Kitten eating litter, then diarrhea, now not eating much food.

[andym1982]

Hi all,

I've recently gotten a new kitten, she is roughly 10 weeks old now. She has adjusted really well to living with me and I haven't had any issues until last night, when my girlfriend saw her eating some of her litter. This concerned me but I hoped it was her being curious. I haven't seen her do it since, but I did then find diarrhea in her litter tray this morning (first time she's had it, her stools have been fine before). I was assuming this was probably a symptom of her body reacting to her eating some litter but wanted to check on here if this is the most likely cause rather than leave it to chance.

I have read that it's possible she is needing more minerals and hence she is sensing them in the litter (this could make some sense as I changed from rose scented litter to standard natural mineral litter after we ran out of the other brand.

The other thing I have noticed is that after eating some of her wet food, she seems to scrape her front left paw along the floor (to me it seems like simulating covering something with litter). I was wondering if this was related?

The other thing I would like to ask clarification on is I have noticed that since last night and her subsequent diarrhea she didn't want to eat much this morning. She seemed to just have a nibble on a few occasions and leave it. Could this also be a reaction to her diarrhea and is there anything I can do to encourage her to eat more? The food I am feeding her is Schesir Kitten Chicken with Aloe, which has added vitamins and minerals. Since she got a taste of this she has turned her nose up at all other foods, including foods she had eaten previously such as hard boiled eggs.

I've included the ingredients of the Schesir food below:

Ingredients:
Chicken with Aloe: Chicken (61%), Aloe (5%), sunflower oil (1.6%), rice (1%), vegetable gelatin, minerals.


Additives:
Nutritional additives/kg:
Chicken with Aloe:
Vitamin A (1,700 IU), vitamin D3 (120 IU), vitamin E (180 mg), taurine (200 mg), zinc sulphate heptahydrate (383 mg), ferrous sulphate monohydrate (38 mg), manganese sulphate monohydrate (12 mg), potassium iodide (12 mg), copper sulphate pentahydrate (6 mg).

For me this is both a behaviour issue and a health issue so I couldn't decide which forum to post it in, I hope I've chosen the correct one!

Thanks in advance!

 

[red top rescue]

It is important to know if your litter is the kind that clumps or not.  If it is just clay litter, eating some of it won't hurt her.  However, if it is clumping litter, then it is possible that some has clumped inside her and could cause intestinal obstruction.  If that is the case, you should take her to the vet and get that checked right away.  May young kittens eat litter the first few times they try it, so we never use clumping litter with very young kittens and instead use something natural that will not hurt them if they do eat a little of it.  Ten weeks is a little old for eating litter, but perhaps she sampled it because yu changed from rose scented to plain unscented(which most cats prefer as they do not like perfumes).

As for the scraping of the paw after eating, many cats instinctively "bury" any leftover food, as they would in the wild, to hide it from others.  They will also "bury" food they don't like -- if your cats sniffs at food and then makes the burying motion, you can be pretty sure she doesnt like it.

 

[andym1982]

Hi, thank you for your reply.

No, the litter is not clumping. It is this one, Friskies Catfresh Classic: http://www.petmaniashop.it/lettiere/40-friskies-lettiera-per-gatti.html. Apologies it is in Italian (think it might be a product marketed mainly in Europe and not UK and USA?) but the 'assorbente' on the cover means 'absorbing' litter, so that's at least partially good news that it's not going to block her up in any way. Since I have come home from work, Lola, the kitten, has finished her food from this morning and has now eaten more I have opened for her, plus she has left a little present for me in her litter tray, which was not diarrhea this time! Phew! I am hoping she was just 'testing' the new litter out of curiosity and perhaps she has decided not to eat it again thanks to her diarrhea putting her off trying it anymore. Here's hoping!

Her paw scraping tends to come after she has eaten. She has really been keen on this food, turning her nose up at other snacks I've offered, so I am thinking it must the burying of food instinct you mentioned.

I am taking her for her second set of vaccinations next Tuesday, so I am going to ask the vet to do a general checkup also and will mention any peculiarities with the litter, diarrhea, etc. should they happen again this week.

Thanks again for your help

 

[red top rescue]

Good news all around then.  I'm glad it wasn't clumping litter and glad she is feeling normal again!