young kitten having trouble eating

by Jordan
(Sydney, NSW, Australia)

Hi,

Ive got a 7 week old kitten we have handraised since he was 2 weeks old. Yesterday, after a meal, he started crying out and frothing at the mouth.
Anyway after about 5 mins he calmed down and became his usual happy self again. Next meal, the exact same thing happened.
We took him to a vet, she wasnt too concerned about what we told her, she examined his throat and said he seemed fine and that the obstruction should pass (if theres one there).
However today it is still going on and he seems in quite a bit of discomfort after eating. I have tried massaging his throat, he will sometimes vomit up a very small amount of food after I do this (he then feels instantly better) but I am unsure if I should continue in case im making it worse in the long run.

After he eats, he starts to froth and call out for about 5-10 minutes , then he is very quiet for about another 10 minutes, and then it calms down again and hes back to normal until his next feed. Its just so distressing to see him cry out in pain after eating.
Any ideas?

Reply
Hi
I don't know what food you are feeding him on but if it is solid food it may just still be too early for him to cope with this and it may be uncomfortable in his tummy. Perhaps return him to kitten milk for another few weeks and then to slowly reintroduce solid food again.

If it continues to happen then i would definitely take him back to the vet for another look. he is very young still though and some kittens don't wean until they are 12 weeks old so he may need a little more time with the milk.

I have a page about kitten weaning which you may find of interest here

http://www.our-happy-cat.com/kitten-weaning.html

best wishes kate