Help! I've created a tyrant who is refusing ALL her medicine and won't let me near her!

I have personally had several terrible bouts with non-stop diarrea that went on for weeks.  A friend told me about psyllium husks powder, which you can buy at the health food store.  I mix for myself about 1 Tsp with 6-8 oz. of water and chug it down (it starts to turn into a jelly almost immediately, so you have to drink it fast).  Psyllium husks powder is what is in Metamucil except Metamucil is ground finer and is flavored with orange flavoring, which I am sure a cat would hate.  The miracle of this stuff is it works either way - constipated or diarretic.  It forms a plug that is good for 24 hrs.

They also sell psyllium husks powder in gelcaps, which I have tried but they tend to give me a stomach ache as they start to expand in your stomach.  Just if you couldn't find the powder, but could find the gelcaps - you could empty them out. 

You can either choose to chase it down with acidophilus or not.  I always find acidophilus doesn't agree with me, so I skip that part.  In about a day, a stool is easily passed.  I have this stuff always around, it can be taken (and I have) on a daily basis if you are having problems and I especially take it along with me to foreign countries.  Doctors prescribe this for cholitis.

I would think 1 tsp with a small amount of water or chicken broth (any liquid) could be made up, then syringed into cat.  It starts to gel up within a few minutes and turns to something sort of like applesauce, then more like jello.  It is not especially nice tasting.  I know this sounds unconventional, but I would give it to an animal if diarrea was that bad without hesitation.  I really don't think you could hurt him with it.  The trick would be getting it into him.

I swear this stuff has saved my life in the past.

If desperate, you could use Metamucil which is commonly available in drug stores - except for the flavoring issue.  I guess you could either force the foreign orange flavor on him by using a syringe or could also pack it into a gelcap to get it into the cat if pilling was any easier, but it has to be chased down with quite a bit of liquid afterward if taken in a gelcap.  It takes effect almost immediately.

Well, I cooked the hamburg last night and mixed it with rice, intending to feed Zero that only for a few days to see if it would help.  However, as usual, Zero had other ideas and totally refused to eat any of it, just as she had done with the chicken bone broth I slaved over a week ago!  She somehow even managed to convince my other cat, Clyde (who will normally eat absolutely anything), not to eat it!  I tried some and it tasted fine, so I know there was nothing wrong with the food itself.  I really am totally baffled - Zero obviously hates the diarrhea and it's the one symptom she seems to ask for help with.  But anything I try to do to help she refuses!  This morning I gave both cats their regular food, but gave Zero the rabbit flavor (which has always been their favorite) and gave Clyde the chicken flavor  that she's not supposed to have.  I was quite worried when Zero showed no interest in her food until I caught her in the kitchen chowing down on Clyde's chicken!  When she does this kind of thing, just like when she refuses to take any medicine from me in any form, I have to wonder if she really thinks, after 19 years of taking care of her and always giving her the best of everything, that I'm trying to poison her!?  In fact does she think all her issues are my fault and that's why she doesn't trust me?  Oh well, none of that matters compared to finding a way to stop the diarrhea before her tiny body just quits and fades away.  But what do you do with a pampered, spoiled cat who finds her ways out of taking any medicine or eating any food that might help her, but at the same time isn't giving me any other indications that she's ready to call it quits??  I have never before felt so responsible, so frustrated, and so frightened about anything....

I'm kind of not surprised she didn't like the beef.   A lot of cats don't like it.  I don't understand how chicken can be a "warm" food and turkey is not.  But since eating (anything) is the most important thing to keep her alive, I would probably just go with the chicken and rice to see if it helps with the diarrhea and let it be.  Are you still giving her the Slippery Elm Bark too?  If she'll eat that with some home boiled chicken and rice boiled in the chicken broth, that's what'd I'd give her, and if need be, I'd toss it all in a blender to make it into a soupy pate.  My old girl needs her food to be pretty soupy to eat it.  Just a quirk of hers. 

Have you considered getting the medicine compounded by a pharmacy into a liquid or ear cream?  If she won't eat, I would try fancy feast classic salmon.  I had a very sick cat and that was all she would eat.

