Post partum kitty having problems..

Question
I am fostering a cat who had been abandoned. She came to me very pregnant. She gave birth 1 week ago to 4 kittens. She has had diarrhea for 3 days, and tonight it was very runny. Something long and 'worm-like' was hanging out of her anus.  Within 10 minutes it had gone back up inside of her.  Could this be a possible prolapse?  It is the weekend and no vets are available until Monday.  Please, I need advice!  She is nursing the kittens right now and is calm.

Answer
HI Nancy,
It sounds like the worm-like thing was probably just that- worms.
It is quite common for a cat that was on her own to be full of roundworms.

This will contribute to or cause the diarrhea also. Since she gave birth a week ago it is unlikely that there is anything going on with her uterus at this late date.

She needs to be wormed. Worming her won't worm the kittens and they do get these round worms from the mother. They are still not quite sure of the mode of transference but it could be via placenta or milk.

Ask your vet for some very mild round-wormer. I think it is safe enough now that she is no longer pregnant. Piperazine, which is an old time round-wormer- has been used on pregnant animals and children.

When the kittens are older or weaned then you can also worm her for tapeworms. She could have those too. Usually when you see worms around the rectum they are tapeworm segments- but they are not long. They are about an inch when stretched out to a half inch long.

Round worm medicine will not kill them and you cannot buy tapeworm medicine over the counter.

Another thing you need to do is have this cat tested for FELV, FIV, FIP and anything else that is transmissible to the kittens and ultimately fatal.
The last thing you want to do is give away kittens that are carrying a fatal disease that doesn't show up for a while. Testing the mom will let you know if she has it and has potentially passed it on.

If she is negative, which I am praying that she is, then you can get her and the babies vaccinated. They have to be about 6-7 weeks but she can be done at any time.

Keep her on a good quality kitten food such as Science Diet Kitten Growth until the kittens are weaned. That way she will have enough milk and get healthy herself. Put her on it slowly so as not to start more diarrhea. Do NOT use Purina Kitten chow as it is coated in milk and that will give her worse diarrhea. Kitten chow shouldn't be used for anything. Cats, like dogs, are lactose intolerant and become so at weaning time.

If you have any more questions, feel free to do a follow up to me.
I hope they all do well and thrive.