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Conference misery::feline

Title:	Meower Power - Where Differing Opinions are Respected
Notice:	purrrrr...
Moderator:	JULIET::CORDES_JA

Created:	Wed Nov 13 1991
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1079
Total number of notes:	28858

921.0. "food or what for young cat with loose stools?" by PADC::KOLLING (Karen) Thu Aug 03 1995 13:48

    I'm wondering about what to feed my new (5 month old) kitten.
    He is still having loose stools and has been for 4-5 weeks since
    he was first found after an accident.  (He is healing well from
    the surgery from the accident, and is in fact all better in
    that regard except for a slight limp and some stitches that need to
    come out.)
    
    He has tested negative for FeLV, FIV, and the vet said no way does
    he have FIP as he would have other indications that he had it.  He had
    medication for tapeworms and shows no signs of those.  He's had several
    stool float tests which I gather check for other things that have all
    been negative.  He's been negative on a gairdia(sp?) test.  He's had
    medication (a something) for this and then a medication met something
    for giardia and a few other things.
    
    I had been feeding him dry CD.  About a week and a half ago I changed
    him to dry WD (high fiber) and miraculously his stools firmed up
    over the next several days, and the vet thought he was home free,
    except he wanted me to change him to 1/2 WD 1/2 Tender Vittles as the
    WD is not nutritious enough for a young cat.  That was Wednesday of
    last week.  I started to add in Tender Vittles and I slightly reduced
    the amount I was feeding him since the vet said he was gaining weight
    too fast.
    
    On Friday the vet left on a three week vacation and bingo Friday night
    the stools were like cake batter again.  I went back to 100% WD without
    result but maybe I didn't do that long enough.  I then tried 100%
    Tender Vittles, thinking it might be more gentle on his system, but
    that's worse.  So this morning he's on 100% WD again.
    
    Any ideas?  Does this sound like a food allergy?  The vet left me the
    name of a substitute vet, but I took one of my cats to that one once
    and I don't much like him.  The good news is that Blackie (name of the
    day) is bouncy, healthy looking, not dehydrated.  He has 2 or 3 stools
    every 24 hours, so this is not debilitating(sp?) him, although I'm sure
    its uncomfortable.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
921.1		JULIET::CORDES_JA	Eight Tigers on My Couch	`Thu Aug 03 1995 18:04`	16
	Karen, Science Diet Light Maintenance is pretty high in fiber. I have Carrie on it for her chronic colitis. Perhaps it would help the little guy. Actually, maybe you could mix it with Science Diet Growth formula so he'd get the higher fiber as well as the higher kitten food calories. I've done something similar with mine. I've mixed the light maintenance with the regular maintenance so that Carrie still gets her higher fiber food and the others get a few extra calories since they don't have colitis or need their weight controlled. When you're feeding 8 cats in a sitting it's hard to separate everyone out to different places for different foods. Jan
921.2		KAMALA::DREYER	More great memories	`Thu Aug 03 1995 19:26`	7
	When Buki was a kitten and had very loose stool, my vet had me mix Metamucil in with canned cat food. It's very high fiber, and does not just work as a laxative as many people assume. It works as a regulator to adjust too loose or too hard stools. Speak to your vet about this and see if she (he) agrees. Laura
921.3	Is He an Over Eager Eater?	PCBUOA::FEHSKENS	len - reformed architect	`Fri Aug 04 1995 06:59`	21
	Persistent loose bowels in a kitten showing no other signs of pathology is often a consequence of ... OVEREATING! Really - I don't know if it applies in this case, but Floyd had this problem. As the runt of the litter, he apparently wasn't able to get his "fair share" at the banquet, and when I brought him home he was just a tiny little bag of bones. He immediately took advantage of the lack of serious competition at the food bowls by eating everything, and he had routinely, uhm, soft poops. And such a big bulging belly that the vet thought he had worms, and he got dewormed again! Once he learned he didn't have to be so "opportunistic", his poop firmed up nicely, his tummy's sleeker, and we're all happy campers. I found this in the Cornell book. len.
921.4		TPSYS::GLADDING		`Fri Aug 04 1995 11:32`	7
	Hi there, Did you try adding canned pumpkin to his food? That always works wonders on the foster kittens that I've had at my house. I usually add 1 tsp. to about 1/2 c. of food. Pam
921.5	four kitties in one cottage, over catmax	PADC::KOLLING	Karen	`Tue Aug 15 1995 13:31`	11
	Well, after 7-8 days of absolutely nothing but dry WD, his stools finally started being normal. I'm leaving him on WD until his vet returns from vacation next week, even though the vet said WD is not nutritious enough for a 5 month old kitten, since I think his innards need some stability. He looks great, and thinks Sweetie is a big kitty designed to cuddle with (Sweetie has finally gotten used to being a cuddlee as well as a cuddler :-) and he and Little Bit chase each other all over the house, zoom zoom. Holly still hisses at him, but her heart isn't in it, he can walk by 2-3 inches away without getting batted :-)
921.6		HELIX::SKALTSIS	Deb	`Tue Aug 15 1995 14:14`	6
	Karen, I wonder if you gave him some vitimin supplements (pet tabs, or somethign available at the petstore) if that might be helpful. Deb
921.7		PADC::KOLLING	Karen	`Tue Aug 15 1995 14:31`	5
	Re: .6 I'm going to ask the vet about that. With 4 cats total, there's a lot to be said for not having to enforce separate menus for each one :-)