Diarrha - When Should I Start Getting Worried??

Dear All,

Rascal has been having diarrhea since yesterday, poor thing. I've had to clean him 4 times yesterday and again once this morning. His poor lil bum is also swollen. (I have been *very* gentle and careful when cleaning him, using wet Ultra Soft Kleenex).

I can't imagine what is causing it. There has been no change in food etc. All was well until yesterday.

The only thing I can think of is that we moved to a new location and the water is different, very high in minerals. But I have been giving both my boys bottled water to drink and Samson has been just fine.

Could it be he ate some bad bugs? We now live on a ground floor and there have been a lot of spiders, ants and creepy crawlers in the house. I even killed a brown recluse a week ago. I haven't been letting the cats eat the bugs when they catch them though, at least when I'm able to see them after one.

Should I rush him to the vet this morning or wait till Monday?

I sure do appreciate your help!

I'd at least call the vet to describe symptoms and get their take on what to do. How old is Rascal - if he's a kitten, I, being a nervous mom and close to the vet's office, would be on the way there!

My vet says that normally they'll say, with an adult with no other symptoms, to withhold food for a day and let the system sort of reset itself. But, given that it's a holiday weekend, I'd honestly get in touch with my vet to get a list of what to look for, how to treat, and when to rush in to the ER vet.

Best of luck - that's a lot of stress with a new move, no matter how great the new place is, for all of you - and maybe it is just a bug or stress and has already resolved itself a bit!

Seriously, here is what I learned from Diarrhea: If it is something I can not control with Bene-Bac, and it last over a day, I will take Bugsy to the vet during business hours. Having him checked, receiving fluids, sure beats rushing with him 1am to the ER vet to do the same thing, but paying 4 times as much....
Cats get dehidrated and go downhill so easily with diarrhea, I keep my guard up big time with it.
Bugsy has digestive problems, so he odes have diarrhea from time to time... of course I don't take him to the vet every time it happens.... But it never lasts for over a day either.... his bum never gets swollen... and it is controlled with bene-bac...
Since it is a long holiday, I would err on the side of caution, and take him in.
If it was not, I would take him in at the first sign of lethargy...


For the weekend - buy yourself some bene-bac, and unflavored pedialyte to give him with a syringe... more vibes

Originally Posted by darlili

I'd at least call the vet to describe symptoms and get their take on what to do. How old is Rascal - if he's a kitten, I, being a nervous mom and close to the vet's office, would be on the way there!

My vet says that normally they'll say, with an adult with no other symptoms, to withhold food for a day and let the system sort of reset itself. But, given that it's a holiday weekend, I'd honestly get in touch with my vet to get a list of what to look for, how to treat, and when to rush in to the ER vet.

Best of luck - that's a lot of stress with a new move, no matter how great the new place is, for all of you - and maybe it is just a bug or stress and has already resolved itself a bit!

Click to expand...

If blood is present then I opt to go in

Dear All,

Well this afternoon, when I saw the diarrhea wasn't calming down, I took him to the vet. He gave him a shot of Vetalog an anti-inflamatory and Baytril antibiotic to prevent infection and Rascal seems to be doing a lot better. I have also limited his food intake to only dry, just to be safe.

Before I rushed over to the vet, when I pooped & scooped, I was able to get a good sample, but of course in the stress of getting Rascal there, in my arms no less, I forgot to bring the sample So when I was asked if I had a sample........they said they would extract one. I absolutely refused. I told them that since I lived less than 10 mins away I could rush back home and get it, but being Labor Day weekend and all, they didn't want me to.

Well, once the nurse saw his poor lil swollen bum she did not even want to take his temperature. I asked whether she could take his temp via his ears but she said it was usually inaccurate.

They think a bad batch of food caused the problem. IE the expiration date on the can was fine but the food inside the can may have been bad. It was Nutro Max brand. I had him and Samson on that since the past 3 weeks and they had both been doing really well on it and then suddenly yesterday .........what is weird though is that Samson is perfectly fine.

Anyways sorry if I'm a bit long winded, but I just wanted to share and thank you all for your help

Just would like to add that being in a new place and all, and this being an "emergency" situation, I took my baby to the Banfield Animal Hospital, the one associated with Petsmart and I was very impressed with them. I immediately fell in love with the vet, a very kindly, gentle and obviously someone who really loves animals.....however....snifffffffffff.....crrieees.....he is retiring in 2 weeks.....

I hope Rascal continues to feel better - and it's tough to remember to bring everything when you're under stress.

A friend uses the Banfield by her, and absolutely loves it. My local Petsmart doesn't have a vet, and I don't want to drive Dharma the 20 minutes to the one that does (she cries all the way, then I cry - and I like my vet that's 5 minutes away).

I use the Nutro Max in the little cans and haven't had any issues with bad food, crossing fingers, but there's always the possibility that any food can have a bad can or run. Tummy disorders can be so hard to trace back - my boy recently was tossing his cookies for a day - and I never was able to figure out why - two cats eating the same diet, etc.. Decided he might have eaten a spider, but I may never know.

Anyway, here's hoping the rest of the weekend will be much more restful for you all.

I'm also thinking, maybe he's developed an allergy to one of the ingredients? Or... he did eat a bad bug....eewww. I do my best not to let them do that, but I can't always be around 100%.

So glad things are under control with your fur baby! My foster boys will catch and eat anything that flies and/or crawls and gets into the house. Especially Archie - big fluffy black kitty.

what I do is keep a little diary of whenever things are 'off' - and then see if (a) I can see a pattern - like no one ever likes the chicken cacciatore (sp?) Nutro Max - and (b) have something to show the vet with dates, etc., if we do end up with a visit. But - things happen - just like with kids - you can keep the world's cleanest home but the stray spider or beetle might pop in and you're not always going to beat kitty to the punch.