What Causes Diarrhea In Kittens

What Are The Symptoms Of Diarrhea In Kittens

Same as in adult cats, the symptoms of kitten diarrhea are:

• Soft or Loose Stool. The main sign of diarrhea is soft, loose, or even watery stool. It is also common for the stool to have an unusually unpleasant scent.
• Frequent Bowel Movements. Increased pooping frequency is another sign of cat diarrhea. Sometimes, kittens strain and make no poop, but they will still visit the litter box more often.
• Litter Box Accidents. New kittens can often have accidents outside the litter box. However, in case of diarrhea, those accidents are likely to be more frequent.
• Mucus or Blood in Stool. Depending on the underlying diarrhea cause, the stool may contain mucus or blood. Both cases are concerning and require veterinary attention.
• Loss of Appetite. Young kittens with diarrhea often experience a loss of appetite. The lack of appetite is a general sign that can indicate many potential conditions.
• Nausea/Vomiting. The same trigger that caused kitten diarrhea can often cause nausea and vomiting.
• Abdominal Pain. Diarrhea results in abdominal pain. Kittens having abdominal pain should be taken to a vet for x-rays and other gastrointestinal examinations.
• Dehydration. Losing water via diarrhea causes dehydration. In young kittens, dehydration can be life-threatening if left untreated.
• Weight Loss. One of the side effects of diarrhea is weight loss from excess poop production and a loss of appetite.

What Home Remedy Can I Give My Cat For Diarrhea

Most cats with acute diarrhea usually only have one episode of diarrhea, are fine afterwards and require no treatment. Cats with mild diarrhea may be managed with only feeding a fat-restricted, easily digested food like homecooked chicken and rice. You can also give your can probiotics that can be purchase over the counter. If this doesnt work or if your cat is sick, then contact your local veterinarian.

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Supportive Care For Diarrhea

Treating the cause of diarrhea is essential to ending it. But regardless of the cause, you’ll also need to treat the most deadly symptom of diarrhea: dehydration. Dehydration happens quickly with kittens exhibiting diarrhea, and it can lead to a domino effect of medical issues.

One way to help address hydration in kittens with diarrhea is to provide an electrolyte solution in place of water. Rather than mix the kitten’s powder formula with water, you can switch to using unflavored Pedialyte.** Pedialyte contains an optimal balance of glucose and electrolytes that will help rehydrate the kitten and keep the muscles and organs functioning properly. Be sure to use a flavorless product and to keep it fresh according to the label’s instructions.

For more extreme cases, subcutaneous fluids may be advised. Ask your veterinarian if subcutaneous fluids are right for your kitten, and ask for training to administer fluids safely and in the right amount. In severe cases of dehydration, fluid therapy can save a life.

You may also consider getting the kitten on a probiotic to support GI health.

**Some people have concerns about zinc in Pedialyte. The amount of zinc in Pedialyte is nominal, making up a fraction of the daily suggested value, and is not of concern. Zinc is an essential mineral for cats and is only toxic when consumed in large quantities.

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Kitten Diarrhea At A Glance

About: Diarrhea is the passage of loose and watery stools. Diarrhea is common in kittens, but should always be taken seriously as they can dehydrate quickly.

Causes:

• Viral infection
• Fading kitten syndrome

Treatment: Observe kittens at home for 24 hours if they appear otherwise well. If diarrhea persists longer than that, or if your cat is exhibiting other symptoms such as lethargy, if he has consumed a toxin, loss of appetite or blood in the stool, seek veterinary attentionimmediately. If possible, bring along a stool sample.

Prevention: Introduce new foods slowly. Keep toxins, poisonous plants, medications out of reach of your kitten.

Worm kittens every two weeks, from two weeks of age and vaccinate at 6-8 weeks.

What Tests Will My Vet Do To Find The Cause Of My Cats Diarrhea

Your veterinarian may run fecal tests that include fecal flotation, antigen testing, cytology, and culturing to screen for infectious or inflammatory disease.

Bloodwork evaluates for metabolic or systemic causes of diarrhea and assesses the consequences of cat diarrhea, such as dehydration or anemia.

