New kitten soft stool issue & food issues

[pixiesmom]

I came to this board in July when my Pixie was dx. At the time I had Pix 10yrs. and 17 year old Keegan. Keegan passed away in August and
we lost Pixie due to cancer (he was OTJ at the time)
Since then we have opened our home to 3 new rescue kittens. (My son is volunteering for a kitten rescue organization for a school project ;-) )
They are a delight! They are active, playful, sweet and cuddly.

I am hesitant to post only because I feel that I may be chastised for feeding them dry.
Please understand that I am able to provide a great home for these kitties but have to do so within my budget.
I do also feed FF classics when I can, which is often.

2 of the cats are doing wonderfully....you could probably feed them tin cans and there would be no issues.
My dream is to have all 3 cats on the same food. The same affordable food.

Emmie (the first rescue we got) has had loose stools since day 1. I pulled dry at one point thinking it was the culprit and things momentarily cleared up.
Since then I have played the food roller coaster.
We have tried (slow intro with each):

Royal Canin Kitten (she came home on this)
Purina One Healthy Metabolism (other 2 cats on now)
Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach...Lamb
LID Natural Balance Chicken & Pea (only Emmie on now) just started this

I am able to feed Emmie away from the other cats however it is not ideal since I would like to be able to leave food down for them always.
I had this problem with Pixie when he was a kitten and putting him on IAMS hairball cleared things right up. Did it serve him well in long run....maybe not. So I didn't try this yet.
Keegan was also on IAMS hairball and lived a healthy 17 years.

Right now I would like to see if the LID works for her.
I am looking for suggestions where to go from here should the LID not work out.
Do I try another protein??

I should tell you that she has been looked at by the vet, de-wormed (2x) and re-checked...he believes it is just a food issue.
She is crazy playful, cuddly, eats well, drinks well....

Can I pull all cat food and just feed, say chicken, for a few days to see if the stools firm up without doing any more upset to the GI system?
I really hate taking backward steps.
Thanks for any help.

And I searched for another board that I thought may be able to help out and pretty much didn't find anything I trusted.

 

[BJM]

Make a list of the ingredients for all the foods and see how many times each of them show up. Typically, a protein source is a culprit, which may include a grain or a legume.

Also, you could try adding 1/8 teaspoon (because its a kitten, not an adult) of psyllium powder/husk to see if that helped.

To do a proper food elimination trial, a novel protein (ex venison and pea) is used for about 2 months, then the suspected food is re-introduced and the cat watched for symptoms.

There are some blood tests for allergies that can be done. While not perfect, they may help eliminate suspects.

 

[KPassa]

If cost is a problem, try seeing how they do with Friskies pâtés instead of FF. They're a lot cheaper, too (~$0.50 a 5.5oz can vs. ~$0.50 a 3oz can of FF).

As to the loose stool, I would probably first recommend an elimination diet and start with just feeding Chicken. If the stool doesn't firm up after about a week, switch to just beef, rinse and repeat.

 

[pixiesmom]

As to the loose stool, I would probably first recommend an elimination diet and start with just feeding Chicken. If the stool doesn't firm up after about a week, switch to just beef, rinse and repeat.

Do you mean the Friskies or FF chicken or do you mean just plain human grade chicken breast??

 

[pixiesmom]

I have to say that the LID did not work. I started typing this msg a couple days ago and just submitted today.
Emmie will not touch the LID now....just turns and walks away.

We are here.....
Today she had chicken FF with pumpkin (about 1 tsp pumpkin)....I will continue this and consider this my new starting point.
I am going to keep a food ingredient journal.

Please advise me on how long to let the soft stool continue on just the FF chicken before making a switch....give it a solid week or 2?
I hope to see if the pumpkin helps and slowly wean off that to see if it makes a difference.

Please know that I will make FF or Friskies pate work if necessary...or whatever.
Maybe I will have to give the other 2 kittens a bit of dry/wet combo, but if Emmie need just wet, then that
is what I will do.

 

[KPassa]

Do you mean the Friskies or FF chicken or do you mean just plain human grade chicken breast??

Friskies or FF chicken. Plain chicken breast is lacking in nutrients and is not a complete meal for cats.

I would give it about a week or two to see if it helps before trying another protein. Of course, if the chicken makes it worse, then you'll know pretty quickly and I would stop feeding her that. ;-) Many cats are allergic to beef (like my Mikey), fish, and some even to chicken.

Then, there are gluten allergies, which seem to be much more prevalent and can cause loose stool and/or itchiness, dry skin, over-grooming, etc.... I think FF has gluten in many of their varieties whereas Friskies uses rice more, IIRC.