4 week old kitten with orange stool

Question
What should we do? Is this an emergency?

Answer
Jeremy,

The first thought that comes to mind is that this kitten has somehow managed to get ahold of something that he shouldn't have, but as I mentioned before I'm not a vet and I can't diagnose illnesses. I can tell you that if this kitty was under my care he would see a vet immediately because he could be seriously ill. It's possible that he has a huge intestinal parasite burden that's causing him to bleed into his intestinal tract, he could have a foreign body in his belly, he may have some sort of congenital medical condition which must be treated if he is to survive. I wish that I could offer something more specific, but I really can't. I was also wondering, is this kitten still nursing from mom as he should be or has something happened to take his mom and siblings from him? It could potentially be that this baby is having a bad reaction to his food since he really should still be nursing off of mom and cared for by his mother until he's at minimum 10-12 weeks old. Yes, kittens can eat solid food prior to that age, but they generally nurse for the first 6-9 weeks of their lives which provides them with the appropriate antibodies to fight illness, however when it's possible I always recommend that kittens stay with their litter mates and mother until they are a minimum of 10-12 weeks old. The first 12 weeks of a kitten's life are amazing, they learn how to walk, play, defend themselves and understand limits, so essentially kittens learn in 12 weeks what your average human child takes years to learn. The development of kittens is quite rapid and the first 12 weeks of their lives is all about them learning how to be a cat, how to play appropriately with human caregivers and generally being socialized. Hopefully you are able to take this baby to the vet within the next 24 hours or so. I'm hoping and praying that this is a minor health issue that can be treated easily by your veterinarian and I'd very much like to see a progress report about your kitten and how things are going. If you need your previous answer, please find it below this line.

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Jeremy,

Obviously there's something wrong with this kitten. I'm not sure if it's due to improper feeding or something more serious. I recommend that this kitten see a vet promptly to rule out serious medical causes of his orange stool.