My kittens have diarrhea. How to tell if I'm overfeeding or underfeeding?

Hello. At 4 weeks of age, you should be weaning these kittens onto a good kitten food. 50 ml of milk 3 times a day may just be too much for them, especially if the kittens are less than 1 pound. The other very big cause of diarrhea in kittens is intestinal parasites. I would bring a sample of the stool to your veterinarian & have it examined microscopically. If anything is seen, then the appropriate treatment can be started. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi. Yes they are usually good at controlling the amount. The diarrhea may be normal puppy poop, but if not, i recommend getting a fecal sample in to the veterinarian to be checked for parasites. If he isnt vomiting and is growing well, no need to limit. 7ml though is a bit too much. Lol

Congrats on your kittens but I'm sorry they are sick! It may be the change of diet that is causing this foul stools, and I would take them off that food. An adult cat food is not appropriate for kittens. They need higher amounts of calcium, protein, and calories than adult cats to grow properly, so they need to be on a kitten food. They may be eating voraciously because they are so hungry and their nutritional needs are not being met with the adult cat food. Take them off the adult cat food, and buy kitten food. Start them on a bland diet of boiled white meat chicken (no bones) in small amounts to see if that helps settle their stomach and clears up the diarrhea, and after two days on the bland diet, start adding in the kitten food. You can mix the boiled chicken with the dry or wet food. Over the next week, decrease the amount of chicken and increase the amount of kitten food until they are eating the kitten food only. If the bland diet does not help clear up the diarrhea, they will need to see a vet. Good luck, I hope this helps!

The most likely cause of the diarrhea you are seeing is gastrointestinal parasites. At 6 weeks, you should definitely start deworming the kitties. While I understand your financial constraints, I would see if you could simply bring in a fecal sample to the vet to be tested for parasites. This way, in a couple weeks, you have it retested and see if another deworming is necessary. In regards to cross-contamination, the best thing you can do is wear gloves between litters and wash your hands and arms thoroughly between sessions. If you touch them to your clothing, change clothes as well, reserving certain outfits for time spent with certain litters. Lastly, kittens should be starting the weaning process at about four weeks. While nursing at six weeks isn't unheard of, I would definitely try to start encouraging the feeding or regular food as soon as possible. Hope this helps!

Make sure they are on a good quality milk replacer such as kmr. Changing it at all between different brands or switching from powder to liguid can cause diarrhea. Increase frequency of feedings to compensate for the diarrhea. And a probiotic such as bene back may help. If constant a vet visit for fluids may be recommended. If they didn't receive colostrum or milk from mom at all they are at higher risk from infections and may not survive despite best care. Sometimes the vet can help with injecting serum from a healthy cat to boost their immune system. Benebachttp://m.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3563 http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=576

At the age of 6-7 weeks, these kittens are completely capable of eating dry kitten food. Perhaps this would help to regulate the stools and firm them up. You can do a combination of soft kitten food and the dry kibble.

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.