chronic diarrhea - 12 1/2 YO Persian -green??

Hi there - I'm at my wit's end so thought I'd try posting here. My (indoor) Persian has had chronic diarrhea for nearly a year but just in the past 3 weeks or so it's gotten especially bad. She never goes in her box anymore, just around it, and in various corners of rooms (luckily I have wood floors). It's pretty much liquid only.

She's been to the vet twice in the past 2 weeks and they can't specifically find anything wrong with her. They've done both fecal and blood samples.

Right now she's eating the Royal Canin duck/pea formula in case it's food allergies. Because they think it *might* be IBD, I got cortisone pills to start giving her (which I started this morning).

But the past 2 days now I've noticed her diarrhea is bright green. I've searched any possible plants in the house that she could be chewing on but none of them show any chew marks--only one is in her reach and she always ignores it. So why in the world is it bright green now? I found a couple things on the web on human-related websites and it says something about how sometimes stools turn green when food hasn't had time to digest well enough and just passes straight out. So my point is--how much longer can my cat keep on like this? Sure doesn't sound like she's getting any nutrients out of her food (and her appetite is nearly gone now--past few days).

Should I leave her be and hope the cortisone helps, or try to get her to eat something like baby food (which may contribute to the diarrhea)?

Sorry for the long post! Just hoping someone else may have some experience similiar to this and can offer some advice. Thank you!

Im wondering if the green is from the peas in the food?

No, the food is brown kibble--there is nothing green about it. Plus she's barely eating it right now so I can't see what would amount to that much green in her stool.

For diarrhea, get some acidoupholous from a health food store and sprinkle in the food

IBD
You have unfortunately probably been feeding dry foods
You need to either switch to canned foods with no grains or as little as possible or a raw diet where there are no grains at all.

What you also want to do is cut down on the fats

A human grade quality canned food like Merrick or wellness with chicken breast added would be great.

Diet plays a huge part in most IBD cats, If a no grain diet doesn't do the trick,
A novel protein like rabbit,vennison ect with no grains,

For a raw diet which is the best choice, you can buy something like nature's variety or you can make your own
These sites shows you how
http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm
http://www.catnutrition.org/pictorial.php
Here is a link about ibd
http://www.felineoutreach.org/Educat...il.asp?cat=IBD
http://www.catnutrition.org/ibd.php
My info comes from working with diabetic cats worldwide and many of them have other issues including ibd. I am giving you info that works

You might consider a second opinion if your vet hasn't been any help.

If there truly is no medical cause for her diarrhea I would definitely change her diet. Get her off of dry and onto a good quality, grain free canned.

Some have had success treating loose stools by feeding Eukanuba or Iams hairball formulas. That's a dry food but it is high in fiber and might help until you can get her switched to canned.

Something else you could try that might help her with digesting her food is probiotics and/or digestive enzymes. I used Eagle Pack Holistic Solutions to treat my kitties loose stools. She had firm stools within 2 days of starting it.

BTW - You are right to be concerned about how long this has been going on. Loose stools or diarrhea indicate poorly digested food. She isn't able to draw the nutrition she needs from her food.

Thanks for your suggestion---I will look into the Eagle stuff you mention. In fact I just did a web search and there's a new petstore that opened up close by my home that sells it! Thanks for the suggestion!

She actually seemed slightly better this morning after taking her cortisone pill, so maybe (fingers crossed) tonight she'll be even better. I had given her a little blob of chicken baby food this morning too which she lapped right up and probably would have eaten more but I didn't want to upset her tum. so tonight I'll try the baby food with the Eagle stuff.

I am probably way off but thought id add something. My puppy, Bruno, had a sever case of Giardia when we got him from the SPCA. I remember his poo being a bright green. He still has it. We just cant get rid of it.

Hi there - no it's definitely not giardia (she's been tested several times for it because I too brought home a puppy a year ago with it--he's long been back to normal now).

OptionKen - thanks for your response and all the info on IBD! She has been eating 1/8 can canned (in the mornings) and then kibble out all day. Canned food has been either Merrick or Innova and now most recently Roya Canin duck/canned peas(limited ingredients), but it seemed to make her diarrhea worse so I took the canned food away. Her kibble is still out all the time. She's been on MaxiCat Senior kibble.

so that is interesting to take away the kibble and just do the canned food. I always thought the canned food was causing the diarrhea. Hmm. the trouble is, she doesn't eat much at one sitting so I'm afraid the canned food will go bad if left out all day (though I'll split it up and give her 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 in the evening). But I'll revisit the canned food and take away the kibble and try that. (In addition to getting the Eagle holistic stuff the other poster mentioned.)

Thanks everyone for your responses!! She's a sweet little cat who's been my buddy for 12 years. hate watching her suffer!!

Originally Posted by Wander88

Thanks for your suggestion---I will look into the Eagle stuff you mention. In fact I just did a web search and there's a new petstore that opened up close by my home that sells it! Thanks for the suggestion!

She actually seemed slightly better this morning after taking her cortisone pill, so maybe (fingers crossed) tonight she'll be even better. I had given her a little blob of chicken baby food this morning too which she lapped right up and probably would have eaten more but I didn't want to upset her tum. so tonight I'll try the baby food with the Eagle stuff.

Click to expand...

You might find this of interest:

http://www.catinfo.org/index.htm#Com..._Ties_to_Diet_

Among other things, towards the bottom it talks about the issue of leaving canned food out for long periods.

Please let us know how it goes for you. Loose stools/diarrhea with no apparent medical cause is shockingly common and people post here frequently about it. Others might learn from your experience.

Good luck!

Hi - I just wanted to post a follow-up. I'm SO RELIEVED! I fed Zoe baby food for a day or so and then started mixing it in with her Royal Canin canned duck/peas limited ingrediet food, BUT took away all kibble. She has been off regular kibble for 3 days. Then yesterday I got Natural Balance grain free kibble and also NB's duck/pea canned food (also grain free) [Note: the Royal Canin is not grain free]. Zoe was thrilled to have kibble back so suddenly her appetite came back with a bang. Last night and today she again has the Nat. Balance (grain free) kibble out to free feed and I've given her some of the canned (Mixing the RC with the NB to get her used to it). I also got the Eagle Holistic power yesterday that was mentioned in posts above and started mixing that in her canned food yesterday.

The point - today she had her FIRST NORMAL STOOL in seems like ages!! HOORAY!!

oops hit enter and posted too soon. Also wanted to comment that since she'd only been on cortisone for less than a week (for possible IBD), I have weaned her back off of it bc I don't want to keep her on that long term and think that the grain in the old kibble was what she was allergic to.

anyway, thanks to everyone for your very helpful posts. (Zoe thanks you too!)

GLAD she is making such progress ... you still should reconsult with her vet ... as there may be something other than grain causing her issues .. has she had senior blood work to give a clean bill of health on her organs:_)??

Yes she has had the full blood panel done and it was normal. That's why the vet is stumped. Also I was quick to post this morning. Zoe's diarrhea is back but not nearly as bad. I'm hoping it is just the change in diet again (adding the grain free kibble yesterday). Boy this is tiresome!!

many cats are allergic to peas ... maybe something to address with your vet ...

Thanks for the update. I'm glad she doing better.

It sounds like you are making several changes to her diet at once. You might want to consider making a single change and then give her system a few days to adjust to that before making another change.

I hope she continues to improve.