cat has constant diarrhea

ihave2cats

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My 11 month old cat has had diarrhea since the day we adopted him 8 months ago. We have had 3 stool sample tests and I switched him to a high protein low carb dry food. He doesn't use the litter box more frequently, but when he does it is always in the form of diarrhea. Any suggestions?
 

mermaid

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Chronic diarrhea could mean a couple of things. Is that the only thing your vet has done was given your cat a fecal test for worms? He needs a little more investigating than that. I would speak to my vet about it. He could have colitis, or food allergy, or a parasite or one of many other things. But diarrhea for that long isn't right and it needs to be addressed.
 

mschauer

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Are there any other symptoms? Does he have plenty of energy? Good coat, clear eyes? Good appetite?

How many times does he poop in a day?
 

devlyn

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Try giving him a little bit of canned pumpkin each day. Not the pie filling, just pumpkin. You can also feed him some boiled rice and chicken. It will be easy on his tummy.
Others will be along, I'm sure, to help advise.

Best of luck!

Devlyn
 
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ihave2cats

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Diarrhea is his only problem. He has a great coat and has a ton of energy. He's constantly playing with our other cat. He also has a really good appetite and drinks plenty of water. He only poops about once (sometimes twice) per day, but it is always runny.
 

mschauer

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Originally Posted by ihave2cats

Diarrhea is his only problem. He has a great coat and has a ton of energy. He's constantly playing with our other cat. He also has a really good appetite and drinks plenty of water. He only poops about once (sometimes twice) per day, but it is always runny.
You might try a probiotic. If he is otherwise healthy, his body may just not be able to properly process food. I use Eagle Pack Holistic Soultion but there are several brands available. My Coco had loose stools for a year until I started giving it to her. Within 2 days her stools were firm and have been ever since.

Others have had success feeding California Natural Chicken and Rice. It is an easy to digest food. I started with CN + the probiotic.
 

barbb

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I'm surprised it is not coccidia, giardia, or campylobacter.

I've fostered kittens who are the picture of health and energy but who have one of these illnesses hanging on through their teenager years.

http://www.petsunlimited.com/pet_lib..._articles.html

http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proce...A2002&PID=2588

I would ask the vet if they could recheck for campylobacter; it can be hard to get rid of. I am not sure if the other two are readily able to be diagnosed, but am attaching this other link (directly above) that discusses diagnosis and ability to clearly diagnose.
 

mermaid

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Originally Posted by BarbB

I'm surprised it is not coccidia, giardia, or campylobacter.

I've fostered kittens who are the picture of health and energy but who have one of these illnesses hanging on through their teenager years.

http://www.petsunlimited.com/pet_lib..._articles.html

http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proce...A2002&PID=2588

I would ask the vet if they could recheck for campylobacter; it can be hard to get rid of. I am not sure if the other two are readily able to be diagnosed, but am attaching this other link (directly above) that discusses diagnosis and ability to clearly diagnose.
This is good advice. If it were my cat, I'd want to delve further into this issue, even though he seems bright and healthy. Something is causing this and it may eventually catch up with him.
 

mschauer

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Good links!

It might be easier and less expensive to try a food change first, since your vet believes there is no clinical cause. Maybe try the CN Chk & Rice for a few days to see if there is any improvement? If so, it might just be a digestive problem, otherwise go for more tests.

I know you already tried a food change but high protein, low carb isn't what I have in mind.
 

aussie_dog

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My Molly can't digest the carbs in dry food, and I wonder if that's the same problem your kitty has. We found Molly lost on the streets when she was roughly 5 months old, and for the next year, she had constant diarrhea (I think the only firm poop we saw come out of her was the first night we had her). She was eating premium kibble food, like California Natural, Felidae, Timberwolf Organics, Innova, etc., but nothing worked. It was always diarrhea, and bad diarrhea too, where it would splatter everywhere on the walls, and the smell was enough to make you die.

