Kitten Advice Needed!

[Latekin]

Is there anyone here who can give me a bit of advice about kittens? Crash's had loose poops for a couple of days (apparently normal for kittens, according to the vet, cause they stick anything they can into their mouth), and this morning he barfed his breakfast up a couple of hours after eating it. He didn't look distressed afterwards, just confused. He even made it to the litter tray to puke! He's kinda tired now and napping, but otherwise he's his normal self. His breakfast was new wet food with his old dry stuff, and he did kinda hork it down.

He also a big night last night, playing with guests we had over until at least 10pm, and it's quite warm today. I'm probably overreacting, but has anyone else's kitten done this growing up? These are he first kittens I've ever raised (had adult cat before, partner has had kittens), and just about every little thing that they do gives me a minor heat attack! Argh!

If he's not feeling better tomorrow I'm probably gonna take him to the vet...

[fireheart]

Question: is he running outside and eating grass at all? I only ask this because my cat would puke up regularly if he ate grass (something to do with it being an emetic).

Make sure that the good you're giving him is age-appropriate too (should say "Kitten" on it) and is a fairly reliable brand. Given the weather at the moment, I would also avoid keeping his wet food out beyond a few hours otherwise it will go off and could also increase the risk of him getting sick. Also make sure he has plenty of water to drink.

In the hot weather, him napping more is common-both my parents furbabies would nap a LOT more in the hot weather-doubly so if their coat is thick (ie he might be a shorthair but feel more "fluffy") or long. Just make sure again, that he has plenty of water to drink.

[Latekin]

No, both my kittens are inside kitties. Crash especially because he's a white short haired kitty, and he'd get really badly sunburned around his face.

He mostly has Hills Brand i/d (the stomach problem stuff) because Dingus, his little brother had poopy problems earlier (his tiny butt got shaved at the shelter to stop it getting in his fur, looks hilarious), and this morning he had some wet food (Whiska's Kitten food). Mostly because he's going through a growth spurt and he's getting a tad lanky and we'd like to see him put on a bit of weight. He's a fairly skinny kitten.

Maybe the new food, or maybe he ate some popcorn, or a bug last night and it disagreed with him. He has constant access to fresh water that gets changed twice a day.

[EricKei]

As for eating grass-- yes, that's exactly why cats eat grass. It helps them to *ahem* get rid of hairballs they've swallowed. If hairballs end up being a major issue, there are varieties of cat food that are specifically designed to control them.

[CoffeeMonkey]

Do also know that some cats are just pukey. They hork down their dinner, and then hork it back up. I would not start to become concerned** until I noticed a pattern of throwing up, or a change in behavior, refusal to eat or drink, or other symptoms, like gucky stuff from the face. Wait a few days for an office visit (though you can always give them a jingle to ask if they think it's worth bringing him in.)

**This is technically a lie. If I had a new baby, I would be concerned at every single tiny thing. But this is because I am a worrier, not because it would be sensible for me to worry.

ETA: WHY are there not baby pictures in this thread?

[dalesys]

ETA: WHY are there not baby pictures in this thread?

SCP Implemented. (Squee Control Protocol)

[MaggieTheCat]

So as CoffeeMonkey mentioned, some cats are just pukey. We have an old man cat who randomly pukes relatively frequently (usually at least once a week, often times more) for no apparent reason. It's probably gotten a little worse as he's gotten older, but he's pretty much done it all his life.

Some cats do eat their food too fast and then puke it back up afterword, but that usually happens pretty quickly. Like within five minutes or so. One of our boys will occasionally scarf his food and then immediately puke it back up, and it hasn't even started to digest yet, so it's still in solid chunks. A friend's cat does the same thing.

The introduction of the new food could have something to do with it, if it was a flavor or brand that just didn't agree with him, but again, it would be more common to see the puking happening sooner than an hour in that case. Sometimes when we offer our cats new brands/flavors and it doesn't agree with them, they puke it back up, but it's usually within 10-15 minutes after they've eaten.

