Kitten, Diarrhea and Defecating outside the box

[oli905]

Hi all, I could really use some help!  I am at my wits end!  We have had our kitten for a little over a month now.  He is living with us, my daughter(7yrs.), older cat(7 yrs.) and my partner.   Anyway, he is and has been adjusting so well.  He is playful, loving, outgoing, snuggly!, everything we had hoped for.  When we first got him he was using the box no problem, but there are some challenging diarrhea and going outside the box problems now.  This is my first experience raising a kitten and it is proving to be much more challenging than I thought!  Here is the deal as accurately as I can describe it:

Oliver has been with us for a little over a month now.  He has had diarrhea for the entire time.  First the vet told us to change the foods. She said to switch to purina cat chow(as basic as you can get) from what we were feeding, which was a grain/fish combo from Acana, which is what our other cat prefers.   The problem is still the diarrhea.  I am hoping for other suggestions for food, since he has yet to respond to the diet change, or the added FortiFlora powder from Purina that the vet recommended.  That is the first problem.

The second is that he is defecating outside the litter box.  After having read many articles online about this I can say that I cannot figure out from his behavior why he is doing this.  He will go in the box often (more than not) but at least 3 or 4 times a week he will choose to go on either a bed or behind the clawfoot tub(VERY hard to reach to clean!)  This is done when his litter box is completely clean(literally nothing in it) or with other feces.  He doesn't seem to be picky when it comes to his litter, he uses his own litter box and that of our older cat, he seems to just go wherever he pleases and when he wants.  The other problem with the diarrhea is that not only does he go outside the box but he doesn't seem to smell that he still has poop on himself.  I read and hear about how cats are fastidiously clean, but he doesn't clean himself which results in him jumping to sit on our laps during the day or night, and trailing runny poop everywhere he goes.  Is he still learning to keep himself clean, is there a way that I can help with this?  

I am taking him to the vet in a couple of days to check again on the diarrhea and other behavior modification ideas but I would really appreciate any help or constructive advice you may have.  As I mentioned this is my first time raising a kitten, and although I read books and have the older cat, I am feeling a little helpless and very frustrated with an overwhelming amount of runny poop everywhere.  Not to mention how the poor little guy must feel!  Although honestly, he seems so happy all the time, I sometimes wonder if he even notices, which is another puzzle to me.

Anyway, thank you so much for your help.

 

[ajer]

My family has had success with raising kittens and litter box training doing the following:

We confine them to a smaller room (bathroom, etc) when we are not able to be there and at night.  They have their litter box in one corner and food and water dishes in another.

Being that they like a clean living environment, they will make use of the litter box.  Gradually , we increase their run of the house, as they prove their ability to make use of their litter box.

However - medical issues may cause problems as well.

 

[sugarcatmom]

The diarrhea likely makes your kitten feel very uncomfortable, and sometimes that discomfort becomes associated with the litter box itself. I would pick up a few more litter boxes and put them in some other places around the house for now, until the diarrhea issue is resolved. Which brings me to that food. Purina Cat Chow is not the right thing to feed any cat, but especially not a kitten. Full of grains and by-products, when cats should be eating meat and very little carbohydrates. Plus, the fact that it's a dry food can do some long-term damage through chronic low-level dehydration. Unfortunately most vets are pretty clueless about feline nutrition so just because your vet told you to do it, doesn't mean it's sound advice. Your kitten should be eating wet food, whether a quality commercial canned product with named muscle-meat (ie "chicken" or "turkey", not "meat by-products") or even better, a balanced raw diet. Some info for you on that: www.catinfo.org

Instead of the Fortiflora, which tends to have some extra ingredients that may cause more digestive problems, I suggest finding some slippery elm bark powder and mixing a tiny pinch (like 1/8 to 1/4 of a tsp) twice a day into some wet food. 

Good luck!

 

[kailie]

Do you know if the kitten has been treated for worms? Also, was any fecal testing done to look for other parasites or bacterial infections? With the chronic diarrhea, that's where I would go.

Right now, he is absolutely associating his litter box with pain and discomfort associated with the diarrhea, and once this clears up, that's when the retraining should probably begin. Offering him more than one litter box is a great idea, and also trying Dr. Elsey's Cat or Kitten Attract litter may also help.

Good luck hun!

 

[rollie]

My kitten had diarrhea and was not getting to the box. I noticed that he had to run almost immediately after eating. And so, I switched to a raw food diet. I grind his food in a hand food grinder. I use raw chicken or turkey. Several sites have recipes. Immediately his diarrhea went away. He goes once a day or sometimes every other day. He doesn't smell. He looks better and has more energy. And he never misses the box now. 

 

[econeil94]

Hello, I know this post was made a while ago, but I was wondering if the issue did eventually get resolved? I recently got a kitten, and am now going through almost exactly what you went through, where she uses the litterbox and the rest of the house to diarrhea, but acts happy and healthy otherwise. How did you solve the problem with your kitten? Thank you. 

 

[GandG]

Coming late to the discussion, but my five month old kitten George had the same problem for a month. Vet and I tried various solutions, George had no parasites or other problems, was happy and romping with his sister Gracie, but having diarrhea all over the house. Turned out he had a bacteria imbalance in his system. Vet put him on amoxicillin and high protein diet. Five days later his poops are regular, and he’s ONLY pooping on the puppy pads I put on the floor of the kitty room. Haven’t convinced him to use the litter box yet though he pees in it, just not poop. Vet says he’ll naturally go back to it as he recovers. Hope so!!