Food problem with my foster mom

So I have had foster mama and the kittens for 2 1/2 weeks now. Mama was extremely underweight, literally skin and bones. She was outside full time with the kittens before she came here and I think she was only fed 1 can of food a day ( what I was told). I don't think she is more than a year old. She weighed 6 pounds now she is 7 pounds.

I started her on canned kitten food and the Before Grain chicken dry food I feed my kibble addict. So runny poop, which I figured was from change of diet. Other than being under weight she got a clean bill of health by the vet.

I started alternating the canned kitten with fancy feast classic cans in the chicken, turkey and beef flavors. Her poop improved to soft but more formed but still a patty except for on the beef and the kitten cans. So I eliminated those. Her poop is still soft with some form even though I have now tried just the dry food only for a few days. 

I'm not sure what to do. I've never taken care of a mama cat before so I'm not sure if this is normal for nursing moms? 

Should I try a different dry food? 

My other cat that only eats the dry ( confirmed kibble addict) has normal stool. My other cats that eat the fancy feast classic cans have normal stool. The kittens have eaten both the canned and the dry and have normal stool, but they are also still heavily nursing.

I'm at a loss. What should I try next? 

If she was severely malnourished, her body may have a hard time with any type of food.  She still may be in the process of getting use to more food, perhaps smaller meals, more often might help.

Was she checked for worms?  If she was outside for any length of time, it is pretty much a given she has some type of worms (and perhaps the kittens).

Probiotics may help. Maybe enzymes too, but probiotics are cheaper and easier to find so I'd try those first.

Ritz said:

If she was severely malnourished, her body may have a hard time with any type of food.  She still may be in the process of getting use to more food, perhaps smaller meals, more often might help.

Was she checked for worms?  If she was outside for any length of time, it is pretty much a given she has some type of worms (and perhaps the kittens).

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That is a good point about her having to adjust to more food. I'm not sure how long that should take normally. I brought in a stool sample from her litter box to the vet but they said they would just give me a broad spectrum wormer. 

Willowy said:

Probiotics may help. Maybe enzymes too, but probiotics are cheaper and easier to find so I'd try those first.

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Thanks, that is a good idea. 

Second the suggestion about probiotics (I always forget about them which is weird since I give Ritz one every day).

Is fortiflora safe for kittens? My vet doesn't carry it and the other vet in town won't sell it to me unless I being the cat in, and I no longer go to their practice to I ordered it from Amazon. It will be here tomorrow. The kittens are eating mamas food now, so I just wanted to check that it's safe if they ingest some?  I've never used it before. 

Fortiflora isn't a very good probiotic . But cats usually like the taste, at least :tongue2:. I'm sure it's safe for kittens; there's no reason it wouldn't be. I hope it does the job, but if it doesn't, definitely try a good human-quality probiotic. . .most of the ones sold for pets aren't so great.

Well I figured it was made for cats. I really don't know what different gut flora cats might have compared to humans. 

I have some lacto fermented carrots in my fridge, I wonder if she would drink the brine? I ferment my own veggies. 

FortiFlora is sprayed with some of the same chemicals kibble is sprayed with, which is why it is also used as an incentive ('topper') to get kibble addicts to try wet food and/or raw food.

It was a horrid worm infestation. Looked like round worms and tapeworm. I had taken a fecal sample to the vet but they said they'd just give me a broad spectrum wormer instead. So she finished up 3 days of panacur along with the kittens. Second day she passed a little blood with the worms and I called the vet and they said if it continues to bring her in but it was just that one time. She seems to be eating the canned food fine now and we gave her and the kittens some raw chicken today also which she gobbled up. No more horrible stinking stool either. I started her on the fortiflora the same day as the wormer hoping it would help her digestive system. Now I'm wondering if I should give her any other supplements? Her stool hasn't completely returned to normal yet. 

The kittens are now actively eating everything, canned, dry and raw along with nursing.

So if was from the worms, how long until her stool should be back to normal? She is down to pooping 2x a day and it smells normal, but it's still runny. She got her last deworming treatment a couple days ago. I do have to repeat it in 2 weeks. At what point should I start considering giardia testing or that she might be IBD? I put her back on the canned food because I thought maybe the worms were the primary issue and not the food. She is still nursing and very thin ( although she gained a pound since she got here) so I don't want to fast her to treat the runny poop. 

The kittens stool is still completely normal so they apparently are not suffering from the same thing. 

I'm still giving her the probiotic.