I'd like to give you a little info on cat food. I'd recommend doing some research on how to read ingredient lists on cat food so you know how to pick out high quality food for your kitties. Cats are dedicated carnivores, meaning they need a certain amount of protein to survive, and they should have very little if any grains (corn, rice, etc) in their diet. All cat food that can legally be sold on the market meets this minimum requirement, but there are still wide gaps between the good quality stuff and the bottom of the barrel. Also, the source of the protein in pet food can vary significantly. Sometimes it will be obvious, like "beef" or "chicken liver", but sometimes it will be something like "meat by-products" or "chicken by-products meal." If you don't know what those are, read up on them here:
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosi...l-by-products/
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosi...out-meat-meal/
Those are dog food sites, but the same info applies to cat food.

Here's an article that lists five top-rated cat foods.
http://cats.lovetoknow.com/Top_Five_Cat_Foods
Of these, the only one I'm not personally familiar with is Orijen; the rest are ones that we feed our cats regularly and they love it and don't seem to have any problems with it. We get them all at PetSmart. We also give ours Chicken Soup For The Cat Lover's Soul dry food occasionally. We like to feed a variety of different foods so they don't get picky and want only one kind of food; if that food were to ever go off the market or the formula were to change, it would be hard to get them to eat anything else.

If you do decide to ever change cat foods, try doing so slowly by mixing in a small amount of the new food with the current food, in a 1:3 ratio to start and gradually increasing how much of the new food you offer. This will help both their stomach and their tastes adjust to the new food.

[taxguykarl]

I had a tabby that could only keep one brand down--sensitive stomach unsurprisingly.

[Seshat]

Cats can have loose stool from too much cow's milk: you really want to give them a cat formula if giving them milk, or at least lactose-free or lactose-reduced milk. They can't digest something in normal cow's milk.

Indoor cats should be provided with access to grass: buy catgrass seeds or normal lawn grass seeds*, and normal potting mix, and grow some grass in a shallow plant pot. (Not too shallow, you want a proper depth of grass root - either stick a shovel in your lawn and see how deep the roots grow, or ask at a garden shop.)
* Some vets or pet stores carry seeds for grasses suitable for cats. I'd start there.

Cats need to vomit up their hairballs. Be proud of your kitten for choosing to do his vomitting into the litter tray, and encourage that behaviour! The grass they eat will help them vomit it more easily - and probably more frequently, which will prevent them ending up with a hairball that's too big to throw up without trouble.

All of this means: if there's mostly fur in kitty's vomit, assume it to be a normal hairball-toss unless otherwise indicated.
If the loose poop happened after kitty had access to milk, assume it to be a normal can't-digest-cow's-milk unless otherwise indicated.

Monitor to ensure that kitty IS drinking and peeing normally, and doesn't have multiple loose poops in a row. And doesn't keep tossing his cookies.

If all seems well in the next day or two, it was probably either of the above, or a mild case of tummy-bug.
If you continue to be worried, or kitty develops more symptoms/keeps having symptoms, contact your vet and take the advice of the vet, vet tech or vet nurse.


IANAVet, and do not play one on TV.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

Agreed with the previous posters. Some cats can just be barfy - I had a former stray who would eat everything in sight, hork it all up and go looking for more. She settled down after she eventually realised there would always be food there.

It could be he overate, and ate too fast. Nummy gushy food is very tempting, particularly after only having dry food. It could be the change of food.

Since you mentioned he's a skinny kitty, has he had a good all-round worming treatment? Kitties also do go through a lanky phase as they grow up (sort of like scrawny pre-teens) as their bodies can grow faster than they can feed it. They're also so active it's like trying to fill a bottomless pit.

If it was me in your situation I would:
* check the barf - food or hairball?
* keep an eye on the runny poops
* ease off on the wet food a little
* ensure kitty has been wormed
* keep an eye on drinking/peeing to see if everything is OK
* get some kitty-safe milk (you can get it in the petfood aisle of the supermarket) and give him a little of that every day
* check his eyes and nose for discharge. They should be clear and clean.
* cats overshed rapidly if they overheat or have a fever. If he's shedding more than usual, see the vet.
* if you're concerned about any of the above, get him to a vet.
* give him lots of luvvin and snuggles!

