Hi there and welcome back to Kitten School! Just a quick video today about a
common but potentially life-threatening problem that can affect kittens, which is
dehydration. I'll get into some of the main causes of dehydration in another
video but I want to show you a really simple way that can help prevent
dehydration in your kitten that you can do at home. Now our little Coconut has
had diarrhea for a few days and as a result she's a little bit dehydrated.
Coconut has been to the clinic and she doesn't have an illness or a parasite
so the diarrhea is probably a result of just her tiny stomach being unable to
digest food enzymes properly,vwhich is something she'll grow out of. To help
curb the diarrhea I've have her on a mild diet of chicken
baby food with rice and a little canned pumpkin mixed in. We obviously want to
get rid of the diarrhea because that is a main cause of dehydration.
Now there's two easy ways to check for dehydration: one is by gently pinching
the skin on the back of the neck and if it doesn't snap back quickly then the
kitten is dehydrated. Another method is to look at the kittens
gums: if they're white or kind of a grayish color that is an indication of
dehydration. Here Seegar's gums look nice and pink so that tells me he's doing
just fine. To help increase Coconuts fluid intake I'm giving her sips of
electrolyte water. I do this throughout the day using a plastic syringe.
Electrolyte water is commonly known by the brand name Pedialyte and you can buy
it at the drugstore, but I have also put a link in the video notes to a very
simple recipe you can make yourself out of things that you probably have in your
kitchen. So using the syringe I just give Coconut small sips...
I never squirt too much in her mouth at once, just tuck the end of the syringe
into the kittens cheek pocket, and then allow her to fully swallow it before you
give more. You'll want to do this as many times
during the day as you possibly can. Now I need to point out that a severely
dehydrated kitten will most likely need subcutaneous fluids from a clinic and
that's where the fluids are injected under the skin with a needle. Severe
dehydration is one of the biggest killers of small kittens so don't take
chances if your kitten seems severely dehydrated. But using this method with
the electrolyte water can help a kitten from becoming severely dehydrated, and
it's very easy to do at home, After a few days of giving Coconut the electrolyte
water and also very carefully monitoring her she no longer has diarrhea and she's
drinking water on her own. She's also beginning to play and looks like a
healthy kitten - yay Coconut! Thanks so much for watching! Kitten School is
dedicated to the joyfulness of everything cats ...if you like this video
please hit that SUBSCRIBE button now and join the Kitten School family!
