Cat Chat Feline Forum

I am a breeder of Siamese and I am fed up with having kittens with diarrhoea. They get it around five or six weeks of age and normally I give them Synulox and that nearly always clears it up. I give them top quality food (Grau) but doesn't make any difference. I used to give them Natures Menu. They are on white fish now for the next few days which has helped. It will clear up but why do they get it in the first place

I have to completely change the litter trays while this is going on. They are kept clean too. Wormed with Panacur also.

Any ideas would be appreciated as I am baffled. My vet doesn't seem to know either. A few months ago I had their poo tested and result was a very small amount of Giardia which was at acceptable levels anyway and nothing else should up.

It's pretty common when you're going through the weaning phase due to the dietary change of moving from mum's milk to solids and I should imagine it takes their little tummies a while to get used to the solid food so it wouldn't surprise me if at 5-6 weeks they're a bit runny.
Even human babies get the squits when they're going through the process of weaning onto solids, during weaning and for a little while after. My nephew's nappies were just a delight when he was getting used to eating proper food!
As a breeder, I guess it's something you may just have to get used to! As long as they're showing no other signs of ill health and it clears up quickly then it's probably just one of those things.

I run a rescue and its a very common problem here too.... Tests have never shown anything, normally within a week of going on to solids they have bad tummies, rather than use synulox now we get rc sensitivity pouches and rc gastro intestinal dried, keep them on just those for a week then wean back on to jwb dried kitten and waitrose kitten pouches, this combination has worked 99% of the time with only severe needing antibiotics.

We had an awful job weaning our kittens onto solids. It took a year before their tummies calmed down. I was alternating between solids and then when they had bad tummies I gave them egg or chicken which helped. We were told it was because they were weaned of their mother too early, but I think it is just a developmental thing. I am sure things will settle down eventually but requires patience I think. Good luck

Thank you for the replies. Glad to hear I'm not alone with the kitten diarrhoea but it is such hard work having to clean them and the trays a lot. I think I will try weaning the kittens on white fish or chicken and then later incorporate the Grau kitten food. It's quite ironic that I give my kittens the best quality kitten food and this is what happens. Perhaps if I gave them the cheapest, they wouldn't get the runs

I had a poo sample done a while ago on a kitten and nothing really showed up apart from a small amount of Giardia but the vet said it was at an acceptable level. Expensive test too. I might have it done again if the next litter has diarrhoea.

Thanks again.

I feel a bit odd posting as I'm fostering my first kitten, so am hardly in a position to offer advice, but I have just had the same experience.

I took on a 6 week old kitten that was found abandoned, and had the same problem with kitten food - the vet suggested RC Sensitivity or Hills i/d pouches, which worked, and after a day I started to mix it with the kitten food and gradually decreased the percentage in the mixture. At 8 weeks she's now fine on just the kitten food.

It must just be the fact that kittens have not developed enough. If you think about it, you wouldn't give a baby solids early, cannot be much different for kittens really. I know if they are weaned off their mothers too early, that doesn't help. I know what you are all going through. We laugh when we look back on this as we only had a small home at the time, and two kittens and having the litter tray when we had kittens with the trots was not the best combination which was more than a little embarrassing......and smelly!!!!

It might be that the more expensive food is too rich for their tummies.....

How often do you worm them and how many days do you use Panacur for? I'm surprised by your vets comments, I didn't think there was an acceptable level of Guardia in kittens

Giardia as well as Ecoli and various other bacteria are present in the gut of cats as well as ours. The low levels are counteracted by the good bacteria. It's only when the bad bacteria grow that you will have a problem. Antibiotics can cause the imbalance and it's best to give a probiotic at the same time to redress it.

I have now decided to go down the raw diet path for my cats. I have tried everything and the diarrhoea persists. I have been speaking to other breeders who give their cats the raw diet and their cats (and kittens) don't get diarrhoea.

I have wormed all cats and kittens with Panacur which treats the giardia so the diarrhoea is still a mystery.

Thanks to all for the comments.