Kitten with Loose Stool and No Other Symptoms

So I have a kitten who is now four and a half months old. She has recently been having loose stools that range from actual diarrhea to just really soft poop. Every time I think of getting her to the vet everything goes back to normal. Other than the loose stool she doesn't seem sick at all. She is playful as ever, eats well, drinks water as normal, and isn't sleepy or lethargic. I have been giving her some pumpkin each day, but I don't know if it is really helping much. Any ideas for what can cause loose stools that has no other symptoms? 

Has your kitten been wormed yet, or checked for coccidia or giardia at the vet? Any of these might cause diarrhea.

What are you feeding your kitten? Sometimes it can be something in their diet and a change of foods can help.

I am wondering the same as Sarthur- has the fecal flotation test been run yet?  I adopted 2 kittens from the shelter one week ago.   The 2 1/2 month old male tuxie was successfully treated for coccidia, but he still has smelly runny poop.  He is perfectly healthy otherwise.   My vet says his intestine is likely irritated by the albon treatment and recommended 1/2 pkg of Fortaflora daily.

Yes, a probiotic is an excellent idea and can be mixed in with the wet food. Fortaflora is an excellent choice too.

She was wormed already once, but maybe it needs to be done again. I don't know about coccidia or giardia. But I don't know where it could have come from. Neither of our cats ever goes outside and we got the kitten in June so she couldn't have had it from then when she was exposed to other cats. It has been happening on and off for maybe a week or so? I am currently working on slowly changing her diet over from Merrick Purrfect Bistro to Nutrisca. She also eats fancy feast kitten canned food and canned food from Natural Balance and Blue Buffalo. Lately she also keeps drinking water from dishes soaking in the sink (with just water) but we've gotten her to stop doing that most recently.

Cats love to drink from sinks -anywhere but where you want them to drink from.

I hate to think of a stomach bug lasting a week. I think you should call your vet for an appointment and give them a fresh fecal sample. You can certainly rule some things out this way. It could be that your kitten needs an antibiotic to clear a bug even.

Let us know what the vet says.

I should be able to get an appointment with him for tomorrow. I will call him when the office opens later.

Sounds good. Let us know what the vet says tomorrow. At least she's eating and drinking in the meantime.

Definitely. She seems to be very happy even if her stomach is upset. She was doing zoomies all over the house with my older cat before I left for work this morning and was doing them during the night as well. She just isn't too happy with me washing her bottom and her paws when she comes out of the litter box. She seems to always manage to get her feet in the poop and then tracks it out of the box until she stops to wash off her paws and bottom (which can take a while for an easily distracted kitten).

So I wasn't able to get a hold of my vet at all on Wednesday since their line was busy each time I called. I had to schedule an appointment for this evening instead of yesterday. This morning my kitten was pooping normally again. So I really don't know what this could be.

My adult cat is also starting to have loose stool as well. I'm wondering if this could be due to the food transition though, we switched so one fourth of the food is something different now. I think I'm just going to take them both to the vet and see what he says but any help in the meantime would be appreciated.

I would go ahead and take them both in. We're at the weekend and if anything gets worse when the vet is closed you'll be kicking yourself.

I'd also try to bring a fecal sample from each cat if possible, particularly the one having the loose stools now. You can put it in a baggy and refrigerate it to keep it fresh until this evening.

It could be as simple as the food change. But with your second kitty just starting loose bowels it's sounding almost like a virus being passed around.

But it's best if the vet tests for coccidia, giardia, and other issues. And he may be able to give you an anti-diarrhea medicine or antibiotics in the meantime.

When this passes you will want to throw out all of the affected litter and thoroughly disinfect the boxes, and start with fresh litter.

Good luck and let us know what the vet says tonight.

We were given some pills to prevent the diarrhea. The vet doesn't think its any kind of infection or parasite because there is no fever. He thinks it is something to do with grain free food. I'm not sure about that since I always heard grain free was better. He just has been wanting us to feed Royal Canin from the beginning. I'm not convinced. 

So you took them both in and that's his answer?

Well, hopefully it is just because of the transitioning. That would be the easiest problem! Personally, I would stick with the transitioning for another week and see if things improve rather than switching to the Royal Canin straight away. Sometimes cats need a while to settle down into their new food. The Fortiflora should help too.

I think that our vet is right and this is dietary. But I don't know that switching to Royal Canin is the best way to fix it. I am thinking that the two instances were separate. Carrot had diarrhea twice and then not again after I was working on switching the food slowly. I have started going more slowly. I think with Angua it is something in her canned food. When I switch from using fancy feast kitten cans to another can from a different brand (as I rotate them) everything clears up. I'm going to experiment with switching canned foods and see if Carrot clears up on his own as I transition dry food much more slowly. My cat grass has also grown finally so they should be getting some more fiber in their diets.

It sounds like you're on the right track with working on the dietary issues.

Let us know how they do over the next few days.

All of the diarrhea has stopped.   I managed to get the required medication in to both cats, so that probably helped. Carrot peed on the bed (his usual sign of being displeased with something) but otherwise all went well. This morning I did a full change out of the litter and bleached everything even the cat litter scoop. Hopefully we are on the right track.

I wanted to add to this... your vet should be more vigilant. My Marla had no fever, a great appetite, playful as ever, diarrhea alternating from soft to runny, sometimes even normal. She never acted poorly, still doesn't, just drinks more, then Marvel became ill, he had no fever, no signs of illness bar the loose stools, they have a horrible illness. Don't ever rule anything out until you have done the tests, better to be safe then sorry.

Glad to hear they are getting better and taking their medicine. It's good that you did the full out litter box disinfecting as well. Let's hope this is the end of it .