Kitten With Sneezing/Diarrhea

Question
QUESTION: A week ago I adopted an 8 week old kitten from the SPCA. His stool was fine when I got him, but he did sneeze once. The sneezing has continued, sometimes up to 8 times in a row. Also, he now has diarrhea. I thought it was due to stress and food change, so I consulted the SPCA to see what he was eating. They contacted their vet and the SPCA people were nice enough to say that they would pay if I took him in to be looked at. I'm really worried about him. I won't be able to take him in until at least Tuesday. I wonder now if it's a reaction to the shots. He's active and hungry, but he uses the litter box a lot. It's as if everything he eats just goes right through him. I also think he's a bit thin. He is however very active, friendly, playful and he purrs a lot. I have heard of giving him pumpkin for diarrhea and phytomucil for diarrhea. I've been trying to find the perfect food for him but I fear I make things worse. I looked into raw foods such as Feline's Pride and I changed his canned food a couple of times because I wasn't happy with the ingredients. I keep thinking that giving him new stuff will upset his tummy. I honestly don't know what's best for him. It's so confusing to look things up online. There is the holistic approach, and I don't totally disagree with it, but I'm not sure about not vaccinating my cat or not using antibiotics. I also worry that the vet will try to sell products such as Science Diet because they receive money from these companies to endorse their products. I bought avoderm thinking it was a good food then I read that avocado is toxic to cats. I don't know whether to believe this or not. Should I give my kitten some kind of kitten formula for extra nutrients? He's still young. I would like to fatten him up a little. He is drinking water, but I worry he will get dehydrated due to the diarrhea. I also don't know what to think about the sneezing. I don't know whether to believe the people at the holistic cat place that sells Feline's Pride or to believe the vet. I was given antibiotics from the SPCA just as a precaution, but I honestly don't know whether to give it to him or not. I keep hearing how it takes up to a year for a cat to recuperate from antibiotics. I just don't know what to believe or what is best or what is the best food to feed him. I will still take him to the vet though and provide a stool sample even though the holistic people think that the vet will just want to cure my kitty with drugs after they examine the stool sample. Please help, I worry about my kitty and I really want him to be ok.

Sheryl

ANSWER: Sheryl,
you are in the same boat as thousands of others all over the world. I believe in Holistic medicine to a point- but I have seen and heard of too many pets dying from not being treated the conventional way also. Kittens are born with roundworms, sometimes hundreds of them. He needs a roundworm medicine and garlic is not it. I have been to plenty of raw food seminars at veterinary conferences and they are NOT for it, but against it. Why? Because first of all, raw food is full of bacteria. Bacteria in an eight week old kitten could be fatal. Raw food diets made by most people do NOT meet the requirements for growth, health or any life stage. Most of the time they are lacking in all nutrients so they add foods that are supposed to help but only end up making the pet's sicker.
 

"I also worry that the vet will try to sell products such as Science Diet because they receive money from these companies to endorse their products. I bought avoderm thinking it was a good food then I read that avocado is toxic to cats. I don't know whether to believe this or not."

It's statements like these that make my blood boil. I have been a nutritional consultant since 1988. We have sold Science Diet since before I started at the vets in 1980. Not once, as in NEVER, was there any type of 'money being paid for endorsing Hill's foods." First of all, Hill's doesn't ask vets to sell their food- veterinarians decide for themselves what to sell and not sell. Hills has over 50 years of medical research carried out by veterinarians, and was started by a veterinarian to help a guide dog whose kidney's were failing. She was the first guide dog in America. Thus started a whole generation of wellness foods. These are foods designed to prevent or treat specific illnesses. And they work. Why? Because Hill's has done 50 years of research!! They feed it, they test it, and most of all, they keep it the same once it works! Hills is the only food left that uses fixed formulation which means that the food stays consistent bag after bag. That means no surprises for your pet's tummy.

You are correct. Avocado's are toxic to dogs and cats. I wouldn't be surprised if you see Avoderm go bye bye soon. I have a friend that had all of her dogs on Avoderm. My dogs and cats all eat Hills foods only. The cats eat Science Diet Senior and the dog eats W/D, a prescription diet for weight control and skin. Her dogs all died young of some kind of cancer. She is a vet tech also, but refused to believe the food causes this. Yet my current dog is almost 12 and still runs like a 5 yr old dog. She is very healthy and cancer free.

