Please help! Kittens with diarrhea for OVER A MONTH!

I decided to foster 4 little kittens (estimated to be 2 months old when I got them) that were rescued the day before by my local animal shelter. This was the first time I had ever fostered or owned cats.

Day 1:
-All 4 have diarrhea.
-Shelter gives me Doxycycline for 1 of the kittens (Scotty) b/c he has some residue in his eyes (which I administer for ~7 days).

Day 7:
-All 4 still have diarrhea.
-Shelter gives me Flagyl & Panacur for all 4 kittens, which I administer for ~7-10 days.

Day 14:
-I find adopters for 2 of the kittens.
-Scotty is one of the adopted kittens, and happens to have made noticeable improvement with his diarrhea. Therefore I am hopeful the others will improve too.
-They are all given shots by the vet at the shelter ( I forget what the names of the shots/vaccinations were).

Day 21:
-The 2 remaining kittens still have diarrhea.
-Diarrhea worsens (to a more liquid consistency), and cats a drinking lots of water to compensate. I happened to switch wet food brands from their usual Whiskas to some on-sale Iams, and also ran out of the probiotic supplement (Forti-Flora) for a couple days, so I suspect this is why it worsened.
-Vet at shelter takes their temperatures (no fever) and administers fluids.
-Vet prescribes Albon.

Day 28:
-Between return to usual diet, probiotic supps, and Albon, the diarrhea returns to "pudding" level (from the watery level last week). But, it's still definitely diarrhea!
-Shelter prescribes Amoxicillin.

Day 32 (Today):
-Still have diarrhea. No noticeable improvement from Amoxicillin.


My questions are: What are earth could be the cause? Is there a medication that the vet hasn't tried that she should? What do I tell prospective adopters? Do I need to be more pushy with the vet (this is an animal shelter program, so resources are limited, so I am hesitant when dealing with them)? Could the Doxycycline be the reason Scotty improved but the others did/have not? Will Amoxicillin cover the same ground as Doxycycline?

Other observations: the cats seem very content, active, playful, and other than the diarrhea seem healthy. No sneezing...really no other symptoms of sickness except for the diarrhea.

I feed them Whiskas wet food (turkey and beef w/ gravy). Between the two of them, I go through two 6 ounce cans per day. They also have Whiskas dry food available to them which they will eat from time to time, but they prefer the wet. They always have plenty of fresh water. I use Jonny Cat litter.

Please help!

Has the vet done a fecal on the kittens or checked for parasites? Have they been viral tested?
I see a lot of medications given but was any testing done to determine the cause of the diarrhea?

How about a test for giardia? Pancreatitis? It's rare in kittens but who knows. Did they do any bloodwork? The panacur should take care of most of the worms. But like nekochan said, a fetal flotation would be useful. I would also feed them I/d from hills as it is a bland food. Just feed them small amounts every 4 hours. You can also add water to increase hydration.

Originally Posted by Nekochan

Has the vet done a fecal on the kittens or checked for parasites? Have they been viral tested?
I see a lot of medications given but was any testing done to determine the cause of the diarrhea?

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I forgot to mention that Yes I did bring a fecal sample a couple weeks ago which I was told was negative for parasites and such.

try feeding them better brand food? Something grain-free and no by-products preferably?

Yea, definitely change to a better food. The more protein and fat, (It's easier to calculate these than it is to do carbs) and the less veggies, grains and by-products, the better. Wet only if possible. And keep water out, and ask the vet if they Specifically tested for giardia and pancreatitis.

Hi, Runtellthat. Welcome to TCS!

Originally Posted by Minka

Yea, definitely change to a better food. The more protein and fat, (It's easier to calculate these than it is to do carbs) and the less veggies, grains and by-products, the better. Wet only if possible. And keep water out, and ask the vet if they Specifically tested for giardia and pancreatitis.

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This is what I would suggest as well. You can use petfooddirect.com to research grain-free (and no to low fruit and veggy) canned foods to see what's available. Wellness and Evo are both good places to start.

Good luck!

