So it turns out the problem (probably all along with the weird actions and drooling) was the FOOD.  Kittens cannot have urinary tract diet.  We did not know this.  It does not say so on the bags of food or the general area of the website pages.  When the vet had us put him on canned, expensive urinary food, we noticed on the research page on the web that it was contraindicated in kittens.  We asked why.  The vet called them and from what we gather there was something about “nutritional needs, extra calcium, etc.”   No one mentioned acid reflux or farts that would register on the richter scale in Yellowstone.  Yes, the scientists there think there is renewed volcanic activity, but it’s just Junior’s farts.

Apparently kittens have very acidic urine already.  This acidity should have kept him from getting the crystals that caused him to plug way back when we were on his first illness.  NO wait, it was his second illness.  Anyway, giving them acidic food doesn’t agree with them.  The vet did tell us to go back to kitten food after a week of the urinary diet, but when the kitten food seemed to be giving him diarrhea (which was probably tapeworms) we decided to be extra careful with him and switch him to an over the counter urinary diet, one the vet recommended when he reached age one.  We just decided to be proactive and early.  And it gave poor little Junior such violent heartburn he was in enough pain that he fritzed and drooled.  Then he went to the vet.  The vet just fed him whatever they had on hand after treating him for the panic.  Good move–it was normal acidity and agreed with Junior’s system.

We got him home and he went back on the urinary diet.  Soft stool arrived and those farts I told you about.  They weren’t just showing up on the richter scale either. There was enough sulphur and rot in them to send the scientists running for gas masks.

We finally arrived at this conclusion because we had eliminated EVERYTHING else in Junior’s environment except the food.  We were sitting around two nights ago when the drool started.  There was nothing he had gotten into except he had just eaten.   That was it.  We’d tried two brands of urinary diet, so we didn’t think it was the manufacturer.  We went to the store and got some other stuff.  We had to try SOMETHING.

We trolled the internet.  We began to come across articles that discussed farts and acidity of foods.  We then found another food manufacturer site that mentioned that if you had a multi-cat household, not to let kittens eat the urinary diet.  Hmm.  Why???  They didn’t say, just like the original site we saw.  But I bet they know why.  And we are pretty sure we know why.

It’s been two days on regular food for Junior and 1/4 tablet of pepcid ac every 12 hours for the last 36 hours.  The drool has dried up.  Thank God the farts have too.  He is a much happier cat.  We are much happier people.   Thank God that one of the vets at Premier Animal Hospital mentioned he might have damage due to the first drooling session, and we should give him Pepcid in case the drooling was heartburn.  Cats can’t have most medicines so we never would have guessed.  We didn’t even know that he might be having heartburn.  We didn’t even know that cats could GET heartburn.  But we know how painful it can be.  And now, thankfully, he is eating right and doing well.   We’ll know that his insides are better when his meow returns to normal–right now he sounds a little hoarse.

So the moral of the story is that if you have really bad farts, try changing the acidity of your diet.  Or something like that.