But a year after we found her, I decided to heck with it, why not just take the plunge into wet food? And as long as I'm going to try wet food, why not try RAW food instead of canned? So that's what I did and miracle upon miracles, her poop problems cleared up! Now she has firm poops with no smell at all! The only time she gets runny poop now is if I give her something foreign (like a hairball remedy, or some dry treats, or anything with carbs, basically. She's also sensitive to beef, which I've suspected ever since we found her). Dishing out the money for RAW is definitely worth it, because Molly was miserable with her constant runny bum, and the other cats hated being around when she used the box (we humans hated being around too, as a matter of fact, lol).

It's just an idea; I had no idea cats could be unable to digest carbs before I got Molly, so I make sure to offer this idea whenever I come across a familiar post like this. If it's not worms or allergies, it could be the inability to digest the carbs.
 

mschauer

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Originally Posted by Aussie_Dog

It's just an idea; I had no idea cats could be unable to digest carbs before I got Molly, so I make sure to offer this idea whenever I come across a familiar post like this. If it's not worms or allergies, it could be the inability to digest the carbs.
I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that your cat "can't digest carbs" just based on this. There are major differences between commercial processed foods and raw besides just carbs.

But, switching to raw has helped others with loose stool problems. That can be a very long and painful transition though. Cats can be very resistent to the change.
 

barblynnp

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My new 5 month old kitty has a similar problem. He just got rid of tapeworms and is on a special prescription diet from the vet (high protein low carbs). He is also drinking a ton of water. He only poops about once or twice a day, but it is mushy. He farts a lot and they are "wet farts". Drops of wet poo get all over.
 

kittykittysick

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my cat has diarrhea for the past 2 months, he has colitis, try probiotics, my vet recommends FortiFlora, apparently it is the only one that is approved to have and exact amount of the probiotic in it, whcih i guess is why its only sold at the vet, without prescription though. also, try the pumpkin or a high fibre food, like w/d hills or medi-cal fibre formula. just a note on these foods, as they may contain some fillers as opposed to for example innova evo, i had a persian cat on medi-cal her whole life, and lived to 19 years of age, so it cant be that bad. though im no food scientist, so thats only an opinion. if anyone has had any negative experiences with these foods, please let me know!
 

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Originally Posted by kittykittysick

my vet recommends FortiFlora, apparently it is the only one that is approved to have and exact amount of the probiotic in it, whcih i guess is why its only sold at the vet, without prescription though.
Actually, THAT sounds more to me like your vet wants you to buy it from them so they'll make more money off of you.

There are several great brands of probiotics on the market that you do NOT have to make a special trip to your vet to buy.

My Bengal, Max, had some loose stool when transitioning into my home two months ago, it lasted for a few weeks but cleared up with the use of Eagle Pack Holistic.

However, I recently ran out. He had firm stool for a couple of weeks, then suddenly: stinky, wet runny stool again. So now he is two days back on the Eagle Pack, ad we'll see what happens.
 

kittykittysick

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she doesnt stock it, other vets do, so its not her trying to make money, since she obviously isnt making money off of it if she isnt selling it.
 

laureen227

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my vet also recommended the fortiflora... which i used because i didn't have anything else at the time. but it is quite heavy in animal digest as an ingredient. i have used both Benebac [available at petco, petsmart, etc] & human probiotics from the health food store for mine with equally good results.
 

keith p

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My cat also has this problem. She is great eater and very energetic, but when she goes it smells so bad and is runny, and sometimes a little bit of blood comes out too, she wipes her rear on the floor after, i'll clean her rectum for her with warm water if it's messy, usually its not bad. Not to mention she gets gas alot.

The vets say she gets her anal glands clogged, she has had them expressed before and it seems to help a bit, but she hates getting them expressed.
 

iluvdevons

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I'd recommend probiotics and digestive enzymes added to food (I use PetEnzymes) and as for food, I would highly recommend EVO 95% meat canned cat food. I use the venison with good results. to you and your kitty
 

cutietoni

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Can someone please advise? My 5 month old kitten has exactly the same problem. We have tried gluten free diets, dairy and egg free diets, adult food, kitten food, probiotics, antibiotics, wormer and nothing works. He is a Russian Blue cross. Beautiful but just has such a messy bum! I don't know what to do!
 

stephanietx

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Has the vet run the PCR diarrhea test?  Have you tried a limited ingredient food or a prescription food for sensitive tummies?  Has he been put on anything like metronizadole?
 
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