My dogs have lived for years past their normal age for their breed ad did my cats. 19 yrs, 15 yrs,,,the proof is in the pet. Everyone I have recommended Science Diet to has had their pets live long, healthy lives with minimal veterinary care. Unless these pets were getting hit by cars, attacked by dogs or coyotes, they lived longer lives then the clients and friends pets on other foods-especially the garbage foods such as Pedigree, Purina, Avoderm, etc.
So believe it, avocados are not good for pets at all. I don't care what the company says. When a vet recommends Science Diet however, that is something you can trust. More vets feed Science Diet to their own pets then any other food on the market. Is this because they get paid to do so? NO. It's because it works and its optimal nutrition is what keeps pets healthy.


"I've been trying to find the perfect food for him but I fear I make things worse."

I am sorry, but you are correct. You are making it worse. Unlike humans, cats and dogs are geared to eat one thing all of the time. It is when this model is corrupted that we end up with dogs that have serious illnesses such as liver problems, pancreatitis, which is both painful and potentially fatal, obesity and gastro-intestinal problems.

Dogs and cats both do much better on one food, all of the time. So it pays to pick the best food you can and stop listening to all the hype you are hearing. Holistic foods work great for people but pets don't seem to do very well on it. Again, I have a friend whose dogs are all on Raw diets. She buys the stuff in the tubs and feeds it. All of her dogs have horrible teeth and gum problems. All of her dogs are aging before their time and one of them is paralyzed from the back down. Now diet isn't the only cause but you are what you eat. Their coats are not shiny either and they do not have the energy they had before she changed them over.Some people have tunnel vision and won't listen.

So what you need to do is this Sheryl. You wrote to me for advice, and as a RVT and a 5 time certificated nutritional consultant, I am going to tell you this:

Throw out all the food you have bought for this kitten. For two nights only, feed him baby food rice and chicken from the jars, slightly warmed up. Do not add anything else, even pumpkin. Make sure he is drinking fluids. Make sure the baby food you buy is free from any kind of beef. You might need to add a bit of corn syrup or agave syrup to it so he has some energy, but just a small amount because cats do not like sweet stuff.

Go to the feed/pet/vets and get a bag and a can of Science Diet Kitten Growth. Nothing else. On day three, give him a small amount of the canned food mixed with some rice cereal and put out some of the dry kibble. Just a few pieces.

If his diarrhea starts to slow down then continue adding more of the kibble and canned food. If he still has diarrhea then keep him on the rice cereal for a few more days. Once it stops, just keep giving him the Kitten Growth. Do NOT buy Purina, Iams, or any other brand of Kitten food. Some of them have cow's milk in them which will make his diarrhea worse.

The only food he needs is this one. Science Diet kitten growth. Your kitten will be heathly, soft and will be a new cat in three weeks. I can guarantee it and so will Hills. If you don't see a change in him by the time the bag is gone, you can take it back for a 100% refund. The empty bag that is.

But you won't because you will see the difference. Take the stool sample in and get some roundwormer. It is safe and effective and I don't care what the holistic people say. You need to do what is right for this kitten and when they show us that they have effective medication to worm a kitten with then great. Until then, we will stick to what works. That is how you grow a cat to live to be 15, 17, or 19 like my Floyd did. When the holistic cat people have as much education as your vet or have put in 30 yrs of experience like I have and are licensed, then I will listen to them. But until then, they are just guessing. Do you want that for your new baby or do you want what is best? Trust your vet and get the baby food tomorrow. You can get the Kitten Growth on Monday.
Please let me know how he is in a few days.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,

I didn't want to insinuate that Science Diet is bad or that vets get paid off to endorse their products. The point is, everyone has different points of view which makes it very confusing if you try to find information online. I also question the use of meat byproducts and the percentage of corn that is used in Science Diet. But it certainly isn't the worst food out there and many people use it. I tried some canned pumpkin and some phytomucil and the diarrhea is gone, but I'm still taking my kitten to the vet and I will still supply a stool sample. There are some things about holistic practices that I agree with but part of me thinks they go a little too far sometimes. I do like some of the food they sell though. I like the ingredients in the wellness canned kitten and cat foods as there are no fillers and my cat loves it. but I will still listen to my vet's suggestions regarding feeding. The food seems healthy and my cat loves it, so hopefully he will approve. I'm also mixing his other food with it for now. Also, my kitten has had his shots and he has been wormed twice. I'm not against vaccinations or traditional veterinary practices, but I'm not totally against some of the holistic products. I bought a cat litter at the holistic store that is made of corn and nontoxic. I thought this would be better than the clumping clay litter that my kitten has been inhaling and ingesting when he cleans himself. He isn't sneezing as much, so hopefully this is a good sign.

