My kitten has accidents and a dirty bottom after a food change. Why?

It might just be that Lucky is a little off-balance as she is growing. Changing the box type (higher sides, step in, etc) may help position her better, otherwise using a pet wipe to clean her bottom may help. If you suspect she may have an issue such as not being able to stand or walk properly that is causing it, a vet visit to rule out any issues is always a good idea.

Soak her bottom in some warm water to soften the stool, then gently wipe her clean. Offer a quality canned kitten food and mix in some unflavored PediaLyte to keep her hydrated. This will help ease defecation. Submit a stool sample to your veterinarian to diagnose intestinal parasites. Deworm Lily if indicated and repeat in 2 weeks. An exam should also be done since she is a "new" pet. Once she is deemed healthy, you can discuss an appropriate vaccination protocol with your vet.

She's adorable! I would be a little more concerned that she might have intestinal parasites or another disease causing her diarrhea. I would recommend seeing a veterinarian if you have not taken her in already. They can check a stool sample and she may be old enough for vaccines at this point. If there does not seem to be a medical issue you could try seeing how she does on just wet or just dry food - kittens sometimes do better on one vs. the other.

Hello, thank you for your question about Ivy. It is possible that the changes in the stools you have noticed could be due to the frequent diet changes. Some cats/especially kittens are more sensitive to rapid changes in diets. You could try transitioning her to a bland diet for the next few days - this can include boiled chicken/hamburger and white rice. Some cats are more reluctant to eat this and if that is the case there are commercially available diets that are easy on the GI tract. I would recommend continuing to monitor the diarrhea for the next 24 hours. If it continues with no improvement it is possible that there may be something else going on. If it continues I would recommend contacting your veterinarian to discuss adding in an anti-diarrheal medication. Hope this helps, good luck!

You can switch their food but you want to slowly transition them to the new food. This means you want to start with mixing only a small amount of the new food in with the old food for a few days then over a 10 day period, increase the amount of new food while decreasing the amount of old food until you are just feeding the new food around day 10. By slowly transitioning them to a new food, it decreases the risk of causes an upset stomach. I hope this helps!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I’m sorry to hear Oreo is having diarrhea. Diarrhea in kittens can be due to a variety of reasons, including intestinal parasites, dietary indiscretion, food intolerance, a virus or another underlying issue. I would recommend Oreo be evaluated by a veterinarian to determine the underlying cause for her diarrhea, have any necessary testing done (fecal analysis, etc) and start any treatment (dewormer, antidiarrheal, probiotic) that she may need to help resolve it. Good luck!

This is not uncommon, most cats should adapt to both the new enviroment and food within 3-5days. I would recommend adding a probiotic such as fortiflora and consider a natural calming aid such as zylkene to help with the transition. Be aure to keep kittnes regularly dewormed also