Almost 8 weeks old and now loose stools

[onelove6366]

I've been visiting for several weeks as a guest and gathered a lot of useful information to aid in caring for the little kitty I found running in the middle of the road in early May (approximately 3 weeks old per the vet).

Dinky is a Calico kitty and has been doing very well despite having pneumonia when I first found her and a breathing problem caused by unknown issue that prevented her from taking a bottle at all. She breathes very heavily and sometimes has little coughing fits, but otherwise is doing very well. Gaining weight, playing, pink nose and ears, etc. I take her to work with me every day and she is very rarely out of my sight. She has become very attached to me and even though I never considered myself a cat person, I have to admit, she has stolen my heart!

I have her off of formula altogether but have made the mistake I see of giving her wet food too much. She has Purina Kitten Chow in her bowls at all times and fresh water (which she is drinking finally). However, she doesn't eat the hard food much and prefers the wet food. Her stools are now loose and smell awful (that's why I HATE wet food!).

Should I just stop giving her wet food altogether and rely on her getting hungry enough to eat the cat chow?

Thanks for your site. It is great!

[MissDolittle]

Welcome and board and congratulations to getting your heart stolen :D .

The wet food problem is easy to fix. Toss the wet food in the trash and start wetting down the dry food, gradually use less and less water. Always have a bowl of not wetted down dry food available too.

The ony negative side on the wetting down the dry food is that it goes bad within a couple of hours if it's warm in the room or if the food is outside.

But be assured, no cat has starved itself to death because they don't like the food :).

I'm glad her pneumonia healed up :).

[onelove6366]

Thanks. I will make a small dish of food mixed with some warm water. We've gone from one extreme to the other. At first, she was constipated and wouldn't drink water. Because I was feeding her with a syringe (with needle tip cut off) and not a bottle, making sure she got enough water without aspirating her was a problem. I actually resorted to mineral oil, but used a lot less then recommended (I think 3 drops per ounce of weight) and that got things going.

I've had 2 cats in the past (with kids who are now grown), but never from this young. Even with adult cats, I used wet food as an occassional treat because of the effect if has on the smell of their poop. She totally turned her nose up to the 2nd step formula the other day so I think she is done with that.

Keeping a fresh supply of softened food is not a problem. She goes to work with me every day and with the ants getting in so bad right now, I can't leave her food sitting around for long. And she stays inside unless she's out with me gardening. She sticks close by and doesn't like grass so she stays mostly in the flower beds. It's pretty funny when I'm watering!

I can't figure out how to paste a picture in here. When I figure it out, I'll post one. Thanks for your help. Your videos are cute too.

[MissDolittle]

If she gets digestive problems again, give her some plain yogurt, a tea spoon or so, twice a day. Some like to lick it off, with some I have to mix it with the food.

In the meantime get something called Bene-Bac. You can order it online. It's a digestive aid paste for all mammals with natural bacteria. Works wonderfully on cats.

[WingedCat]

Hi onelove6366 and welcome!

Sounds like a very sweet kitty you have there. Personally I think a lot of rescued kitties understand that the human has helped them so they tend to be very, very loving and attentive.


I can't figure out how to paste a picture in here.

To share a picture here go to Image Shack or Free Image Hosting, upload the picture and then copy the link that is for forums and paste it in the reply box here. If you need more help let me know. :)