6-month-old kitten ONLY 2.6 lbs!

Hello there,



My name is Dakota and I'm new to this website.  This past December, I adopted (through CraigsList) a kitten for my girlfriend for Christmas.  We live together so we both are the caretakers of this young feline, which we named "Charlie."  The owners which we adopted him from explained that he was 10 weeks old, and that he was a stray whom her daughter picked up on her way home from school one day.  The family decided they could not keep the kitten, and that's where Kelly and I come into play.  We took him to the vet the same week we adopted him.  Upon our first visit, the vet explained to us right away that we have an extremely unusual kitten and that Charlie was NOT 10 weeks old, but 6 MONTHS old and only weighing in at 2.3 lbs!  We had him tested for parasites, worms, ear mites, and feline leukemia in which he was healthy all the way around.  However, the poor kitten has had a digestive problem, and struggles to hold nutrients ever since we have gotten him.  Therefore, we've been chasing him around most of the time wiping his bum from the chronic diarrhea he is having.  We had him on a high fibre diet from Purina (dry food) and Max Cat (wet food), but his diarrhea seemed to get more liquidier and liquidier as he ate that diet.  So today we've switched him over to Innova EVO Turkey & Chicken (both wet and dry) and he seems to really like them.  Charlie is yet to be diagnosed, though we expect to start running tests this week.  We have a family-friend who is a vet that I've been on and off the phone with as well as our local vet we use.  Both are on similar pages as to what Charlie's malnutrition and digestive problems could possibly be from.  1) Being Giardia & Titrichomonas 2) Being Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (which would most likely follow along with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and possibly Diabetes Mellitus.  Upon all the countless hours of research I've been doing, he has symptoms that could indicate one or the other, though Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) seems to best mirror his symptoms.



His symptoms I've noted include:


- Chronic Diarrhea


- Loose stool (was yellow in color and cow-pie like, though it's been getting liquidier and more brown lately) Appears to be NO blood in stool.


- Pertruded/irritated rectum


- Some vomitting (earlier stages)


- Messy/greasy fur around anus


- Constant hunger


- Weight loss


- Abnormal weight/malnourishment


- Foul smelling poop/foul farts


- Rather chronic meowing



If anyone has any experience with a similar issue, or can give me any insight on what to do that'd be so amazing.  We're pretty scared and nervous for his health, considering his abnormal case for weight/size and disorders he seems to be having.



I'll make it a note that we feed him 3 times a day now (wet food) and keep his dry food out for him to snack on if he's hungry between meals (we're college students that work and aren't home 24/7).  With his 3 meals of wet food, we've been putting a 1/2 packet of Fortiflora mixed in.  Oh, and BOTH wet and dry foods are Innova EVO Turkey & Chicken.



Thank you so much for your time!



- Dakota

Thank you for taking in this poor kitty.

I don't know much about what you're dealing with, I'm sure someone with more expertise will chime in.  Especially when you get a definitive diagnosis.

Sometimes fiber makes the problem worse, so glad you've switched to another food.

If you're giving him FortiFlora because it's a probiotic, well, there are other much better quality pro biotics.

But FF is a good supplement to encourage cats to eat--it's sprayed with the same chemicals dry food is sprayed with. (I used it for a short time to disguise the taste of liqudi medication.)

Thank you so much for the response.  I do hope someone with some more expertise can chime in.  The symptoms given should narrow down to those 2 possibilities, I hope.  Honestly I'm going to call the vet tomorrow because the Innova EVO soft food (and wet food in general) appears to be running STRAIGHT through him.  Ever since we started the wet food, he doesn't seem to enjoy the hard food, which is a good-smart thing for Charlie to be doing.  However I think if we avoid the wet food for a few days his stool will harden a little bit (it was much more firm when he was on strictly dry food).  I did not know the Fortiflora had the same spray stuff on it as hard food.  That's good information.  What probiotic would you suggest?  I believe it is primarily being used to help rebuild or strengthen his immune system, and supposedly will help with the digestive problem (though it doesn't appear to be doing so hot).  We have him on some steroid shots, though I don't think those can be too healthy for him?  I just want to get him in and have him tested to find out what the problem is.  It's terrible seeing him so stressed and uncomfortable.