Abdominal ultrasound, radiology, and endoscopy can be used to check for foreign body ingestion or cancer as causes of cat diarrhea.

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Food Allergies And Intolerances

Diarrhea can be a sign that your new kitten’s diet needs to be changed.

If your kitten has diarrhea or is vomiting after they eat, it can indicate that their system is not agreeing with a particular ingredient. Your vet can help you choose appropriate food for your kitten to ensure they’re getting all of the nutrients they need without causing GI upset.

Diarrhea can also be caused by your kitten consuming a non-food item.

Causes Of Kitten Diarrhea

Some of the causes of kitten diarrhea are simple to eliminate and solve others are more complex and may require the assistance of a veterinarian.

Allow your kitten time to adjust to his new environment and diet. These new and somewhat stressful events can cause kitten constipation or other upsets. If your kitten’s constipation doesn’t resolve itself in forty-eight hours, you may need to consult your veterinarian for help in performing a cat enema.

There are four common causes to kitten diarrhea:

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Is It Normal For Kittens To Get Diarrhea

Diarrhea in kittens is not normal, certainly not cute, and is usually an indication of an underlying problem. You may find diarrhea in their litter box, around the house, or stuck to their bodies. Loose, liquidy stool can cause a kitten to become dehydrated if it persists.

Kitten Diarrhea Home Remedy | When Your Kitten Has Diarrhea

Is It Normal For Kittens To Have Soft Poop

You should know that it’s normal for kittens to have softer poop, Demos says. A kitten’s stools are not quite as dry and hard as an adult cat’s. But if your kitten’s poop is consistently shapeless and mushy or is liquidy, then it’s diarrhea. Kittens with diarrhea may have accidents outside the litterbox.

Kitten & Cat Diarrhea Home Remedy – Safe & Easy!

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How To Prevent Vomiting And Diarrhea

• Avoid giving your cat salty, spicy, or fatty foods.
• Gradually introduce new food to your kitten and check for intestinal disturbances.
• Keep probiotics and electrolytesupplements in your home in the case of an emergency.
• Ensure you deworm your cat frequently.
• Vaccinate your kittens against feline parvovirus.

Bacterial Or Viral Infection

Your kitten may also have a bacterial or viral infection that’s causing the diarrhea. If this is the case, you may also notice abdominal pain, loss of appetite, watery or bile-streaked diarrhea, and vomiting.

Only a veterinarian will be able to diagnose a bacterial or viral infection in your kitten, so it’s important to seek guidance from a medical professional to get your feline friend back on track.

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Other Causes Of Diarrhea In Cats

Diarrhea may be caused by certain types of metabolic disease and liver disease. Certain cats can be prone to Inflammatory Bowel Disease . These diseases are likely to produce ongoing signs and not respond to the usual therapies, so diarrhea that doesnt resolve within a reasonable timeframe should always be investigated further by your vet.

Treating Diarrhea In Cats At Home

For mild cases of diarrhea, cat parents can try to resolve the symptoms at home. Ask your veterinarian before trying these at-home remedies.

Try a bland diet. If your cat has mild diarrhea, try a bland, easily-digestible diet like canned baby food . Give small meals, about 1/2 a jar at a time, throughout the day and this simple change may stop diarrhea in your cat.

Add fiber to your cats diet. Some diarrhea is fiber-responsive, meaning that adding fiber to your cats diet can resolve it. You can add a very small amount of a fiber supplement or one teaspoon of plain, canned pumpkin to your cats meals once a day.

Reduce your cats stress. Since diarrhea in cats can be stress-related, help your cat relax. Provide your cat with places to hide and spend time alone. Add another litter box in a new location, a new water dish, and an additional scratching post or new toys. Consider a Feliway Adapter or spray to help calm your cat.

*Do NOT give your cat Imodium or other medications that you might use yourself.

