My Kitten Is In A Weird Situation...

[KittyKat184]

Hi all,

So here is the situation. My 4 months kitten is very playing, drinking and eating well. Im currently feeding him both dry and wet Blue Buffalo (changing brand after he has finished this batch). For the past week or so, his stool has been inconsistent. He has perfectly normal stool for a day or 2, then another day he has either loose stool or diarrhea, I can't tell because his stool is entirely sticked and covered by litters. I am not sure what the color is and could not tell if there is worm or hairball because, again, the litters will just stick and cover the whole thing, I use World Best clumping litter. I have no idea what is happening? Any one has encountered this situation? And also, does anyone use the same litter without having problem checking kitten stool?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Just because he's a kitten, and "at that age," I'd have him wormed. They almost ALL have them. As for the litter, clumping litter does stick to stools if they are the least moist. I've never seen one that doesn't.

 

[Snowhite525]

Yes definitely deworm him. It isn't going to hurt anything and would just error on the side of caution. Intestinal parasites can cause diarrhea and stinky abnormal stool. Even if it's just intermittent. Like mamanyt said clumping litter sticks well to bowel movements that are moist. It's doing what it's supposed to do. Stick, clump, and absorb the moisture. If your curiosity is getting the best of you and you really wanted to know what's in the stool....say you observe something that looks like a worm-you can do like we "poop detectives" do and pull it out of the box then pick it apart with something. But do make sure to WASH YOUR HANDS after. Another thing you could do-which is probably a much better idea ...drop a sample off at your vets office. It's okay if there's litter on it. They would be able to run the fecal sample and properly identify abnormalities/possible parasites to help you fix the problem.

 

[ghostly]

We noticed with BB (and this is why we originally stopped using it) that it gave all my pets diarrhea. Regular, Basics, Freedom, and Wilderness. I have no idea why. They all had different known sensitivities and the kinds we gave them did not contain the ingredients they were sensitive to. It was an adult dog, my senior cat, and the 1-year-old (at the time) cat. Very weird. Def get him wormed, if the vet says he is otherwise totally healthy, I would try just the switch.

 

[Snowhite525]

The food could def be causing the diarrhea as well...If you do decide to do a diet change, try to do it gradually to avoid a worse upset gi system. But honestly deworming him is very high on the list for things to do.

 

[KittyKat184]

Thank you for your responses. He actually got a dewormer about more than a week ago because i noticed his round firm tummy and eventually, some tapeworm segments crawling out from his bottom That was disgusting. I also have another vet appointment next week for his second round vaccine shot and also another dewormer (another type i guess?) Or probably the soft stools/diarrhea is the side effect after he is dewormed? I have read some where else about that problem.
BB he is having right now could easily last for this whole month. Should i start to change his food to another brand now or should I wait until the end of this month (when his food almost run out) and do the transitioning process?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

That's probably your culprit, right there. Deworming often causes diarrhea in cats. He may not need to change foods at all once the wormer has done its job and is out of his system. The issue isn't extreme, and BB is a good quality food, so I don't see why you can't wait to transition, if you decide to do so.

 

[KittyKat184]

That's probably your culprit, right there. Deworming often causes diarrhea in cats. He may not need to change foods at all once the wormer has done its job and is out of his system. The issue isn't extreme, and BB is a good quality food, so I don't see why you can't wait to transition, if you decide to do so.

I see, thank you for your input. I have done a decent amount of research and they all saying BB is well known because of their marketing strategy, the food quality is not that great compared to other brands in the same range.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL, true, but then I think in terms of the comparison with Friskies kibbles, which is the ONLY food my cat will touch. And I've tried...OH HOW I HAVE TRIED, to get her on something better. She's gone 3 days without eating before I caved to avoid Fatty Liver Disease.

 

[KittyKat184]

LOL, true, but then I think in terms of the comparison with Friskies kibbles, which is the ONLY food my cat will touch. And I've tried...OH HOW I HAVE TRIED, to get her on something better. She's gone 3 days without eating before I caved to avoid Fatty Liver Disease.

Aww, I know some cat is very picky in food. We cannot do much about it
I am actually thinking transition him to either ACANA, Orijen or Instinct Raw Boost, but I haven't decide yet. I need to do more research on those 3 brands

 

[Mamanyt1953]

We have a whole section of articles on feeding cats Cat Food & Feeding | The Cat Site , covering all sorts of diets, and an entire forum Cat Nutrition about it as well. That may give you a start on your research.