Kitty diarrhea

Hi,

I just got a kitty (7 wks old) last week and she is a rescue kitty. I took her to the vet last Thursday (week ago) and the vet gave her medicine for stomach worms (he took her stool sample, she didn't have any stomach worms but he said he suspect it since her stomach was bloated a little) and sent me home with some antibiotics for bacteria (if she has any). It has been a week and nothing changed. My kitty still has diarrhea I give her dry food and sometimes wet food. Please help with any advice you may have.

thanks

Your kitten needs to go back to the vet. I suspect one of the meds you were given was flagyl (metronidazole.) Her diarrhea should have cleared up by now if the meds were going to work.

Are you feeding her what she was eating before adoption? If not, did you do a slow transition to a new food? Dietary changes can cause GI issues.

It is best to give the kitten wet food, especially since she is having diarrhea. This will help to replenish the fluids she is losing. You can also add a tablespoon or two of warm water into the food to help keep her hydrated.

Most importantly, though, she needs to go back to the vet. Kittens with diarrhea can go down hill quickly.

Also, some probiotic is never wrong.  BeneBac is one of the best, Fortiflora works.   Even a basic probiotic like human common  unsweetened full fat yoghurt is useful.

Good luck!

I didn't transition her to new food slowly as I have no clue what she was on before. The lady I took her from has a house full of cats and she couldn't tell me what food she ate as she was feeding them 2-3 different kinds and she doesn't know which one was hers.

Our vet de-wormed her and gave her Albon. That didn't change anything. She likes dry food and wet food. She always has water and she takes water all the time. I started yesterday giving her wet food in the morning and at dinner time (1 small can a day) and I also give her snack dry food about 1/2 cup a day.

I called her vet yesterday and she said that to try giving her food with less protein (which is wet food) and some cheap dry food. I was able to find Royal Canin dry food with 32gr of protein and royal canin 1st stage wet food with 9% of protein. I couldn't find probiotics at Pet smart. They could order it for me online and have it shipped to my house.

DO I need to change her vet as this one doesn't seem to give me proper care or I'm not making a big deal out of this?!

Thank you for all your inputs!

Wet food actually has more protein than dry, not less, when you adjust for the greater amount of water in it. However, "less protein" is generally not a good idea for kittens, and I've never heard of it being recommended to stop diarrhea. IMO a change to a new vet might be a good thing.

You can use probiotics for humans, just get a capsule or powder type (from a grocery store or health food store) that is not sweetened or flavored. Add a tiny sprinkle of powder to the wet food once a day. Or you can get benebac or other pet probiotics online. In the meantime, try offering a little plain unsweetened yogurt, if the kitten likes it you can use that as a natural probiotic.

You can also get plain canned pumpkin and add a tiny bit (1/4 teaspoon) to the wet food, the fiber can help in some cases.

You can use regular Culturelle (NOT the children's.) Give her about 1/4 a capsule over food daily.

I also would suggest seeing a different vet. It's actually better to put cats on a higher protein diet to help stop diarrhea.

Should I wait to finish with antibiotics and give her probiotics or I can start now? I'm so confused about her diet now. What food is better for diarrhea; wet or dry? What brand?

I'm definitely changing her vet!

First and foremost, kitten should be seen by a vet. If she has a parasite it's not going to matter too much what you are feeding her, she's going to have diarrhea regardless, unless she is getting the proper treatment.

With that said, you can give the probiotic along with antibiotics. Because she is having diarrhea, giving her canned food (has more moisture than dry) will help keep her hydrated. Depending on the severity of the diarrhea, it's likely she will not drink enough to replace all the fluids she is losing.

She was seen by a vet. Gave her antibiotics thinking it was bacteria thats causing it but that didn't help. That is why I'm here!

What I am saying is you need to take her back to the vet; or, at least call the vet and tell them she is still having diarrhea. I suspect they will ask you to bring her back in.

CatPack said:

First and foremost, kitten should be seen by a vet. If she has a parasite it's not going to matter too much what you are feeding her, she's going to have diarrhea regardless, unless she is getting the proper treatment.

With that said, you can give the probiotic along with antibiotics. Because she is having diarrhea, giving her canned food (has more moisture than dry) will help keep her hydrated. Depending on the severity of the diarrhea, it's likely she will not drink enough to replace all the fluids she is losing.

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Its quite common to give probiotics simultaneously with antibiotics.   Humans do regularly get the advice to eat yoghurt when they get antibiotics, no?  Youghurt is a sort of natural, mild probiotics.   Probiotics wont help much if she has parasites or such, but it will surely help against negative influences from antibiotics, and also soothe an unruly stomach.

If the diarrhea is hefty,  giving her  pedialyte is useful and somewhat a stopper of diarrhea by itself.  

You can use bough pedialyte, or make some homemade pedialyte yourself.   You use essentially  glucose sugar, kitchen salt and water.   Or even better, take some high quality  minerale water ("Polish water" is a brand which is suitable, as I understand it - just for giving one example).   Let the  bubbles come out.  And add glucose sugar...

You give it as her drinking water, or have some in the wet food / kmr, depending.

Having hefty diarrhea she need quite much extra water, and  something to recompensate the loss of salts and electrolytes = another plus with pedialyte.

And yes, as CatPack insists, seeing (or at least phoning) the vet is essential.  If you have doubts on the ability of the old one, try with another.  But do it, please!   

You CAN phone the first - being his paying patient, you do have the right to phone and seek advice in the same errand.  He probably WANTS you to contact him, if the medication doesnt help.   They dont always KNOW what the problem is, so its common they essentially try one treatment after another, till something helps.   In such cases, its necessary for them for the patient to come back.  How they shall know otherwise??

So, begin by phoning this first vet, and if he sounds unreasoneable - try with another vet.

Good luck!   @Kiki14  

When I took her to the vet he checked her stool. He didn't find anything in her stool. He said yes she has a diarrhea but her stool is clean from all the suspicions. He still de-wormed her as her stomach was a little bloated. Sent me home with Albon antibiotics.

I called the same day I posted this topic and the vet told me to try different food and probiotics. I went to PetSmart and they didn't have probiotics. Someone here told me I can use the same one for adults and today is the second day that I'm giving her probiotics and her poop is beginning to look harder, its still soft but its not like before. Its forming and I'm assuming change in diet and probiotics are helping. I will watch how the things go by Monday. I definitely need to take her back for her first shoots and than I will let them check her again. This time I m going to the different vet.

I m giving her 1/4 of a capsule of probiotics. Is that enough? She is 1.5 lb and 7.5 wks old.

Thank you all!

Yes, if you are using the Culturelle, 1/4 a capsule is adequate for a kitten. (My 10 lb adult gets 1/2 capsule daily.)

It is quite common for parasites to not show up in an initial fecal sample. It all depends on the shedding cycle. There are also parasites that simply cannot be detected in house by your vet...campylobacter, tritrichomomas, giardia, cryptosporidium...to name a few...all require a specialized test that is sent to an outside lab.

I'm happy to hear that her stool quality seems to be improving; but, for such a young kitten a week or more of diarrhea (when on medication) is concerning.

Thanks CatPack, he is going to the vet next week. Hopefully things will just get better from now on