Kitten loose and smelly stool.

giraffatitan · Apr 24, 2015

Hey all!

I just adopted a new kitten and he is around 8 weeks old. I am feeding him Sheba canned wet food. I thought he hadn't used the restroom but now I have witnessed him using it. I just got him yesterday so I do not know what his prior experience is, but he is having loose stool and it is really smelly, like I mean wow! He also is having a little gas. I don't know if it's diarrhea or not I suspect he has gone twice now but only witnessed once, it doesn't seem to be frequent.

Should I worry about this? He is very playful and purrs constantly. Overall he seems well.

Should I switch foods? Or wait and see? I have dry food and he attempted to eat some as I have it out for my older cats but I don't think I want to feed him just that.

Thanks!

catpack · Apr 24, 2015

I see a vet visit in your future. The first thing that I would rule out with such a young kitten is parasites (worms, protozoan...like Giardia/Coccidia.). These are extremely common in kittens.

Second, where did I you get him from...shelter, rescue, breeder? I would first find put what type of medical care kitten has gotten and also find out what type of food he was being fed. Though, if you are only feeding him canned food, I'm a little less concerned that this is adding to the problem. However, a probiotic may certainly be beneficial. See if your vet carries FortiFlora when you take the kitten in to be checked out.

giraffatitan · Apr 24, 2015

We got him from a local rescue, they advocate for animals who are in the shelter and find them homes and fosters. This kitten they believe was dumped. He had facial injuries too. The lady who got him to me told me that he had been vaccinated and said he was at the vets for 3 or four days before she received him. I asked for his medical records and she said she would get them to me but I haven't heard yet, i just asked her today.

One thinking a vet visit anyhow as his eye looks damaged, when she posted him she said he was better and ready to be adopted. So I'm assuming it is fine and healing still but i don't know about it, that's why I asked for records initially because I'm worried about it.

StefanZ · Apr 24, 2015

Anyways, deworming is standard. Even preferably at least two times, so he may need a new dosis even if he has beed "dewormed" at this shelter.

Roundworms they can get from moms milk, if she wasnt properly dewormed.

Young kittens has seldom tape worms, but may have, if they had much fleas on them. (fleas are inbetween hosts for tape worms).

You can essentielly do the basic deworming yourself, if you know exactly which dewormers are OK, and which OTC dewormers are best to avoid.

But as you shall to the vet anyways, take his advices. He knows which preparates are easy to get at your place.

If he has also other, more complicated infections like Giardia, you will need vets advices.

giraffatitan · Apr 24, 2015

Thank you for your comments.

I will deworm him, I'm just wondering should I be seeing worms in his stool or no? Because it's loose but I see nothing in it at this point. Poor thing seems to strain a bit but gets a good amount out each time. This last time it seemed to get thicker toward the end there almost in a shape, I'm not gonna take it as progress just yet.

catpack · Apr 24, 2015

No, you don't have to actively be seeing worms for him to be infected.

giraffatitan · May 17, 2015

Hi all,

I thought I would post this in kitten care as my little man is about 12 weeks.

This is Pippins fourth week at our home and he has been at the vet every week he has been here and he will be going back sometime this week. I can't take him to the vet tomorrow as I am starting my internship and have a doctors appointment right after, but I am hoping to get him back in as early as possible as he is due for shots but also I need to talk to the vet about other issues.

Pippin had some coccidia when he came to live with us and after treatment he still has loose stools though they are smelly they are not as bad as they were. He was retested last week and the doc found no sign of coccidia and he doesn't have worms either. The doc said he could have inflammatory bowl disease and he said some cats just have loose stools, he said we could try to work on some diet changes. I am going to look into putting him on a probiotic, I looked up one from vetri science that looks good but is expensive so I will be discussing this with the vet.

The problem right now is that his little butt is starting to get irritated, he has not had this problem at all and it is just beginning to surface now. I noticed today he has been licking his bottom a lot more than usual and he went to the bathroom a couple of minutes ago and whined more than normal. So I checked his bottom (I had checked it early as he was licking so much but then I didn't see anything) and it does look like it is beginning to get irritated.

I can't take him to the vet until probably tuesday, is there anything I can do for his irritated butt? He is very active and eats well, I am trying to get his loose stools under control as a long term solution, but is there anything I can apply or do so that his butt doesn't progress in irritation?

Thank you for your help!

detmut · May 17, 2015

it sounds like maybe his anal glands might be impacted due to the loose stools. long term, the stool needs to be bulked up. short term, a warm compress to the area if doable.

StefanZ · May 17, 2015

Giraffatitan said:
Hi all,

I thought I would post this in kitten care as my little man is about 12 weeks.

