loose stools on Sheba and Purina One for Kittens diet

Hello,

I am brand new to the Cat Site so please forgive me if I don't know my way around yet! 

I brought in a new kitten from someone on Craigslist about a week ago. She's about 8 weeks old now and I've taken her to the vet for her shots/deworm. He checked her stool and said he didn't see anything abnormal.

However, ever since she's been with me she's had issues with loose stools (not diarrhea). Most of the time she'll come out of the litter box with some stool stuck to her bum or feet. The stool doesn't smell terribly bad but she doesn't seem to know to clean it off herself so I've been cleaning it for her with TP or kitty wipes. She doesn't seem to lick herself clean after that either though. Will this happen forever? I don't think it's feasible for me to clean her all the time and I don't want to clean kitty poo off the carpet/furniture all the time either! 

I wanted to know if this was normal or if I should try changing her diet? I've been feeding her Purina One for Kittens (dry food) mixed with Sheba pate wet food, 50/50. I've also been adding Grizzly Salmon Oil to her diet to help keep her coat healthy, only about 1/2 a pump a day - maybe this is the cause?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful! Thanks!

Welcome to the site and congrats on the little one!

I would stop the salmon oil to see if that makes a difference. If this doesn't change anything, then a change in food might  be in order. Did you change her diet when you got her, or is this the same diet she was eating when she left her other home?

Sounds like she was young when you got her, so she may not have learned how to clean herself. Keep using the wipes/TP, in hopes she catches on to what you're doing. Does she groom herself at any other time of the day?

Everyone here is great, so maybe someone else can add to this as well

Thanks for the advice!

I'm not entirely sure what her previous owner was feeding her...they picked up the mom off the side of the road and she just so happened to have kittens soon after.

She does groom herself occasionally, mostly just after eating though. I really hope she does catch on soon...I can't spend my days chasing after dirty kitty bums 

abbycat513 said:

 
Thanks for the advice!

I'm not entirely sure what her previous owner was feeding her...they picked up the mom off the side of the road and she just so happened to have kittens soon after.

She does groom herself occasionally, mostly just after eating though. I really hope she does catch on soon...I can't spend my days chasing after dirty kitty bums 

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I hear you about the dirty bum chasing....before I figured out that my girl couldn't tolerate any seafood, I was chasing her dirty bum for a while!

Your kitty's loose stools could just be from a food switch if it's different than what she was eating before.