Switching between different types of canned food

kittyspaceb

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Hello,
I have a 3 1/2 month old kitten and she keeps getting diarrhea and I'm pretty sure it's from switching her food so frequently.
She always has access to dry food (simply nourish kitten food) but I feed her canned food 3-4 times a day.
I feed her a whole bunch of different brands like nutro grain free kitten, blue buffalo freedom indoor kitten, blue buffalo healthy gourmet kitten, blue buffalo wilderness for kittens and a few others. Now the problem is that she doesn't like eating the same type of food everyday so I'll feed her nutro kitten for 2 days and then blue buffalo wilderness for a day or so. And she keeps getting tummy upsets from all the switches (no real surprise there). How am I supposed to keep her stomach from getting upset while also feeding her a veriety of flavours? Almost all the high end brands only have one or 2 flavours in kitten food. Blue buffalo has 4 different kinds but they're all the same flavour. Brands like Friskies have canned food for kittens/adults in like 4 or 5 flavours but I don't want to feed her food that isn't even real :/
Sorry for the long paragraph I wanted to make sure I got everything down.
 

amber varner

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I would check more for the nutritional information, rather than just the "kitten" label on the wet food. If the protein, fat, etc is at the appropriate levels for kittens, I'd say it's ok to feed. I have a 5 month old kitten and I buy her kitten dry food, but she eats regular adult wet. I would check out a website like Chewy.com and look at the different wet food brands. It's an easy place to compare prices and look at various nutritional information.

I personally feed my kitten Sheba pates and FF classics, because I'm on a budget. These might be a good go-to for you for adding some flavors. Or I'm sure there's some higher quality brands that offer flavors as well; you just might have to order them online. Sheba and FF are certainly much better than Friskies nutritionally though, and offer a pretty decent selection of flavors. Maybe try to find one brand you are happy with that has at least four flavors you can alternate with your kitty and see how that works out until her tummy settles? Then slowly integrate other brands into it and see how her stool is. If it adjusts well over time keep it in rotation. If it continuously gives her the runs, then don't feed it.

I found my kitten can't tolerate any salmon products, so maybe there's a certain ingredient or flavor you can watch for as well if she gets particularly bad diarreah or anything like that. Once I figured out my kitty can't eat salmon the litter box was so much more manageable LOL! Good luck!
 

Columbine

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Switching between canned foods doesn't usually cause issues, in my experience. Switching between dry foods is where you have to be more careful. If your kitten is getting regular diarrhoea, then she needs a vet check. Given her age, worms are a very likely cause, and are very easy to treat.

If it persists after worming, then I'd be looking for specific ingredients that she might be sensitive to. A few common triggers are gums (guar gum, xanthan gum etc), carrageenan, gluten, grains, potatoes, peas, and even chicken or egg. Now, it's highly unlikely that one cat would be sensitive to ALL of these, but it should give you a few ideas ;)

Do be sure to start with a vet check though. It's always best to rule out any physical cause before fiddling with the diet ;)
 
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kittyspaceb

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Thank you so much for your reply :)
She was just wormed a little under a month ango so I don't think that's the issue. But you might be right about the sensitivity to ingredients.
 

Columbine

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That's great about the worming, but I might still be tempted to speak to your vet, and maybe get a stool sample for testing. Not all worms are killed by all wormers, so it never hurts to double check these things ;)

With the food side of things, I'd start with noting if any of her current foods DON'T cause a problem. That'll give you a start point for possible sensitivities. Maybe keep a food and poop log for a while, to help spot any patterns - it really is the easiest place to start with this kind of thing. From that, you should be able to narrow down brands or ingredients that don't sit so well with her.

DO talk to your vet first though. It may well be possible to get a stool sample tested without a physical exam, and that really is the first place I'd start.
 
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kittyspaceb

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Alright so I stopped feeding her the wet food she was currently on and switched her to a different kind. It worked! Her stomach isn't upset anymore! Thanks for all the help guys :)
 
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