My kitten has Persistant Diahrea

by Tiffany
(Seattle)

I have 2 kittens, brother and sister, and they are both 7 months old. They are both very active, happy kittens. I have had them since they were 4 months old, and I started out giving them "Special Kitty" brand kitten food. This is the walmart store brand. Toby has had persistant diahrea problems since about 2 weeks after he came to live with me, while Grace has had no such problems.

I was also giving them wet food, and I stopped giving them that when my aunt told me that male cats sometimes have a problem with diahrea associated with the wet food. But it didn't change anything.

I took them for their first vet visit, and they gave Grace her first shots, but said that they would wait to give Toby his until his diahrea cleared up, and asked me to bring in a stool sample from each of them. I took that in and they said that they appeared to have parasites. He gave me pills to give them, one that day, and the other in a month. The pills did nothing the help Toby's problems though.

Also the vet recommended to me that I switch to a more expensive brand of kitten food as it might have better quality ingredients in it. So I started giving them "Wiskas" brand kitten food. Still no change in the consistancy of his bowels, other then the regular changes. They range anywhere from extremely runny almost like water, to thicker pudding-like.

My aunt gave me a home remedies book for dogs and cats that was written by vets, which said it was ok to give cats metamucil mixed with water and their food. So I tried using that, also with no results.

I switched them to Purina Cat Chow Indoor Formula at a mention from a friend that her kitten's diahrea cleared up simply when she switched to adult food. But still this solution has not affected it at all.

He doesn't seem to be having any developmental or growth problems as a result of this, but it's really got to be tiring having all that diahrea. Grace has had no problems with any of these adjustments to her diet. But Toby has had this problem persistantly for the last 3 months. I feel really badly for him every time he goes to the litter box, but I don't know what else to do. Help please??

Answer by Kate
Hi
well this is puizzling if the vet has not been able to help. All I can suggest is this. Keep him inside and don't feed him any solid food for 24 hours (this rests the digestive system). He must has fresh water though to prevent dehydration.

Then start to slowly re-introduce a bland diet. Try white meat only or plain fish. Give them only small amounts 4 to 6 times a day, but in total only about half of their usual daily amount.

If no further cat diarrhea occurs, you can then increase the food slowly. Continue in this way until your cat has been passing normal faeces for 48 hours or so.

Give this a try, I know it will be difficult as he will cry for food in the first 24 hours but his sytem needs to rest.

If it does not work, all I can say is that you will have to persist with the vet until they can find out what the problem is.

best wishes Kate

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