6 Week Old Kitten Has Diarrhea

I'm raising a litter of kittens and the one has super runny diarrhea. I took her and her sisters to the vet, got them dewormed, and had a fecal test done.

They all got a clean bill of health from the vet. No fevers, good weight, no fleas, nice looking teeth.

The fecal test came back negative but I'm going to finish the two other doses of dewormer anyway.

She runs around normally, plays and has a good appetite. The only difference between her and her sisters is that she is refusing to wean. She was eating wet food before and when she started having the diarrhea, she quit eating the wet food.

I was running low on KMR at that point so I picked up weaning formula instead of another can of KMR. (She had the diarrhea before I started the weaning formula) The other to have been completely weaned for two days now and I can barely get her to lick milk off a plate.

I'm feeding them Royal Canin Babycat wet food and the same brand soaked dry food.

I'm stumped. The closest I have her to eating wet food is mixing a small amount into the bottle of milk and bottle feeding her. If the wet food is mixed in with the milk on a plate, she refuses to drink it.

If somebody had any idea of what to do please tell me. I'm at a loss here

BINGO!!  You are using the LIQUID KMR instead of the powdered form.  We do not know why, but the liquid form causes diarrhea more often than not (all our bottle baby fosters swear it does and one has even called the company, and the company claims it's exactly the same.  It isn't.)  Get a can of the powdered, mix it at half strength (because your kittens are not newborn anymore). and let the one with the upset tummy stay on just that for a few days and see if the diarrhea clears up. 

It's great that you have two of them eating solid food now, but just like human babies, none of them do everything at the same rate.  Some kitten babies get really attached to the bottle too, and we don't take all bottle feedings away at once.  One of my bottle baby experts even makes them pacifiers out of nipples with no holes in them.  It's possible she still has an upset from the weaning formula, too, because we never use it, it s an unnecessary step and in my experience, the weaning formula always causes diarrhea even in kittens who did not have diarrhea.

If you by any reason cant get KMR in powder, you can perhaps get goat milk.  Fresh or bottled.  Goat milk is useful too and very mild for most kittens and cats.

Actually I'm using powdered KMR it's cheaper so I always use it.

@FreyaNeziah  I LOVE that you use Babycat!! I should be a spokesperson for that food, I tell everyone about it, and countless kittens and even malnourished adults have turned around astonishingly on this food.

EXCELLENT!!

As for the sole kitten holding out, super common, there's always one in the herd that refuses to give up that darn bottle!

The diarrhea? I would and do treat with ponazuril even for a clean bill from the fecal float. when diarrhea is present in kittens.

Coccidia as you know is SO commonly found in kittens, I would suspect it is a mild (for now) amt. that isn't quite showing up just yet in the others, and the cysts can hide well and not float when tested too, only intermittent times, when being shed.

My mistake, @FreyaNeziah, when you spoke of a CAN of KMR, I thought you were using the canned liquid.  That makes it not quite so simple to diagnose since you said she had the diarrhea before starting the weaning formula.  I would still just give her a day or two of the KMR to see if her stomach settles on its own.  If not, you might ask your vet about usig a little Amforol, which is kanmycin with bismuth, it treats most of the bacterial intestinal infections that animals get from food and it's concentrated in the intestine for that purpose.  It's not a long-term antibiotic, you usually just use it a few days and get the desired results immediately.  If not, then it's not the right thing and your vet will try something else.

Here is a photo of one of my friend's bottle babies with his pacifier around his neck!!  (Reference
post #2 above)

Okay that is stinkin adorable!! Oh I can hardly stand it!! Toooo much cuteness here

The vet gave me Nemex which apparently is just for hookworms and roundworms. I think I am going to call the vet back about her. I'm hoping she can just prescribe sobering without seeing her since she just saw them last week.

Here's my little sick baby, the top is an older picture and the bottom is newer:

catwoman707 said:

@FreyaNeziah
 I LOVE that you use Babycat!

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It's been my go to since I started taking in kittens three years ago. I love it! They are the only brand I know of that has food for kittens this young.

FreyaNeziah said:

It's been my go to since I started taking in kittens three years ago. I love it! They are the only brand I know of that has food for kittens this young.

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It's ideal for weaning kittens since it's so tiny, is loaded with so many nutrients INCLUDING l-lysine (and how many kittens have you rescued with uri/herpevirus...lots!) high protein and makes their coats soft and shiny, bright clear eyes.

LOVE the stuff.

Big powty eyed torite, I love her!! I have a soft spot for torties Cute little bug.