I rescued a kitten 2 months ago. She came to me with diarrhea. She did not have it previously. I was told to mix her old food with the new food 50/50. She was on diamond naturals adult food. I wasn't thinking and put her on 50% diamond and a mix of rachel ray nutrish and purina naturals. Gave her fancy feast tuna. (Ok. I now know this was stupid. Forgot I had to give her kitten food. ). She loves to eat and drink but the diarrhea continues. I took a sample of her diarrhea for evaluation and there was no parasites. I have been feeding her blue buffalo kitten only. The problem is that she will sneak the adult cats food. She looks great and has gained 2 pounds in the last 8 weeks. However, she still has the "cow patties " for stools. Any advice on what food to switch her to? Also should I switch gradually or just at once as she does have the cow patty stools. Thank you.
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Kitten food. Need advice
- Thread starter jdel
- Start Date
You might try her on Diamond Naturals Kitten Food for dry food but it's best to feed them mostly wet food. Any good grain free wet food is fine. Friskies pate foods are all grain free for the most part, but the ones with shreds, pieces, bits etc.all have wheat gluten so avoid those. Since he is a male, you want to make sure he gets lots and lots of water through his food, which is the natural way cats get water. They are not big drinkers by nature, preferring to get their liquids through their prey. You will go through more cat litter if he is on wet food because she will pee more, but that is healthy and will help her avoid urinary crystals and stones.
Avoiding corn, wheat and soy is a good beginning, as many cats are sensitive to this. If you think her diarrhea is related to food, try her on just boiled chicken and rice for a few days to see if it clears up. If not, she may have one of the parasites that wild kittens have and that need more treatment. I am presuming that you had her wormed for reqular worms at least once already, and if not, start there, NOT with any over the counter wormer but get some single doses of pyrantel pamoate from your vet. Specifically that one because it is safe. You can get it over the counter at farm supply stores too, mainly sold as a dog wormer but it's a cat wormer too. Most of the wormers you find over the counter in the supermarket or Walmart are not the best and not the safest. All kittens need to be wormed with the oyrantel pamoate at least twice, 2 weeks apart, so the first worming kills the adult worms and the second one gets the worms from eggs that hatched in the past two weeks but before they are old enough to breed and make more eggs.
Your vet may give you a combination wormer (Drontal or Droncit). If the kitten came from a rescue, he has probably already been wormed and vaccinated. If not, that's the first thing you should do.
Avoiding corn, wheat and soy is a good beginning, as many cats are sensitive to this. If you think her diarrhea is related to food, try her on just boiled chicken and rice for a few days to see if it clears up. If not, she may have one of the parasites that wild kittens have and that need more treatment. I am presuming that you had her wormed for reqular worms at least once already, and if not, start there, NOT with any over the counter wormer but get some single doses of pyrantel pamoate from your vet. Specifically that one because it is safe. You can get it over the counter at farm supply stores too, mainly sold as a dog wormer but it's a cat wormer too. Most of the wormers you find over the counter in the supermarket or Walmart are not the best and not the safest. All kittens need to be wormed with the oyrantel pamoate at least twice, 2 weeks apart, so the first worming kills the adult worms and the second one gets the worms from eggs that hatched in the past two weeks but before they are old enough to breed and make more eggs.
Your vet may give you a combination wormer (Drontal or Droncit). If the kitten came from a rescue, he has probably already been wormed and vaccinated. If not, that's the first thing you should do.
I'm a big fan of probiotics for cats/kittens that have diarrhea. When my kittens had it I gave them a good quality probiotic mixed in their wet food and it completely disappeared. I like Netabiotic.
