# Kitten having diarrhea on Blue Wilderness, should I switch dry food? Help



## Cato (Aug 13, 2014)

I have a 3 month old kitten that I adopted from the SPCA. He was on science diet when I got him so I transitioned him to Blue Wilderness Kitten dry food and started feeding him some Fancy Feast and Grreat Choice wet food. 
He was having solid stools at first after the transition but for the past week he's been having diarrhea, he's still happy and playful and eating and drinking normally so I don't think he's sick, I'm thinking it's his food. 
I don't know if I should just try feeding him only dry food for a few days to see if he still has the diarrhea or if I should just change brands? I've heard about people having problems with Blue brand foods but at the time it was what my dog was happy on so I thought my kitten would be good on it too, but since then my dog was having diarrhea so I switched him to Wellness Core and I'm wondering if I should do the same for the kitten? 

So I need help, should I try feeding just dry food to see if that brand is the problem? Or should I transition him to Wellness and see if he does better? Or should I bother transitioning since he already has an upset tummy? Could it be because the grain-free food is too high in protein and making him sick?
Please any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you


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## divinity78 (Jul 3, 2014)

I would transition him to Wellness Core. Keep feeding him the wet food too. I have not had experience with Blue Wilderness but it seems like I have heard of pets having problems on it...and if your dog and your cat are both having problems with it, I'd switch


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## Dumine (Jun 30, 2014)

My cat loves her wet food. But some of the high quality canned food causes bloating and upsets her tummy. I find that if I mix it with a little Sience Diet dry, it works better. Its just too rich on its own. I'm starting to transition her to simple raw - see if that works better for her. Basically trying to stay away from anything that comes with a gravy. I'd rather just add water if it needs more juice.


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## Cato (Aug 13, 2014)

divinity78 said:


> I would transition him to Wellness Core. Keep feeding him the wet food too. I have not had experience with Blue Wilderness but it seems like I have heard of pets having problems on it...and if your dog and your cat are both having problems with it, I'd switch


Okay I will go out and buy him Wellness tomorrow and see if he does better on that  and I'll still feel him his wet food too 



Dumine said:


> Basically trying to stay away from anything that comes with a gravy. I'd rather just add water if it needs more juice.


Mine doesn't like any of the meat chunks in wet food so I only feed him the pate kind and I mix in 1 or 2 tbsp of warm water to make sure he has enough water in his diet


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## Jenny bf (Jul 13, 2013)

I would be very careful with a kitten ths young and having diahorrea. They can dehydrate very quickly and there can be numerous reasons why, from food change to a bug or even parasites. In shelters a lot of bugs do the rounds and often come out once you have got home. A week is a long time to have this, so I would suggest giving your vet a call to discuss as well as changing the food. If he reccomends going in I would say that is a good idea Kittens can be notorious for behaving absolutely fine one minute and the next they have gone down hill and in a serious condition.
Hope the kitten feels better soon


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## texasgirl (Feb 27, 2013)

I agree with Jennybf. Take your kitten to the vet, as diarrhea can be very dangerous for them.

As for the blue buffalo food you should read this:

Top 708 Complaints and Reviews about Blue Buffalo Pet Foods 

These are complaints ranging from vomiting and diarrhea to high fever. I don't feed my cats ANY Blue Buffalo. I just don't trust it.


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## Cato (Aug 13, 2014)

Jenny bf said:


> I would be very careful with a kitten ths young and having diahorrea. They can dehydrate very quickly and there can be numerous reasons why, from food change to a bug or even parasites. In shelters a lot of bugs do the rounds and often come out once you have got home. A week is a long time to have this, so I would suggest giving your vet a call to discuss as well as changing the food. If he reccomends going in I would say that is a good idea Kittens can be notorious for behaving absolutely fine one minute and the next they have gone down hill and in a serious condition.
> Hope the kitten feels better soon


I have an appointment scheduled for Wednesday to get his rabies shot so I'll talk to the vet then, he is still drinking a normal amount of water though and I add water to his wet food aswell so hopefully he's getting enough water for right now. 

Since he's already having diarrhea would it be okay to switch his food right away or should I still transition the new food in? I just want to stop feeding him the Blue ASAP because I'm assuming it is the cause of the problem considering it did the same thing to my dog.


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## texasgirl (Feb 27, 2013)

Cato said:


> I have an appointment scheduled for Wednesday to get his rabies shot so I'll talk to the vet then, he is still drinking a normal amount of water though and I add water to his wet food aswell so hopefully he's getting enough water for right now.
> 
> Since he's already having diarrhea would it be okay to switch his food right away or should I still transition the new food in? I just want to stop feeding him the Blue ASAP because I'm assuming it is the cause of the problem considering it did the same thing to my dog.


 
I would definitely get them both off the dry ASAP! I sent you the link about the complaints pet owners wrote about with their animals getting very sick off the recent batches of dry AND wet food! Some have reported very serious ailments such as pancreatitis and some animals have had seizures.


