Food choices (soft stool)?

I have a few questions.  The vet thinks my kittens(6months) diarrhea is due to food. I gace him chicken breats for 24 hours. Then started him on Sheba canned food. I didnt have time to order online. I dont have any stores close by.  So he ate chicken day one. Day 2,3,  4 and 5, was the Sheba canned food(no grains or corn).  The color has changed and its not as soft. Not a cow patty like it was.  More like a chicken cutlet.  But still not brown and tootsie roll form.  It does seem to be darker brown today then it has been. How soon should i see a difference when changing food?  How long should I give it? Should I be seeing firm stool with a canned food only diet?

He was wormed when he got his first shots. They checked it again and said it was parasite free.  I did give him some pumpkin before giving him chciken and Sheba, but didnt notice a difference.

Other info..

He was a stray we took in. From memory his stool was soft but formed. Before we took him in for shots and worming. It happened sometime after. 

PS how much should I be feeding him each day? He has a big appetite. Not sure i am feeding him enough. 

Did feeding him chicken breast only help his stool? If so, I would think it is food related. If it didn't help, and honestly I probably would have kept him on chicken only for a couple more days to be sure, then I would suspect a parasite, one not normally treated by the regular deworming meds. If a PCR was not done, I would recommend that.

Well he didnt have a bowl movement til 48 hours of giving him chicken, 24 hours after giving him the Sheba.  How long can I safely give him only chicken?  And how much should I feed him every day? How often should he have a bm when eating just chicken? 

Since he's 6 months old, he's the equivalent of a human teenager. I woukd feed him as much as he wants right now.

You can safely feed chicken only for a few days. I would wait until he has a BM to see if it helps. On chicken only it may take 48 hours for him to have a BM. Chicken only is highly bioavailable so there won't be as much waste as there will be with commercial foods, especially anything containing fillers which cats' systems can't process very well.

Thanks thats what i was assuming with the chicken. I will try it again this week.  Should the stool be the usual tootsie roll looking with just a chicken diet?

It will probably be paler in color, but it should have a firm consistency.

Ok I started giving him chciken only last night. So far only pee in his box no poo. So we will see what happens.  He doesnt seem to be drinking any water though. could he be getting enough from the food?

momof3b1g said:

 
Ok I started giving him chciken only last night. So far only pee in his box no poo. So we will see what happens.  He doesnt seem to be drinking any water though. could he be getting enough from the food?

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What he did have a small bit this am(i forgot ) I assume its from the canned food he had at 5;30 last night. He had chicken starting at 10:30pm

momof3b1g said:

 
Ok I started giving him chciken only last night. So far only pee in his box no poo. So we will see what happens.  He doesnt seem to be drinking any water though. could he be getting enough from the food?

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Yes, please keep us posted on the poop watch (as I like to call it). Some cats who are on an all canned, raw or cooked diet do not drink much water, if at all. They are getting a lot of moisture from their food already, so it's pretty natural.

Ok 48 hours later and no stool in the litterbox. Good I guess.  But how long before I worry? I have enough chicken for tomoorrw, then i will have to start feeding something else.  Any suggestions what i should feed next?

Ok still no poop as of this morning. is that bad? I would think something would have to come out.  He is peeing and seems fine otherwise. Very active and always hungry.

I don't think you should be trying to cure this yourself instead you should be bringing him to the vet!

I took him and of course they are no help. I am calling in to my other vet. To see what they think. But giving him SD(per the vet) obviously did no good.

He has an appointment tomorrow for booster. 

Just wanted to update, I started mixing a small amount of Sheba turkey in with the chicken 24 hours ago and today. He had a good formed stool, in his box. 

That sounds good. If you suspect food allergies, it's a good idea to keep track of what goes in and what comes out. I use a desk calendar and jot down what food was consumed that day, including any snacks, and the stool quality and quantity.

Uh ok, so he went in the box tonight and had soft stool again. What causes it to be firm and then so soft within hours? The only thing I did was give him 1oz of canned food instead of 1/2 oz with his chicken.  I'm going to back off the canned food and see what happens through the weekend.