AC

Hi, welcome,

My Buddy had diarrhia when he first found me. I spent 5 months changing foods wet and dry until I finally found out that he was allergic to grains. He loves his Evo 88% protein dry and the chicken wet. His fur stopped thinning out on his shoulders and best of all no more diarrhea.

I know what you are saying, "It is way more expensive!" but if you take into account the nutrients they are getting, the amount you feed is less with premium foods than the cheap stuff as they get more of what they eat food for, it saves in the end. Speaking of the "end" they poop less, yes less. So less litter as well. Which reminds me, I need to ask Aunty Crazy about raw diets, I am considering which is best. Good luck.

Ok, I've done some more reading and I'm curious if it is a food allergy. I'm going to buy some high-end food, like Natural Balance Duck or Venison, or one of the brands suggested in this thread. I'm interested in duck b/c it's one meat I have not tried feeding them thus far...but I will also keep my eye out for low or grain free on the label.

Up to this point, I have mostly been alternating between Chicken and Beef Whiskas chunks wet food. Early on I was feeding a Whiskas kind that had vegetable chunks in it too but not for 2-3 weeks.

The thing is, since all 4 kittens had diarrhea, is it likely that all 4 are allergic?

Also, how long do you think it would take to tell if the new high-end food is making a difference?

Thanks for all the tips everyone!

I agree with all the food recommendations others have given you.
Calvin came to me at 4 months of age and then had soft goopy poop and it did not improve for a couple of months. I did try different things with some to no success.
Thing I did:
A course of flagyl worked for a couple of weeks but not long term. I learned about "good" quality food and transitioned Calvin from poor ingredient filled Science Diet and Fancy Feast to Wellness Kitten and good quality canned but it continued. Wise members of this forum suggested I try adult food since kitten food is too rich and food with 1 protein, 1 grain and I went for California Natural Chicken and Brown Rice and things improved a lot (not totally). Then I realized that Calvin's poop is way better eating canned than dry. By this time I had tried various dry and nothing gave him perfect poop. I did want him to be familiar with some dry food just in case and so gave them some at night. But it was evident that the "best" poop Calvin had was on only canned food with not more than 1/4 cup dry.
But then more recently my other kitty, Hobbes, was diagnosed with IBS and has to be on precription food. He is not on 100% prescription since I have no way to feed the cats separately and the ingredients of the prescription diet are not "ideal" but THEY WORK. So with at least 50% of their canned and dry food being "prescription" (Hill's i/d or z/d) not only Hobbes but even Calvin is having the best poop I've seen them have. So who knows if Calvin also had some kind of allergy? It may be worth talking to your vet about trying "special" food temporarily to see what to do.

So I bought some Wellness and some Natural Balance canned wet food. I tried Wellness "Kitten Formula" this morning. I stuck around a bit and one of the kittens did his usual diarrhea business soon after.

This afternoon I tried the Natural Balance "Duck & Green Pea Formula" for their next meal. The kittens have not gone to the bathroom yet (been a couple hours), which I am taking as a good sign---perhaps the food is actually being digested properly instead of shooting straight out as diarrhea.

Wellness "Kitten Formula" has Chicken while the Natural Balance of course has Duck. Both grain free. But the Wellness "Kitten Formula" has twice the number of vegetable ingredients (Carrots, Potatoes, Squash, Zucchini, Blueberries, and Cranberries) while the Natural Balance "Duck & Green Pea Formula" only has Pea Flour, Kelp, and Dried Cranberries.



Gosh I'm REALLY REALLY hoping the Natural Balance makes the difference. It's been exhausting cleaning up after them and I feel guilty constraining them to certain areas of the house. Also, since I am just a first-time foster parent, it has stymied my efforts to find adopters as I am hesitant about how to advertise them in light of their diarrhea issues. ***FINGERS & TOES CROSSED***


p.s. CALVIN, what's the name of the prescription food?

Originally Posted by runtellthat

So I bought some Wellness and some Natural Balance canned wet food. I tried Wellness "Kitten Formula" this morning. I stuck around a bit and one of the kittens did his usual diarrhea business soon after.

...

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That diarrhea was from the meal before, not from the Wellness. Cats digest their food very quickly in comparison to other animals, but it still takes about 12 hours to go from eating to evacuating.

