Frustrated w/ kitten's loose stools -- please help!

I've posted about our kitten Maeby a few times with respect to different things. I'm so frustrated and stressed out right now, I have no idea what to do. We got Maeby about 2 weeks ago and she's now the best of friends with our other cat, Bella. Maeby is 4 months old. Here's the situation:

- Maeby was wormed right before we got her and we had her tested for everything under the sun (blood panel and fecal tests) the day after she came home with us (prior to meeting Bella)
- her stools had always been soft, but apparently they only got soft at the shelter after she switched from Iams to a slightly higher quality food (the day before we took her home)
- we switched her to Wellness kitten wet and dry when we brought her home. Her stools appeared to be firming up a bit -- soft but formed.
- we then started adding some Solid Gold Katzenflocken in with the Wellness dry, since Bella eats Solid Gold, it's all stages, and we weren't sure which cat was eating the kitten kibble. Bella is picky and doesn't eat much, so we figured it would be easier having them on the same food.
- Maeby's bowel movements loosened up even more, but she remained fine otherwise. She's a good water drinker from one specific bowl, she's active as anything, she has a great appetite and she's not dehydrated. Also, despite the loose stool she's gained about half a pound since we got her.
- having consulted with the vet all along, we took her back in yesterday and had a fecal sample taken "straight from the source" (THAT was traumatic for me!) -- negative for bacteria/parasites/worms. However, her "good bacteria" levels were low and the vet prescribed 1 ml once a day of Fastrack, a probiotic paste. We gave the first dose this morning.
- the vet also suggested not giving Maeby any more feline Greenies (Greenies apparently cause some dogs to have diarrhea), cutting back on her wet food, and sticking with the Solid Gold that she'd been eating.
- today, I cut back on her wet food (to 1/8 of a 3 oz. can 2x a day) but gave her more Solid Gold to compensate.
- well, her bowel movements today were runnier than ever, not watery but completely unformed. I have been monitoring them for blood etc., but I haven't seen anything untoward.

ANYWAY, here's my question -- do you think that she's allergic to the Solid Gold? It's supposed to be a good food, but it seems like it's making her worse. Is all of this linked to the food? Can the food cause diarrhea? Should I start her back on the Wellness kitten kibble and trust that Bella won't eat it all (she never overeats)? I'm just so stressed, I can't eat and I just want my girls to be okay! BTW, Bella's stool has been the same as always. ANY help would be appreciated! Although I'm not a frequent poster (not enough expertise to add yet) this forum has been invaluable!

It could be the Solid Gold, and it's probably worthwhile switching back to the Wellness to see if it makes a difference, or trying another all life stages food, like Natural Balance. Some foods, no matter how good they are, just don't agree with all cats.
I hope the problem resolves itself soon.

That sounds like a lot of food changes in two weeks. If she was doing okay on Wellness when you first got her, I'd switch her (slowly this time) back to that. Keep her on that for several weeks and then slowly start switching her to Solid Gold again. If she gets diarrhea again, then she just can't tolerate Solid Gold.

It sounds like she is sensitive to food changes and that can drastically alter the bacteria populations in the intestines. My vet said that when the bacteria populations have been altered like that it can be 3-4 weeks before they get back to normal so you shouldn't change food during that timeframe. Even with the probiotic.

I had a rescued cat, a year old. with unformed soft stool, disgusting, and the vet thought ( after 6 months of this) it could be a food allergy. I gave him a course of steroids, and fed him sensitive stomach food, and that was months ago. it stopped and hasn't come back. well one time due to an antibiotic, but we changed antibiotic and all is ok.

When I was taking care of a kitten a few weeks ago, he had runny stools when I fed him canned food. I switched him to dry and he had nice, formed stools. Then I tried canned again and they went right back to runny. So dry food it was for the little tyke!

First thing's first- with those runny stools, she is likely dehydrated (even if she appears to be drinking water well- she is loosing too much fluid in her loose stools to compensate for what her body looses.) Pinch up the scruff of her neck real quick and see if it goes down quickly when you release if or if it sticks up (if it sticks up that's a good indicator she's dehydrated.) What you need to do is go to your local pharmacy and pick up some Pedialyte (infant fluid replacer) ....dropper feed her several droppers full of this to get some fluids into her body. The I would suggest taking her into the vets office for a Sub Q iv (it's a needle filled with iv fluid- much easier to give to a kitten than a full on iv drip). This will keep her hydrated- should she become dehydrated- fading kitten syndrome , seizures, and other seriously health problems can occur quickly- I say that not to scare you, just to inform you. / Also- you need to stop switching her foods back and forth- that is upsetting her digestive track- kittens have very sensitive stomaches and when their food is constantly switched it can cause gastrointestinal upset to occur. So what I would suggest doing is pick one good quality kitten formula food and stick with it. To start her on it- slowly mix in the new food with the old food over several days....start out with mostly old food and some of the new....and then graduallly add less of the old food and more of the new food until she is completly switched onto the new food. Also, cut out all soft foods for right now and stick to dry kibble until her stools are firm again. If you see that her tummy is still upset tonight, I suggest boiling some chicken and plain white rice and giving her a little bit of that - it is extremly bland and will not upset her stomach. The fluids in it will keep her hydrated as well. / Also, take her back into your vets office for a fecal test to rule out coccidia. (they put a tiny test stick into the kittens rectum for a brief moment, and then test the fecal matter on the stick for strans of coccidia. ) Coccidia is VERY common in kittens and can cause loose stools, diarreah, vomiting, dehydration, seizures...etc. Since she has been tested negative for worms, my guess would be that she may have coccidia. Coccidia is very inexpensive to treat and often animals recover well from it if it is cought early enoguh- but if it is allowed to go undiagnosed or treated it can result in traumatic extremes.(usually vet's use Albon to treat coccidia). It sounds like you are doing a wonderful job of taking care of her and seeing to it that she has the medical care she needs. She is lucky to have such a wonderful caretaker! / Pkease have a vet look at her and give her an iv as soon as possible to replinish the fluids she has lost. Keep us posted on her! Please feel free to pm me if you have any questions. My name is Nikki.

I've been doing the scruff-test for dehydration, and she's been fine. After a couple days of the probiotic, cutting out the solid gold, and cutting back on the wet food, Maeby's stool seems to be firming up. Yay! I've notice that her morning bowel movement is usually fine, formed but on the soft side. Her evening movement is a bit softer, but still not to the point of "runny".

I have 4 cats and always add a little Metamucil (for humans) to solidify their stools. I started using Metamucil when the older cat I adopted became very constipated. A vet told me to use it as it's very simple to just add to their food and not try to force pills on them. Metamucil is great as it works for both constipation and loose stools. Hope this helps.

Also, I have used Apple Pectin, the kind they use for making jellies, that has always helped out.

Originally Posted by wagirl

I've been doing the scruff-test for dehydration, and she's been fine. After a couple days of the probiotic, cutting out the solid gold, and cutting back on the wet food, Maeby's stool seems to be firming up. Yay! I've notice that her morning bowel movement is usually fine, formed but on the soft side. Her evening movement is a bit softer, but still not to the point of "runny".

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That is good that she seems to be doing better. Keep us posted. I would still take her in for a second opinion just to be on the safe side