Does my cat have IBS or an allergy? Diarrhea almost weekly!

andromache

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Hello there,

I have a cat named Ron. He's 3, 16 lbs, long haired, and I got him at the SPCA last year.

At first I put him on some high quality kibble that he didn't like...he's very picky. Finally I got him on Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck kibble and he really liked it..

But then a few months ago I noticed that his urine seemed reddish (I use the corn based litter, it's a yellow beige colour). I was afraid he might have crystals or a UTI, so I brought him to the vet (my vet is a cat-only one). They never found any red blood cells in his urine, or crystals.

He was urinating normally, and didn't have any other problems. I've read about the raw diet but with my small apartment freezer I didn't think it would work for us.

So I switched him to wet food to increase his water intake. Can you beleive at no time did the vet reccommend a wet diet? They gave me a sheet with ways to increase his water intake, and wet food was not on the sheet!

Anyway he eats 2 trays of Whiskas wet cat food pate (chicken, and chicken and liver), plus 1/4 cup of the Blue Buffalo kibble a day. The ingredients in the whiskas were pretty good compared to other wet foods, and since I don't have a car I didn't want to be buying a month worth of cans at the pet store (or going every week). I also don't feed him the beef kind, since I think he should have something he would naturally eat.

My cat hates fish, so that type is out of the question. He doesn't really like the beef or turkey one the few times I've bought it.

Just on blue buffalo kibble his stool was dark, almost black, and segmented (showed intestinal bumps). It smelled awful (he doesn't cover his poop). Switching to wet food it's more brownish, smells the same.

He get's diarrhea frequently, even when he's been eating the same two types (I alternate breakfast and supper) and kibble every day. At first I was giving him cat specific "pepto bismol" type stuff I got at the pet store.

Now I'm looking for more permanent solution since it's getting more frequent.

What should I do first? Cut out kibble? Cut out chicken based wet food? Cut out wet food and go back to the kibble? Add a probiotic? Go back to the vet?

I don't think the vet will help much...he's an indoor only cat, and I only have him as a pet. I doubt he has a parasite since most times his stool is ok...and the vet wants him on Hill's because they are bad kibble pushers with kickbacks.

Any insight would be extremely appreciated!
 

mschauer

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My kitty Coco had loose stools constantly for the first 6 months I had her. After trying many, many foods I finally tried a combination probiotic/prebiotic/digestive enzyme supplement called Holistic Solution. Within 2 days her stool was perfect and stayed that way no matter what she ate. I eventually switched her and my other cats to a raw diet and she didn't need the HS after that. I've recommended the HS to others with the same problem and I'd say it worked in about 50% of the cases.

Good luck!
 

ldg

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I'd try the supplement mschauer recommends. I'd also consider cutting out the kibble, and maybe trying single-protein, limited ingredient meat-based canned foods? By Nature, Before Grain, and Nature's Variety all fit that profile (there are some veggies in the Nature's Variety, but not many, and they're easy to pick out).

I should add... I feed my cats raw. I didn't have GI problems with any of them, I switched for other reasons. But it has resulted in completely different elimination habits - MUCH less volume and NO smell at all. (The bioavailability of the food is so much higher, so they eliminate a lot less). Cats are obligate carnivores, after all, and feral cats don't cook their food before eating it.... I don't know what kind of budget you have, but there are a lot of commercial raw food options available, and many don't actually cost more to feed than the "higher quality" canned foods. If you use a commercial raw, instead of popping a top, you dethaw a portion. Just putting the information out there in case you weren't aware of it. When one of my cats had a GI problem many years ago, I didn't know about raw feeding.
 
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andromache

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Thanks for the imput!

I don't think I can buy holistic solution in Canada...It hasn't shown up on the pet shop websites (and amazon doesn't ship that stuff to canada). I'll look for something similiar!

Also LDG, do you mean you can buy the raw food already mixed like the refrigerated dog food at the store? That would be great!

I didn't really want to get into raw food because of the need of a blender/meat grinder and all..and I have a tiny kitchen.

He could also have a sensitivity to chicken, but I'm not sure. I'll go to the pet store soon and see all my options..
 

Willowy

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Yes, there are prepared frozen raw foods, really there are a lot of options now. It just depends on what's available at the stores in your area. If your regular pet store doesn't sell frozen raw, check out the fancier boutique-type pet stores.
 

ldg

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Where in Canada are you? There are a number of Canadian manufacturers of raw food - and that's exactly what I mean! Many of the frozen raw foods for dogs are appropriate for cats too, actually. If they're made with 95% meat/bones/organs and 5% "other stuff" (a small amount of vegetable/fruit supplements) and supplemented with taurine, they work. :) I'm sure the pet store people can help you if there are stores with frozen raw for dogs. One food for sure available there is Nature's Variety.

