Please help me cat lovers

I recently changed mittens to blue Buffalo kitten food. She is now having diarrhea, I know it's the food for a fact. Do u guys think it will eventually stop? If so how long? Or if not should I switch her over to something else? What food is good for kittens that won't cause problems like diarrhea or vomit? I feel horrible ):

Don't beat yourself up too much, we all learn something new every day.

What were you feeding her and did you mix the new food with the old food?

Changing food should be done slowly, this is especially true if you switch, for example, from grain full to grain free, or the first ingredient in the food is a different protein.

She didnt really eat much of the other food so i thought it would be easy to just start feeding her bb. If i dont mix her old food with bb will her diarrhea eventually go away?

I don't know, in part depends on how sensitve your cat's stomach is.  There may be one ingredient in the new food she is allergic to--and that ingredient could be a particular grain (rice), additive or protein (fish meal).

What food was she eating before--was it dry or wet?  (Wet is always better than dry.  Though BB is a decent food.)

How is her weight?

Did she reacently go to the vets for any reason, like vaccinations?

I found her almost a week ago so I have no idea what she ate or if she ate before. I bought her purina kitten chow I believe and on Friday I got her blue Buffalo and like i said she wasnt eating that other food and she loooves the new one. What other food do u guys recommend? I am not sure if i should wait it out or just get her something else?

Did you take her to the vet to be checked out after you found her? She may have an intestinal parasite.

I don't think it's the Blue Buffalo itself causing the GI upset. More likely to be the quick food changes or as catspaw said a parasite. Almost all outside kitties have worms or parasites and diarrhea is the main symptom.

I would get a vet check before changing foods again. That could make things worse.

Don't feel horrible, you switched from Kitten chow to Blue Buffalo. That is an upgrade

smitten4kittens said:

I don't think it's the Blue Buffalo itself causing the GI upset. More likely to be the quick food changes or as catspaw said a parasite. Almost all outside kitties have worms or parasites and diarrhea is the main symptom.
I would get a vet check before changing foods again. That could make things worse.
Don't feel horrible, you switched from Kitten chow to Blue Buffalo. That is an upgrade

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So should I get a bag of the old food and try mixing it with the new one? Or just stick with bb until she finishes it?

Has the diarrhea gone away? With kittens you have to be more attentive to the diarrhea since it can cause severe dehydration. The kitten's body is small, so water loss has a bigger impact.

We had street kittens once that had diarrhea. The vet told us to feed chicken and rice. And make sure they were hydrated by using Pedialyte, sorry, I forget the dosage other than that it was frequent--I had to wake up in the middle of the night. This advice was a long time ago, though, so I don't know if it would hold true now, especially the rice recommendation. I would just feed her something you know won't upset the stomach.

I would take the advice of the others, & get her checked at the vets as soon as possible. she could have a parasite, especially if she was living outside before you took her in.  You don't want a small kitten having diarrhea for to long.  It could be dangerous if she isn't keeping any nutrients in her & will make her weak. She will also become dehydrated, & that's never good.

Good luck, & keep us posted.

Agree with Angels Mommy and the others:  you need to take her to the vets, sooner rather than later.  As others have said, diarrhea in a kitten can be particularly serious.  You can take a stool sample in to the vet, it may make a diagnosis quicker.  The vast majority of cats who have been living outside get parasites from bad food or bad water.

She should also get checked out for FIV and FeLK and other kittenish problems, including an estimate of her age (which will in turn help you to determine when to get her spayed). 

And thank you for rescuing her--where did you find her?

happyliz said:

So should I get a bag of the old food and try mixing it with the new one? Or just stick with bb until she finishes it?

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You could try the boiled chicken breast for her meals today and go to the vet tomorrow and get it figured out. I think it's parasites.She can stay on the chicken for a lttle while and you could gradually add a little of her regular food when she's feeling better.

Put some of the water from the chicken in her dish too, to keep her hydrated.

Angels mommy said:

I would take the advice of the others, & get her checked at the vets as soon as possible. she could have a parasite, especially if she was living outside before you took her in.  You don't want a small kitten having diarrhea for to long.  It could be dangerous if she isn't keeping any nutrients in her & will make her weak. She will also become dehydrated, & that's never good.
Good luck, & keep us posted.

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Hi everyone we just got back from the vet. He said she looks very healthy and looks about 8 weeks old. He also said that if the diarrhea continues in a week or two to go back so they can test her for worms but that he doubts it's because of that and it's like I said because of the food. I feel so relieved. Thank u everyone!

happyliz said:

Hi everyone we just got back from the vet. He said she looks very healthy and looks about 8 weeks old. He also said that if the diarrhea continues in a week or two to go back so they can test her for worms but that he doubts it's because of that and it's like I said because of the food. I feel so relieved. Thank u everyone!

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Wonderful news.

catspaw66 said:

Wonderful news.

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I know! And right now I noticed her diarrhea is not as bad even better news.

I'm glad she checked out ok at the vets. Blue Buffalo also could be too rich for her. Glad she is a healthy little one though.

I'm glad that the diarrhea seems to be getting better. That's a good sign, but am curious as to why the vet didn't just go ahead & check for parasites while you were there, or have you bring in a sample, so they could. I wouldn't have been okay w/ a week or two more of diarrhea either. (not w/ her not eating much).  "Not sure about that vet."

I'm glad she is doing better & hope she continues to.

I think she just had a upset GI I do notice in young cats not all thou sometimes get diarrhea and goes away

and why didn't the vet test her/him on the day you took him/her in? hmm

I don't know...1-2 weeks of diarrhea sounds awful long. When we had the kittens with diarrhea the vet wanted to keep them 1-2 days to make sure they were properly hydrated.

I know weird but he was right, the diarrhea is gone.