kitty with diarrhea

[Marie and Kailee]

Hello everyone,
It has been a long, long time since I've visited here. After Kailee died I didn't see the need to until now. I started the raw food diet by Dr. Pierson when Kailee was diagnosed with diabetes but a couple months later she died from pancreatic cancer. We now have two two-year-old cats, Max and Nutmeg doing great on the raw food. We are also fostering five kittens that are approx. 4-1/2 weeks old as of this date. When I picked them up from the shelter I was told they had problems with canned cat food. There was not a mother involved so they didn't get to nurse as they should. The kittens were 3 weeks old when I got them and were on dry food. As soon as I brought them home I started them on raw with a little canned. Right away someone had diarrhea, and my was it smelly. Now that it's been over a week, I figured the problem really should be resolved but it's not. Just this morning there were 2 evidences someone had problems. I looked at each bum and found it was the smallest kitten that had the issue since hers was moist and the others were dry. Diarrhea is still quite smelly, as well as their drier poo. Could this one have digestive trouble? They all did fine on dry food but I HATE dry food. When I try to put a slightly larger amount of canned in with the raw, diarrhea is what happens. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

 

[Jill and Remi]

Some cats have adjustments to any diet change. I have one and since she was a kitten any minor change I make to her diet gives her a bout of diarrhea.
You need to make sure they do not have worms and make sure they are staying hydrated. I hope that her tummy is better soon!

 

[Taline & Bibo]

You can call the vet, and have him give you some amoxcicillin for the diarrhea. it's a pink liquid med, it works so well for my cat whenever he has diarrhea. Are you gonna keep the kittens, if not, let them eat more of the canned food, because once adopted, they're probably gonna be on dry or canned food. I know you want to head start on their diet, and give them the best care by feeding them raw food, but if it's not working, try to feed them canned food with a little bit of dry in it. It's only a suggestion from a newbie. Good luck and thank you for fostering helpless little souls.
Taline

 

[Marie and Kailee]

I won't be keeping the kittens but by feeding them the raw and adding a little more canned over time they should adjust well to it. I'm going to isolate their feeding, one kitten at a time, and see what the reaction is. I'm hoping it's only the one kitty. I think there would be a whole lot of diarrhea if it were more than one. I hope Ginger, the one I believe is having the problem, doesn't have a disease of some sort. I don't think the shelter will pay for this kind of thing since they're on a fixed budget. They would lay that on the adopting family.

They always have water available but they don't drink too much. Whatever new I put in the bowl at feeding time is what's leftover come the next meal. Also, the shelter provides a de-wormer. It's given every 10-14 days.

 

[Jill and Remi]

My Sasha had diarrhea bad when I first got her and I worried too. Turns out she just has a seriously sensitive digestive system. She was dewormed twice and was even on something liquid for it. Nothing worked until I figured out it always happened with the food change. So I really hope that is all it is for your babies or Ginger.