orphaned kittens and bowel movements

Question
Hello, I recently found a kitten that cant be more than about 4-5 days old now, it is eating very well and seems healthy enough but there are two things i am not sure of, one he hasnt had a bowel movement in almost two days, and 2 his tummy is very round and bloated looking.. well it looks like it to me, but then again I have never had to raise a 4 day old kitten.. should I be worried abuot him/her at all, like i said it is eating and urinating well. and it had two normal colored poopies 2 days ago.

Answer
Sara,

What are you feeding this kitten?  How are you feeding this kitten?  How often are you feeding this kitten?  How much are you feeding this kitten? Are you weighing the kitten every day and recording the weights?

I would feed a kitten milk replacer, like Newborn, cut 1-1 with unflavored Pedialyte.  If the kitten will take a bottle, this is good, otherwise, you may have to tube feed or syringe feed the baby (your vet can show you how). New borns can be fed 4 times a day (a suggested schedule would be: 7:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 7:00 PM, midnight).  The kitten should get approximately .3 oz (8-10 ml) for every 4 oz (100g) of body weight, every day.  The kitten should gain 4 oz (100g) of body weight each week. DO NOT OVERFEED.  Finally, after each feeding, make sure you burp the kitten.

I would look into finding a small book titled: "Hand-Raising the Orphaned Kitten" by Milton Papurt, DVM; Barrons Educational Series; Hauppage, NY; 1999.

I must admit that I would not think that not having a bowel movement in two days is necessarily a problem.  Kittens that young do not have all their systems fully functioning yet.  

It is rare for a hand fed kitten to have a round belly that feels bloated.  It should be full enough so that you do not feel the ribs or backbone.

Please let me know how it is going.

Best regards... Norm.