My 7-week-old kitten has diarrhea, won't use litter box, and is sick.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding your new kittens. They are having trouble using the litterbox due to the diarrhea they are experiencing. Diarrhea is usually accompanied by urgency and an increased frequency of defecation. This makes it difficult for young kittens to make it to the box in time. They will need to see their veterinarian and have fecal testing performed. From there medication can be prescribed. Once the diarrhea is resolved, I suspect they will use their box again. I hope this information helps you!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Milo! Is Milo's stool normal? or is he having diarrhea? If his stool is normal he needs to be litter box trained. Confine him to a room with a litter box, food and water. He stays in this room until he uses the litter box to defecate at least for 1 week then let him out. But keep the litter box in that room so he knows where it is. Over time gradually move the litter box to where you want it to be. You can also use litter attractants. If Milo is having diarrhea causes can be: intestinal parasites, viral or bacterial infections, food allergy/intolerance, dietary indiscretion, toxin ingestion. I would schedule a Vet appointment for Monday if he has diarrhea to start medications. Bring a stool sample. I hope this helps and I wish Milo the best!

Even though Mango doesn't do well with travel, I would definitely take him into a vet immediately. He will not be feeling well and is likely distressed even though he's not showing signs of it. Cats can be very stoic when ill, and think about how you would feel if you had frequent diarrhea, was losing weight, and hardly eating. He could have something serious causing his symptoms such as irritable bowl disease or cancer. He needs veterinary care now because senior cats can easily get dehydrated and frequent diarrhea is enough to cause dehydration. Please take him into an ER vet clinic; if there isn't one in your area, there will be a vet on call for emergencies. The information to reach that vet is found on a clinic's answering machine or website. Good luck, I hope this helps!

I am sorry to hear that Lucy isn’t feeling well. There are a variety of different infectious causes of diarrhea in kittens, such as panleukopenia, salmonella, coccidia and others. It sounds like she is in need of veterinary care as soon as possible. Kittens can fail quickly if they are not eating. Pleas try to take a fresh poop sample with you to your appointment. Best of luck and I hope she improves soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.

No, this is not normal. Not eating is very abnormal in young kittens. Most common reasons for the behavior you described is viral disease and internal parasites. Other options are trauma (like he fell and hurt himself) and intestinal obstruction. Milo really needs to be assessed by a veterinarian as soon as possible.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Kittens may have diarrhea and low energy due to a number of conditions including intestinal parasites, viral infections, or a change in diet. I recommend having both kittens examined by a vet as soon as possible, as it is likely that the condition is contagious. To speed up the diagnosis, I recommend bringing a stool sample from the sick kitten in a disposable container for your vet to check for parasites. It is important to have the sick kitten evaluated as kittens can quickly become dehydrated and have low blood sugar, making them feel even worse. While it is unlikely that your son got sick from one of the kittens, it is possible. I recommend that you have him seen by a physician if you are concerned.

Poor Shadow! I am sorry to hear that he is not feeling well. Until you can get Shadow to the vet (which I definitely recommend) you can with hold food for 12- 24hrs, then offer a bland diet of plain boiled chicken and rice (he may only be interested in the chicken) for about 1 - 2 days. After which you can reintroduce his regular diet. You also want to make sure that both litter boxes are extra clean. Sometimes in multi-cat households one cat decides that he/she no longer is ok using a "used" litter box (cats are wonderful, but have odd behaviors sometimes). It may be worth just keeping them separate so that Shadow has his own personal kitty bathroom until he sees the vet. As I stated earlier, I definitely recommend having Shadow seen by a vet as soon as possible because chronic diarrhea results in dehydration, which in a very small, young kitten we want to address sooner rather than later to prevent progressive potentially severe illness. I hope that this was helpful for you and that Shadow starts to feel better soon!