How to Deal With Newborn Kittens Bloating

Video Transcript

"Bloating on a newborn kitten can really be a very serious problem. When we talk about bloat, it's actually what we see is a very large stomach on a little kitten. It could also be very gassy. So bloat can either mean gas or intestinal material there. So they either could be constipated or they could just be very gassy and dealing with that depends on what causes it. The treatment is always related to cause. Sometimes new kittens that are orphan you may be tube feeding them or feeding them with a nursing bottle and then sometimes using that you put too much air into their stomachs and that can cause them to get gassy or bloat. Things you want to avoid if you're feeding a newborn kitten that is bloated like that is if you have a little nursing bottle is not to squeeze it and let them actually nurse and suck on the bottle and that way they'll get less air. And also if you're tube feeding them not too many people, tube feeding is just another form if you don't know how to do it, don't just go off and get a tube and think you're going to feed a cat, have somebody that's done it before show you exactly how to do it, but try not to introduce a lot of air into the cat's stomach that way too. But bloat can also be caused by intestinal problems or they could have worms or it can be constipated. Newborn kittens need to be not just necessarily newborns but kittens up to the first couple of weeks of age, the mother cat is cleaning them, their anal area and so they stimulate them to defecate and urinate. Sometimes if it's orphan kitten and you haven't been doing that but just trying to feed it, then you'll have to do that also using a warm wash cloth usually or a cotton ball or something like that to stimulate the anal area. All that might help relieve the bloat, but unless you can kind of identify what's really causing it, then trying to help it out is a hard battle so you need to work on cause and then treatment."