What is the difference between food allergy and a sensitive digestive system?

I have a 7 month old calico kitten who is having some bouts of diarrhea. Its really runny, but not a funky color or smell. I've been to the vet twice now and they have put her on low res food and that seems to help her. After I did that the first time, she was fine for 2 weeks and then the diarrhea came back. After the second time, shes been fine for a month. Now as of yesterday she is back to her diarrhea. The vet says she doesn't have any diseases or anything and that its possibly a food allergy. Although I'm inclined to believe it isn't, since she responds well to the low res and has been doing OK on her regular kitten food. I'm feeding her wellness kitten formula right now. Is it possible she just has a sensitive stomach and I need to switch to a lighter food? She's my first cat, so I'm not sure when it's ok to start feeding her regular adult cat food. Any help would be great. Thanks! 

And a side note, she doesn't seemed phased at all by being "sick." She still runs around and plays like a normal kitten. You'd never be able to guess something was wrong.

Hi :-)  I have an 8 week old kitten and one oing thru something similar.  I took him off of Royal Canin Kitten and put him on adult Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet, Turkey wet and dry.  Immediately the symptoms disappeared and have not returned in the last week.  Here are my kitten's symptoms within 5 minutes after eating::

1.  Sneezing, itching, scratching around face and ears

2.  Eyes and nose oozing and running

3.  Fast panting with tongue protruding

4.  Crying

Then after he passed gas (which was very smelly) he was okay.  After I put him on Instinctive, this never happened again.  I don't know if this is an allergy or a food intolerance. The main ingredients missing are gluten and grains. I am keeping the other 8 week old kitten on Royal Canin Kitten as she is having a very slow start in gaining weight and she seems to be handling her food okay. 

They both are very active, big eaters and healthy.

LuvMyCat6204

Has she been checked for all possible parasites not just the ones that are found on the routine float test.  Parasites don't always cause constant diarrhea.  With kittens I think diarrhea is much more likely to be a parasite issue.  

Yeah they said she doesn't have any. They said she would have some other symptoms but she doesn't have anything except diarrhea. She's also not going outside the litterbox or anything.

LuvMyCat6204 said:

Hi :-)  I have an 8 week old kitten and one oing thru something similar.  I took him off of Royal Canin Kitten and put him on adult Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet, Turkey wet and dry.  Immediately the symptoms disappeared and have not returned in the last week.  Here are my kitten's symptoms within 5 minutes after eating::

1.  Sneezing, itching, scratching around face and ears
2.  Eyes and nose oozing and running
3.  Fast panting with tongue protruding
4.  Crying

Then after he passed gas (which was very smelly) he was okay.  After I put him on Instinctive, this never happened again.  I don't know if this is an allergy or a food intolerance. The main ingredients missing are gluten and grains. I am keeping the other 8 week old kitten on Royal Canin Kitten as she is having a very slow start in gaining weight and she seems to be handling her food okay. 

They both are very active, big eaters and healthy.

LuvMyCat6204

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Thanks, I definitely wanna try her on another food. That'll be on my list to try.

When you are changing her food, are you transitioning to the new food slowly? Changing too fast can cause diarrhea. Perhaps your cat would be better eating a novel protein like rabbit.

Aoi chan said:

When you are changing her food, are you transitioning to the new food slowly? Changing too fast can cause diarrhea. Perhaps your cat would be better eating a novel protein like rabbit.

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The first time I didn't, the second time I did. Her stools have kinda been big and looked kinda soft to me. They havent looked totally normal so I'm gonna try another food.

Maybe you can also try a probiotic with simple ingredients like PB8 or slippery elm bark. I would only make one change at a time and write down what you see so you know what may be working or not.