Diarrhea is tough for both foster and adoption placements.
I think that most shelters/rescues are pretty much on the same page as far as a diarrhea protocol of anti-parasitic and antibiotic treatment as a 1-2 punch for parasites/bacteria that are so often the cause of resolvable diarrhea. I agree with the advice given for testing and continued veterinary monitoring.
I am a shelter volunteer and rescue foster with two different organizations. Every kitten that I fostered in the 2024 summer and my two kitten adoptees (aged 16 weeks and 6 months) from 2023 suffered from diarrhea. In each case, testing did not lend much insight as to the cause of their lingering problems. In all cases, the kittens were healthy and otherwise suffered no symptoms; they were happy, curious, playful, active, and alert. They just had persistent problems, ranging in one case from the veterinary emergency grade (explosively gushing liquid) to more typical persistently soft stools. It's important to note that my fosters likely had immature digestive systems that likely contributed to their problems--they ranged from the 4-5 week old age at intake and were all cases in which they were orphaned or abandoned intentionally by people, so continued care from the mother cat was simply not an option.
During and following antibiotic/anti-parasitic treatment, we supplemented diet with raw pumpkin (for fiber) and Vetoquinol Pro-Pectalin gel. Pro-Pectalin contains kaolin (a soft white mineral clay), so it absorbs some of the moisture and with the pumpkin, adds soft bulk to the stool. Pro-Pectalin dosage was arrived at with veterinarian recommendation based on kitten age/size--I would absolutely recommend that you consult with your vet because you don't want to go overboard and cause constipation.
With my fosters, each kitten's diarrhea cleared up around 12 weeks, with stools consistently normal/no diarrhea at around 16 weeks in the latest (and most severe) case. All kittens were continually and routinely monitored by our veterinarian.
My adopted kittens, who were from two different shelters and had been de-wormed and treated with antibiotics but presumably received no pro-biotic or continued anti-diarrhea regimen prior to adoption, took a bit longer, particularly my 6-month-old. However, she was also a special case as she had been trapped as a free-roaming cat at about 5 months of age and suffered from significant stress following separation from her siblings, all of whom had been adopted separately by other people. Within a 6-week period, she was trapped, taken to a shelter, spayed, moved to an off-site location, separated from a bonded sibling, and adopted--that's a LOT of change in a short period of time. Under veterinary care, we transitioned her to a prescription pro-biotic gut diet in addition to using Pro-Pectalin and gave her the time and space to decompress. It took a full six months for her issues to completely resolve without regression, during which time she has become a contented housecat. Once resolved, she was able to gradually transition to a regular, non-prescription diet. It just took time, patience, and the time to establish healthy intestinal flora.
Based on my experience, I would ask your vet about adding Pro-Pectalin or another similar kaolin and pro-biotic based product. There are several available, but make sure you consult with a professional for dosing and safety based on the specific needs of each cat or kitten.
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Erin Linsky
Volunteer, Kitten Foster
Fort Wayne IN
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-23-2022 01:07 PM
From: Brigitte Ivory
Subject: Kitten Diarrhea
Hi,
We rescued over s100 cats this year; we are so proud! We also had over 60 adoptions so far, this is our first real active year for our rescue that we founded in 2020. Last year we only rescued 40 cats. With that said, this is the first time that we have had a lot of kittens, and all are doing well, except for 2 kittens that we took in from a 44 -cat hoarding situation back in July/August. We took in a total of 38 cats, 1 kitten died same day in an incubator, the other we had to have our vet euthanized as the entire back of its body was deformed and the vet indicates she would not have a good quality of life. All these cats were inbred, including the two kittens we are having trouble with, they started out with a bad coccidia infection, which we treated, then once we got nothing but negative fecals, we thought we were doing great, but.... they kept having wicked diarrhea. So back to the vet, given them meds for diarrhea, changing the food, etc., that helped a little bit, but they still have loose stools and diarrhea at times enough where the fosters cannot handle them anymore and I am concerned about getting them adopted. Anyone have any advice, ideas, experience with a bad case of the runs like this? Any help is greatly appreciated.
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization
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Brigitte Ivory
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