My 9 month old kitten has the runs

So I adopted a 9 month old kitty 2 weeks ago, well since I brought him home he's had the runs, he doesn't miss his box ever, but its stinky and liquidy.  I have called the vets and they told me to wait it out a week since he was a very nervous kitty she said it was most likely caused by stress.  Well a week went over and I called the vets again cause he was still having the same issue.  They can't find anything wrong with him, he's still happy, eating and drinking no problem.  He was strictly on dry food only (we never changed his diet) and I decided to try and give him a bit of wet food to see if thing would help a little. Well he still has the runs but once in a while will poop a normal poop so I'm thinking the wet food is doing him some good.  Now my question is, do you think he could be having an intolerance to something in his dry food out of nowhere even if he's been on the same one all his life?  Anyone else experience this? I just want what's best for my mister Blue.  Thanks.

It's very possible he's reacting to something in the dry food, especially if the wet you're giving him is grain free. Most dry foods are full of grains that cats just aren't designed to digest. Potato (also common in cat food) is another culprit for causing negative reactions. Dry food must have a higher percentage of carbs/vegetable matter than a wet food of comparable quality. It just isn't possible to make kibble totally without carbs. Other possibilities for food reactions are different protein sources. For example, my girl has issues with beef.

Given the age of your cat, and the fact that he's a rescue, it's also highly likely that he has some sort of parasite - either worms or protazoa (giardia or coccidia are most common). I would strongly suggest that you go back to the vets and take a fecal sample for testing. There's no point in treating the problem with diet if a parasite infestation is the root of the problem. If your vet is unwilling to do these tests I might suggest that you seek a second opinion. stephenq can tell you more about exactly what needs to be done.

I have brought in a sample and all tests came out negative, this is why I'm wondering if it would be more food intolerance related.  Thank you so much for your response

It's good that's the tests came back negative. It's definitely worth changing his diet to see if that helps. It might be a good idea to start with a simple food (balanced but short ingredients list) to see if that helps. Probiotics such as fortiflora may help rebalance things too. Bear in mind that it's possible he was having digestive issues at the shelter and they didn't tell you (happened to me when I got my greyhound from a very reputable rescue centre). I hope you find the cause of the upset soon.

BluesMama said:

 
So I adopted a 9 month old kitty 2 weeks ago, well since I brought him home he's had the runs, he doesn't miss his box ever, but its stinky and liquidy.  I have called the vets and they told me to wait it out a week since he was a very nervous kitty she said it was most likely caused by stress.  Well a week went over and I called the vets again cause he was still having the same issue.  They can't find anything wrong with him, he's still happy, eating and drinking no problem.  He was strictly on dry food only (we never changed his diet) and I decided to try and give him a bit of wet food to see if thing would help a little. Well he still has the runs but once in a while will poop a normal poop so I'm thinking the wet food is doing him some good.  Now my question is, do you think he could be having an intolerance to something in his dry food out of nowhere even if he's been on the same one all his life?  Anyone else experience this? I just want what's best for my mister Blue.  Thanks.

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Hi It's a great question with no instant answer.  The first thing I would do is check on his stool "history" at the place you got him from.  Was his stool normal prior to the adoption, and where did he come from?  If it was normal, then stress would be a good explanation as it does cause diarrhea.  One technique used commonly for stress induced diarrhea is a 24 hour fast to calm the gut down, and then you introduce a very simple boiled chicken and rice diet for a few days and see how that goes.

If he is on the same food as you stated prior to being adopted and if his stool was normal prior to coming home (both of those things need to be true for the following to also be true) then it is highly unlikely that he developed a food intolerance simply by changing his location.

Statistically speaking, cats who come from shelters, or rescue groups are as a group quite likely to have parasites.  In house testing for these parasites is not particularly reliable, and is no longer considered imo "best practices" and if you want to really rule out a parasite then the vet should run a PCR test with an outside company like Idexx as an example, which is much more reliable as it is a DNA test at the molecular level.  It takes 2-3 days and is not expensive.

Having said that, stress induced diarrhea once started could become chronic and so i would support the idea of a fast followed by a chicken/rice combo, but if you want to be more certain of which steps should really be taken next, a PCR test of the stool would help prioritize your actions either by ruling out fairly definitively a parasite, or by ruling it in and starting treatment.

I'm presuming the kitten has been recently dewormed as well, if not then that would be an easy and standard step to take.  If there is mucous or blood in the stool, that would support the parasite hypothesis.  The 3 parasites you generally want to test for are Giardia, Coccidia and Tritrichomonas foetus.

All of this I would discuss with my vet.

A link that talks about PCR testing is below.

https://www.idexx.com/small-animal-...ces/reference-laboratories/realpcr-tests.html

So update on this issue. A little over 2 weeks now we decided to switch his food to purina one smartnlend kitten dry food and things has improved after that until 2 days ago. He started having the runs once again. So for 24 hours we stopped food completely and I have him some chicken and rice yesterday In hopes that would help some. Well the first bowel movement he did was almost fine, it was formed but a little soft still. So we started to slowly bring back his dry food but today he has the runs all over again. Anyone have any suggestions as to what to do now? He's now 10months old and in perfect health as per the vet and all the tests.

It sounds like the Purina just doesn't agree with him. He might do better on a limited ingredient food. I would suggest that he'd do better on wet than dry, as it's easier to get a wet food without many fillers (dry food has to be more carby. It's the only way to make kibble. As cats aren't designed to eat grains/starches these foods are some of the likliest culprits for sensitivities/intolerances/allergies). The other thing I'd say is that, at 10 months he's quite old enough to be on adult cat food. Kitten food is richer and can cause diarrhoea in some cats. I think it's to do with the fat content.

BluesMama said:

So update on this issue. A little over 2 weeks now we decided to switch his food to purina one smartnlend kitten dry food and things has improved after that until 2 days ago. He started having the runs once again. So for 24 hours we stopped food completely and I have him some chicken and rice yesterday In hopes that would help some. Well the first bowel movement he did was almost fine, it was formed but a little soft still. So we started to slowly bring back his dry food but today he has the runs all over again. Anyone have any suggestions as to what to do now? He's now 10months old and in perfect health as per the vet and all the tests.

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I would refer you to my post above and each of the first 5 paragraphs has either a question or a comment that you can reply to of you wish, but i can't personally comment further until i get answers to the above.  In summery:

- Stool history from shelter

- Have you put him back on the food he was used to at the shelter?

- Was the testing done in house (less reliable) or outside PCR testing?

But if as you seem to say his stool was normal on chicken and rice, and then wet soft when you went off it, that suggests a food intolerance or food sensitivity.  There are various prescription diets a vet can prescribe that are specifically for sensitive stomachs, and adding a probiotic like forti-flora could help as well.  And i agree with @Columbine that fatty kitten food can lead to diarrhea.

Absolutely go through all the questions that stephenq posed first. With any kind of digestive issue, you need to be clear on the root cause before trying solutions.