AC

The prescription diet that the boys are on is by Hills. The ones that they have are called I/D and Z/d - the former I think is for gastrointestinal issues and the latter is the hypoallergenic food - I am using canned for both bag for the dry I am using I/d. When Calvin was really sick I tried feeding Calvin plain boiled chicken and rice for a few meals - and that really helped control diarrhea- LDG had suggested it. they's another thing to try. Hope the kitties get well soon.

Originally Posted by runtellthat

So I bought some Wellness and some Natural Balance canned wet food. I tried Wellness "Kitten Formula" this morning. I stuck around a bit and one of the kittens did his usual diarrhea business soon after.

This afternoon I tried the Natural Balance "Duck & Green Pea Formula" for their next meal. The kittens have not gone to the bathroom yet (been a couple hours), which I am taking as a good sign---perhaps the food is actually being digested properly instead of shooting straight out as diarrhea.

Wellness "Kitten Formula" has Chicken while the Natural Balance of course has Duck. Both grain free. But the Wellness "Kitten Formula" has twice the number of vegetable ingredients (Carrots, Potatoes, Squash, Zucchini, Blueberries, and Cranberries) while the Natural Balance "Duck & Green Pea Formula" only has Pea Flour, Kelp, and Dried Cranberries.



Gosh I'm REALLY REALLY hoping the Natural Balance makes the difference. It's been exhausting cleaning up after them and I feel guilty constraining them to certain areas of the house. Also, since I am just a first-time foster parent, it has stymied my efforts to find adopters as I am hesitant about how to advertise them in light of their diarrhea issues. ***FINGERS & TOES CROSSED***


p.s. CALVIN, what's the name of the prescription food?

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If you are looking for good canned food, Instinct makes several grain-free varieties that have a single meat source. They also have a new Limited Ingredient grain-free dry food which has only one meat source (turkey).

Info:
http://www.naturesvariety.com/Instin...bble/LIDturkey

I tried the grain-free canned for about a week to no avail. However, I was rather impatient and did not test each individual brand and "flavor" very thoroughly. In other words, I tried the Duck and Green Pea Natural Balance for a couple days, then Salmon and Green Pea NB for another 2 days, then Wellness Seafood Formula, etc.

Then a few days ago the shelter sent me some containers of raw chicken based cat food. The woman GUARANTEED it would fix it by 4 days. Low and behold, tonight (after 3 consecutive days) I suddenly noticed the first normal and formed looking stool ever! (the other kitten's was still relatively diarrhea-y, but I'm definitely pleased with the first kitty's improvement and hope the other kitten follows suit).

I should mention I also made some other adjustments in the feeding routine. THe woman was so confident in promising that it would work that I decided to buckle down and follow all her suggestions to the T. I've been rushing home every lunch break to make sure I give them three equal-sized meals throughout the day at the same times. And I've cut back considerably on the amount of food they get.

A lot of the canned foods say to feed kittens as much as they want. So I would end up feeding the kittens two 6 ounce cans between the two of them. With the raw food, each container is 8 ounces, and I only give one container a day between the two of them, per directions.

Anyway, the raw food is VERY expensive. The 8 ounce containers I'm using would have cost me $4.35 each. However if you have the right freezer and are diligent about storing it, you could probably buy "in bulk" and safely save money, as the 32 ounce container is $10.85.

But right now I'm just relieved that SOMETHING worked. And maybe eventually they can be "weaned" off the raw food once they're older and each something more practical. But since I am just a foster, my goal now is to find an owner who already feeds their kittens raw food and wouldn't mind taking on a couple more. I am told that "raw-feeders" are actually surprisingly more common than one might think in my area -- there are even a couple pet food shops alive and running successfully, solely devoted to raw pet food. Wish me luck!

That's great news, Runtellthat! Yay for firmer stools and happier kitties!

If you don't mind, I would LOVE the names of the stores in your area that are devoted to raw feeding only. I know of a few stores that have banned kibble from their shelves, but I did not know other stores had gone so far as to sell only raw foods. I find that pretty doggone (pardon the pun!) thrilling!

AC