Nursing cat with diarrhea

Our adopted mama cat had kittens two weeks ago yesterday. We had her approx 4 weeks before she delivered. We put her on a blue buffalo kitten food at that time and she tolerated that well. She has done well in the weeks since until Sunday, when I noticed a soft stool she did not cover in the litter box. Monday, same thing. She has had one bowl movement today and it sounded terrible as I heard her have it and it smells awful. So bad, that it is putrid to walk into our bedroom and the litter box is in the bathroom.

Vet is closed. Mama acts fine and is feeding her babies fine. She does spend more time away from them than at first but I just know she can't feel great if she's having diarrhea like this. 

I will call our vet tomorrow and see if I can get in. Any clues what could be going on? Normal post partum?

Nothing obviously has changed in her environment. Any help appreciated. 

Had you dewormed her properly?  Ie it will be often at least twice.  Once is often not enough.

Or so she can had been reinfested in some way.

That is the first which come into mind.   Some diarrhea is common immediately before delivery, and also soon afterwards, especielly if they ate many placentas (=had more than 4 kittens), but a fortnight after - nay, it is no after delivery thing.

Lets hope others have something to tell.  Otherways, talk with your vet when she has open again - which is always sensible to do, if the vet is worth her salt.

Good luck!

Not exactly post partum as in related to the birth itself, but could be related to her increased food intake particularly if she is eating a food with plant ingredients. Cats' bodies are not adapted like ours are to digest grains, vegetables etc. and even though they get by with it normally, when nursing they have to eat more than usual; by the time the kittens are 2 weeks they may be eating twice as much as their normal amount ( and by 4 weeks may be eating 3x as much as usual)
.... and that extra plant matter can produce some stinky loose poop. because it ferments in the digestive tract.

You can try introducing a probiotic ( with "good" bacteria ) daily. There are veterinary ones like Fortiflora or Probiocin or you can buy one for humans from a health food store that are really probably even better . something with multiple kinds of live active cultures and 10,000 CFU.

And you could try decreasing the amount of dry food if that's what you are feeding and increase the amount of a wet food with much less plants .
Even a "grain free" dry still has some kind of starchy vegetable ingredients to form the kibble pieces. and if it is the dry BB kitten I think it's got a few kinds of grains and potatoes.
I had this happen with a queen . i don't usually feed much dry but I was letting her have more available since she had a fairly big litter. Well , she got some loose, very smelly poop. I added probiotics and changed to feeding about half raw frozen Natures Variety Instinct venison and half canned ( mainly Merrick chicken pate and Merrick BG Chicken & Quail ) Those are not absolutely free of plants but it has solved the problem. )

I am not saying to feed your girl the same exact diet. I'm just giving this as an example.


If she keeps having diarrhea she is going to get dehydrated and malnourished and those things of course are both bad for her own health, and affect her milk . so you are smart to want to nip this in the bud.

Check for dehydration by gently grasping some skin on her back or back of her neck, pull up and let go. It should instantly snap back into place in less than a second. If it takes longer, that is a sign of dehydration. If it takes 2 seconds or more to go back down , you do need to get her to the vet and she would probably need subcutaneous fluids. ( If so, I would also ask them to show you how to do it in case you need to get the stuff and do it at home. )

Stefan asked a good question about de-worming. Intestinal parasites often cause smelly poop.
If you take her to the vet ask about bringing a fecal sample. See if you can find some poop that is at least somewhat formed for the sample.

Hopefully you can soon get this cleared up.

Thank you both for your replies. 

I have not had her dewormed. When she arrived her June 6, pregnant, I did not know how far along she was and did not worm or vaccinate her for fear of it hurting the unborn kittens. 

Sorry, accidentally hit the send button before I was finished. 

I took her off of the kitten food and put her on a sensitive system type food, and by the evening, while not well, her stool had some firmness. Today, her stools are normal again.

I do think it was the food. She was allowed free choice of her food, which is a dry but supposed to be one of those non grain ones and very expensive and I think she was just eating way too much of it. 

She has been quarentined to our bathroom/closet since the afternoon before delivery. She is a very affectionate cat and seems lonely. She rushes to greet you everytime someone comes in. Then, I also see her go over and eat some food after petting. I think she was just eating way too much and it was too much on her system. 

I have added some of the kitten food back into the sensitive system food and she no longer gets free choice. I am feeding her 1/2 cup every 8 hours or so, waiting until she cleans up what she has before giving more.

Thanks again. This site is great for advice.