Proplan Causing Problems?

gitabooks

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I've fostered a number of kittens for the Humane Society where I volunteer. The shelter provides free canned and dry kitty food for foster families to give their cats. The kitten food is Purina Proplan and it worked well for some kittens, but in two instances now it apparently seemed to cause vomiting and diarrhea, loss of appetite, and lethargy for days on end. In one case the food had been bought on-line and shipped to us for our foster-fail cat who then got sick. We returned it and switched her to another diet that hasn't caused a problem.

Now I have some new kittens and for seemingly no reason my strongest, healthiest and largest kitten, Zeke, started having water diarrhea, vomiting and getting dangerously weak and thin. He also had fleas, so we treated him for that, but he had already been dewormed and was healthy. We got some EN dry food, started him on antibiotics, and gave him some Performatrin wet kitten food and in less than a day he improved. He has solid poop, no vomit, lots of energy and a HUGE appetite. He is apparently eating both wet and dry food and his stomach is round and full.

Was it the Proplan that caused the problem?

Thanks!
 

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I'm not sure about if the food cause diarrhea but I know that intestinal parasites can cause weakness, vomiting and diarrhea.

So after he's treated his symptoms stopped. So I guess it should be the intestinal parasites that's causing him to be unwell.
 

haleyds

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I use ProPlan foods and have never had any issues with it in my two cats. But it could be a specific allergy or something in those certain cats that it bothers, it's rare that you can feed more than three cats the same kind of food and then all respond positively to it lol.
 

haleyds

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I'm not sure about if the food cause diarrhea but I know that intestinal parasites can cause weakness, vomiting and diarrhea.

So after he's treated his symptoms stopped. So I guess it should be the intestinal parasites that's causing him to be unwell.
I also agree with this, intestinal parasites spread very easily and the kitten doesn't have to be weak to contract them.
 

ljm824

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I'm feeding ProPlan Focus kitten canned food and both kittens have had ongoing diarrhea.

They were just wormed (again) yesterday by the vet to see if it resolves. I took them off the canned food yesterday as well. As of this morning the diarrhea is still present so I'm just waiting to see if it resolves soon. They'll go back to the vet Monday if not.
 
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gitabooks

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I'm not sure about if the food cause diarrhea but I know that intestinal parasites can cause weakness, vomiting and diarrhea.

So after he's treated his symptoms stopped. So I guess it should be the intestinal parasites that's causing him to be unwell.
They were already treated for worms twice so that most likely wasn't the issue. At the vet they were treated for fleas though, since they got an issue with that.

Zeke is doing great on his new food, especially with the dry mixed in with that.
 
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gitabooks

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I'm feeding ProPlan Focus kitten canned food and both kittens have had ongoing diarrhea.

They were just wormed (again) yesterday by the vet to see if it resolves. I took them off the canned food yesterday as well. As of this morning the diarrhea is still present so I'm just waiting to see if it resolves soon. They'll go back to the vet Monday if not.
Poor guys. Are they on any milk at all? Catalina, Zeke's sister, did very poorly on milk and was stunted, having diarrhea, and needed fluids twice. She got much better once taken off the milk and put on canned food and dry food.
Have you tried EN food?
 

ljm824

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Poor guys. Are they on any milk at all? Catalina, Zeke's sister, did very poorly on milk and was stunted, having diarrhea, and needed fluids twice. She got much better once taken off the milk and put on canned food and dry food.
Have you tried EN food?
They haven't had any milk. Just ProPlan and Iam's Proactive Health Kitten. The vet said take them off the canned and do dry only but I don't want to do that long-term. I'm keeping them on dry to see if this diarrhea resolves and then I'll need to find a different wet food. I hadn't heard of EN food. I'll have to take a look at it
 

haleyds

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I have only ever used the dry from proplan never the wet, let me know what you determine so I can avoid it in the future.
 

ljm824

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I have only ever used the dry from proplan never the wet, let me know what you determine so I can avoid it in the future.
The shelter I volunteer at uses the ProPlan dry kitten and the kittens seem to love it and have no problems. I'll post back about the canned if I can figure out if it's the cause. I got some EN wet food to try.
 

maggiedemi

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gitabooks- Was it the wet or dry Pro Plan that caused the diarrhea? I've never had a problem with their wet food.
 
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gitabooks

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gitabooks- Was it the wet or dry Pro Plan that caused the diarrhea? I've never had a problem with their wet food.
Wet food for kittens. Chicken and liver flavor.
 

_spadekitty

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May have just been a chicken sensitivity, my cat has one and gets the same symptoms; vomiting, diarrhea, etc., but since he's not a little kitten he doesn't really get weak or lethargic.

I just avoid all foods with any type of chicken for him now. Maybe just keep a bag of a limited diet food around for the sensitive kittens in the future? I doubt it was a problem with the batch of Proplan itself, but could be a possibility
 

thegreystalker

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We like Pro Plan here at our house, but we stick to specific formulas. There are several iterations of Purina Pro Plan but my gal prefers Pro Plan True Nature, which she has never rejected. The True Nature Chicken, Turkey and Beef pates are quickly consumed. As for dry versions, she likes the True Nature Chicken and Egg recipe. Never had a health problem with True Nature. All of the other varieties have corn, wheat or soy content, which I prefer to avoid.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

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... The kitten food is Purina Proplan and it worked well for some kittens, but in two instances now it apparently seemed to cause vomiting and diarrhea, loss of appetite, and lethargy for days on end. ...

Now I have some new kittens and for seemingly no reason my strongest, healthiest and largest kitten, Zeke, started having water diarrhea, vomiting and getting dangerously weak and thin. ... We got some EN dry food, started him on antibiotics, and gave him some Performatrin wet kitten food and in less than a day he improved. He has solid poop, no vomit, lots of energy and a HUGE appetite. ..
I would think it might be hard to determine if it was the Proplan food that caused the diarrhea, vomiting, weakness... since besides the change of food, at the same time you also added antibiotics. It could have been the antibiotic that made the tide turn for Zeke - hard to say. But if he's doing good on the new food, no need to make changes!
 
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gitabooks

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Zeke and Honor, two of the four, weighed enough to go up for adoption! They are just on dry right now to prevent issues while at the shelter. However, I tried feeding Catalina and Nostalgia the same food, thinking it was only Zeke that had the issue, and when I tried feeding the Proplan kitten they started vomiting too! When I switched back they stopped. I can't say that it's particularly the Proplan, but I don't trust it enough to use it again.
Catalina and Nostalgia both went back to the shelter today because they weighed enough as well. They will be on dry only too.
 

maggiedemi

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I just bought a bag of Pro Plan True Nature Chicken and Egg dry food. I haven't opened it yet though. It's grain free.
 

haleyds

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Okay I will add that I have switched to purina One plan recently, because they have a sensitive systems blend that I have to have for Princess. I used to use the one plan kitten chow when miss kitty was a baby as well and both of my cats seem to love it much more over the proplan. I'm probably just going to stick to the One plan after seeing this forum lol.
 
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