Kittens with soft poops

[tx_kat]

We found our kittens, Abby and Casper, and their three litter mates on our neighbor's roof seven weeks ago when they were about six weeks old. They have been dewormed twice, are up to date on shots, and have been fixed already. They have grown like weeds, eat well, drink lots, and wear us out with their very high energy levels.

They were weaned when we found them, took to chicken baby food readily, and had great poops at first. Then my husband fed them a can of adult cat food (he didn't understand what kittens need and he felt really bad) and they all had really bad diarrhea. We switched them to Innova Cat & Kitten canned food and Innova Kitten dry food for snacking and things got better in the poop department.

Then they started having soft poops and diarrhea, so they got a dose of Strongid T (I saw a long white worm), which helped for a couple of weeks and really increased their already high activity level.  However, even after the second dose of dewormer, Abby still has soft, light colored, stinky poops, and Casper has somewhat soft but formed normal colored poops.  I'm  worried about Abby's bottom. It looks red and irritated from all the soft poops she's been having. I changed them both to Beechnut chicken baby food a day ago, and their poops are starting to be more formed, but are still soft.

I'm taking them both to the vet on Monday (and will rush them to the 24-hour vet if anything happens before then), but I'm wondering about something: could the fact that the kittens chewed (and probably ingested) part of a cardboard box a few weeks ago be part of the problem?

Thanks!

 

[mrblanche]

It could be all sorts of things, but giardia, coccidia, and other such intestinal parasites are always a possibility on kittens that have been outdoors.
 

 

[tx_kat]

I completely understand about the various bacteria, viruses, protozoa and parasites that can cause kittens and cats to have diarrhea (which is why I'm taking the kittens to the vet in the morning), but I was wondering if, in anyone's experience, chewed up cardboard has caused an intestinal blockage significant enough to cause diarrhea.

 

[mrblanche]

It could...but likely would cause constipation, instead. The good news is it's organic and should break down, eventually, right?
 

 

[stephanietx]

We went through this with Tumbles.  It ended up, he cannot tolerate a completely grain-free diet. Our vet gave us a trial size bag of Royal Canin Gastrointestinal HE to try and within days he had normal poops.  He still eats the RC Gastro HE mixed with some grain free dry (Taste of the Wild) for his dry food snacks throughout the day, but gets most of his nutrition from Innova EVO canned.  All of this to say, the food may be too rich for her system, so it may be a simple change of dry food is needed.
 

 

[tx_kat]

The vet said she thinks that poor Abby's intestines may be a little scarred and inflamed from the worms she's had, and the inflammation is causing the soft stools.  She gave Abby a 10-day supply of Albon / Amforol and suggested adding a little "weight loss" kibble to their regular kibble to add some fiber.  

  I hope this works.