Hi all,
My new kitten from cats protection has had a bad tummy for the last week or so, been back and forth to the vets and he thinks it may be a diet problem. Hes currently on Royal Canin Sensitivity wet and will be for the next few days, if it does turn out he has a problem will have to look at a Sensitivity diet but first got to find out what is starting the prob. I have to introduce new food soon, how long do you do it over?

What is the problem? Vomitting or diarrhoea? Did the vet take a stool sample to rule out parasites/bacteria? When did you start him on the RC Sensitivity? Did the vet suggest a bland cooked chicken diet to see whether that will help settle him? What food was he on and has he always had the problem or did it just start? What food are you thinking of introducing next? Oh, and how old is your kitten?

Sorry for the barrage of questions...

It was just diarrhoea, but is perfectly happy in himself. Vet hasn't taken a sample but said that would be the next course of action if problem persists. He has only been on RC Sensitive for 3 days, and no hasn't recommend any other diet as of yet. He is also having pro-kolin 3 times a day to try and settle stomach. I believe at cats protection is was on felix kitten with royal canin weaning biscuits to snack on, which is what I carried on with.
I'm not sure what to introduce yet, I think the vet said he will keep him on this food a further week if we see improvement. The vet keeps recommending a completely dry diet of Royal Canin. And finally he is 11 weeks, almost 12 weighing 1.4kg.

Ok! Has there been an improvement at all since you started on the RC sensitivity and the pro-kolin? Did you get in touch with the CP to see whether he had a dodgy tum there too?

Yes there has been some improvment after just a cpl days so hopefully all going ok. Cats protection said he was a little loose a few days before he came to me. What food would u recommend introducing after the RC Senstivity?

What did the vet suggest as the next steps?

Haven't quite got that far, after this course of food has finished I have to go back, then he said we will proceed with this food for a further few days, then Introduce some other food after that. But they are a royal canin stockist, so that's obviously what they will push, I know before he has mentioned a completely dry diet, weaning, then growth, then young neutered male. What are your thoughts?

Well, I guess you know that I don't think that a purely dry diet for a cat. If you don't want to go down that route either I would suggest that you use the time till your next visit to read up on dry/wet diets (the pros and cons) so that you can talk to your vet armed with information. If you want to feed wet, then I would also spend time on finding some foods that are single-protein (ie. only use one animal) to see whether that will help him settle or keep him settled.

Not sure what flavour of the RC you are feeding (chicken or duck) but if there is an improvement, then I would try to find a food that only has that meat in it (unfortunately, they are only available online). You could then take a description of what you think a good food would be with you and present that as an alternative.

You would then need to introduce that food very very slowly - ie. 10% of new food to 90% RC sensitivity for a couple of days, then move to 20% etc. And take your time with it. If he is ok with that, then I would feed that for a few weeks before introducing another type of meat (say lamb).

However, I would very strongly suggest that you get the sample tested if the stool is still a bit sloppy (better to rule out any nasties and make sure that it really is dietary). Also, as I have been telling someone else on here who is in very similar shoes to you but whose cat isn't hot on pro-kolin, there is a product by the same manufacturer that is a probiotic powder (contains more probiotics than prokolin), which will also help to build up the gut flora.

For info on single protein food see here: Food allergies? What foods to use/elimination diet

Hope that helps

It is the chicken and rice hes eating and loves it! Do you know of any one protein chicken foods? I did notice the difference in meat content between the RC senstivity and felix kitten, there is a big percentage of jelly in the packets of felix not meat. over what period do you introduce the new food?

I have been looking on zooplus at some higher quality foods, do you reccommnd any particular ones for kittens?