Poor baby.I know nothing about EPI, but with my experience I would honestly think with him being a stray, he is loaded with parasites. I rescued and have had kittens who had chronic diarrhea that they literally had no control of and they just leaked it. Those kittens had coccidia, giardia, and tons of worms. It took a few weeks to get it cleared. I highly recommend the probitioc, you can buy human kinds and just give him a capsule a day. I didn't see a real improvement with them until I gave them the probiotic. I am sure after you run a stool sample they can give you medication to treat whatever he has. Don't give him the probitioc right before or after an antibiotic, wait a few hours and then give it to him. As for the wet food, I would not stop it while he has diarrhea, he can dehydrate quickly that way and needs the moisture. I would actually pull the dry away just for this reason, I would add a bit of water to the wet to make sure he stays hydrated. As for his weight I don't think he is keeping enough nutrients to grow. After you figure out what is wrong and get him over it I would expect him to start growing again, but I would not be surprised if he stayed a fairly small cat.

Yes, the vet has already explained to us that even when we manage to get him up to par he will be much smaller than a normal cat.  Our family-friend vet told us it sounded like he had Giardia or Titrichomonas (which is a parasite that causes chronic diarrhea as well).  I did not even think about that.  We'll continue with the wet food then.  What probiotic did you use?  How often should I give him the probiotic.  Like I said, I have Fortiflora right now.  They instructed me to give him half a packet with his 2 wet meals a day.  I've been doing 3 wet meals with a half packet at each.

I think this is a good probiotic: One a day should do. . .you could sprinkle it on each meal or give him the capsule whole if he doesn't like the taste. Giving more usually won't hurt anything, but might cause a little gas.

Enzymes may also help:
But definitely have him tested for all those parasites: Giardia, coccidia, all of those. It won't clear up until all those nasty parasites are outta there.

He needs B12 injections for that malabsorption and he needs them quickly! Ask the vet to do that next time you go in with him. 

Aw, what loves you are for adopting this baby in need. :heart2:

We rescued a feral kitty that was "3 or 4" years old that had chronic diarrhea when we rescued him. Our kitty has FIV - I assume that was already ruled out along with the FeLV, correct? For him the vet recommended a probiotic and sent us home with Fortiflora. That turned his horrible diarrhea into horrible, explosive diarrhea. For some kitties, it works. For some, it does NOT help - and can make things worse.

The first thing to do is rule out the bacteria/parasites. I'm surprised the vet didn't already request a fecal so all of those things could be tested for. But no need to bring kitty in to the vet if he's already been - just bring a stool sample and drop it off. It needs to be sent out to look for giardia, coccidia, T. Feotus, etc.

Also - he's already been treated for round worm, tape worm, etc? If not, that needs to be done. The treatment for round worm, whatever the vet suggests, is something that needs to be done three times, three weeks apart to be sure. Any of the poisons used to treat round worm kill various life stages - but none kill the eggs. So you have to allow for the life cycle of the round worm to mature, and treat again, thus the three treatments.

For our Chumley, our traditional vets were not able to help him over a six month period. We fasted him for 24 hours several times, put him on a poached chicken/plain chicken broth and rice diet for a week or so at a time. That would help - but not much.

We sought out a holistic vet. She diagnosed him on the basis of Chinese medicine (she's also a western trained D.V.M.). The herbal concoction she had us use for Chumley had his diarrhea resolved inside of four days. He additionally had "allergies," and the pills she has us giving him (herbal chinese stuff based on her diagnosis of "extreme spleen Qi deficiency and extreme yin deficiency" ) didn't work as quickly - but it was apparent inside of two weeks they were helping (he'd mowed all the fur off his abdomen and forelegs). She gave us a crash course in feline nutrition - cats are obligate carnivores and eat small mammals, nothing else - and insisted we stop the kibble immediately, and put him on an all canned food diet - one that is high protein, grain free and low carb (and not all grain free foods are low carb). She wanted us to put him on a raw diet once he was stabilized. It took us a little longer than that - it took me a while to get comfortable with the idea. (We fed him only canned food for a little over a year, then last year about this time we started the transition to a raw diet. Once fully on raw, he no longer needed ANY of the supplements).