This is Pippins fourth week at our home and he has been at the vet every week he has been here and he will be going back sometime this week. I can't take him to the vet tomorrow as I am starting my internship and have a doctors appointment right after, but I am hoping to get him back in as early as possible as he is due for shots but also I need to talk to the vet about other issues.

Pippin had some coccidia when he came to live with us and after treatment he still has loose stools though they are smelly they are not as bad as they were. He was retested last week and the doc found no sign of coccidia and he doesn't have worms either. The doc said he could have inflammatory bowl disease and he said some cats just have loose stools, he said we could try to work on some diet changes. I am going to look into putting him on a probiotic, I looked up one from vetri science that looks good but is expensive so I will be discussing this with the vet.

The problem right now is that his little butt is starting to get irritated, he has not had this problem at all and it is just beginning to surface now. I noticed today he has been licking his bottom a lot more than usual and he went to the bathroom a couple of minutes ago and whined more than normal. So I checked his bottom (I had checked it early as he was licking so much but then I didn't see anything) and it does look like it is beginning to get irritated.

I can't take him to the vet until probably tuesday, is there anything I can do for his irritated butt? He is very active and eats well, I am trying to get his loose stools under control as a long term solution, but is there anything I can apply or do so that his butt doesn't progress in irritation?

Thank you for your help!

detmut said:
it sounds like maybe his anal glands might be impacted due to the loose stools. long term, the stool needs to be bulked up. short term, a warm compress to the area if doable.

Agree, if we think its the anal glands, warm compress should help.

Re irritations as such, one of our american forumists suggested this "Use a very small amt of Desitin diaper rash ointment " as a better alternative to vaseline.

So these both solutions are for two different problems - you decide which is the most probable. You CAN of course try out them both, they are harmless.

Re firming up. Some probiotic is good, my usual recommendations is BeneBac, the new S Boulardii, and the classical Fortiflora. But there are surely others too.

An OK basic probiotic are simply unsweetened, plain, full fat youghurt. Esp if it has added Acidophillus and Bifidus bacteria..   One forumist told there is a brand of Turkish youghurt, containing these... Both good nourishment, AND a fully OK probiotic...    So this you can simply use as a normal part of his daily food intake.

Somiliarly raw goat milk could also work... If you can get it, you can always try.   Cant hurt, may help.

Otherwise, a tip for firming up mild diarrheas, and solving mild constipations, is crushed pumpkin. The easiest way is the sort sold canned, plain, crushed pumpkin.   Apparently used often in the USA, we in Sweden dont have it...

Another forumite suggested crushed sweet potato - I must try it sometime, we can get hold on sweet potato here in Sweden.

red top rescue · May 18, 2015

I would doubt if the problem is anal glands at this tender age. I suspect it's simple kitten "diaper rash" as we call it. There is nothing like a mother cat's raspy tongue to keep a little bottom immaculately clean, and we humans often fail at this task despite our best intentions. For that reason, we often use triple antibiotic ointment on the bottoms of our little ones to kill germs and to seal moisture away from tender skin. Just remember you must first thoroughly wash the entire "diaper area" with a very mild baby soap and water to make sure to get rid of all the irritating material, much of which is invisible, just wiping won't do, and then rinse very well with running warm (not hot) water and blot dry with dry cotton balls before applying any ointment. I'm more comfortable with the triple antibiotic ointment than the desitin myself -- it has no scent and no zinc in it, whereas the desitin has both.

As for which probiotic to choose, you might want to check out Saccharomyces boulardii. Google it and also check out this site for all the places it is mentioned. It has successfully been used to treat Clostridium difficile in humans when heavy duty medications have failed. It's actually related to brewers yeast, I believe. There have been lots of threads where it has been mentioned by those with experience.

catpack · May 18, 2015

I agree that adding a probiotic may very well be beneficial.

As for your vet saying that some cats "just have loose stool"...this statement concerns me. Cats don't just have loose stool. There is always a reason for this. Either parasite, protozoan, dietary, food intolerance, etc.

If the only testing you have had done on his stool has been done at your vet clinic, I would suggest sending out a PCR test. This test sends a fecal sample to an outside lab for sensitive testing of parasites/protozoan that cannot be detected by the equipment at your vet's office. The test checks for Giardia, Campylobacter, Tritrichamonas, Cryptosporidium, Clostridium Perfringens, and a few others.

If that test comes back negative, then I would focus on food and seeing if there is an intolerance. (Don't let a vet tell you that a young kitten can't have food allergies/intolerances...they can and do.)

Kitten loose and smelly stool.

giraffatitan

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catpack

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StefanZ

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giraffatitan

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catpack

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detmut

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red top rescue

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