I received the DiaGel yesterday and, admist LOUD protests, managed to get it down Zero's throat.  She of course hid from me the rest of the night and has avoided me the best she can today.  She didn't eat this morning, but late this afternoon she ate a few spoonsfull of baby food.  Then, within an hour, the diarrhea started up again  -  the same liquid, explosive, horrible smelly stuff as before.  Zero's not happy, and I'm so frustrated and heartbroken that I can't begin to think what to do now.  I was only able to afford 1 dose of the DiaGel, so I can't try it again.  And as for the food, Zero has me totally baffled.  All her life she has loved any kind of "people food" she could get her paws on.  But now she's refusing everything - chicken, chicken broth, hamburg, and anything with rice in it.  In the last few weeks I've tried mixing rice with her regular cat food, and when that didn't work I tried using cream of rice cereal instead.  But she doesn't want any of it.  She does like the baby food, which I do sometimes mix with slippery elm that's been simmered into that thickish glop - especially when she acts like she has a lot of acid in her throat.  I do have some cans of Fancy Feast that she likes, but I haven't given her any in awhile because it contains several of the ingredients that we know have given her diarrhea for years.  I was hoping that when we got this lonnnnng bout of diarrhea cleared up I'd be able to treat her with the Fancy Feast again.

Now I have chicken that was cooked when I made the broth and plenty of the broth itself in the freezer that I'd love to take out and give her again with rice, but she's refused it so far.  By the way - I am not a cook, so have always used instant rice.  I think I heard something recently about  the need to use regular rice when feeding cats.  Is that true?  Would regular rice possibly make a difference?  Anyway, I also have some turkey that I haven't cooked yet for her to try.  I'm open to any and all opinions and ideas about these or any other foods I should try to help her diarrhea!  Finally, I did buy a small box of Immodium AD yesterday because I've been reading all kinds of pros and cons about giving 1/2 tablet to cats.  I don't know if I should try it at this point or not - have any of you had any experience with the Immodium, either good or bad?  I just know I have to do something so that my baby can eat without it all exploding out the back end!

Oh - again, I know that whenI hit "submit" this is going to post twice.  What am I doing wrong????

There is psyllium husk fiber in DiaGel, so it is safe to use on animals. Psyllium husks powder is cheap at the health food store, can be mixed with any liquid or food and swabbed from your finger or syringed into her, or sprinkled on top of any food she will eat.  However, I am not so sure a sick kitty that isn't eating anyway would go for the taste.  I think even a 1/4 tsp. mixed into a tiny amount of baby food and swabbed into her would at least plug her up for 24 hrs.  It's action is physical rather than medicinal like Kaopectate.

If you doubt me, try google-ing "cats psyllium husks powder".  Works for either diarrhea or constipation.

It looks like this:


Didn't you say in the beginning that Zero had IBD and was on pred for that?  Did you just stop the pred cold turkey?  You know that pred can be made into a suspension, so it is easier to give, right?  Has she had diarrea in the past from the IBD?  You might consider going back on the prednisone.  If you still have pills around, you could crush one up and mix it into a tsp. of baby food and get it into her.

Of the meds, the methimazole can be skipped over, in fact untreated hyper-T will help with the CRF.  But the pred seems to do wonders for digestion and I would think just stopping cold turkey, if that's what you did would not be good.  Did the stopping of the prednisone and the diarrhea co-incide? 

It seems very bad to have a CRF kitty that is losing hydration from diarrea.  Stopping the diarrhea has to be the priority.

You need to call your vet right away.

I am sorry if I came on too strong up above.  Of course, Zero is your cat and you are doing the best you can with her.

Thank you both for your advise.  Thankfully Dr. Haley (Zero's accupuncturist, who has also been an emergency vet for years) is coming tomorrow, so I'll see what she thinks.  And Dan32 - yes, Zero has had IBD for a few years now, and was on varying amounts of prednisolone all along.  By the time she decided to refuse all her meds her dose had been weaned down to a tiny amount.  But you're right - whenever she ran into trouble from the IBD, increasing the prednisolone usually helped.  I hadn't thought about it because I know that trying to get her back to her old (compliant) regime would be futile, and it didn't dawn on me to try crushing it into her food.  I know from experience that that stuff tastes horrible, but maybe that's where the Fancy Feast might come in.  Thanks for the suggestion - this is why I need to talk about all this with you people - I get so caught up that I sometimes forget what's right in front of my face!  I will also try the psyllium husk powder.  I tried it in the very beginning of her IBD but she preferred the pumpkin instead.  But now that the pumpkin has also been rejected, the psyllium husk powder is worth a shot!

By the way - for better or worse I did give Zero a bit less than 1/2 an Immodium pill last night.  I crushed it into her food and she never noticed!  She ate really well last night and again this morning, but early this afternoon she did have the diarrhea - only once so far today, though, so maybe (hopefully) at least some of what she eats is staying with her!

I'm glad so she at least ATE well.  that the imodium works and doesn't cause any harm. 

Also wanted to add that I have absolutely NO IDEA why all your posts are duplicating.  It happens to me every once in awhile, but not often.   I'll ask a Moderator to take a look and at least clean up this thread.

Continued vibes for Zero.