I don't know how much they cost there. Here they seem more expensive than canned because you have to buy those big bags. But when I transitioned to raw (just this past January), it actually cost me less to feed my cats the commercial raw food (I make my own now - I don't grind) than the high-end canned foods I was feeding. They need less of it, usually. My cats were eating about a 5.5 ounce can of food each (the bigger cats eat a little more, the smaller cats eat a little less). On raw, the smaller cats eat 3 ounces, and the bigger cats eat 4.5 ounces. They get more nutrition from it. :nod:
 

ldg

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Oh - and when our Chumley had chronic diarrhea (before raw), we put him on an acidophilus probiotic. It helped. It didn't fix the problem, but it helped. We use a probiotic every day for all the cats (and ourselves now). I buy an acidophilus+bifidus supplement from the refrigerated section of the health food store. Even if you buy something from a pet store (re: the probiotic), what you're looking for is 10 billion active cultures. (A lot of "probiotics" for pet foods include various "fermentation" products. Those aren't live cultures).
 
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kittylover23

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Hi there Andromache, I'm Jen.
Where in Canada are you located? I know of many stores that sell commercial raw food in Toronto, where I live, and I'm sure I could help you find some in your city as well. A raw diet is best for kitties with digestive problems, and commercial raw food is the easiest to serve and most like a canned food diet.

As for the Holistic Solution, I too couldn't find a website that ships it to Canada. Amazon.com does ship to Canada, but they are pretty picky about which products they will ship and which they won't. I just bought a bag of cat treats to test if Amazon.com shipped to Canada, and they did allow me to purchase them, but I google searched it and found that some people have tried to purchase other things off of there and shipped to Canada and have been unsuccessful.
I guess it just depends on the product you are buying! This is the link for the Holistic Solution on Amazon.com: The OP can try buying it, who knows, it could be shipped to Canada.

I also found an alternative digestive remedy, that is easily shipped from Amazon.ca! Maybe this can help with the diarrhea and smelly poops that Ron suffers from. I think it is just digestive enzymes, anyway, which are beneficial nonetheless.

I have my cats on Nature's Variety Instinct Commercial Raw, and I've noticed that Cookie's constipation has cleared up and both of my cats seem to be more active and healthy. Raw is definitely a good diet for cats, especially ones with digestive disorders.

Hope that helps a bit,

Jen.
 
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andromache

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Thanks everyone for all the help!

I'm located in Ottawa so all these things should be available...Thankfully I'm no longer in new brunswick
 (although if I were, I would have a bigger kitchen and cheaper living costs so I could get a deep freezer hahaha)

Ron was on Nature's Variety Instinct kibble at the very beginning, but I returned it because he refused to eat it! Then I got him on some good Felidae kibble, which they promptly discontinued distributing to Ottawa a month after the switch. It wasn't too bad, I usually buy the large bags since they have a money back garantee...

The raw food might be cheaper than the high end canned, but at the moment he's eating the whiska's trays which I get for 70 cents each. However, I can spend on my big guy so no problems there! As long as he's not in and out of the vet for diarrhea (and them suggesting corn based kibble grrr...at a cat hospital!).

I'll look at the stores in the area, and the boutiques. I think we have Pet Valu, Petsmart, and Global Pet Foods in my city, among others :)
 

kittylover23

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I don't shop at Petsmart, mostly because there isn't one in my area (yet). But Pet Valu certainly does sell raw food in the freezer section, as well as Nature's Variety kibble mixed with freeze dried raw (which my Cookie enjoys as a snack daily) so you shouldn't have problems finding it there! My local Pet Valu orders in different brands if customers request them, as well, maybe your Pet Valu will do the same?

Also, I found a few small pet stores around Ottawa (during a quick google search
) that sell raw food! Apparently (according to the Bold Raw website) there are several locations of Global Pet Foods that have a freezer section for raw foods, as well as a small store known as Rusty Dawg Pet Products!

And according to the Pet Valu locator, this location sells raw food - http://www.petvalu.com/locations_services/2092/ottawa-3

Hope this helped.


Jen
 
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andromache

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Thanks so much Jen!

That's the pet valu I usually frequent (before I switched to global for their discount card)...They're right next to my house!

 

ldg

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Don't stop those Whiska's trays just yet.... he's used to that food, so it will help in the transition. It's best to start with a REALLY small amount of raw and mix it in to whatever wet food they've been eating. If they don't walk away from that, then you can slowly increase it. If your Ron DOES reject that, then we can help in the raw sub-forum with more transition tips and ideas. :)
 
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