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## Cato (Aug 13, 2014)

texasgirl said:


> I would definitely get them both off the dry ASAP! I sent you the link about the complaints pet owners wrote about with their animals getting very sick off the recent batches of dry AND wet food! Some have reported very serious ailments such as pancreatitis and some animals have had seizures.


I switched my dog to Wellness Core dry food and Wellness canned wet food already, and I plan to switch the kitten to Wellness dry food as soon as I can get to the store today and he eats Fancy Feast wet food, Grreat Choice wet food, and I'm planning on trying out Innova wet food because it's pretty cheap for the quality. 

I just don't know if I should switch him cold-turkey to the new Wellness dry food or if I should mix it with the Blue Wilderness? If he already has an upset stomach is it okay to switch over without transitioning? Or could it make him sicker?


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## texasgirl (Feb 27, 2013)

Cato said:


> I switched my dog to Wellness Core dry food and Wellness canned wet food already, and I plan to switch the kitten to Wellness dry food as soon as I can get to the store today and he eats Fancy Feast wet food, Grreat Choice wet food, and I'm planning on trying out Innova wet food because it's pretty cheap for the quality.
> 
> I just don't know if I should switch him cold-turkey to the new Wellness dry food or if I should mix it with the Blue Wilderness? If he already has an upset stomach is it okay to switch over without transitioning? Or could it make him sicker?


 
I suggest you stop cold turkey, don't mix it. These complaints about Blue Buffalo are alarming.


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## Cato (Aug 13, 2014)

texasgirl said:


> I suggest you stop cold turkey, don't mix it. These complaints about Blue Buffalo are alarming.


Okay thank you I'll switch him right away


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## texasgirl (Feb 27, 2013)

Keep us informed. Hope your pets get better!!


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

I'm not one to stick up for Blue Buffalo, it's never been one of my favorite foods. However, it seems that a lot of the complaints on that website are anecdotal conjecture without any real proof.

For example, the first story that came up for me was about the Yorkie that had pancreatitis. The first thing is that Yorkies are predisposed towards pancreatitis, it's a common ailment for them. High fat diets tend to help trigger it. Blue is a relatively high fat food. So yeah, he did OK on it for a while, but then pancreatitis is triggered. Get the dog feeling better, but then go back to the same food...Uh...really dumb. You move to a low fat food. Most dogs with pancreatitis need a food below 8% fat. 

In this situation BB is not a bad food, it's just not the right food for this dog. 

I only read a handful of stories, but none of the came across to me as "yes that may be caused by a problem with the food".


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## ashlee18 (May 21, 2014)

There are very few good reviews on any of the brands of food. I always feel like people don't take the time to review until they have had a bad experience. My dogs are on BB and are actually being switched to a different brand, for different reasons though.

My kitten had diarrhea after I brought him home. It turned out to be worms. They don't show symptoms right away. So i would bring your kitten to the vet as soon as you can.


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## texasgirl (Feb 27, 2013)

I did suggest taking the kitten to vet because of the diarrhea...

Doodlebug- I agree that there's no proof that it's BB causing this but I have read at least 8 pages of complaints on this site (a good chunk of my morning) and these pet owners admit they don't have proof but swear it's the food. Even the vets are telling them to stop feeding it. There are several posts of cats eating the wet and getting very sick, too, even though they've been on it a while. A lot of them were long time users who noticed it was happening with a new bag or can.

Cato- If your dog is also having problems then I, personally, would stop using the food. Why take the chance?


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

I think I'd be switching, just to be on the safe side!
Some batches could have been contaminated...


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

texasgirl said:


> Doodlebug- I agree that there's no proof that it's BB causing this but I have read at least 8 pages of complaints on this site (a good chunk of my morning) and these pet owners admit they don't have proof but swear it's the food. Even the vets are telling them to stop feeding it. There are several posts of cats eating the wet and getting very sick, too, even though they've been on it a while. A lot of them were long time users who noticed it was happening with a new bag or can.


I get people coming into my store all the time swearing that "it's the food" and when I start asking questions it often times becomes clear that it's not necessarily the food. 



texasgirl said:


> Even the vets are telling them to stop feeding it.


Most vets are preprogrammed to recommend Science Diet, Iams & Purina. If there's any question that a food, that isn't one of these 3, may be part of an issue...they automatically tell the client to stop feeding that food and feed one of the ones they recommend. Since most vets can't identify a good food, why would I expect them to be able to identify a bad one? 

As a side note...I wonder how many of the recent complaints are influenced by the publicity over the Purina lawsuit against BB? 

Again, I'm not a BB fan...but I think that if most of these complaints were investigated thoroughly the food would not be a player other than in situations where there was an underlying medical condition that the food was incompatible with.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Doodlebug, 
I think you're probably "Up" on all the food happenings, better than about anyone here...

I think it was you, that posted a link, to a food recall list...