To soothe his GI system - and no matter what your kitty has, this will not hurt and may really help - she had us give Chumley a mixture of aloe vera juice, slippery elm bark powder, and probiotics twice a day to soothe and coat his GI system. It's not only very anti-inflammatory (the SEB powder and aloe vera juice), it's full of antioxidants (aloe vera juice) and the probiotic helps re-establish and maintain the healthy gut flora. The dose for a kitten, based on Chumley's dose as an adult, would be 1/8 of a teaspoon of slippery elm bark powder mixed with 1/2 a teaspoon of aloe vera juice (buy George's. It's not organic, but organic aloe vera is very bitter. George's has no taste - but unlike others, has no preservatives in it. I think any health food store would carry it, and you can likely buy loose slippery elm bark powder there too. Much less expensive than stuff in capsules). Let that mixture gel up (you'll see what I mean). Add a capsule of probiotic to it - as she put it, any good human acidophilus supplement. The dose we use for our adult kitties is 10 billion CFU (colony forming units), so for your little (!!) kitty, use 5 billion. We use the Natural Factors acidophilus+bifidus supplement, and have been very happy with the results (both for the kitties and for hubby and I). So add that mix to canned food - you may want to add a little water. This mixture should be given 2x a day. It likely won't resolve the diarrhea, especially if the problem is actually parasites or bacteria. But it will be very soothing to his GI system, and help control and prevent inflammation. Here's the Natural Factors with 5 billion:
Umm... there was more I wanted to add, but it's slipped my mind. I'll probably hit "submit" and remember the rest. Whenever I do, I'll post. :lol3:

OH! I remembered. Talk to your vet about using digestive enzymes. This will help your kitty get more nutrition out of the food he's eating!! Many on the site use either Prozyme original formula or Mercola Pet Digestive Enzymes. We use the last one for our one kitty that needs it. (The only issue with the Mercola is that it's a large container - it'll last a long time. :lol3: ). ETA: I see Willowy mentioned the digestive enzymes. FYI, I ended up choosing the Mercola because where possible, it's got animal-based enzymes vs. plant-based ones.

Please keep us posted! And many vibes for Charlie!

finnlacey said:

He needs B12 injections for that malabsorption and he needs them quickly! Ask the vet to do that next time you go in with him. 

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As always, Lisa to the rescue! You may want to spend a little time reading her site: http://www.ibdkitties.net, very educational even if his issue doesn't turn out to be IBD. :nod:

Thanks Laurie! And if you haven't guessed already, Laurie is extremely knowledgeable and has great advice! 

Aw Lisa...

OH! I thought of something else. If his fecal comes back negative, don't stop there. Most of these are found in cysts, and they may or may not be present in the stool sample. With diarrhea, they do not shed into the feces as easily, so if the first fecal sample comes back negative, take in at least 3 - 4 total. If they all come back negative, then you can be pretty confident it's not any of those nasties.

And in the meantime, you can use DiaGel. The treatment for most GI-tract infections and giardia is an antibiotic called flagyl (generic is metronadizole, metro for short). There was a shortage of metro a few years ago, and at least the vets around here were told to prescribe DiaGel. Now that I've got the cats on a raw food diet, I'm all about treating things naturally, if possible. If I were in your shoes, I'd be ordering DiaGel to give to kitty. I keep it on hand as part of our "kitty care kit." Thankfully, I haven't had to use it for a long time. I don't know how many doses to recommend... I didn't know about DiaGel with Chum, so don't know if it would have helped or not. But when there's been an issue (and we have 8 cats, all feral rescues, most of them physically or health compromised in some way - or they were ), it's never taken more than 2 doses of DiaGel to clear it up. But for something like this... :dk: I'd order at least three, and probably more, just so I had it on hand. http://www.revivalanimal.com/DiaGel.html One thing for sure? It can't hurt, and will act as a supporting therapy, no matter what happens.... :rub:

Wow thank you all so much, this has been a HUGE help.  I'll have to take notes down on all of this for when I call the vet.  I'm slightly skeptical with veterinarians in some of their advice simply because, like you appear to be, I believe holistic/natural treatments are the best for anything occurring naturally.  As far as the feces goes... I read that it can't be contaminated with litter?  And must be fresh out of him?  How would I go about getting it to the vet?  Should I use a zip lock to transport it?  Also, his stool has been liquid-loose.  Therefore when I scoop it, it literally seeps through the litter scooper!  I guess my concern is how to get such liquidy stool samples to the vet and get them there so that they're testable?

First, like so many others have, I just want to think you and your girlfriend for sticking by Charlie. Bowel problems are one of the number one reasons cats are relinquished to shelters- most people just don't want to deal with it. I'm sure you have both experienced a lot of frustration because you are trying so hard and he is still having problems, but thank you for not giving up on him!

