Can someone tell me what to do with my kittens diarrhea?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

So here are all the things i have done already

1. Called vet: she recommended switching kitten to only dry food: DONE

2. Called shelter I adopted kitten from, gave me some ALBON: It's day 5 and he still has the worst diarrhea

3. Read on internet to give pumpkin puree: done, did not help, so stopped

4. Dropped off kitten poop to vet in sub zero temperatures

Kitten is active, eating and drinking but the diarrhea is insane. Actually worse than the diarrhea is that the kitten gets poop all over his legs and so I am constantly cleaning legs. Which is making him very upset. I am assuming its irritating his skin too

Any other ideas?

[hamsterjill]

1. Parasites possibly?

Was the kitten wormed prior to your adopting it?

As to pumpkin, I'm sure you know to only give 100% organic pumpkin...not pie filling, etc.

You should have some answers once the vet examines the poop. Bless your heart for doing that in sub zero temps! Hope the little kiddo feels better soon.

And mostly THANK YOU for adopting from a shelter!!!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. yes, 100% organic pumpkin. no additives

has been dewormed twice.

All my babies are shelter babies. The dog is from a shelter in Selma, Alabama. The kitties are from NYC.

[njlib]

3. Diatomaceous Earth

My dogs from Brooklyn ACC had "intestinal issues" when I first brought them home. I got some food grade diatomaceous earth from the pet store and after a couple of sprinklings on their food, no more issues!

Good luck!

[beac]

4. I think since it's been going on for so long, only the vet can tell what's up and what to do.

While you wait for analysis you might ask the vet about withholding food for 24 hours. As for cleaning his legs, you might try getting some baby wipes. Should be less irritating than a cloth.

Good luck to you and kitty!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. am using a baby wipe. thanks though

[rox63]

5. Bring kitten to the vet

Diarrhea over the course of several days could cause dehydration, and probably indicates some sort of infection, whether it is parasitic, bacterial or viral.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. vet wanted to do the dry food/stool test before she saw him

he is not dehydrated. he is drinking PLENTY of water

[Curmudgeoness]

8. There are two things that I have tried in the past.

Usually, I have found that Immodium AD children's in a liquid has helped me with bouts of diarrhea in cats. Don't even ask how I first found out that this works because I get pissed every time I think of it.

But my current cat came to me with a bad case of diarrhea when I adopted him. I did everything I could think of or that the vet could think of. Special prescription foods, antibiotics, anti-diarrhea meds, tests and more tests. He was no better after a month and I was at my wits end. I finally decided to do what I do for myself after rounds of antibiotics and I fed him yogurt to get good microbes back into his gut. It worked. He has only had two bouts since then and we are over 2-1/2 years now. Each time, yogurt stopped the diarrhea. I will add that my vet told me that it was a bad idea because it was possible that my cat could have been allergic to milk products, but I have to say that it didn't seem that anything was going to make it any worse.

I hope that you can find an answer to this problem. I understand how difficult it is, and it can end up being costly if they need to keep doing tests. We had so many stool samples and blood tests to no avail. Hopefully, your little one will be easier to diagnose.

[ginnyinWI]

9. I sympathize!

I had a couple of foster kittens with loose stools, and ran through the gamut of treatments. At the end of my care period they were a little better but not really cured. The next thing I would have looked for would have been food allergies.

We tried a couple of parasite treatments to no effect. We tried antibiotics. we tried Fortiflora and pumpkin. I had been giving them a lot of canned food, but that made it worse--it ran right through them. So cutting back helped somewhat. Poor things seemed to be always starving-hungry no matter how much they were fed.

If parasites are ruled out, and you have tried active cultures like Fortiflora (or yogurt), and you are not overfeeding with wet food, then what you might be dealing with is a sensitivity to an ingredient in the dry or wet food, like wheat. This means changing the diet around until something works.

Dry food often has wheat, and some wet foods have wheat and soy proteins, not as good for cats anyway as animal protein, It is used as a filler to boost the protein percent. You will need to look for a premium dry food with no wheat, or whatever the vet thinks the kitten might be sensitive to.

You could put him on boiled chicken only and see what happens. If he improves, then you might be on track to discovering the cause.

If a kitten is weaned too soon it can start troubles like this. It's unavoidable sometimes though. Someone finds a couple of abandoned kittens and the shelter raises them the best way they can. My litter of two started as a litter of three, but one was too sick to save.