I've had my new kitten for 24 hours now and he settled in pretty well at first, he's really affectionate and playful and very comfortable with all members of the family. The issue is he has had diarrhoea for the last 4 or so hours, He's pooped 3 times during this period and his poop is so liquid it just leaks out as he is going around the house in the last hour. He's become really distressed as a result and he's been crying a lot especially when he uses the litter tray. He's had a few accidents over the past few hours but he had been fine with using his litter tray up until the diarrhoea began now he seems embarrassed and keeps trying to hide so we've let him have his space and he seems to be falling asleep fine at the moment. I've called an out of hours vet and they think he should be fine as long as he's acting normal, which he has been apart isolating himself following his accident in the last hour. I've stopped giving him food in the meantime but I've left him water to stay hydrated overnight then I'll be taking him to the vet first thing in the morning.
Any tips on how I could comfort him and encourage him to eat once he's feeling better. He's not been too keen on food since he got here but he has had a bit of Whiskas dry food and I think that might be what is irritating his stomach as his previous owners had told me that he was eating whiskas, mainly dry food when i picked him up but then later texted me that he actually ate go cat dry food after he had already eaten.
I was planning to switch him to a higher quality food once he had settled but now I am worried about switching him and he doesn't react well.
He is 9 weeks and 4 days by the way
He's too young to stop being fed. The best thing you can do is get some white fish or chicken (boneless) and cook it in the microwave for him. Wait until it's cooled and serve it to him with the juices. This will help is bowel to settle down and still provide him with the moisture he needs and will line his stomach.
With regards to feeding, high quality wet is good. There's a sticky for food from Zooplus with all the good food you can get from there. As long as it's high quality food, you don't need to worry about feeding kitten specific food either.
Do let us know how you get on at the vets tomorrow.
Also agree, at his age he needs to be fed unless advised otherwise by a vet. I'd try him on some cooked chicken and have a couple of water bowls out to encourage extra drinking.
Also double check exactly what he was on before.
When you try him on new foods in the future just put small amounts out alongside his usual.
Just an update he's doing a lot better, his poop is still on the liquid side but he's not crying anymore. I tried to give him some plain fish since it's all I had, he sniffed it but didn't eat it. Fell asleep fine and he just woke up so I'm waiting on my mum to come home with some plain chicken so he can have something before we go to the vets. He's actually been really good with water since he got here so he's not dehydrated and has been drinking as normal through the night.
Just as a point to watch - cats don't have a very good thirst drive, stemming from their ancestry as desert-dwellers. A cat who is drinking is already a little dehydrated, i.e. really thirsty. So it's possible he could be a bit BUT it is definitely a good sign that he is willingly drinking of his own accord. Cats who eat 100% wet food for example very seldom drink water separately.
Glad to hear he's perked up a bit. Runny bums can be normal with a diet change, especially as his previous home haven't been very clear on what he's been eating, but a vet visit will do no harm.
Boiled chicken for a few days and then slowly transition him onto the food you would prefer to feed him. As he needs to have chicken to settle his stomach now, there's not much point going back to his previous first and then transition again.
I wouldn't be surprised if the previous owner hasn't wormed him. Once his tummy is settled he should be wormed. You can get Milbemax from the vet which covers all worms in the UK, or by Panacur or Drontal online or at Pets@Home. As a kitten roundworms are the main issue so the fact that Panacur & Drontal don't cover both types of tapeworm isn't an issue. Panacur might be best, the paste not the liquid. Keep it in the fridge, and you have to get it right at the back of his mouth otherwise you will end up wearing it. Because of the unknown background I would worm him at least 4 times, 3 weeks apart. You will need to know how much he weighs every 3 weeks to give the correct dose.
Hi all, sorry for the late response. Kitten is doing well, we've switched him to the feringa kitten food and he seems to be loving it. The vet seems believes he's younger than 9 weeks old as he's quite small and may have worms but otherwise, he seems healthy. He's 600g at the moment so we're trying to get him to gain more weight for his checkup next week and he's also on a worm treatment so hopefully things will be better in the coming weeks. He's still quite good with drinking though he isn't dehydrated so I was wondering if it would be worth giving him goats milk to drink just to help him gain some weight?
At 600g, assuming he isn't also thin, I would imagine he's more like 5-6 weeks old.
Goats milk would be good, or replacement kitten formula, as at that age they are usually drinking from mum a lot and may well miss that.
Do keep an eye on the diarrhoea. Hopefully the wormer clears it but if it doesn't, get back to the vet and they may want to do stool samples to rule out other parasites (my experience was of a kitten we were told was 9 weeks but was 5/6, he also had a nasty parasitic infection that caused awful diarrhoea and he needed a specific antibiotic/anti parasite treatment. If people lie about simple things like how old a kitten is, I have very little faith in how well they actually took care of them too...)
As long as he gains weight (try and weigh daily), I wouldn't be worrying too much as such but it's good to keep a close eye as kittens don't have much reserves being so small!
If he is not eating any dry food the Feringa contains all the water he needs, though he should always have water down. You could add a little water to the food and mash it in, but not much. Just enough to soften it slightly.
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