Kitten with bloated stomach

Hello all. My 7 month old kitten Yoko has had a bloated stomach for a few weeks. I never noticed it before (apart from thinking she looked bottom heavy) but when I brought her to the vet in December, he pointed out that she had a distended belly. He didn't do a fecal analysis but gave her Strongid for roundworms. At the time, she was also sneezing, coughing, and had an ear infection (the reason I brought her to the vet in the first place) and was given antibiotics for both. A few days after the vet visit, I left her with a cat-sitter while visiting family for a couple weeks over the holidays. The cat sitter said she was eating well, playing often, and defecating normally, and didn't report anything amiss like sneezing or any worms in her feces. I didn't see any either.

I got her back yesterday and she still has a fairly bloated stomach, but is otherwise OK. Yoko has adjusted back to our home pretty quickly, has a VERY healthy appetite, drinks water often, has been about as active as she was before, and extremely affectionate (maybe she missed us as much as we missed her). She is sleeping a little more than normal and her first poop home last night was a bit soft and wet, but that might be just the stress from her return home. I called the vet and was told to bring in a fecal test, which I did today. 

I will have to wait for the results tomorrow but haven't stopped thinking about her bloated belly since we got back. I can't believe how I never noticed it — if you press on her tummy, it feels hard like a balloon. If it is still her roundworm, how long will it take for her belly to go down to normal? If the tests come back negative, what should be the next step? What other tests should be run to figure out what it could be? I can't imagine how she's been feeling with a swollen belly for weeks, but it's strange because she seems otherwise healthy, active, and happy.

I'm terrified that it's FIP, and can't stop worrying that it is. Yoko is our first pet and we love her dearly. 

A couple notes that might be helpful, she's slightly small for her age. At 6.5 months old in December, she weighed just 5.5 pounds. Here she is on Halloween — she was James Bond.

Well she just couldn't possibly be any cuter!!

Yes, that would be my concern also. Can you possibly post more pics that show her tummy?

Side view, front, stretched out.

Thanks.

Oh, what and how much does she eat btw, and did she get a 2nd dewormer treatment or the one?

What a sweet kitty love to costume, hoping that whatever she has that it isn't serious. 

From the pics and listing her diet, plus the mention of her belly feeling hard, I think it's likely food causing her tummy.

She is eating a good amt for sure, and it's always a good thing if you can push more canned and less dry too, which has lots of carbs and fillers, etc.

The only thing that makes FIP a possibility is the fact that she has been sick with a uri, and that she was in a shelter and surely acquired the corona virus.

But an FIP: tummy is squishy like a filled water balloon in a way, not hard like a full food tummy is.

The bottom line is, you can worry yourself crazy whether it might be fip or not, but it won't change it regardless.

Enjoy her, take my advice on the food ratios, give her lots of exercise and love, and all should be fine.

If any other signs appear, then allow yourself to worry again, if she is active and happy, eating well and not hiding or excessively sleeping, she is likely going to be just fine

The vet called with the test results and turns out she might have giardia, though they didn't find cysts in the feces. The vet basically said that she might not necessarily be suffering from it now since her appetite and activity levels are normal, but that she might have had it in the past and to monitor her. However, from what I've read, it may be hard to find cysts in her feces if they use a standard fecal flotation test, especially if the stool isn't "fresh," which I don't think it was.

Either way, I've scheduled an appointment with them tomorrow to have them take a look at her belly, maybe get the giardia treated (if necessary), or get some advice on how to help decrease her bloat. She doesn't seem to be in any discomfort but better safe than sorry! Anyway thanks for your advice! Will probably end up switching to a different quality brand of food if nothing else helps. 

Giardia causes nasty poop, how is her poop?

True the cysts are not constant and the float can easily give neg results when there is giardia there, so a PCR test should be done, much more sensitive and will pick up cysts if present/hiding.

Wonder what makes him think giardia as a possibility?

friskies dry food is mainly corn and soy beans which may be the problem. i would try switching to an all wet diet. if you really want some dry, pick a grain free brand. petsmart has their own brand called "good natured" which is really cheap compared to some of the other grain free brands.