Diarrhea

Cheddar has diarrhea and was wondering if it is safe to give slippery elm. If so, some help with dosage would be greatly appreciated. His bum is also red, is there anything I can do to help sooth his bum?

It really isn't wise to self medicate a cat with diarrhea, at best you're treating just the symptoms and not the cause, and if Cheddar (cute name) is the young kitten in the profile picture he could get really sick from diarrhea in a way that could put him in a vet hospital at high cost.  It will be much cheaper to treat this now with a vet visit and a stool sample to check for parasites and other infections.  A young kitten with Coccidia or Giardia untreated can in short time lead to intestinal failure and even death, i have personally (and sadly) seen this happen.  Please see a vet.

Also, when did this start?

How watery is the stool?

Have there been recent changes to his food?

Yes there have been recent changes to his food. I'm weaning him off the bottle onto soft food. This is when the diarrhea started. It's not completely watery, just loose.

Hi Cheddar,

Just by looking at your avatar, he seems to be a baby kitten! Very cute!   Do you know exactly how old Cheddar is? It's common for kittens to have worms (thru their mother's milk, for example), so I'd also suggest you see a vet with some fresh fecal sample if you can, and have the vet perform an exam. Worms can rob the kitten of his nutrition and their immune system isn't fully developed, so they're often much more susceptible to all kinds of things. I hope the vet can help diagnose Cheddar's tummy troubles and you let us know what it was! 

Best vibes to you and Cheddar! 

Cheddar said:

 
Yes there have been recent changes to his food. I'm weaning him off the bottle onto soft food. This is when the diarrhea started. It's not completely watery, just loose.

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As EmandJee said, all young kittens need de-worming and they should also be tested for parasites.  In the meantime a more gentle transition to a very mild wet food may help, or a water absorbing wet food like W/D can be very helpful too, but none of this will replace a vet visit and routine kitten care like de-worming.  PLease don't use OTC de-wormers ok

He was dewormed but not tested. I will take in a sample on Monday when the vet opens. What is a mild wet food? He is on performatrin kitten wet food mixed with formula.

Iams chicken is mild.  Human baby food stage one chicken is as mild as you can go, and as i mentioned Hill's prescription W/D is good at absorbing water and I/D is a very mild food good for stomach upset.  I'm glad you're taking a stool sample to the vet!