Trivia - did you know the cat's oesophagus has the muscle strands running end to end rather than around like many animals? This is why they can hork so easily.

[Sapphire Silk]

Always feed a kitten kitten food until they are one year old. Avoid mixing brands; cats don't adjust well to sudden changes in diet. If you must change brands, do so by mixing old plus new in the 1:3 ratio like someone mentioned.

Taz will sometimes glom food down too quickly and vomit it back up. This is no big deal. I feed her the Hairball control formula of Science Diet and she does very well with it.

As long as the kitty maintains weight (gains if needs to), is active, and pees regularly everything is probably OK.

I never let Taz have cow's milk or other people food. It's not good for her.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

As for eating grass-- yes, that's exactly why cats eat grass. It helps them to *ahem* get rid of hairballs they've swallowed. If hairballs end up being a major issue, there are varieties of cat food that are specifically designed to control them.

There are also hairball products available at most places that sell pet food/accessories. It's by Hartz (IIRC) and comes in a tube, so it should be easy to give to your kitty. It's been my experience that longer-haired cats have more issues with furballs. Shorter haired ones not as much, but it can happen with any kitty.

It's also salmon flavored, and most kitties LOVE seafood flavors, so that may be worth a try.

And speaking of eating grass, I think my dog ate some earlier when my brother took her outside (too cold for Abby to be outside right now and we've had rain almost all day) Came home this evening to find a trail of puke along roughly one third of the dining room carpet.

As for your other kitty being skinny, it happens with some cats. Poodles stayed pretty slender his first year, despite being fed wet food at least 3 times a day ( about half a can each time) and having dry food out with his water constantly. But during the holidays we noticed he's starting to put on weight.

So now instead of being long and skinny, he's going through a pudgy phase.

[MoonCat]

Definitely don't give him cow's milk. It's not something cats need, and it often gives them the runs.

I, too, would call the vet, because I'm a worry-wart. Just in case. Describe what's happening and they might give some advice over the phone. If he's eating, peeing, pooping, and not lethargic, that's good. If he lets you pick him up and handle him and doesn't act like anything hurts, that's also good.

Please also have a look around at kitten-level: What can he get into? Cleaning stuff, gardening stuff (soil and other things) and anything small enough to be swallowed should be picked up and put where he can't get at it. String, rubber bands and wire things especially should never be left where he can get into them.

Please update when you can! (Pics? )

[Latekin]

Here's the update!

No puking happening this morning, in fact, after the one last night, no puking at all. It was all food anyway, no hair, blood or mucus.
Most of their food is the Science Diet intestinal stuff, because they had diarrhea at the shelter. Any wet food they get is mixed in gradually with their biscuits. Aside from the occasional loose stool, that issue's dried up, so to speak.

They never have cows milk, we have the lactose free pet milk stuff here if they're gonna have milk. Eyes and noses are clear, and peeing is happening normally. Worming has already happened.

I think he must have just eaten too much too fast and it only hit him a little later that his belly was waaaaay over full.

Harry (Called Dingus because he's a derpy little bugger).

Dobby (Who gets called Crash due to his habit of taking hallway corners too fast).


edit: Yes, Harry does have an 'O' marking on both sides. If you stand him up, his markings make him look like he has "lol" written on him.

[Dreamstalker]

If it's available in your neck of the woods, Blue Buffalo (I think they're calling it just Blue now) is good; it's the only thing our old man (who is also a bit pukey) will reliably eat. No fillers or grain, so if the puking is due to an ingredient allergy--with Murphy it was the fillers in commercial food that didn't agree--that may help to narrow it down. They have a kitten formula.

There's also a high-calorie gel called Nutrical; we give Murph a blob or so every day to help keep his weight up. It's nonprescription and should be available at pet stores.