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Miscellaneous Bacterial Causes Of Diarrhea

Anaerobiospirillum Species

Anaerobiospirillum spp. are motile, spiral-shaped, anaerobic gram-negative rods that were first identified by Malnick and coworkers in two human patients with diarrhea.46 Since then, Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens and Anaerobiospirillum thomasii have been recognized as causes of septicemia, particularly in immunocompromised human beings, and have been isolated from the throat and feces of healthy cats and dogs.47, 48 We have identified three cats with clinical signs of acute onset of vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain that progressed rapidly to systemic disease characterized by lethargy and collapse. On necropsy, an acute to subacute ileocolitis was found in association with abundant spiral-shaped organisms confirmed as Anaerobiospirillum spp.49 .

Light photomicrograph of colon obtained from a cat, showing spiral-shaped Anaerobiospirillum bacteria inside the lumen of a dilated crypt .

Helicobacter Species

Recovery And Management Of Chronic Diarrhea In Cats

Recovery time depends on the primary cause of your cat’s chronic diarrhea. In some cats, general changes in diet and digestive support may improve fecal firmness. Cats with diarrhea caused by specific issues such as intestinal parasites, unregulated diabetes, or thyroid disease can have their diarrhea resolved within weeks of treatment, while others may need lifelong therapy to control their symptoms.

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How Veterinarians Diagnose Chronic Diarrhea In Cats

Keeping a detailed history of your cat’s bathroom habits can be very helpful in diagnosing their diarrhea. This should include the length, appearance, and frequency of the diarrhea, and anything that seems to improve or worsen it.

The following tests may be used to diagnose your cats diarrhea:

• Complete blood count/blood chemistry test: looks at red and white blood cell counts, electrolytes, and internal organ function

• Thyroid test: checks your pets thyroid hormone levels thyroid helps regulate metabolism

• Fecal test: checks for intestinal parasites and infectious organisms

• Urinalysis test: looks for bacteria, protein or glucose in the urine

• Infectious disease test: checks for feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus

Depending on your cats symptoms and results of previous testing, your veterinarian may conduct more tests, such as:

Treatments & How Nutrition Impacts Diarrhea

Treating diarrhea depends on its underlying cause. There are many available treatments for diarrhea that may be recommended by your vet depending on a variety of factors. However, nutrition plays a key role in managing this condition.

Nutrition plays a significant role in a healthy cat stool. Poor nutrition may lead to chronic diarrhea, so an assessment of your cat’s nutrition will be conducted by your vet. They may recommend switching cat foods as a course of treatment. A lower-fat food or food richer in complex carbohydrates and digestible complex carbohydrates with added fiber may be recommended.

Chronic cases of diarrhea are typically treated with special meal plans alongside medications. In many cases, your veterinarian will recommend nutritional therapy for the rest of the cat’s life to help maintain proper digestion for conditions that cannot be outright cured. Your vet may recommend a therapeutic cat food that is specially formulated to help with digestion and diarrhea. Many cases of chronic GI disease in cats respond well to a highly digestible food with added prebiotic fibers. This category of GI disease is called ‘food-responsive enteropathy.

In cases where food allergies are a concern, a series of nutritional trials may be necessary to determine the cat’s ideal meal plan. Hydrolyzed foods or novel protein foods are commonly recommended for these cats.

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Know What Is Normal For Your Cat

Know or learn your cats regular routines and understand what is normal in her day-to-day activities. This is a critical part of making sure your cat stays healthy. It allows you to identify problems before they become advanced. When you scoop your cats litter box one or two times each day, you are helping your cat have a clean place to relieve itself, and you will be aware of your cats normal elimination behaviors. This will allow you to be able to recognize abnormalities early.

Home Care For Kitten Diarrhea

Its not uncommon for a kitten to have bowel movements that are slightly softer than those produced by an adult cat. If this is the case, and you know your kitten is up to date on vaccines, deworming, and other veterinary preventative care, you may opt to try some home care for your kittens diarrhea. During this time, its important to monitor your kitten closely to ensure that the diarrhea doesnt worsen and that your kitten does not develop any other signs of illness.