You have gotten a lot of really great advice and resources from others who are far more knowledgeable on this subject that I am but I will add what I do know. My parents adopted my first ever foster cat, Livvy, who had similar struggles. She had almost constant diarrhea (and therefore constant hunger), above and beyond foul smelling stools, a sore and protruding rectum, and of course weight loss. 

The vet did a ton of tests and nothing ever came back conclusive. They gave her a steroid shot a few times and that did help for awhile but didn't last and had other side effects. In the end they just said she had IBD. It took a lot of time, but what we ultimately found was that strictly controlling her diet really helped her symptoms. First, we tried just giving her dry food (thinking the wet food was, as you said, "going right through her") but it actually made it worse. So, we switched it and pulled dry food from her diet completely. After a lot of trial and error it seems that a strict wet food, no grain, high protein diet is what works best for her. She still has bouts when she gets into things but for the most part her stomach is well controlled. 

Livvy really loves the BFF brand of wet food, and her stomach seems to do better with the fish based formulas (but that's also just her personal preference- she's a tuna junkie). We also still give her the FortiFlora with each meal. I think it's worth looking into the other probiotics though. I may do the same to see if there is a better one for her! 

Keep working with the vet to try to get to the bottom of his illness and be sure there are no parasites or other infection happening. But, I think getting him on an all wet food, grain free diet will help. We did try a raw diet with Livvy because raw is the best way for a cat to eat. But, she seems to do better on the canned. I think you just have to play with that and see what's best for Charlie. 

The only other thing I can think to advise on is to watch his hydration levels really closely. With so much diarrhea I'm sure he dehydrates easily and that can cause a host of problems on it's own. When cats get dehydrated they can go into kidney failure really quickly so you want to watch out for that. I do keep fluids on hand for Livvy and check her levels often. So, perhaps at the next vet visit talk to them about keeping SubQ fluids at home. They are easy to administer once you have been trained but they need to show you how to properly do it. I have found that giving her some fluids after an upset helps to keep her more consistent and clears it up faster. 

Please, keep us posted on how Charlie does. Also, keep us posted on how you guys are doing. I know you aren't giving up on him but I also know how frustrating it can be to keep trying and not see him improve. It's also very painful to see a member of your family be in such discomfort. If you need emotional support we are here for that too! 

Welcome to TCS. I hope you will take some time to check out the other threads and use what you have learned from Charlie to help other posters! You don't realize it yet but you are quickly becoming an expert on a topic you never wanted to learn about! 

I've always just scooped it out of the litter box, put it in a baggie, and driven it to the vet. :dk: They were able to test for everything without a problem. Fortunately, the worst our kitties (when first rescued) suffered has been round worm, tape worm, lung worm, and giardia. Coccidia and T. foetus can be a real bitch.

I'm sorry his bowel movements are so runny. I remember that with Chumley, and it's not fun for anyone. :rub: If it runs through the scooper, use a spoon.

In the meantime, try the DiaGel. :nod: If the fecal comes back negative, and the DiaGel doesn't work, post, and I'll tell you what the vet had us use for Chumley that got him fixed up inside of four days. But you need to rule out external (environmental - parasites, etc.) sources of a problem first. :nod:

BTW, if you want to search to see if there's a holistic DVM you can get to, I used this: http://www.ahvma.org I searched for a DVM trained in Chinese Medicine. I got the best of both worlds - thankfully, for Chum's benefit. :heart2:

The treatment for giarda is Panacur which in the UK is cheap and available without a prescription on the Internet.  It also treats some worms, so my own feelings are that a course of Panacur is well worth doing.

So also is the fast followed by just home-cooked chicken and rice to see if that helps.

And a friend with a cat who currently has T. Fetus has had her on the I//D diet which has helped a bit - and anything that helps for now is worth doing in my view.

