Grain-free diet causing diarrhea?

Hello, I recently adopted a cat (approximately 7 days ago). She is a 10 week old Snowshoe Siamese named Violet. Before I adopted her, she was given a dry cat food diet of Science Diet Kitten and Purina Kitten.

Well, I come from a background of eating healthy and my animals eating healthy. I have slowly begun to switch her to a grain-free, high protein diet. I have been mixing her Purina kitten food with a brand called Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain. I have also slowly begun to introduce wet food. The brand of wet food I buy is called B.F.F. I also buy the kind with pumpkin because I was told this would help her adjust and soothe any runny stools. However, my kitten has been having diarrhea since Wednesday. I took her to the vet on Thursday. The vet said she was very healthy but may have picked up a sinus infection from the shelter. I don't believe the infection would cause diarrhea, so the vet and I are assuming it is the food. I should mention that she was forcibly spayed by the shelter last Friday (I would have preferred to have waited until she was at least four months).

A good friend of mine who is also a veterinarian for equine animals and the occasional dog and cat recommended I give her metamucil in her water and pedialyte to help her get back some electrolytes. I am feeding her chicken baby food (bland food) to try to get her tummy back on track. But I am wondering, what should I be feeding her to prevent this from happening again? I can't imagine what it could be in the grain-free diet that is causing this stomach upset. I wonder if it is the high protein? Taste of the Wild has a minimum of 42% protein. Any help would be much appreciated. I really love my kitten even only after a few days and will do anything it takes to get her feeling better. Thank you very kindly.

It's so hard to know what could be causing the diarrhea. I think you are doing the right thing to simplify her diet (chicken baby food) to try to eliminate any culprits. I looked up the ingredients for TOTW and even though it is grain free, peas and sweet potatoes are the second and third ingredients on the list. I saw a thread here about pea allergies, so maybe that's a problem? http://www.thecatsite.com/t/224770/allergic-to-peas

Did the diarrhea start before or after you started introducing the wet food?

TOTW Ingredients
Chicken meal, peas, sweet potatoes, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), pea protein, potato protein, roasted venison, smoked salmon, natural flavor, ocean fish meal, DL-methionine, potassium chloride, taurine, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract,dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, zinc proteinate, vitamin E supplement, niacin, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, zinc sulfate, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin A supplement, biotin, potassium iodide, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin (vitamin B2), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

It's possible that you just introduced the new food too fast.  I know you said you slowly introduced it, but maybe it wasn't slow enough. 

Also, are you feeding her probiotics.  If not, it might be a good idea.  I give mine the same ones that I take.  These are the ones:     I just open up the capsule and mix it into their food in the morning. 

So the Vet checked her for worms?  That's quite common in kittens and would have been my first thought.  Wow, I shocked that they spayed her at less than 10 weeks old! 

Anyway, I wouldn't feed her JUST the baby food for too long, as it is not nutritionally complete for a kitten. 

As far as what to feed her, there are so many, many foods out there, it's just hard to say.  But I don't think it's necessarily high protein that is the problem.  Kittens need high protein and high fat content to grow .  If you decide to change foods, and you want to stay away from peas and cannot find another grain free without peas, if you go with something that doesn't say "grain free", I would at least advise to steer clear or anything with corn in it. 

I'd just like to mention that vegetables and fuits in any food can cause tremendous problems for cats whose digestive systems can't deal with such ingredients. 

I would like to propose a true grain and vegetable-free canned diet without carrageenan to find out  where the problem is coming from. 

She was tested for parasites by the vet. The vet gave her a clean bill of health; said they didn't know what the problem was. I have put her on canned food only (B.F.F. brand). She has been eating that all week and I completely eliminated the ToTW dry food. She is mad at me because she loves it but can't handle something in the dry food. She has been doing excellent on the BFF and I have been mixing it with probiotic for her while she recovers from the diarrhea. I am kind of at a loss as to where to go from here. I would like to feed her all canned (canned is expensive). I tried feeding her a kibble of EVO kitten and a kibble of California Natural kitten, but she wouldn't touch either of them. So now I am looking for a kitten formula canned food to rotate with the BFF tuna and pumpkin. I just don't want to start a bout of diarrhea again. It seems like she is doing much better after taking her off the dry food.

