~4 week old kitten with diarrhea

3 week-ish old kitten that we picked up at work (mother is MIA) and have had for about a week now. She's been to the vet twice now. Not because she's been sickly mind you.

First visit was the day we got her for a straight up check up. Vet gave her dewormer and some advantage for her fleas. The fleas all died and I have yet to see any worms. The vet said he was surprised she was doing so well, and to continue with the KMR. Her stool was a brown toothpaste.

We notice kitty's stool was starting to get a bit runny, still brown but lightening, so we took her to the vet again. This time they test and she has Coccidia. She's now/was on Albion for a week (.3 ml first day, .15 every day after that, once a day) and Pro-Pectalin for the runs. Other than that, she said kitty is doing great, come back in a couple weeks.

It's been about a week since, and I have read that anti-biotics (unsure if this is what Albion is or not) can cause diarrhea in addition to the Coccidia. It's yellow and runny, no blood, mucus or funky smell to it. The bottle said 7 days, so she is no longer taking the Albion.

I guess my question is, how long can I expect the stool to be runny due to Coccidia? The week was up today and I still have a healthy amount of Pro-Pectalin left that the vet prescribed.

Her stats:
She's still hydrated, has very light yellow/clear urine (and pees like a racehorse on occasion). When I do the skin test to see if it snaps back, it snaps back in a second or less.

She eats her KMR and is getting bigger, has a round tummy that isn't hard or feeling like it's too big. I'm being careful not to overfeed, and I will be buying a scale today to make extra sure. Last she was weighed, she's about 11 ounces, definitely more now.

She isn't crying excessively (she's talkative) and sleeps about as much as she did before the Coccidia diagnosis, which is a lot but well... she's a kitten.

She plays and runs around about as much as I expect a kitten would.

Me:
I've had kittens and cats before, just not this tiny! Thanks in advance. I'm not TOO worried, I was just wanting some advice.

Have you tried starting her on a good quality canned food yet? I'm not talking the stuff vets sell that passes for food (barely). I am talking Kitten Wellness or another grain free, byproduct free kitten food. You could start her off with a small amount watered down so she can digest it better. If she doesn't know what to do, and probably won't, try sticking your fingertip in the food and putting a small amount on her nose. She will soon associate that taste with what's in the dish.
I have a feeling with all the changes she's been through plus being taken off mom's milk so early the diarrhea should be considered normal. If she has been to the vet a couple of times already and has been dewormed and has had coccidia meds then I would expect a little diarrhea.
Keep an eye on her and make sure she stays hydrated. You are doing a wonderful job so far. :thumbs up And thank you for bringing this little one home. Was she an only one?

Is it Albon that you are using? If so, yes, it can cause diarrhea and dehydration.

If your kitten is 4 weeks old, you can start giving her quality canned. I suspect her digestive system is looking for some meat protein now. The best canned kitten food I could find is Kitten Wellness. To make the transition on her digestive system easy, you can mix half KMR and canned. You may find that she plays with it, sits in it, runs in it, but she will lick it off herself :laughing:

We've tried giving her canned food, but it's the stuff from the vet. I shied away from it a bit when the diarrehea kicked into gear because I had read that changes in diet could cause it, but it didn't clear up, so I think I'll try it. If I can't find that particular brand, any recommendations for a back up? Hopefully something more recognizable, since this is a smaller town, some of the more exotic stuff can be hard to find. Don't even get me started on beer.

I got her at work, I work at UPS and her momma cat is a feral/stray living under one of the load areas. This is the second litter of kittens that I know of her having, one now and another one sometime last year. She has the habit of wandering out in the yard in the middle of the night (when we're working).

When she is by herself, no problem dodging semi trucks yet it seems. But when she has a kitten in her mouth, she'll drop the kitten and bolt, leaving the kitten. Terrible mother. This one was found by a supervisor walking the yard by chance and I went "Awwwh." and took her, knowing there was a good chance it could end badly, but she's doing so good!

I was tempted to put baby kitty back (a driver leaves food for her, I'd have put her there). Poor kitty was -covered- in fleas and apparently also has Coccidia, so maybe she's better off? Especially if momma cat is leaving her out in the yard. No place for a black kitty in the middle of the night. She took to the bottle and KMR really fast. The only lapse in feeding has been that initial six hours when I found her but couldn't leave work yet.

I don't know how many other kittens there are, I know there were at least two others... but like I said. Not as good at dodging the trucks as momma cat. I haven't seen her around for a while either. If there are, hopefully they are still under belt 3 where they are safe. It's raining out right now too. Poor kitties. :(

Could you borrow a live trap and try to catch the mom? That way she can be taken in and gotten fixed and then there are no more problems with tiny babies being killed by machinery. It would also help with the pet overpopulation. Maybe your coworkers and you could swing a deal with one of your vets and then split on the cost. Or find a low cost s/n place. :fingerscr
Wellness is a pretty widely available food. If you have a Pet Valu or a half decent pet store you should be able to get it. If not try to find one with no by products, grains and corn. Cats need meat, not fillers like grain and corn.