Issues with a kitten---can anyone relate?

Worming treatments (and other medications) can cause a kitten to have diarrhea as a side effect for several weeks after the medication has been discontinued.

Other medications used in cats & kittens can cause diarrhea too (as a side effect of the medication) in cats & kittens. The medications can damage the balance of the digestive juices in the cats system.

It takes a cats digestive system about two full weeks to readjust the appropriate amount of stomach acid to normal after suffering side effects of medications.

So people will sometimes give another medication to cure the diarrhea caused by the side effect of the first medication -- which further exacerbates the problem.

I'd suggest that you switch kitten to a canned cat food diet and withhold the dry cat food until her digestive system is healed.

You can give the kitty some canned cat food and add about 1/2 teaspoon of pure (no spice) canned pumpkin.

You can also add 1/2 teaspoon of very soft cooked brown (or white) rice to canned cat food. Both pure pumpkin and soft brown rice will add some bulk to the digestive system and slow it down -- which will help curb the diarrhea.

Just for your information, there is a canned chicken cat food that is very thick -- California Naturals Chicken Flavor. Add a 1/2 teaspoon to a quarter can of this cat food.

You may also give the kitten jarred baby food -- chicken flavor and add a little soft cooked brown rice or pure pumpkin. (Feed whatever the kitten likes and add 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin and/or rice.)

Then just give the kitten about two weeks to recover from the medication. Count two weeks from the date you discontinue the medication. However, it's been my experience that if the kitten has had to undergo several rounds of worming meds (or other medications), it may take the kitten's digestive system a little longer to recover.

Hang in there. She'll get better. Just give her time.

Thank you for the replies.

I thought dry cat food was best all around for cats, especially if they had these issues.

I'm going to have to really look into what is the best for her situation.

The doctor told me to give her dry food for this last prescription.

Thank you again for the replies.

Lucky Charm, I have a kitten that just turned 5 months old and came to me having eaten only dry food, so I started with that but introduced him to wet and have been increasing the proportions.

Another poster on here gave me a link (below) written by a Vet indicating that wet food is superior. It's very interesting.

As a result I give my little Bogey mostly wet food, with a little dry food made for kitten (Iams, for now) to be sure he gets the right nutrients ...... and he's doing fine. He has a little bit of dry food out for grazing and the wet food is his main meal. We're at about 70/30 now. I've also read that seafood in large quantities isn't good for cats, so I'm leaning towards chicken and beef for now.

It's a bit of a trial and error process ..... what agrees with them and what they like. If your girl is getting a lot of love, this little bump in the road should hopefully be over soon.

Here's the link: http://www.catinfo.org/

Hope this helps.

Tink

Thank you again for the replies.

She is going in later this week to be spayed and I'm a wreck about that.

I will start her on wet cat food once she is back home from the vets. I'm so afraid she's going to pick something up being there, kind of like humans do when they go in to the hospital.

One more thing ....... the first time I gave Bogey wet food (he'd always been fed dry kibble), I gave him the pate. Unfortunately, I didn't put it on the dish in tiny chunks and he wasn't quite sure what to do with this "blob". He sucked the moisture out of it because it smelled good, but didn't eat any of the blob!

How many baby teeth she has should guide your selection of texture ..... pate, shreds, bits, chunks, or fillets ..... or baby food.

On 11/17/2014 Lucky Charm said:

Thank you again for the replies.

She is going in later this week to be spayed and I'm a wreck about that.

I will start her on wet cat food once she is back home from the vets. I'm so afraid she's going to pick something up being there, kind of like humans do when they go in to the hospital.

If you are uncomfortable with having her spayed this week, put it off until she is feeling better. It's actually better for the kitten's overall long-term health to wait a little longer before spaying anyway. The hormones released from the cats reproductive organs builds stronger, denser bone and there are other health benefits in waiting a little longer to spay cats (and dogs, by the way.)

Here's some tips on how to help your pet avoid picking something up at the vets office:

Don't allow the cat to get near other animals in the vets office. Don't allow anyone to pet your cat while you're waiting in the vet's office.

When you do take your cat into the examination room, don't let your cat down on the floor. Keep your cat carrier off of the floor as well. Put your carrier on the exam table or on a chair.

Vets sanitize the stainless steel table that your cat sits on but they do not clean the floor every time a new cat or dog patient goes into the room.

Take some baby wipes with you (no alcohol type) and wipe down your cats paws and fur before returning him to the carrier.

Then wipe down the bottom of the cat carrier with sanitizing wipes before putting it back into the car (with your cat inside.) Carry hand sanitizer in your car and use some on your hands before getting into the car and driving home.

When you get home, wipe off the bottom of your shoes and leave them at the front door --don't wear them around the house.

If I think of anything else, I'll post it. Hope this helps.