10 week old kitten having diarrhea

Last Saturday I adopted a 10 week old stray kitten. Nico has been to the vet, gotten his first round of vaccines, dewormed etc. He was doing fine until today when he started having diarrhea. It looks like pate and smells awful. He is still active and playful.

I will call the vet tomorrow but I'm worried that it may be due to dietary changes. The lady who had found him and had him a few weeks wouldn't tell me what he had been eating and said he had been eating a bunch of different brands of food so he would be ok with whatever I fed him. I think she said she wasn't feeding him wet food. It looked like she had adult food out for him by the size of the bits, and she had a bowl of kitty milk out as well.

I'll try to cut back on wet food but it will be hard to totally eliminate it since that's what my other kitten eats and Nico usually eats whatever is left behind in Percy's bowl. Any other advice on how to get his digestive track back to normal when I don't know what he had previously been eating?

You could always try with some probiotic. Probiotic for humans are OK, it doesnt need to be probiotic for animals.

If you find a youghurt with added bifidofilus bacteria, plain unsweetened, preferably full fat, such a one basic probiotic should also do.

Good luck!

I took him to the vet this afternoon. They checked his stool sample, and even though it came back negative for worms, they have me giving him an oral dewormer for the next 5 days. They also put him on a dry food that is prescription for sensitive stomachs.

He is still having diarrhea though. At what point would you call the vet back?

Dietary changes could be an issue as kittens' systems can be sensitive. I would try a probiotic like the Nexabiotic 20 strain which may be helpful if the problem is coccidia or giardia. It could also be the vaccines or dewormer.

Wet food is actually much healthier for cats, so I would introduce it slowly. www.catinfo.org for more info on feline nutrition.

You could also try a bland cooked chicken only for a few days. Another thing that has been helpful for diarrhea is adding a little canned pumpkin (not pie filling) to his food.

+1 for the canned pumpkin, my vet had me give this to a kitten that had the runs and no worms. She suggested trying it before anything else and it worked great.

Canned pumpkin doesn't last super long so if you don't want to waste most of the can you can freeze it in an ice cube tray in small amounts then pop them out, toss the little pumpkin cubes in a bag and stick them in the freezer for when you need them.

I freeze mine in 2 tsp amounts, I'd ask how much you could use for your little one.

Good idea! I will ask my vet about it. When I woke up this morning one of the kittens had thrown up, and I am going to guess it was Nico since he is the one who's been sick. He is still playful, but he has lost his appetite. Something is definitely up! Hope he is feeling better soon!