Kitten not toileting

Have caught another dumped kitten, very small, mother cat and 2 kittens were dumped here approximately 3 weeks ago, and we've only managed to catch the one so far. Mum cat has so far killed and eaten 2 half grown pullets, so we really need to catch her, but she's evaded the traps so far and just struts around outside the house. Frustrating!

Anyway, the kitten we have caught is very small, but has a huge appetite. Probably quite wormy, but she's still not tame, so don't want to handle her yet. We've had her in a big crate (large dog-sized crate, plenty of room for dirt box, food dishes and bed) for the last 3 days, and she eats 2x/day and drinks plenty of water, but has not toileted once. Apart from the fact that she was starving, surely there's got to be some waste product?? She doesn't seem in any kind of discomfort, just sits and watches us all day, but not on alert, just with her front feet tucked up under. DS was finally able to reach in and stroke her without her going completely mental this evening.

Put a little bit of paraffin oil in some warm milk for her. Don't overdo the milk though. (It is better to supplement calcium in powder form than give milk to a weaned kitten, as she will very likely scour on milk). The parafin is nice and slippery and should help her to "go". If she is bound up with very hard faeces, she could end up with future bowel problems. If she is really little, like as in pre weaning, mother cats lick their rear ends to promote waste movement, but obviously with your wild kitten being a bit much to handle yet, you won't be able to promote movement with a warm, damp rag. If she is eating really well you could also worm her by crushing a worm tablet into her food. You might need to do a good estimate of her weight however.

a bit of milk without the oil may get her going. Are you sure she hasn't been then eaten it? not unusual in a starving kitten. If she is under six weeks i would get vet advice before worming.

I'm guessing she's probably about 9-12 weeks, just small from lack of decent meals/nutrition. She isn't far away from that 'just fresh' kitten look, if you know what I mean? In the last 10-15 minutes, she has actually gone! It doesn't look particularly hard either, nor smelly, which is a bonus.

Hey Andrea - I rescued a little kitten (feral) and took to vet for check all good and healthy but desperate to pee - Vet advised kitten still was needing mums stimulation to pee etc so if you rub kittens tummy with soft warm wet cloth from middle of tummy to bottom you should have instant success Suffice to say Hamish grew into huge beautiful ginga - good luck. PS only needed to do this for a short time.

Sorry replied before reading your last post []

LOL

They can hold on for days - and then just when you think it is safe and have bought them onto your bed for an early morning cuddle they let it all go...

All good as far as the toileting goes now, she held out for 3 days!!! She's starting to calm down, but boy, she is an angry little thing. I've found it takes twice as long to tame girls v. boys, boys, if not completely wild, tame in 1-2 days, and then are usually as smoochy as can be, girls somehow never seem to get as smoochy, or if they do they drool all over the place and spray even if speyed.

We have 2 girl cats who we've had, from their breeder, since they were 9 weeks old. They were speyed at 4 months. They can't come in the house anymore, because they spray mark everything!

The 3 boy cats, all dumpees here, are house cats, don't spray and are super smoochy (well, except for Secret Agent Cat, or Agent Orange, or the Orange Imp - his real name is Carrot, who is Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde between being 'Aloof Cat' and 'Mr. Smoochy', but always on his terms). I've had cats all my life, but was never truly a cat person till these boy cats, who have very endearing natures.

The new kitty will hopefully be rehomed with her sibling, when we catch it, IF we are able to tame them.

Thanks all for your advice, will keep it in the memory banks for next time.

You'll tame them......my little female feral is very affectionate, and was easy to toilet train. Her brothers which I caught three weeks later, were not so clean when locked in the bathroom, but always used the litter once they went into the dog run. ( The boys had the idea that a plughole was the place to go.) You are lucky to have the cheap pet food available.

Maybe abit of rescue remedy sprayed on the food may help settle to Andrea.