[abbie]

my kitten is about 8-9 weeks old and his motions are very loose he's had a few mishaps on my carpet, could it be with him being so young i am going to take hime to vets next week for his injections

[finoni9]

Are you feeding him any milk - I found with my kitten if I gave it any milk, even kitten milk it would give it the runs.

[katkin]

any changes in food might also be having an effect- he might be better on a good quality dried food for the time being - royal canin kitten, james wellbeloved or similar. A lot of the wet foods can be quite rich (and full of additives, colourings and the like) They also dont help to keep kitten's teeth in good condition whereas dried foods do and dental problems are a growing issue in cats

[JarvisCocker]

Take him to the vets and get him checked over. They can dehydrate very easily when they are young and this can be fatal. It happened to my friend.

[Moonbird]

If the problem is not too bad and hasn't gone on for too long, what always worked for mine is to completely take them off any food and just feed either boiled, steamed or microwaved white fish.
Once things have settled a bit try a small meal of scrambled egg, perhaps once a day (one egg will probably do 2 meals) then once there are no more problems at all very slowly re introduce the kitten food by mixing it in with the fish or egg.
I would expect to keep him on the fish only for perhaps 3 days until his tummy totally settles, so you will need to make a trip to the market or somewhere and get plenty in.
Unless he actually has a tummy bug this should work, it has never ever failed in my experience.

[abbie]

Thanks to everyone i took him to the vets today and he says it could be i a change in diet from when i got him from the rescue , he is on a special diet for a few days while things improve but other than thay he is fit and healthy

[JarvisCocker]

Oh thats good abbie, best to get him checked over. At least it puts your mind at rest that he's fit and healthy. I didn't want to scare you but it happened to my friends kitten and he died and she was heart broken.

[medusa]

A certain amount of diarrhoea is normal in kittens every time their circumstances change, be that a change in diet, moving house, separating from mummy or littermates, even for some of them a trip in a crate to the vets is stressful enough to create a bit of runny bum. Kittens also don't have the most solid poo in the first place until they reach 8-10 weeks.

The key is to recognise the difference between 'normal' diarrhoea and dangerous diarrhoea when they're so small that a day of serious diarrhoea can kill a kitten so small.

I wish that everyone with an animal could learn the easy test for dehydration- pinch (gently) a little skin on the animal's back and lift it away from the animal, then let it go. In a well-hydrated animal (with the exception of sharpeis or other breeds with lots of skin folds or particularly elderly animals) the skin should shrink back to the body immediately. If it doesn't then that is a sign of dehydration and merits an immediate trip to the vets for your animal's safety.

Pleased to hear that it's nothing serious abbie.

[Bloomdido]

Ours had the runs straight after we found him (at 5 weeks). We tried a bit of rice and pasta instead of kitten food and it soon cleared up. Could have been the stress of losing his 'family'. He can use the litter tray now without any training!