diarrhea :(

My baby Martini is about 8 or 9 months old. A few weeks ago i brought her to my brothers apartment and of course she decided the wires behind the tv were a better option than the litter box we had set up for her. Her stool was kinda runny, but at the time i didn't think much of it. Lately though I have noticed that she seems to be having diarrhea almost every time she goes to the bathroom. A friend of mine who volunteers at a vet and fosters kittens suggested i try changing her food to a better quality dry food. I came home from work the other day with a new bag of food and martini greeted me like normal. when i went to go feed her, she came running and then suddenly stopped, and plopped down on the ground and wouldnt move. she NEVER does that. she was all out of food so i know she was hungry and even if she's not hungry she always "supervises" me when i'm putting food in her dish. i tried to pick her up and put her in front of the food but she was so limp in my arms. i put three bowls in front of her -- the old food, a mix of the old food and the new food, and her favorite wet food i feed as a treat and she just stared at me (martini NEVER passes up an opportunity to eat!). a friend of mine picked up her favorite toy and she didnt even acknowledge it. she looked so out of it. finally i found some treats laying around the house and fed her those. she gobbled them right up and was back to running around and playing. she's been acting fine ever since (but it still looks like she has diarrhea).

i plan on taking her to the vet this week (waiting to see my friend on monday to get a vet recommendation, i had a horrible experience with martini's last vet), but i'm just wondering if anyones ever had any experiences like this. i still have all three bowls out for her and it seems the only one she eats out of is the bowl with the new food in it. (i was feeding her Purina and now i'm feeding her Natural Ultramix. i guess i'm just wondering if its possible that it was her food that was making her sick.

Not sure what is causing the loose stool but I do know you should change to the new food gradually. I had to take my 6 month old to the vet for loose stool and he gave me an antibiotic to see if it was some bad things in her stomach. It was weeks until she had formed stool and is just now close to normal. He did tell me no canned for her and never change her food quickly. She is a great eater and is gaining weight but her stool is a different color then my other cat that has nice formed poo. I would love to give them canned as a treat but am afraid she will go back to loose stools again. You can buy canned whole pumpkin and give your cat a teaspoon of that. It helped my cat till I got her appointment with the vet. She had a little blood in her poo from having such a sore bottom.

I've heard it suggested that you give a kitty some live bacteria yoghurt. But diarrhea can be a real problem. I hope she didn't eat something or chew on something that upset her metabolism.

hmmm... im not really sure i can gradually switch her food. ive been mixing the two together and martini will not even go near the old dry food, but she gobbles up the new food (and leaves the old food in the dish). but thanks for all the advice!