Hong should I feed a new food before assuming it's not agreeing with my kitten?

[ChiliKitty]

This is my first post here, so hopefully I'm using the right forum - I wasn't sure if nutrition or health was better.

I've got a ~3 month old kitten (named Chili), and he's been having digestive issues for the past two weeks. He's had two rounds of a dewormer and his stool tested negative for worms and parasites. I was feeding him fancy feast kitten pate, which was fine for about 3 weeks, but then his stools started softening suddenly. After two days of fully liquid diarrhea, I switched him to the Tiki Cat Luau line of canned food, which helped a bit. I also brought him to the vet, which is when he received the second round of dewormer and had the fecal analysis. Then I added in Wellness kitten pate since the Tiki Cat wasn't made for kittens. I tried giving him another can of fancy feast and he had liquid diarrhea again later in the day.

His stool was firmest (but still soft) on the Tiki Cat, so I thought maybe it was the guar gum in the fancy feast and wellness, and switched again to WholeHearted kitten turkey pate, which doesn't include guar gum. I also introduced some Wellness Core kitten dry food. He's been on those two foods for four days, and his stools have gotten better, but they're still just soft logs that sort of combine into a pile when he's done (they're still occasionally even softer than that). His stomach used to gurgle a lot, but seems to have stopped now with the new food. I initially wrote a much more detailed timeline of this, but decided to condense it into something more readable. I can give more details if needed, though.

Since this began, his stools have been soft enough that almost every time he poops, there's something left behind that I need to wipe off since he's not great about doing it himself. I feel bad because he absolutely hates it, but if I don't do it then poop gets smeared somewhere, so I don't really know of a better alternative other than trying to figure out his digestive problems as soon as possible. He has an appointment with the vet next week for vaccinations, so I'll bring up the continued loose stools then, but in the meantime I'm interested in any advice from those who may have had similar experiences.

Mainly, these are my questions:

1. Does this sound diet-related?

2. Are his continued soft stools possibly just because he's still adjusting to the new food? Or should his stools have gone back to normal by now (after 4 days on the current food)? I know I've been changing his food too frequently, so perhaps that's contributing to the digestive upset?

3. Should I temporarily switch him to a LID diet to see if he's got an intolerance to something? I'd probably switch him slowly this time and maybe stick to just wet food? I don't want to think his stools are better but really just have it be because he's dehydrated from the dry food.

4. Does the guar gum seem like it could be a potential irritant for him? Or is it more likely to be an intolerance to a specific protein? His current combo of food includes chicken, turkey, and herring.

5. I've heard Metamucil can help; is that worth trying? It seems more like treating the symptoms than the cause to me, but maybe I'm wrong.

Any other advice is welcome. I'd also like to note that other than the initial decrease in appetite, he's been acting normal this whole time. He's very playful and energetic and hasn't been lethargic at all, and he's been gaining weight each week like expected. The only difference is the loose stools several times a day. I just want to know what's causing him digestive problems, but I'm realizing that it probably will take some time to figure out.

Thanks!

 

[daftcat75]

I've heard kittens simply have softer poops than adults. I don't know personally. It's been two whole cat lifetimes since the last time I lived with kittens. And never since I was responsible for their litter boxes.

Kitten-specific food isn't as important as food that is appropriate for kittens OR all life stages. In other words, if the label says it is appropriate for all life stages, you may feed it to your kitten even if it isn't a kitten formula. I believe all Tiki Cat recipes are appropriate for all life stages.

Guar gum is probably the most benign of the gums. It may even be beneficial as a pre-biotic (feeds the good gut bacteria.) Given the alternatives, I'd choose a food with guar gum over carrageenan, agar agar, and xanthan gum every single time. The first two are irritants and the last one makes smooth foods smooth. It also makes poops smooth. Mousse in, mousse out. I'm undecided on locust bean gum and cassia gum. I had an IBD cat. I became a connoisseur of cat food gums and cat poops.

I wouldn't suspect proteins just yet.

I also wouldn't start with the Metamucil just yet. Cats can become acclimated to psyllium making it less and less useful over time.

The trouble with LID foods is that most of them are not. The "best overall" LID food in a Google search has peas and pea protein. These don't belong in cat food. They are a lower quality protein source that cats would not normally eat. And many cats have allergy/sensitivity to peas. LID foods tend to introduce problems they are trying to solve in my opinion. Look for foods that are simply meat, moisture, organs, and supplements. Stick to that formula and you'll find LID foods whether they label it as such or not. Don't skimp on the supplements though. There are brands like Reveal and Applaws that are meat and moisture. This is not a balanced and complete cat food. It's fine for a day or two on an emergency basis. But supplements cannot be skipped. Food laws restrict the content and preparation of cat food and supplements are required to make up the differences (no eyeballs and brains in commercial cat food, for example.)

I would avoid fish if you can. Fish is addictive and kittens/cats will hold out for fish. It is also not an ideal protein for cats. Certainly better than peas but rabbit, beef, and poultry are better. Because of its powerful appeal, I recommend reserving fish flavors for disguising medicine or restarting a sick cat's eating. Exceptional times require exceptional measures. But if you feed fish on the regular, you lose this "nuclear option."

What I recommend is this:

1. Find a good clean wet food recipe that's as close to simply meat, moisture, organs (sometimes called by-products), and supplements. Keep the nonsense (starches, grains, dairy, fruits, vegetables, flaxseeds, most non-animal ingredients) out of the ingredients list and you don't need LID on the label. If the food is appropriate for all life stages, it is good enough for your kitten even without it being a kitten food.

2. Ask your vet about Proviable. It's a probiotic formulated for dogs and cats. I know some people use human probiotics. But my diet is different from my cat's. I would assume our microbiomes would be different too. Proviable has more strains and in more useful amounts than FortiFlora, another veterinary probiotic.