I'm not sure if I should try other flavors of BFF as well (I would like to rotate a couple flavors and a couple different brands) to make sure she is getting the nutrition she needs.

Tired of walking around behind the cat with a pet wipe trying to get the poo off her hair. Thanks everyone for your input! Violet and I really appreciate it!

aejhargrave said:

 It seems like she is doing much better after taking her off the dry food.

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Hooray! So there is probably an ingredient or two in the dry food that does not agree with her. If it happens again with any food, I would compare ingredient lists and see what the common ones are. Maybe you can figure out what it is.

aejhargrave said:

I'm not sure if I should try other flavors of BFF as well (I would like to rotate a couple flavors and a couple different brands) to make sure she is getting the nutrition she needs.

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It's generally a good idea to feed as much variety as you can, both to avoid allergies and also to spread out the risk from commercial pet foods.

And I agree that good canned foods are expensive. That's one of the reasons I decided to go with homemade raw.

What flavor of BFF are you feeding?  Most of theirs are fish, aren't they?  And what flavor is the EVO kitten?  I'm guessing it's not fish?  And the BFF isn't kitten food, is it?  I didn't think they made kitten food? 

Anyway, if she is liking the BFF, it may be because it's fish (or maybe it's not)  If it is, you might try looking for some foods that are a combo chicken/fish to try to wean her off fish and onto fowl, then maybe she'll be more accepting of other foods.  Seems like all cats want fish flavored foods above all else, but I don't think too many kitten foods are fishy (sorry, not sure since it's been literally eons since I've had small kittens around here)

I'm surprised she didn't like the California Naturals kitten kibble, but perhaps it's just as well since she may be allergic to something in it.  If you can find a good variety of canned she will eat, that would be better for her anyway.  As as Vball91 says, raw would be the best way to go, really.  It's cheaper, and healthier and what cats really should be eating.  It just requires some education on your part.  But not to worry, if you're interest in going that route, we've got you covered .  We've got a Raw Forum...it's right here:  http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-feeding-for-cats

I have Violet on Tuna and Pumpkin. Mud Bay recommended this brand and flavor just to get her started on wet foods. Apparently the pumpkin would help with any loose stools. I would prefer not to feed her fish, but the taste of the wild was venison and salmon. She loved the taste of that one. I'm not sure what about the California Natural or Evo she didn't like. (I tried kitten formulas for both of those. BFF is all life stages, but if I decide to go the canned route I would really like to get her started on a kitten formula.) I may try the raw and see how she responds to it once her digestive system is more stable. I've been researching canned food brands in the meantime and am looking at Weruva (I believe they also make BFF) and Tiki Cat (which is all life stages). Unfortunately, there just aren't a lot of canned options for kittens. I would love to give her EVO but she just turns her nose up at it (it's chicken). I have heard mixed things about Wellness brand and prefer to stay away from them. I will check out the raw diet though. Eventually, I would like to feed her raw (my dad and step-mom feed their dog an all raw diet and she seems to be incredibly healthy.)

Ziwipeak makes a Venison and Fish that is all stages, but it's pretty pricey.  But it's also an excellent food. the problem with BFF, IMHO, is it doesn't have enough fat or calories for a growing kitten.  Same with Weruva and Tiki Cat (I'm surprised they are all stages, to tell you the truth).   But if your little guy would eat lamb, that's the fattiest and most caloric.  And in Ziwipeak, it specifically states it's good for kittens (the lamb) AND good for digestive issues. 

I guess I spoke to soon because today Violet passed a small blood clot. I just don't know what to do. She has been to the vet, they think it's a food issue. I have been giving her only canned for a few days now, because that's all she seems to be able to handle. She's drinking water (not as much with the canned food), extremely playful, doesn't act any different from any other normal kitten. The vet checked her stools and said she was just fine (no parasites).

I just want her to feel better.

A blood clot? That doesn't sound food related, but I have no experience with blood clots. If that is a new symptom, I would call your vet and tell them about that and see what they say.

Taking her to a different vet today to get a second opinion.

The new vet told me she has a bacterial infection that is causing diarrhea and blood. Antibiotics should clear it up. She also has a pea sized umbilical hernia....

I'm so glad you got a second opinion, and the 2nd vet figured out what was wrong. Sending vibes for a quick recovery.