Thank you all again for such wonderful support!  I called my vet today, which was the first time I had spoken to them since my girlfriend is home during the day, when I work, it's just easier for her to take Charlie to the vet during operating hours.  We're scheduled to go in tomorrow and get his last set of vaccinations and begin blood work to locate the problem.  Over the phone they CLAIM to have done fecal tests and came back negative for Coccida and Giardia.  Tomorrow I'll be doing quite the interrogation, since they don't seem to be too confident and appear to be taking this matter rather lightly... I'm sure it's because we're both young, college students, whom they most likely don't feel have the funds to heal Charlie properly.  (They don't know that I am quite the anti-capitalist and will be damned if I let funds be the reason Charlie is taken away from us).  They didn't seem to want me to do anything with B12 vitamins or anything for that matter until we know what his true diagnosis is.  I'll keep you all updated on what I find out though.  I will definitely want to find a holistic vet of some sort after we get some results from this vet.

Charlie is currently on Innova EVO Turkey & Chicken which is 95% protein (so they claim) and low-carb/low fibre.  Today he is able to run around and play which tells me he is at least feeling better.  No drips today, and he didn't really poop much today compared to his worst days.  His anus is still slightly protruded, though it does not seem to be bothering him and appears pink and clean (from not dripping all day).  So we've seen some positive results thus far from the switch to the wet diet.  It's funny.  Many people at work today were telling me I was doing the wrong thing by giving him wet food, and that he should be on dry food (for his teeth as well).  I responded with a little logic on what a wild cat would eat and some you could see a light bulb go off and others remained skeptical.  But Charlie seems to be doing better than last night and that's what I'm judging my decision off of.

Thank you all again so much for the support!  I'll post the results from visiting the vet tomorrow morning.

I'm not at all sure I'd allow him to be vaccinated in his current condition (OK, I AM sure I wouldn't allow it). . .the vaccine label says "for healthy animals only", and if an animal isn't fully healthy the vaccine won't "take". You might want to put that off until he's top-notch. Drives me crazy when vets vaccinate sick animals. They should know better.

Glad to hear the food is helping. Poor little guy needs a break.

I think you can get liquid B12. It won't be as easily absorbed as the injection but it might help. Make sure there aren't any additives like fake sweeteners. Xylitol, especially, is toxic to animals.

Seriously the liquid won't do much if anything. I have tried it and it does not work when malabsorption is present. And I agree! no vaccinating a sick kitty! Their immune systems are too low!

finnlacey said:

Seriously the liquid won't do much if anything. I have tried it and it does not work when malabsorption is present.

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Bummer. Well, then, you argue with that vet! It's not like a vitamin B12 shot is going to hurt him even if he doesn't need it, so there's no reason they should refuse. Vets can be a pain sometimes but most of the time they'll do what you want if you're insistent enough.

Well, any vet worth their salt would suggest you bring in another stool sample, especially if the first stool sample was also very watery. I'd at least have one more tested, as with soft stool, unless there's a really heavy load of giardia, coccidia, etc., the cysts may not show up. Of course, you can just treat for it rather than spend the money on the test.

I looked up the panacur vs. the metronadizole info, and even here in the U.S., it seems it's favored now to use Panacur for giardia (though it wouldn't treat coccidia or T. foetus) as apparently many strains of giardia have become resistant to the metro.

I'm glad you're getting bloodwork done. :nod: That will answer questions about organ function and diabetes. I don't know how much it costs or if it's even part of a normal blood test, but I do know that as long as you're doing blood work, you can ask them to test Charlie's C-reactive protein levels: http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/crp/tab/test He's young to have IBD, but if the levels are elevated and nothing else shows up, that could be indicative of IBD. It may be part of normal blood work (never been an issue for any of the kitties under our care, so I've never discussed it with any of our vets) - or it may be expensive, in which case it may not be worth it. But at least you can know to ask about it.

See how things go. :rub:

But putting a bug in your ear: I used to feed our cats canned food only. EVO is a decent price for a high protein, low carb, no veggie food. :nod: Another one you might consider is By Nature 95%. And if, in the end, the issue does appear to come down to food, I switched to feeding my cats raw not only because of the holistic vet's suggestion, but because it would really improve the quality of what they eat, give me control, and cost less. It's not overly difficult to provide a home made balanced raw food diet, and kitties with sensitive tummies, IBD, food-related GI issues, allergies, etc. typically do really well on a raw food diet. Well - even healthy kitties benefit from a raw food diet. I really wish I'd known 10 years ago (when we first started rescuing kitties) what I do now about feline nutrition.... I know you don't have a lot of time to do extra curricular learning :lol3: , but a good place to start is here: http://www.catinfo.org

I'm so glad he's starting to do a little better! Hope it just keeps getting better from here!