What I'm wondering, is how long does it take to make that list, before we, the consumer's, are finally alerted, that a certain food is "Bad"?
Some of the scares have been terrifying, in the last 15 years...
Thanks!
Sharon


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## texasgirl (Feb 27, 2013)

doodlebug said:


> I get people coming into my store all the time swearing that "it's the food" and when I start asking questions it often times becomes clear that it's not necessarily the food.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
Then I guess we agree to disagree.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

10cats2dogs said:


> What I'm wondering, is how long does it take to make that list, before we, the consumer's, are finally alerted, that a certain food is "Bad"?
> Some of the scares have been terrifying, in the last 15 years...
> Thanks!
> Sharon


Sharon, it always makes me laugh when people talk about how terrified they are to feed raw. That one of their cats might get sick from eating raw.

I feel a *lot* safer feeding the boys something from the grocery store than feeding them something that was handled and packaged a LOT more than the meat in the packages. How many steps from the farmer to the styrofoam and how many steps from the farmer to the can... The more steps the higher margin of error.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Krissy, I know...during one of the bad scares and recalls, early 2000's, had me feeding my dog at that time, what I was feeding us! (I hadn't heard about Raw then!)
It seemed like name after name was being added to that list, and people were losing pets, left and right...

With the Horde I have (Genghis Khan, doesn't have anything on me!) I think feeding raw, would be awesome! 
I hope I get there, one of these days!
My schedule is not the most stable!


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

My kids are all on canned right now too, to keep things easier until Neelix is ready for Raw in a few months. I think my eye twitches a little each time I open a can and scoop it into their bowls. Always wondering if what's in the can is safe enough.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

10cats2dogs said:


> What I'm wondering, is how long does it take to make that list, before we, the consumer's, are finally alerted, that a certain food is "Bad"?


It isn't any length of time....it's about verification of a problem. These rumors about BB have been around for years, at least as long as I've had my store which is 4+ years. Here's an article from Truth About Pet Food from last year that indicates that the FDA is only receiving small numbers of complaints. Certainly not the massive numbers that the consumer affairs website indicates.

Beneful, Nutro and Blue Buffalo Complaints to FDA | Truth about Pet Food 

I was just looking further at the Consumer Affairs website and boy just about everything has negative reviews. iPhones and Samsung phones get just over 1 star, but go to Amazon or Best Buy and they have closer to 4 stars. No car brand has more than 2 stars. Grocery stores...none with more than 2 stars, I hear everybody loves Wegmans...but the get less than 2 stars. Those that do have higher ratings are what is called Consumer Affairs Accredited...which means that the company is paying a fee to Consumer Affairs. I would not rely on any info from this site...


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

OK! That's interesting on the reviews! 
Thanks for the response, Doodlebug!


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## texasgirl (Feb 27, 2013)

I wonder how many people know to contact the FDA regarding complaints of pet food? (I don't know)

Here's also what the FDA says: 

"This is not to say that there are not hundreds of sick pets out there right now linked to these pet foods. This is saying the FDA is not receiving those reports."

I also checked the Consumer Affairs website and, yes, lots of pet foods are getting bad reviews. Someone on this thread mentioned people are more likely to post a bad review than a good one. Being a retail manager for years I know this to be true. But that isn't to say their reviews are false.

Now what about the Companies to pay Consumer Affairs to be accredited? I checked those. What it seems to me the company investigates the reports and contacts the ones who post the bad reviews. There are several results: FACTUAL BASIS UNCERTAIN, RESOLVED OUTSIDE CONSUMER AFFAIRS, INSUFFICIENT RESPONSE, NO RESPONSE FROM CONSUMER. And some of those people who posted complaints have revised and changed their views. It seems they work with the company and the consumers to resolve the issue.

Iams is accredited and received only about 1.1 stars. They have a rep who is responding and asking the consumer to contact them.

I don't think you should discount this based on the fact the company has paid a fee to investigate.

(Blue Buffalo is not accredited and has not responded to the complaints. I think they can afford to pay the fee at the least)

I have much respect for you Doodlebug and you certainly do your homework but I still agree to disagree with you.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Some kittens can't process food as well as others. Rule out worms or parasite first. Take a stool sample to the vet. If not parasites or worms then try Science Diet I/D. It has worked wonders on my 2 that have runny stools.


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## texasgirl (Feb 27, 2013)

Cato- How is your kitten doing?


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

texasgirl said:


> I wonder how many people know to contact the FDA regarding complaints of pet food? (I don't know)
> 
> Here's also what the FDA says:
> 
> "This is not to say that there are not hundreds of sick pets out there right now linked to these pet foods. This is saying the FDA is not receiving those reports."


The vets certainly know the reporting protocols and have done a great job with the Chinese Chicken Jerky treat issues. So if they were seeing trends that they felt had a direct link to the food, they'd be reporting it. Besides, these people were able to figure out how to complain on website...there's really no excuse for them to say they don't know how to report it.

I've read more of those complaints, and maybe I'm too logical of a thinker, but the vast majority do not present enough facts to draw a hard conclusion that the food was the problem. And some of them, it's downright ridiculous. So I'll stand by my opinion, whether you agree with me or not


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