Tums, runs and food sharing...

Well I thought I'd got it sorted, but it seems I haven't.

Moshi is on Hills Kitten and Moto is on James Wellbeloved. I thought I'd managed to get them to eat their own food, but over the last couple of days, it appears they've been mixing and matching. Consequently, we have runny bums.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can manage this? I want them both on the same food, but doing the slow switch isn't going to work, whilst they're eating each others food.

I'm out at work during the day and so can't monitor who eats what and I don't want to leave them without food.

Help! :sad2:

It is tricky but you might just have to leave out a mixture of both and wait for the runny bums to subside - decide which food you want them to be on and then gradually reduce the other food accordingly. In the meantime, you can try adding a little boiled chicken or fish to their diet to make the transit a little easier for them.

Thanks Louise.

I guess I'm worried about the little chap and his bum, as he's so young. Will it take long to subside, do you think? They're both drinking and running about fine.

I'll try the boiled chicken route too :-)

The only other option is to take away the food completely and stick to chicken and rice or fish for a couple of days. Once their tums are back to normal then introduce a small amount of the biccie that you want them to be on. If you do it gradually then it should be fine and as long as they are eating well then it will be easy enough to get them back to nibbling throughout the day.

I have found Ruby can be a bit sensitive with some foods so I am just being very careful and doing a bit of trial and error with which flavours she can and can't have.

I have found the fish flavours seem to agree with her better than the ones with chicken or liver in.

Ooh that sounds like a good idea! Think I'll do the chicken and rice and then introduce the Hills back in. I think that might suit them both.

Moto doesn't seem to bothered and is his usual naughty self, but I worry lol

I've stopped any wet food for them already, so it doesn't add to the issue. This way, when it's all safe, I can start to add that in slowly too.

Thank you!! xx

Glad you've posted this,

I'm having similar problems....... Was going to try just with steamed chicken until Sookie's bum got better, then slowy introduce dry food?

xx

We are having problems here with Ruby and Cleo too. THey were both fine as they were on exactly the same food when they came in. Then Ruby had awful diarrhoea caused by wet food that had been down too long so ended up on antibiotics which seemed to clear it.

However, since then I have been unable to get her to firm up again and constantly changing the food trying to keep them both happy has left Cleo with a funny tummy too.

Have sent off samples from both of them and all has come back clear so we know there is nothing sinister going on but need to get to the bottom of it (so to speak!)

Vet suggested just dry food with no wet but this has made it worse so I am now as of today trying wet food with no dry. I am using the pets at home purely kitten wet food as I have found this to be good and am going to try this for 3 days to see if there is any improvement.

I remember reading somewhere that up to 6 months, some kittens can struggle with a dry only diet as it is very hard for them to digest so figured that wet food would be a bit gentler on the tummy.

I also find that they gorge on dry food and probably eat far more than they should.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WoodsideMaineCoons

Vet suggested just dry food with no wet but this has made it worse so I am now as of today trying wet food with no dry. I am using the pets at home purely kitten wet food as I have found this to be good and am going to try this for 3 days to see if there is any improvement.

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Strange how vets vary,mine would straight away said forget the dry food until things were sorted out,one main reason being the dehydration factor that could go alongside lots of fluid being lost with runny bottie that in turn could lead to other problems.
One of our staff members was in the unfortunate position of having to use the out of hours vets at the weekend,her little dog had pyoderma around the back of the ear,she was told to bathe it plus given ab's,not what she was expecting having heard us talk of such things at work,she brought the dog in to work on Monday {turned into a staff pets day !!!} & the pyoderma had spread right down the neck,was weeping & stunk,she straight away was told what she had been expecting to hear,keep it dry,apply given cream,carry on with ab's that the other clinic had prescrided,by late afternoon it was already showing improvement by being kept dry & yesterday the worst bits were already starting to come away & looked a lot better,she said she did wonder about the bathing side but when you have just paid a lot of money for the advice you have been given thought she should go ahead & do it,now wishes she hadn't,once again how on even simple things vets can vary.....
Hope your two are soon sorted Louise,just a thought did they check for the tritrichomonous that has been mentioned on here...?

Hi Jackie

I did think it was odd that dry food only had been recommended which is why I decided that after 2 days of it being worse that I would stick with wet instead.

We tested for everything but I know that it is dietary because they were fine for the first week, then Ruby was poorly but Cleo was still fine and there are no other symptoms either...both have piled on masses of weight, no temps, no sore tummies either.

I think it's more that I tried a few different wet foods and some days they won't eat wet food at all, which leads to bulking out on dry and then runny bums and then other days they will eat the wet which leads to an improvement in the litter tray.

I think kittens are very much trial and error.

With our own bred kittens, we always feed wet food at first and then introduce dry food very gradually and we don't allow them a lot of it either and touch wood, we don't have tummy trouble in our kits at all

xx

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Laura1982

Glad you've posted this,

I'm having similar problems....... Was going to try just with steamed chicken until Sookie's bum got better, then slowy introduce dry food?

xx

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Mine are fed mostly wet food as their diet but when I have been in the position of one of them having diarrhoea I do the same as you,fish or chicken for a few days {strange thing is we have noticed with some animals chicken can make it worse,I know its true because I had a dog once that was always worse after chicken}but when I start to re introduce the small amount of dry they do have I always start them back on the RC hairball,don't know wether it is the fibre content or what but they always seem to do better quicker on that then using any of the others....!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WoodsideMaineCoons

Hi Jackie

I did think it was odd that dry food only had been recommended which is why I decided that after 2 days of it being worse that I would stick with wet instead.

We tested for everything but I know that it is dietary because they were fine for the first week, then Ruby was poorly but Cleo was still fine and there are no other symptoms either...both have piled on masses of weight, no temps, no sore tummies either.

I think it's more that I tried a few different wet foods and some days they won't eat wet food at all, which leads to bulking out on dry and then runny bums and then other days they will eat the wet which leads to an improvement in the litter tray.

I think kittens are very much trial and error.

With our own bred kittens, we always feed wet food at first and then introduce dry food very gradually and we don't allow them a lot of it either and touch wood, we don't have tummy trouble in our kits at all

xx

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Talking of kittens Louise is it nearly time for some more photos to be added to another thread or I have I missed out being so tied up with a certain boy who still doesn't want to eat....?

I will do more pics I promise but at the moment it is a constant round of cleaning and topping up kittens as mum was getting a bit worn out doing it by herself!!

xx

All mine are on Royal Canin Sensible 33, some get a tin of applaws every day... I have no probs with them but try anything else and Spice goes Dookie! When she was a kitten she used to jump thru into the kitchen and pinch our dog's dinner... result atomic poo, she had an awfully delicate tum as a kitten, we regularly had to bath her three times a day, then after far too many trips to the vets she just got better, days after the vets decided she should have a biopsy to find out what was wrong... glad I said no to that one!

Newsflash!!! It's all sorted :-) Tried the chicken, slowly introduced Felix and all was fine until suddenly one day was back to square one. So much so that Moto needed a bath! Luckily, he's such a chilled chappie, he loved it!

Had a chat with my vet who said starve for at least 16 hours and then start them on Hills I/D pouches. That has worked an absolute miracle!!

Now back to completely solid, in just a couple of days and introducing dry Hills Kitten and still all solid! We're now up to one pouch each morning and evening, with a sprinkling of dry, plus a handful of dry to graze on during the day and all is well!

The I/D worked a treat!! One happy bunny here!

I'm so pleased things are improving :)