Hi

Hope someone can help me figure out what might have caused my kittens running tummy last night.

On Monday, he was only feed Smilla 'Poultry with Poultry Hearts' and gave him his Milbemax wormer. He weighs 2.1kg so vet gave me half an adult tablet (2kg-4kg) to give him.

Then yesterday he had Nature's Menu. I am feeding him the adult pouches as he didn't seem to like the kitten ones. So yesterday he between him and my other kitten they had 3 pouches. They had the beef & chicken flavour and the chicken & turkey flavour.

He had one large loose stool in the evening and I'm trying to figure out what could cause it. He seems perfectly fine. He's active, bright but hasn't really touched him breakfast this morning.

I'm trying to figure out if one of the foods or the Milbemax upset his tummy and maybe someone on here might have had a similar problems. Could it have something to do with the offal content of these foods? How long would it take between consumming the food and seeing a reaction, if food related?

We off on holiday next week and the cattery is suppose to feed him Nature's Menu but if it is causing him problems then I want to provide an alternative.

Sorry for waffling on and thanks
CADS

Ari has soft poos with Smilla Tuna and Sardines flavours. She's fine with the poultry and hearts.

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Considering that you have given a wormer and changed the diet, it is impossible to tell whether the soft poop is the result of the wormer (possible as at the end of the day it is a chemobomb that is harsh on cat's intestines) or because you changed them over to a new food (also possible).

It is also very possible that there is a runny tum because you didn't change the food over slowly enough. Typically, it is advised that any food changes should be gradual and should take place over a period of 1 or 2 weeks where new food is mixed in with old food in changing proportions.

A question, if they were ok on the smilla poultry than why change the food a few days before you go on holiday while they are in the care of others?

Thanks for replying.

Hobbs - he was on Natures Menu for two weeks but the kitten chicken flavour wasn't making him too excited about mealtimes, so we tried the adult pouches. I got a bit over enthusiastic when ordering litter from zooplus and after reading all your fantastic posts I ordered some Smilla and Grau kitten. He wolfed down his first bowl of Smilla which was last Friday and didn't seem to have any problems. I have alternated with Natures Menu since Friday and it was only yesterday that he had a runny tummy.

I noticed the Nature's Menu beef & chicken flavour is quite dense pate, I wonder whether is contains a lot of liver. It is the only flavour in the adult pouches that he didn't seem keen on last week so didn't have much of it before yesterday.

Sorry maybe the transition was too fast but I guess like others on here, I get carried away about feeding my kittens good quality food but can't be bothered to feed myself properly.

CADS

Hi CADS,

We're feeding our kittens on Natures Menu and have had on and off runny tum issues with Hunter. At first I thought it was the transition between the chicken and the beef and/or tuna/salmon pouches.

Hermione seems just fine on them all really (its only the fishy one that makes hers slightly softer). However, a few days ago Hunter went to the toilet and when he got back (it wasn't very nice) we noticed a grain of rice by his backside. We ourselves had had rice the night before and thought he had eaten a raw grain or two that might have fallen on the floor....

Anyway, having read a bit about tapeworms, we suddenly thought that worms might be his issue. We had held off with the Milbemax because they were neutered only last week and Hobbs quite rightly had suggested we hold off worming as it might make their tums worse.

So far, they haven't been too bad today, lively and fun and eating loads. We'll see whether it was a worm issue....I hope so as it will solve the mystery of Hunter's poorly bowels.

Hope your little one gets better soon.

The reason it's probably taken a few days to have an effect is because you are alternating it. But it does sound like the sudden change of food might be responsible. Gradually moving over should be done by giving the usual food with a small amount of new mixed in. Then you gradually put more new in and less old food, something like a 10% increase of new food a day.

Alternating days/food like that is probably what did it, combined with the wormer.

Now you're in a tricky situation. It might well get worse if you continue to feed like that or even if you just go back to one type of food. If that happens you may well have to cancel your hols

What I would do know is feed him only boiled chicken and chicken broth (the water from the boiled chicken) for a couple of days or until he has a firm poop. Then gradually introduce your chosen food. Something like 90% boiled chicken with 10% chosen food for day 1 & 2, if he is still firm then day 3 & 4 try 20% chosen food and 80% chicken ... and so on. Might also be worth getting some Prokolin from the vets to help the process along and help his gut recover from the upset.

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