Ensure that you are feeding high-quality kitten food. Feed your kitten the same food every day instead of frequently switching between brands and flavors of kitten food. If you do need to change your kittens diet, do so gradually over a period of one week. If your kittens diarrhea has been caused by an abrupt change in diet, you can expect that it will probably resolve within several days of being on a consistent, high-quality diet.

Do not give your kitten any human medications to treat their diarrhea. Human medications, such as PeptoBismol® and Imodium®, can have significant side effects in kittens and often cause more harm than good.

Avoid feeding milk to any kitten, but especially a kitten with diarrhea. Kittens are lactose-intolerant, so feeding even small amounts of milk could lead their diarrhea to become significantly worse. If your kitten is reluctant to eat or drink, seek a veterinarians assistance instead of offering milk or other home remedies.

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Can You Prevent Cat Diarrhea

Yes, its possible to prevent cat diarrhea.

Avoid making abrupt diet changes or feeding your feline friend human foods to prevent cases of stomach upset. Be sure to keep underlying diseases — like hyperthyroidism, IBD, pancreatitis, and food allergies — under control with appropriate medications and/or diet, according to your vets instructions.

Other Things That Can Help With Diarrhea

In addition to rest, fasting, and a bland diet, there are some other things you may find helpful in dealing with diarrhea issues at home.

Probiotics

Probiotics may be helpful when dealing with diarrhea. Since the digestive tract makes up about 60 to 80% of your pets immune system, keeping it healthy is important. Probiotics help support a healthy immune system by keeping the intestinal bacteria in good balance and aiding in digestion. You can try regular, unflavored, probiotic-rich yogurt , or you can pick up a probiotic like Purinas FortiFlora, Nutramaxs Proviable, VetriScience Fast Balance GI Paste, VetriScience Probiotic Everyday, Under the Weather Ready Balance Gel.

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Ensure Your Kitten Is Hydrated

In ensuring your kitten is well hydrated when experiencing a vomiting and diarrhea problem, the following measures would come in handy:

• Look out for signs of dehydration by checking out your kittens skin

You can check if your cats skin is dehydrated by lifting the scruff off her shoulder with your finger or thumb. If the skin falls back into position immediately, your cat is dehydrated.

• Provide your kitten with fresh and clean drinking water

Cats can be quite demanding in their choice of drinking water when ill. Some prefer the taste of mineral water to tap water because it contains less chlorine. Ensure you provide different kinds of water for your cat to encourage it to get adequate fluids and stay hydrated. Virbac Rebound Recuperation Formula for Cats is a liquid formulated to help cats recuperate from illness.

• Give your cat an electrolyte replacement solution

Electrolyte replacement solutions are designed for humans. However, they can also be taken by cats. Examples are Pedialyte and Dioralyte. Electrolyte solutions are mixed with water and are designed to replace lost electrolytes.

Note that some cats might not like the salty taste of these solutions. If your cat falls in this category, switch to just water.

• Hydrating your kitten with a syringe

Try giving your kitten 5 to 10ml of water every half an hour.

• Seek medical attention if your kitten vomits every time she drinks water

Can Kitten Diarrhea Go Away On Its Own

Depending on the cause, yes. If you change their diet to something that doesn’t upset their stomach or doesn’t aggravate an allergy, eventually food-caused diarrhea will stop. If the cause is a virus like rotavirus or feline enteric coronavirus, the diarrhea should stop when the virus runs its course.

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Bacterial Causes Of Diarrhea

Diagnosis of bacterial-associated diarrhea in kittens is difficult for two reasons: the isolation rates for putative bacterial enteropathogens often are similar in diarrheic and nondiarrheic animals and the incidence of bacterial-associated diarrhea is extremely variable. Caution should be heeded in interpretation of the results of fecal ELISAs for C. perfringens enterotoxin and C. difficile toxin A and/or B in neonatal kittens because of the high incidence of positive ELISAs I*documented in apparently healthy kittens. The effects of C. difficile toxin A and B have been shown to be dependent on age in human beings and dogs, in whom high levels of toxins are detected in the feces of neonates in the absence of clinical signs of disease.42, 43 The reader is referred to Chapter 5 for a more detailed description of specific bacterial enteropathogens associated with diarrhea.