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My 6-week-old kitten is throwing up and has diarrhea. What to do?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Longhair | Female | unspayed | 1 month and 16 days old | 2 lbs

I have barely 6 week old kitten. I adopted her from a shelter. I picked her up Saturday noon. She was eating hard food and drinking Whiskas kitten milk which is a different brand from the agency. She has been fine, playing, wrestling, all day Sunday and most of today. Then she had two bouts of diarrhea and then threw up a good sized glob of food and a little while later threw up just clear stuff. Right now she is sleeping. She was wormed just recently at the shelter. Should I just let her sleep?

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1 Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on June 18th, 2018

Congrats on your new kitten, but I'm sorry she is sick! If she is eating a different brand of food from what she was fed at the shelter, this could be the cause of her GI upset (vomiting and diarrhea). Sudden changes in diets cause GI upset in cats, and they need to be transitioned slowly to a new food. I would withhold food for 8 hours, then feed a bland diet of boiled white meat chicken (no bones) in small amounts several times a day for a couple of days. Then slowly add back in her normal diet. If the vomiting continues in the absence of food, she vomits the bland diet, the diarrhea continues on the bland diet, she stops drinking water, starts vomiting water, or becomes very lethargic, she will need to see a vet right away. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

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