6wk rescue kitten seems healthy except diarrhea

[rufio]

Thanks for the tip Krysta, I'll grab some of that Nature's Variety. I'm willing to try whatever it takes to get this little goof ball happy :-)

 

[krysta]

Thanks for the tip Krysta, I'll grab some of that Nature's Variety. I'm willing to try whatever it takes to get this little goof ball happy :-)

You don't have to spend a fortune to try it, either--they make some trial size bags that are usually only about $5.

 

[barbb]

My kitty Lola had horrible diarrhea when she was a kitten, she had it for many months, but her whole litter had coccidia, giardia, and campylobacter. Of all the kitties she did not respond to the meds. I just wanted to say that her butt also got extremely swollen and sore, to where she would cry when she tried to lick it. And her diarrhea was just as you describe, like water, and she had no control. I also used probiotic on her food and it did no good. I took her to the vet so many times and it was agonizing to see her in so much pain :-(. 

At the time I did not know about pumpkin but I have since used it for cats with bad diarrhea and it works really well. I was able to mix it with my foster kitties' food and they eat it, but in the case of my own kitties (Toby, after his chemo), he will not eat it that way, so I just grabbed a few fingerfuls out of the can, put my finger in his mouth sideways and wiped my finger across his tongue. That got enough in him to help!

There is also a product I use for my kitties called GI defense powder, it contains all the ingredients you need for healthy bacteria and good poops http://www.pawsitivityforpets.com/gi-defence and also it is liver flavored to be more palatable, but don't bother getting it if your kitty is not likely to eat anything mixed into his food!

I think the pumpkin is probably the best solution. Oh, also, it may be that your kitten does have one of the above illnesses- I learned you have to get them tested more than once because you may get a false negative if the test happens when the parasites are in a dormant stage. It is definitely a GI tract related problem augh, and he is a kitten (SO GORGEOUS AND SWEET LOOKING!!!) and kittens are most susceptible to these illnesses because their immune systems are not strong enough yet to have natural immunity as adult cats do. 

It sounds like he is eating well, just make sure he doesn't get dehydrated from his diarrhea, you can tell by pinching the fur around his neck and if it stays rigid instead of falling back loosely, then he needs fluids urgently. I really hope the pumpkin works, let us know how it goes. As I said, Lola had this problem for many months and I was at my wit's end. Amazingly the vets had no recommendation for her poor little butt. 

 

[howie]

Rufio, my 2 had issues with runny poo with blood in it when I first adopted them....one of them had worms, and both had giardia.  After getting rid of the worms,  3 rounds of meds for the giardia,  probiotics, pumpkin, and diet change, none of that helped.  The vet was about to try treating them for things that according to their fecals, they didn't even have.  What finally helped was raw diet

Wow, for me too! I adopted my kitten at 3 mos with the warning she'd had chronic diarrhea her whole life. We suffered through terrible gas, bloody diarrhea drippings and explosions and washing a raw and ulcerated kitten anus 10-12 times a day. We tried two high fiber prescription foods, Blue Buffalo Wildnerness, canned food, baby food, rice, Metamucil, Fortiflora, dewormers, pumpkin, etc., nothing worked. One morning the kitten was having a particularly bad episode of gas and each fart would have her terrified and shooting across the room like a bat out of hell. Fed up, I finally gave her a mostly raw plain chicken breast with nothing else, no rice, and the diarrhea and gas stopped right then and never came back. She's now on a home-made raw food diet with ground up bones and doesn't get any fiber and does just fine. And btw, I ran out of it for a day last week and gave her a cat food package of wet "Natural" chicken claiming just chicken with little else but some preservatives, and she had diarrhea. So there is something in these processed foods some cats just can't handle.

OP, have you tried NOT giving rice, just the chicken?

 

[melalpha]

If the nature's variety doesn't work, try the orijen cat/kitten formula. Its a great dry food, I've noticed a marked improvement in my cats in the past two weeks that I incorporated it into their wet diet.

 

[ritz]

Agree with everything, especially Barb B:  I'd get his stool tested again, lots of false positives--and false negatives.

Also, I wouldn't do a LOT of changes with his food, that in and of itself can cause problems.

 

[rufio]

Yea its a slooow process trying these things. Don't want to freak out his tiny digestive system even more than it already is. Hes just now on only blue wilderness for about a day. Vet wanted to see if there was any improvement on just kitten food so I haven't tried JUST the chicken but he's still having problems so I'll start switchig to.something else here soon. Were going back to the vet for different medication today before they close for christmas. I'll see what he recommends and if its too stupid I'll probably start looking for a new vet after the holiday. Lots of bad advice from him apparently but they are sooo affordable