My 9 month old *long-haired* kitten is always getting diarrhea

and I'm SO sick of the nasty mess!!!! Its more like mushy poo that gets all mashed into his britches (which I've even had clipped, somehow it still happens). I don't know if its because he eats EVERYTHING he can find on the floor (but is picky about cat food ) or if he's allergic to something. I used to feed him Fancy Feast wet food (that's all he will eat) +Wellness kitten dry food. I thought the Wellness was causing the problem so I took him off it for a week and started him on Blue Wilderness Duck a couple days ago. I thought he was fine, but sure enough there was a little mess on his butt this morning. ALSO: He is constantly chewing plastic bags - he's even learned how to open a closet so he can get to them! Could this be the problem??? PLEASE HELP!!

I think Duck is very rich and that would case diarrhea. I dont feed Duck.
Normally just chicken / Turkey.
Was he having a problem when you were giving him the Fancy feast wet?

My two are on Wilderness Duck, and have been since late kittenhood, no soft stools. It you compare it to wet food on a dry matter basis, its not really rich IMO.

Buttercup DID have soft stools as a smaller kitten on Blue Chicken and Rice kitten kibble though.

How quickly did you transition food? And a couple days is nothing, it can take a week or more to stabilize the tummy bacteria to a new food and even begin to see results in the coat and what not. You can help the process along by picking up some Fortiflora probiotic online on Amazon (seems to be cheapest), or go to your grocery store health food department refrigerated section and get some child's or low potency acidophilus and crush half a tab or so into the wet food.

Also, are you sure you aren't overfeeding? That is actually one of the causes of soft stools, as their short digestive system is like a conveyor belt and if you stack on too much it has to push whats at the end of the line out to make room, even if its not fully digested yet.

For right now, I wouldn't change the dry again, but perhaps look for a different wet. If its a food allergen, it's probably in the cheaper wet food as those often have wheat gluten, soy, corn, you name it.

And after making any change, give it a week or more before drawing any conclusion and switching things around. Pain, I know, but once you have something you can pretty much stick to it.

First of all, if you've not taken her to the vet to rule out parasites and T. Foetus, that's the place to start. Tumbles went through all that and a couple of rounds of Metro until the vet recommended we try him on a prescription dry food, Royal Canin Gastro Intestinal HE. We still feed him canned EVO and Wellness, but his tummy and system couldn't handle the Taste of the Wild Dry food. Since we started him on the RC, his poops have been perfect! We've slowly been introducing him back to TOTW dry and so far, so good.

In addition to the advice already given, you need to prevent your cat from eating everything other than cat food. Lock up the plastic bags if you have to. Eating them could be a disaster.

Robin

Originally Posted by wispyrustle

and I'm SO sick of the nasty mess!!!! Its more like mushy poo that gets all mashed into his britches (which I've even had clipped, somehow it still happens). I don't know if its because he eats EVERYTHING he can find on the floor (but is picky about cat food

) or if he's allergic to something. I used to feed him Fancy Feast wet food (that's all he will eat) +Wellness kitten dry food. I thought the Wellness was causing the problem so I took him off it for a week and started him on Blue Wilderness Duck a couple days ago. I thought he was fine, but sure enough there was a little mess on his butt this morning. ALSO: He is constantly chewing plastic bags - he's even learned how to open a closet so he can get to them! Could this be the problem??? PLEASE HELP!!

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It takes time to adjust to a different food which may be the cause of some of your problem. Leave him on the dry for a couple of weeks but maybe change the wet food to something with no additives or ingredients like wheat, soy etc. Be consistent with his diet for a couple of weeks and see if that helps correct the problem. I'm assuming he's been to the vet and physical issues have been ruled out.

As for the plastic bags. Lock the cabinet door somehow. One of my meezers is able to get into just about every cabinet in my house. I've had to "child proof" them. She eats just about anything as well. If your kitten is ingesting plastic it could very well cause serious digestive issues as well as physical issues.

