vast amounts.

Has the vet taken her temperature and so on? And does she seem otherwise OK, attentive to the kittens and so on?

It will be nothing at all to do with eating placentas. It could be a post-partum infection though and they can be life threatening. Do check her hydration - pinch skin on her scruff, it shoudl go straight back, if it doesn't she is dehydrated.

Liz

I've experienced this too with a couple of my queens, and also the opposite problem where the queens don't "go" for days post partum.

If the problem is a result of diet change (including eating placentas) and not bacterial, I would get her onto Prokaolin. You can get this from your vet or some chemists. I'd keep her diet as bland as possible for now. If she's reluctant to eat a bland diet, try pouring a little spring water from a can of tuna / water you've used for boiling White fish over her dinner to encourage her.

I'd be looking at getting her back to the vets to rule out post partum infection.