Loose stool / diarrhea after being caught in the rain

Hi,

Is it possible that a cat suffers from diarrhea after being caught in the rain? Here's the story: I got home and found my cat outside the door and all wet. It was raining. Apparently my mom accidentally locked him out. So I immediately bathed him with very warm water. While being dried, he struggled to get loose and ran to the litter box. Then he let out some mushy stool with farting sound. In the morning earlier, his stool was normal. I wonder if it's related to the sequence of events before it? Here's a little twist though: he was in the middle of switching to a more richer food, but his stool had been normal before the bath, so probably it's not because of the switch? Today is the third day of his diarrhea and the stool has gotten a little more solid, but still mushy (know what I mean?) Thank you.

It could be from the change of food (delayed reaction) or from the stress of being outside.

How long was he outside.  If he drank any water or ate any food, he could have worms.  In which case, his stools will be smelly and liquid.  And he needs to go to a vet for a dewormer (don't use over the counter kind).

 He might also develop an URI (cold).  Just watch him and his stools carefully. 

Ritz said:

It could be from the change of food (delayed reaction) or from the stress of being outside.

How long was he outside.  If he drank any water or ate any food, he could have worms.  In which case, his stools will be smelly and liquid.  And he needs to go to a vet for a dewormer (don't use over the counter kind).

 He might also develop an URI (cold).  Just watch him and his stools carefully. 

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I began mixing in his new food about 5 days ago so wouldn't it be unusual to have such delayed reaction? He's outside not too long and by "outside" I actually mean the backyard so I doubt he drank/ate something. Also he just got dewormed a month ago.

Wait, when you say a "richer" food what do you mean? If it's not grain free and it's richer and has more gluten or grains in it, that's your culprit. He should be on a grain free, high protein, low carb wet food. And yes, he can have a delayed reaction to the food and probably the stress of being caught in the rain and the bath. But the food may be the one. Which food did you switch him to?

I switched from pronature holistic (http://www.pronature.ca/en/cat-products/turkey-and-cranberries-formula/) to felidae pure elements (http://www.canidae.com/cats/grain-free-cat-food/dry-morePURE2.html). Both are grain free but felidae has more meat sources.

I am betting on the diet change as the cause. You may be moving too quickly in switching. Keep adding the new food along with the old food but make the new a little less. Since you say the food is "richer" :dk: then you have to make the change much more slowly. Also, cats don't need as much of a good high quality diet compared to a lesser quality diet. Might you be feeding too much?

Stress can also bring on a bout of diarrhea. If your cat's tummy was a bit upset by the diet change and then the added stress of being left out in the rain could have brought on the diarrhea. You can add a people probiotic supplement to the food. Will help firm up the poops and help with the diet change over. Just open a capsule and sprinkle on the food. This is one that some of us use

I'm betting on that first food as the culprit. It has barley and oats and WAYYY too much fruit and veggies. Plus there's turkey but the second ingredient is chicken meal which means it's not real meat. Barley is a good culprit for diarrhea, I'd take him off this food asap and switch more slowly to the other one. 

Agree with everyone--stress and food.

And adding probiotic.

I disagree.. The new food is Much better than the old food. 42% protein versus only 31%.
And just because it says chicken meal doesn't mean it's 'not real meat' it just means it's rendered.

Feralvr said:

I am betting on the diet change as the cause. You may be moving too quickly in switching. Keep adding the new food along with the old food but make the new a little less. Since you say the food is "richer" :dk: then you have to make the change much more slowly. Also, cats don't need as much of a good high quality diet compared to a lesser quality diet. Might you be feeding too much?

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Yes it's possible that I feed too much. I never pay much attention to the serving suggestion. I just give him food whenever he wants.

finnlacey said:

I'm betting on that first food as the culprit. It has barley and oats and WAYYY too much fruit and veggies. Plus there's turkey but the second ingredient is chicken meal which means it's not real meat. Barley is a good culprit for diarrhea, I'd take him off this food asap and switch more slowly to the other one. 

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I don't think so because he was fine on that food for more than a month. The diarrhea only started to happen after I mixed in the new food. And "meal is not meat" is a common misconception. Meal is good.