Originally Posted by bastetservant

In addition to the advice already given, you need to prevent your cat from eating everything other than cat food. Lock up the plastic bags if you have to. Eating them could be a disaster.

Robin

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I second this, absolutely this could be causing some digestive issues. The cat may be shredding and eating the plastic bags and this is what is causing the troubles. Keep all plastic bags completely out of reach to the cat and see if this clears up the problem.

Another question I would ask is, are you giving him any milk. Most cats are lactose intolerant and can diarrhea from cow milk.

Changing the food too quickly can indeed cause intestinal problems so try one food and stay with it for awhile to give it a chance.

In the meantime, to help with the diarrhea, try mixing a tsp. of canned pure pumpkin (not the pie filling stuff) into to his food. The pumpkin will help with both diarrhea and constipation - wonderful stuff.

Agree with everything every one's suggested. Keeping the plastic bags away is crucial. Other than the tummy problems, they can create obstruction. Calvin had mushy poop and after trying to figure out different things, I simply stopped his dry food and the result was remarkable. From the day after of all wet diet, he started having normal poop. There is something in the dry food that bothers his tummy. I have reintroduced dry and they get about 1/8-1/6 cup each every day as a snack but if some day I am out for a longer time and decided to leave out a little more dry (1/4 cup)- I see a difference (he is medium hair and gets himself all messy). It is surprising how a little over his normal can cause upset tummy. So maybe witholding dry for a day or so can be something to try.

Buddy's tummy is sensitive to dry food as well. He can have a few pieces with his wet food for some crunch, but any considerable amount and his poop gets soft.

Remember though that not all dry food is the same, not by a long shot. If your kitty has loose stools on dry food, its likely just one or more of the ingredients in that particular recipe that is to blame. For me, simply switching brands did the trick.

But remember that any major food transition shouldn't be too rapid and can take an adjustment period, even switching to raw. Kitty gets diarrhea, but its just the tummy bacteria has to get used to digesting a new type of food source.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

Remember though that not all dry food is the same, not by a long shot. If your kitty has loose stools on dry food, its likely just one or more of the ingredients in that particular recipe that is to blame. For me, simply switching brands did the trick.

But remember that any major food transition shouldn't be too rapid and can take an adjustment period, even switching to raw. Kitty gets diarrhea, but its just the tummy bacteria has to get used to digesting a new type of food source.

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Not always it is the fault of particular ingredients/ brands but dry itself (could be the way it is processed/ dehydrated, the richness or higher caloric content - do not know what). At least that's what we could conclude after months of trying different brands and ingredients. We tried Wellness Kitten and adult Chicken, Blue chicken and rice, wilderness duck, acana prairie and the fish one (thinking that maybe calvin is allergic to chicken), Innova senior (hoping pea protein maybe easier) and finally California Natural Chicken. Trying to find a workable dry food, I've met others online who have had their kitties unable to tolerate dry. So this can be a reality - maybe for a small minority of kitties - but it is a reality. If a cat cannot tolerate the variety (and I changed the food over very slowly over long periods of time) of dry that I have made Calvin go through, there is something that is a common dinominator that he cannot digest well. He had gas and mushy poo on all. We did periods of only wet in between and every time we saw his poop improve. So we figured that it just because dry makes our life easy (and yes, our quest for the right dry was a tad selfish - convenience, cost etc.) it's not worth the trouble we were putting Calvin through and being a medium haired kitty, we were dealing with matting etc. Our vet is a supporter of wet food and he also feels that it is dry that is possibly to blame for Calvin's issues. We still feed them a bit of dry (about 1/8 cup) just so that they know what dry food is, in case they ever have to.
Hence my 2 cents to the OP to try and witholding dry for a day or so to see if things improve.

Switching foods all of a sudden will cause runny stools. Eating plastic bags, big problem- how is he peeing? Is he spraying? If he is spraying when he pees get him to the vet quickly. The plastic can plug up the works and cause urinary and pooping issues. Plus, it can ultimately kill kittie depending on how much plastic he actually ate.

Once he has been cleared for obstruction talk to your vet about Forte Flora