10 month old kitten with constant diarrhoea

I think this is just a boy who needs some good food to get him going. Not Royal Canin, probably not even dry.. Wet food with as little carbs as possible will do this boy good.

Minka said:

I think this is just a boy who needs some good food to get him going. Not Royal Canin, probably not even dry.. Wet food with as little carbs as possible will do this boy good.

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  I totally agree with the last three posts.  ince the boiled chicken (and rice ?) made the diarrhea go away, it's obvious that it's the food causing the problem.  And dry food is usually the culprit, because of the corn, mainly. 

Many thanks to you all for your valuable input.  I would not part with Sammy for the world. He is absolutely wonderful.  A bundle of mischief, cute and loveable and there is not a mean bone in his body.  He is extremely affectionate, you can do what you like with him and he does not bite or scratch.  He is very vocal, and loves nothing more than to roll on his back with his legs in the air, for you to tickle his tummy

With regard to his state of health, I will take on board what you say.  Incidentaly, I have not been giving him boiled rice with the chicken, only plain boiled chicken, and latterly some Royal Canin Kitten Dry food, which I am certain caused the diarrhoea to return.  He is back to plain boiled chicken now and bouncy as ever.  He has not passed any more diarrhoea since early yesterday morning or any other stool.

I have checked out the results from his fecal test and apart from everything else, he was checked for Giardia.  All negative.

After about 4 emails yesterday morning between myself and the German lady who bred Sammy, I eventually got out of her that in fact Sammy was fed one pouch of Felix kitten wet food in the morning, and one pouch of Felix kitten wet food in the evening, and was free feeding Royal Canin Kitten Dry food.  This was totally the opposite of what she led me believe 5 minutes earlier, that his diet was predominantly dry food.  (However, with only 2 pouches per day and the rest free feeding Royal Canin dry food, would you suggest that his diet was in fact a dry one?)

But I must say in all honesty, regarding the above, we had been feeding Sammy 2 x complimentary high quality canned wet foods containing 1% rice per day (each can 70g) , and 2 x complete high quality pouch meals of 85g each per day.  I am now wondering if we had been overfeeding him too?

She is now recommending to me that I continue with the boiled chicken, and start gradually introducing Royal Canin Sensible 33 Dry food, as she says this contains probiotics,  and see what happens.  She warned me not to try any of the other Royal Canin Dry foods as "they made her cats loose"  With regard to Sammy when we first got him, his stools, although formed, broke apart into bits when he covered them in the litter tray, and they were huge, like logs, and the smell was horrendous.  I thought one of the objects of a Royal Canin dry food diet, was reduce odour!

She recommends dry food diets only, which I don't agree with.  She is a real exponent of them and says how well cats thrive on them and says she has reared kittens into fine cats on them.  All well and good, but like humans, not all cats are the same, and what suits one, may not necessarily suit another.  I have never fed my cats solely on dry food, with the exception of James Wellbeloved as a "treat", and one small saucer was put down daily for my (then) three cats to free feed.  I have not fed this for a long time.

I have researched the Royal Canin Sensible 33 Adult cat dry food on the Royal Canin Website, and it looks virtually the same as the kitten dry food, with the exception that the adult one refers to its first ingredient as dehydrated poultry protein, and the kitten one refers to its first ingredient as dehydrated poultry meat.  One also contains pork, whereas the other one does not.  The kitten one contains physillium husks where the adult one does not.  Overall, apart from these ingredients and changes to the quantities of fats, etc. they look pretty much the same to me.  

The Felix commercial cat food referred to here, is one of the most used brands of cat foods.  Unfortunately the USA ones are not available here.  All my cats have thrived on the basic Felix in jelly food, and lived to a ripe old age.  Timmy, my old cat is still eating it.  The jelly variety is quite basic, and as Sammy has obviously been eating the kitten version, I am inclined not to get him back on dry food, but over the next 2 weeks or so, introduced him VERY gradually to adult Felix in jelly.  The problem is that my husband wants him to go onto Royal Canin Dry food and Felix.

Anyway, as I say, many thanks for all your help.  It is much appreciated.

Thanks for this.  The article about IBS and associated information is very interesting.

Hi - here is a little update on Sammy.

At last I found the correct information from the German lady.  He was eating Royal Canin kitten food dry and 2 foil trays of Felix per day.

She advised putting him on Royal Canin Sensible 33 dry food as this is for adult cats who have sensitive digestions and contains probiotics and there is a note on the pack that it is recommended for cats who produce soft stools, along with 2 packs of Felix in jelly per day.

Now I don't like dry food at all, but I thought better this way of feeding to get him stabilised.  So we went down this route, after we had been feeding nothing but boiled chicken for a couple of weeks,( which seems to agree with Sammy).  The new feeding routine went very well and Sammy's tummy settled down and no diarrhoea.

A couple of days ago, my husband thought he would give him a change of diet (despite my warning time and time again not to) and gave him half a tin of Chicken Encore complimentary food.  Guess what.... diarrhoea is back again.  So obviously Sammy is intolerant of this food which is what we were primarily feeding him on when we got him, thinking it was pure and would be best.  The other food we fed him on HiLife Tempt me shredded chicken is also from Thailand.  This is making me wonder what they do with the chicken because it looks a very pink colour, unlike a natural white chicken colour.  Both these foods are "pure" but obviously not pure enough for Sammy.

I have just sent an email to the manufacturers of Encore, to find out what makes the chicken pink and what is in the chicken broth.

Thanks for the update on Sammy, I'm sorry he had this set back.
I would not bother with dry at all IMO. I would feed just wet. And the 155grams per day is perfect. :-)

Minka

Thanks for your reply.  Well we have managed (touch wood ) to get Sammy back on an even keel once again.  I have now put a big note on the cat food cupboard for my husband's benefit - that Sammy is to have Felix only.  From this last experience he clearly is very intolerant to Encore complimentary food and probably HiLife Tempt Me food (although I am not going to risk trying him on that again).  We were feeding him both of these foods when we got him, thinking these would be good "pure" foods for him.  Anyway, he is back on Felix and his Royal Canin Sensible 33 biscuits which contain probiotics, and these seem to be okay for him, so far.)  I agree with what most people say about dry foods, but as they seem to agree with him, and we do not give him bowls of them to free feed, just a few, I think that is okay.

Just keep in mind that sometimes the grains in dry food can mask digestive problems, and so you might have issues when you try to move him onto something else later. I would try to move him off dry as soon as you can. :nod:

(p.s. You'd have to ask around but I'm pretty sure I've read that probiotics in pet food are not effective because not being refrigerated/sitting in the open air/being processed basically renders them ineffective.)

Thanks Minka, I will bear this in mind.  This past few days have been the only days since we got Sammy about 3 months ago, where he has not had diarrhoea and his stools are normal and every day.  Just hope it lasts.

for you and Sammy!

Many thanks Minka.