New kitten has diarrhea

Hello,

I just adopted a dropped off kitten roughly 12-14 weeks old. I have had her for about a week.

Ever since, she has had diarrhea. Sorry if this grosses anyone out, but its about half way between liquid and solid and a medium brown color.


My mother has a well cat book, and I called her to see what it says. It said to withhold food for 12-24 hours, then follow up with 3-5 days with cooked eggs, babyfood, or cooked chicken. ... too see if that clear it up. It talked about a change in diet causing it etc. I just took the food away last night. She had been eating mainly dry food with the very occasional table scrap.

I have heard Round Worm can cause diarrhea in kittens and thought about getting some Drontal from a site like 1800petmeds (http://www.1800petmeds.com/pdetail.asp?SK=10073). I really don't need a vet bill right now, but I really want to keep this kitten. I have wanted a 2nd cat since one of ours died a couple yrs ago... and this kitten is so nice and friendly.

Kitten has just been eating the regular cat food - could this be it? If so, do I buy kitten food for both cats to eat?

Any ideas?

my kittens were like that too. I continued feeding as usual and it settled. My vets said it could a combination of a new environment, change and food and general stress. I would recommend kitten foods up to 1 year old because they have added nutrients in them but it is up to you. I hope this helps but have you considered ringing your vets for advise? Good luck, i hope kitty settles soon

Thanks for the quick advise..

Is the kitten food gentler on their stomachs? I guess the problem would be in keeping the cats eating their own food. I'd have to take it away and give it to them a couple times a day - how many times a day do cats need to eat? I've always just left it out.

Don't really have a vet - not sure if just calling a random one would give any free advice or not. The other cat was fixed at a clinic, and is an indoor cat so never went back to a vet.

1) you brought her home a week ago right? That means you probably switched her from whatever food she was eating before to a new one. That can cause diarrhea. QUALITY of the food you buy can cause diarrhea as well.

2) kittens should be dewormed. If she wasn't already I would do it now. she probably has them, causing the diarrhea. If you found Drontal online to buy please let me know where from. I need to get some. But Drontal is for Tapeworm, not round and hook I believe. Strongid/pyrantal is for round and hook worms. It is most likely that she has round/hook.

3) a kitten that young needs kitten food. Up to a year but give or take a few months depending on the weight of the cat. She really needs kitten food. GOOD QUALITY kitten food and switch her slowly or else she will have more diarrhea.

4) yogurt can help diarrhea, just a half a teaspoon once or twice a day. yogurt is full of good bacteria.

We had the same problem when bringing our kittens home a couple of weeks ago, one ended up having Colitis which was due to having worms, but the other settled in about a week. If you switch their food you risk making it worse, you shouldn't feed them yoghurt either, a lot of cats are lactose intolerant, and dairy products in general shouldn't be fed to them.

We wormed out kittens with panacur as it's quite mild on sensitive stomachs, which means that it doesn't irritate any further.

If you're in doubt it's best to take them to the vets though, hope it sorts itself out!

Originally Posted by Jen

1) you brought her home a week ago right? That means you probably switched her from whatever food she was eating before to a new one. That can cause diarrhea. QUALITY of the food you buy can cause diarrhea as well.

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She showed up in the neighborhood. Nobody has claimed her so I assume she was dropped off.

2) kittens should be dewormed. If she wasn't already I would do it now. she probably has them, causing the diarrhea. If you found Drontal online to buy please let me know where from. I need to get some. But Drontal is for Tapeworm, not round and hook I believe. Strongid/pyrantal is for round and hook worms. It is most likely that she has round/hook.

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1800pedmeds.com has it...

"Drontal (praziquantel and pyrantel pamoate) is a broad spectrum dewormer for cats and kittens. It is used to treat tapeworms, hookworms and roundworms. Each tablet is scored for easy breakage. The dose is based on weight. (Sold per tablet)"

http://www.1800petmeds.com/pdetail.asp?SK=10073




Thanks for the advice.. I'll try some yogurt.

The best advice any of us here are qualified to give you is please take the kitty to a vet for a complete check-up. Since you just got the cat it really is necessary to have it vet-checked, de-wormed for the type of worm your kitten may have (with proper medication from a vet - not over-the-counter junk that does nothing and may be dangerous).

It is ALWAYS advisable to have any cat you just get to have a check-up with a vet.

You say you don't have a vet, so it's time to look for one. If you have friends with animals, talk to them about their vet to see if he/she sounds like a good fit for you.

Now after saying all that which I feel is very important, the diarrhea could well be from the change in food and your kitty's tummy is sensitive to it. Some cats you can change food immediately, others you need to do very gradually.

You could try mixing a tsp. of pumpkin (pureed pure canned pumpkin - not pie filling) into the kitty's food to help firm up the stool. But as one poster said, it's possibly being caused by worms.

I did forget to mention the importance of taking this little kitten to the vets. She needs a full checkup and vaccines, spay, dewormed, and tested. Saving money buying meds online is great and I am all for it, the Drontal you chose is exactly what you need and I think it will solve the problem, but you really need to have her seen by a vet at least once especially to be tested. That is very important when bringing home a new kitten especially off the streets.

Got her an appt tomorrow for a Vet... found one with a $30 discount for new clients... the checkup will be about $12 :-) Don't mean to sound cheap, but we had to put out quite a bit of money recently for other things... fridge died, etc.

She's a bit young for the spay, etc though... but for that, there is a clinic in town. I think I paid $75 for a neuter, TB test, Rabies, and distemper for the other cat.

Originally Posted by mattg

Got her an appt tomorrow for a Vet... found one with a $30 discount for new clients... the checkup will be about $12 :-) Don't mean to sound cheap, but we had to put out quite a bit of money recently for other things... fridge died, etc.

She's a bit young for the spay, etc though... but for that, there is a clinic in town. I think I paid $75 for a neuter, TB test, Rabies, and distemper for the other cat.

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Excellent. Good that you are taking her to the vet. BTW she only needs to be 2 lbs to be spayed.