Diarrhea or loose stool? Normal?

wagirl

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We have a 1.5 year old cat and a 4 month old kitten. The cat has always had very little in the way of bowel movements, and they don't smell at all. She's not a big eater. The kitten, however, is another story -- we got her almost two weeks ago, and her stools have been unlike those of our older cat. She goes twice a day, morning and night, and there's TONS of it. It's formed but soft, if that makes any sense. It's hard enough to scoop easily out of the box, but it looks pretty mushy. It also smells really strong, like a diaper. Is this normal? I should add that we've been feeding her Solid Gold dry food (Katzenflocken) mixed with a few pieces of Innova EVO (about 1/2 cup total per day, and Wellness kitten wet food (about 1/2 a 3 oz. can per day). The wet food is quite strong-smelling. She eats about twice as much dry food as my older cat, which I suppose is normal as she's growing. Basically, I don't know if her stools are unusual and if I should have them checked out. She had all her bloodwork and a fecal float done last week, and everything was fine. Any thoughts?
 

russian blue

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When I brought a stool sample in for testing the vet told me to collect a portion of it over a 2/3 day period. The reasoning is that not all parasites are shed at one time but will over a couple of days. They gave me a container with a preservative in it and I had to keep it in the fridge. That might be a reason nothing was found.

A kitten will of course eat more and use the litter box more than an adult cat since its system is still developing. But, if the smell is very strong it could have a parasite (i.e. coccidiosis) or is reacting to the food (too rich for its system).

If I was still concerned, I would give a quick call to the vet to discuss. If it's something like coccidiosis, it is very contagious and can be passed to your older cat and they would need to be placed on sulpha drugs to control it.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by Russian Blue

If I was still concerned, I would give a quick call to the vet to discuss. If it's something like coccidiosis, it is very contagious and can be passed to your older cat and they would need to be placed on sulpha drugs to control it.
where did your new kitten come from? i ask, because Java, a stray, had an intestinal bacterial overgrowth [nonspecific] that took 2 rounds of antibiotics & a round of bene-bac to fix. she started with the soft, formed stools & incredibly bad gas, progressed to diarrhea, then watery diarrhea, back to soft, but not normal till after the bene-bac.
i agree - a vet visit would be a good thing, especially if there's any chance the kitten has something that could be passed to your older cat.
but of my 4 - they're all different. i can hardly tell when Pixel has a BM, but i can always tell when Cable does!
 

sharky

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I third the parisite test ...

The other thing is you feeding three very rich foods ... If it is not parisites try just the Solid gold or the kitten food and reintroduce the EVO later
 
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wagirl

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I left a message for the vet, and she's going to call me back tomorrow. In any case, I think I'll just take out the EVO for now to see what happens -- I've only been putting in like 4 or 5 grains of it, but I know that it is rich. Hmmm. I'm not keen on not giving her ANY wet food, so I think I'll stick with the Wellness as well as the Solid Gold. We'll see what the vet says, and I may take her in for a parasite test tomorrow just to be sure.
 

lorina

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I've noticed that even a very healthy kitten will have much stinkier poops than adult cats.

Sometimes I wonder if nature made kittens so cute & adorable just so we'll put up with their smells and wacky behaviors until they're older.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by Lorina

I've noticed that even a very healthy kitten will have much stinkier poops than adult cats.

Sometimes I wonder if nature made kittens so cute & adorable just so we'll put up with their smells and wacky behaviors until they're older.
i know that's why God made human babies that way. trust me - if he gave you a 12-year-old to start with, you'd wanna give the kid back!
 

tajicat

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Hi I am having a similar..3 cats 1 Bengal and 1 18 year Siamese
had perfect stools till the new Bengal Kitten came..from past experience
with my older bengal he had Girardia as a kitten gave it to my Siamese
a total mess..

now I just got Bengal kitten 2 months Poos stink and dirr...
will tell you the smell of parasite is like nothing I ever smelled
will wake you up out of bed!

I tested and tested Many many times for the older cats years ago.
and they never found it...SO I finially treated with Flagyl and
2 times a day for 1 month....Horrible...Never saw it again

Now here I go again...It is the same smell in the kitten so treated them
all for seven days...But So far the kittens came back..
Not sure about the older ones..as it has been 2 months ..
and the kitten prob.has had it for 5 months...

I had to fight like hell to get the pills down the big guys but
the kitten took them in the pill pockets easy...

I feel bad for both of us..as this really sucks!
Sherry
 
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