Sheryl

ANSWER: "I didn't want to insinuate that Science Diet is bad or that vets get paid off to endorse their products. The point is, everyone has different points of view which makes it very confusing if you try to find information online."

Yes everyone does have different points of view and opinions Sheryl, but my point of view and the vets or technicians that study nutrition have an Educated point of view, and I have 5 certificates in Small Animal nutrition. So my point was this, are you going to trust in the people that are specifically educated in nutrition or listen to people that have 'opinions' about what they think dogs should eat based on what? Their non-existent years of education? Or the latest fad raw food diet. And yes, you did state that "I also worry that the vet will try to sell products such as Science Diet because they receive money from these companies to endorse their products." So that statement was also just your opinion, and that is fine, but again, is it an educated one?

I am not trying to rub anything in, I KNOW you want the best for your pet or you wouldn't be so worried and doing so much research. I commend you for that. But in this age of information overload, I am just asking you to examine the evidence, not the hearsay.You have the choice- you can trust in a company that pioneered the first wellness foods and have 50 yrs of research to back them up or you can go with the latest and unproven fads.

Hill's foods does not use fillers- I have no clue where people keep coming up with that. As for corn, the cooked field corn that Hill's uses is a far superior source of protein than the ground-up bones that they use in most other foods. Poultry and meat by-products are leftover meat organs of the animal that is processed for other things. Hill's only uses whole meats, never any bones in their foods- which is not true of many companies. That is why Hill's foods are lower in phosphorus- a major player in kidney disease and in bone overgrowth in large breed puppies.

Corn is also way, way down on the list of common allergens. Beef, wheat, chicken, lamb, soy, rice and other grains are way up on the list. Sometimes corn is not even included by Veterinary dermatologists because they don't see it cause allergic reactions. People forget the other ingredients that are more likely to cause an issue but if they see corn they forget all else and point to that.

Hill's foods are made with only USDA USA grown chicken wheat, rice, etc. None of their food is from other countries, and none of it contains slaughter-house offal or bones.

Iams, Purina and Nutro cannot make those claims. Hill's foods are also trial fed for generations of dogs and cats. What that means is they know how the food works. They do research on puppies, kittens, cats and dogs for growth, adult stages and seniors. They were the first pet food manufacturers to create wellness foods, and foods to prevent diseases. How do I know this? Because I have studied Small Animal Nutrition since 1988. And no, not just through Hills either. I was asked to study Purina foods as well and I received a certificate through them as well. So I have had many years of study, attended hundreds of hours of seminars and lectures on SA Nutrition as well.

I am glad that the diarrhea has stopped. I agree that the cat litter you bought is better. There are many things you can do naturally to improve your pet's life. What you feed your cat is up to you. But you are a smart woman, so I wanted you to be an informed shopper as well.

Let me know how he does.    


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: One more thing I forgot to add that I think was kind of funny. When I went to the holistic place they mentioned how the second ingredient in Science Diet is corn and how bad corn is for cats. Well, the funny thing is, they are the ones who suggested this litter. They said it is made from corn so if the cat ingests it it's completely harmless. Do you see the irony in that statement? I just thought it was funny. I decided to not go for the raw diet. Wellness is not raw, it's canned. I have not ruled out Science Diet. I'm going to the vets tomorrow and I will see what he says. He may suggest one of the prescription diets for him depending on what he finds out.

Answer
Very ironic indeed and it shows their ignorance. I have never seen one food from SD that had the second ingredient as corn. I feed it all the time and have read every bag and can they make. Oh well. Anything to sell a product I guess? The litter is made from corn cobs I believe but ya, pretty ironic. Did you ask them how and why corn is so bad for cats? Ask them for some literature that proves that. That will floor them every time.