Newborn kittens have fragile conditions just like newborn babies. The surrounding conditions can affect your kitten’s health. Make sure you know the safest ways to take care newborn kittens for beginners.
It might make most of the cat lovers feel a bit worried about handling the newborn kittens. That’s why it is very important for cat lovers to get to know the ways to handle vomiting in newborn kittens.
Vomiting is a common condition faced by newborn kittens, but it doesn’t mean that it is normal. There are several reasons causing vomiting in newborn kittens, such as stress because of rehoming, parasites including worms and amoebae, bacterial infections, viral infections and others.
As a cat owner, you must be able to identify the causes and how to handle this condition. Let’s get to know more about vomiting in newborn kittens, including the causes, the symptoms and how to treat it.
Causes the Newborn Kittens to Vomit
There are several possible reasons that cause your newborn kittens to vomit. The common causes are:
- stress of rehoming.
- parasites, such as worms.
- bacterial infections.
- viral infections, including the parvovirus.
- rapid changes in diet.
- deficiency of vitamins.
- toxins.
You might think how newborn kittens can be exposed to those health conditions. Yes, all of them can possibly happen to a newborn kitten. The infections, for instance, can be transferred from the mother to the young while it is born.
Moreover, stress of rehoming is also the most common cause of vomiting. As the newborn kittens are home, they will have some time to adjust. This possibly causes stress too.
Symptoms of Vomiting in Newborn Kittens
Kittens which vomit may also experience some of the following symptoms:
- lethargy – not acting normal and refusing to play.
- bloated and painful abdomen.
- diarrhea.
- weight loss.
- dehydration.
- reduced appetite.
Vomiting is considered to be a non-specific symptom, so it is quite hard to diagnose a disorder on the presence of vomiting. The symptoms above are the signs related to the vomiting.
Vomiting can also be an indication of other diseases too. Once you find out one of the symptoms above appears, then you should contact your vet immediately.
How to Treat Vomiting in Newborn Kittens?
The best treatment will be from the vet. Since newborn kittens are still fragile, there is not much you can do. Once you bring your newborn kittens to the vet, your vet will be doing some of the following treatments:
- oxygen therapy – if your kitten also faces difficulty in breathing and cannot breathe on its own.
- a feeding tube – this will be done if the kitten is unable to eat due to muscles paralysis.
- antibiotics – to treat a secondary infection.
- cats suffering from paralysis might need bladder treatment so they will be able to urinate on their own.
- to treat pain, your vet may also apply some analgesics.
Then, if your newborn kitten is vomiting blood, bring it to the vet immediately for immediate treatment. Look at the reasons your cat is vomiting blood. This is a serious condition, so never underestimate it!
How to Prevent Vomiting in Newborn Kittens?
Once you see the kittens experience vomiting, you surely don’t want to see that condition happen again in the future.
You can do some of the following actions to prevent vomiting in newborn kittens:
- Never feed your kittens milk, unless from their mother. Don’t feed other milk for them, because all they need is fresh tap water.
- Avoid feeding any food for your kittens as it may upset their tummy. Once your kittens recover, then look at what should you give to feed your newborn kittens.
- Never ever give your kittens any medications, other than the ones told by your vet.
- A kitten is the same as baby. It can put anything inside its mouth. So, make sure your kitten doesn’t get any access to small objects that can be swallowed.
- Never ever give any human medication to your kitten.
The key of treating vomiting in newborn kittens is how aware you are to the conditions or the symptoms they show you. Once you notice anything wrong happens to your newborn kitten, immediately call your vet for some suggestions. Never ever try to use any medications by yourself.
Handling kittens is not an easy job, but by doing some research, you surely can do it. If you want to have some tips of caring newborn kittens, you can also read what should you give to feed your newborn kittens. Kittens are also able to get some fleas on their bodies, so you have to know how to get rid of fleas from newborn kittens.