# Kitten with sensitive stomach? please help



## parisgreen (May 1, 2007)

My two 10 wks babes came to my place last Tuesday after they been fixed. They have been given iams dry and wet for kitten from the foster home. Check through the web I gave them wellness dry and wet mixed with some chicken soup dry for kittens.

While Ola is doing really well, Ortiz is continuing very "soft". This afternoon it gets like a smoothie so we took him to the vet. He had a fecal flotation test and the result is negative. The vet also checked his temperature and said he is pretty healthy. The reason that he has slight diaria may due to new environment and new food.

The vet gave us metronidazole and recommended the hill's prescription I/D wet and dry. I checked the label and found by-product in the dry and corn flour in the wet. With what I learned from this forum, I am not certain if I shall feed him the precription food. 

Since he doesn't have worms and parasites, I don't want to give him the antibiotics if not necessary. Anybody has experience or suggestion on this situation? TIA.

As I said, I am a new Mom and very anxious about my babes. This is my first time having cats and I really want to give them a good healthy life.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Sounds like you made the food change cold turkey...that could be the cause of the diarrhea. The stress of a new home as well. The I/D for a few days won't hurt, but I probably wouldn't use it as it would be another food change.

I would give some acidophilus and maybe some digestive enzymes and pumpkin before I pumped metronidazole into a kitten that age. Slippery elm also might help, try the syrup at the end of this article

http://www.littlebigcat.com/?action=lib ... lipperyelm

Also, it sounds like you're mixing wet and dry food together. Unless it's being eaten in a short period of time (15 minutes or so?), I don't recommend it. It's a breeding ground for bacteria that lives on the dry food.


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## weluvcookie (Dec 6, 2005)

I had the same problem when I brought Riley home. It actually took a month before his system adjusted to his new home/food/family, etc. He had diarrhea which slowly turned to "cow pie" style, and are now mostly normal. 

I had no idea what he was being fed before, but from the looks of the animal shelter I got him from, they didn't feed good food and they didn't feed enough food.
Riley and all the other animals were sick and scrawny.

The nice part is, Riley is so grateful for his food, that he'll eat ANYTHING I put down for him! He's a little piggy! :lol:


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## manitu22 (Apr 25, 2003)

I agree with Doodlebug in that the metronodizole should be avoided. My cats were on it and my vets tried other things before subjecting them to that drug. It can have some side effects and tastes awful to them unless you can get it compounded into a powder which is put into a veggie cap (you still have the pleasure of trying to get it down their throat). I just think the metronodizole seems unnecessary at this point. Sudden food changes can most definately cause their stools to become soft. 

I think your kitty just needs time to adjust to the new food and environment. Some digestive enzymes would probably help. My vet prescribed Benebac for my cats which is a probiotic which will help put some good bacteria back in your baby's digestive system.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Also, I wouldn't consider a negative fecal at 10 weeks to proof positive. Most kittens get roundworms from their mother through suckling and at 10 weeks the worms may not have had enough time to mature to the point they're producing eggs.


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## Nini (May 6, 2007)

My kitten Mew had the same problem. While Isis was perfectly fine with both dry and wet food, Mew's stools would always be soft at best, completely liquid the rest of the time, and very foul-smelling. Back then I did not know any better and the only thing that would work to add bulk to her stool was boiled potato with the wet food.

I took her to the vet after three weeks of vain efforts to get her back to normal (she was eating only Innova wet food and snacks of dry food), because it seemed so uncomfortable for her to be this way, and also because she had not been tested for FIV/FeLV yet. Turned out the vet put her on flagyl for ten days, she HATED it and it did not change a thing.

Then the vet prescribed a good wormer product, even though her fecal exam showed no worms, and it took care of the problem in five days. She has been perfectly fine ever since. Maybe try deworming your kitty if he does not settle down with the new food after a week or two!


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## manitu22 (Apr 25, 2003)

Not to raise any suspicions but my cats also tested negative in a fecal exam for parasites but they ended up having a rare parasite that wouldn't show up in a typical fecal exam.


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## parisgreen (May 1, 2007)

Thanks to you all. I think the scary vet visit itself may have something to do with Ortiz :twisted: His stuff is back to normal today. 

Based on all the suggestions, I didn't change the food and didn't feed him the antibiotics either. I am so happy that he is better now. But I will definitely watch closely on the parasite when they grow older.


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