Skinny kitten, runny poops.. any ideas?

Hi Everyone,
I'm concerned about my kitty, Sam, and hoping you can give me some advice to tide me over until we can get to the vet. First a little history: we got him a week ago yesterday, the day after he'd been neutered. He is about 11 weeks old and we got him from a foster home for a Cat Rescue group. I got a health certificate with him showing that he'd had a vet exam, had his 1st round of shots and had been wormed. In the week we've had him, he's been eating Nutro Max Kitten dry and canned food.

I noticed in the last couple of days that there were some soft, loosely formed poos in the litter box but I wasn't 100% sure if it was Sam or our other kitty, Tabby.

Today I noticed a pretty bad smell in our room so I started investigating under our bed (where Sam likes to hide out) and discovered quite a few poops.. all soft and loosely formed. I am sure now that it is Sam.

On top of that, he is very skinny. I had just chalked that up to him being one of many foster kitties and not getting an excess of food, if you know what I mean . But he doesn't seem to be putting on any weight and on top of the loose poos, I'm wondering what's up.

I will call the vet first thing tomorrow and try to get him in, but in the meantime, does anyone have any ideas? Anything I can do to help firm up the loose stools? Should I separate him from the other kitty, or is it too late?

Thanks for any help you can give me

Hi Calypso,

He could need to be wormed again, the vet can tell you that though. In the meantime you can give him some kaopectate about 1/2 cc to start if you have a mouth syringe that is. If not, pour a little into the cap and take an eyedropper and fill it about half full. The slowly dribble it into kitty's mouth and follow that up with a little bit of wet cat food or a special treat to chase the taste down.

Have you been giving Sam milk? I'm sure you know that it gives most cats diarrhea, but of course Sam is young, so it's feasible that you would still be giving it to him. That would seem reasonable, but he might have a sensitivity to it. Please let us know what the vet says.

There are several things that can cause runny stool in kittens. I would set up an appointment for a fecal at the vet. This way, they can tell if there's a parasite causing the problem.
It is however possible that the stress of the surgery, the new house, and the new cat may be upsetting his stomach. It's also possible that he has too much freedom at such a young age. Until he goes to the vet, I would confine him in a small room or a bathroom with food,water,litter and bed. Once you are sure he's using the box on a regular basis and he's free of all parasites, it should be fine to let him roam around.

Hissy, I do have syringes, I will try the kaopectate and see if it helps.

Jeanie, do you mean cow's milk? If so, no I haven't been giving him any milk. I was still giving Tabby KMR (she's only about 8-9 weeks now and I was just going to finish up the can of powder), but she stopped drinking it anyway. I think the KMR was only out once or twice for her that he would have had access to it. Could that still be the problem?

Sandie, he has been confined to the bathroom since last night. I was trying to take things slowly with both kitties, but you may be right about too much, too soon. They both sleep in the bathroom at night (soft fleece pads, toys, food & water, litterbox) and I let them out into our bedroom during the day. I've been opening the bedroom door to let them come out to explore on their own in the evenings. They were both using the litterbox fine. I think it has just been in the last couple of days that Sam has stopped. All of the poops that I found under the bed were still soft this morning so I think they must have been from last night, before going into the bathroom for the night.

I will call the vet first thing in the AM and take in a fecal sample. Even if they can't fit him into their schedule for a full exam tomorrow, they should at least be able to test the sample.

I do think he's not feeling well. When we first got him, after some initial fear, he would play hide & seek with Tabby in the bedroom and chase her down the hall in the evenings. But he has never progressed beyond that (play-wise) and has even stopped doing that much with her in the past 2 days. She will jump on him and wrap her arms around his neck, trying to engage him in play and he just ignores her. He won't respond to any of the kitty toys she loves either. But he does love snuggling (with her or us) and purrs up a storm.

Thank you all again for all of your advice. I really do appreciate it very much and I will let you know what I learn from the vet as soon as she gives me a diagnoses.

I called the vet's office first thing yesterday morning about Sam. They were not able to fit him in, but I was able to take in a fecal sample (actually took one in for both of the kittens, Suzie doesn't use their box or "associate" with them). We have an appointment for 4:00 today and they will have the results of the test then.

Hi Everyone,

I took Sam and Tabby (she went along for the ride since Sam is still so skittish) in to the vet yesterday. The vet said that even though Sam feels skinny, his weight is good so she's not concerned about that. He had a raging case of ear mites and had passed them to Tabby. Poor little girl was sooo good and thought she was just going to watch but instead she got ivermectin in her ears too.

Sam had a slightly elevated temp (103.3). His stool sample came back negative. The vet said to give him the kaopectate again and she gave me a pill to put in some food to worm him just in case and wanted me to take his temp again at home. I called his foster mom to tell her about the mites and found out that she has been battling diarhea with all her foster kitties and they've been treating them with Albon (sp?). I called the vet back and she said we'd go ahead and treat Sam with it also (Tabby too since they share a litter box).

Sam seems to be doing MUCH better. Poops are back in the box and much more formed. His personality also seems to have picked up. He is much more playful with Tabby and I even caught him playing with hanging cat toys a couple of times today.

Both kittens and Suzie have a follow up appointment in 2 weeks. They all need shots.. won't that be fun

The kitties got a new "toy" today and Tabby seems quite happy with it (Sam is still suspicious)..

Aww what a cutie! Glad the vet could help!

The one thing I would be a little concerned about is that the vet said the fecal was negative. If the other kittens were on Albon, and the vet went ahead and gave you some, it means the kittens have coccidia which should have been picked up in the fecal.
If it is coccidia, it should be cleared up in about 3 to 5 days. Once the runny stool stops, you should give the kitten the albon 3 days past that date.

Sandie, I thought coccidia was one that the vet said wouldn't be picked up in the fecal..? Although we talked about so many possibilites and several things that don't show up in the fecal test so perhaps I am just not remembering correctly.

Both Sam and Tabby are on 9 day courses of the Albon (Suzie does not share their litter box or even associate with them, other than to growl and hiss at them so she is not being treated). The runny stools stopped pretty quickly after the initial treatment, which was a one-time double dose.

The other kitties that are still in foster care were not started on Albon until after Sam was adopted. But this all happened within a week so I'm sure that's where it came from.

Coccida can be found in a fecal float. It's hard to see, but if you spend the time at the microscope, you can find it and identify it for sure. Most vets don't have the time to spend, so they sometimes prescribe it just incase. Some medications call for a "loading dose" and albon is one of them. It gets the medication into the system much faster. I am sure the coccidia came from the shelter and it will clear up very soon.There actually isnt a real treatment for coccidia, but because in weak, sick, or young animals thier natural immune system can't fight it, you use the albon to give it a kick start. Which is why most healthy adult cats dont get coccidia.