Chronic diarrhea and peeing/pooping outside the box!

In need of assistance. I should start this as my cat is eighteen years old and I know he's old but he's never had anything wrong with him until recently. He's always been finicky about his litter, which is why I clean it every day. Unfortunately, I'm unemployed so while that's not good for me financially its good for me to keep an eye out for my cats. I have two and they're both indoor. One is perfectly fine, he's nineteen years old and has no pooping/peeing or food issues. My other cat does. He pees, poops and vomits all over the house. He's lost a great deal of weight and I've noticed some stress and most definitey pain when he has diarrhea. I've given him Pepto, as suggested by the vet since I can't afford their high priced services. The Pepto, I use rarely, as I know its not good for continous use for anyone. We changed his food, same problem. We've put him on straight boiled chicken and water, same problem. I'm on the fence about saying its IBS or IBD. I've had IBD, I know the pain and symptoms that come along with it. When I cut certain foods out of my diet, no more IBD for me. But for cats, they don't exactly eat fried foods and fast food so I'm not sure what to feed him. Vets are clueless and my dad is on the verge of wanting my cat to be put down saying he's lived a good life but he can't control his bowels and is ruining the floors. I'm against Euthanization if there's no sure sign of a problem. Problem of course is there doesn't seem to be a life threatening problem. Though its diarrhea, there's no worms or odd color. His vomiting is usually because he overeats and we've watched his food intake so he's vomiting less. We've taken away dry food because that was an issue for him and it helped for a while but he still has diarrhea but its not all the time. Sometimes they're solid problem mainly is he's going outside the litter box. He literally watches me clean the box and then decides to just poop and pee on the floor instead. We're all frustrated but I don't want to lose my cat so I would appreciate if anyone has advice or ideas to help. We've put another litter box in the house right now, we're going to see how that goes and while I want to be positive I'm not sure that'll work. Believe or not my cat, though most would disagree, he does do things on purpose to get attention. I know this cat, he will look at me if I'm watching TV or on the computer and if I'm not paying attention he will knock something down off the shelf and then look at me again while I'm watching him and knock something else off. Then he'll come over and want me to pet him. I know this is a form of him wanting attention but the weight loss and chronic diarrhea has me concerned. Please help!

Aw, I'm so sorry he's having these problems, but he's had a wonderful life, and is obviously so very loved. :heart2:

Here are some things you can do, that should be affordable for you. If you live in the U.S. or Canada, you should be able to find George's Aloe Vera juice somewhere. It has to be George's, because the latex in aloe vera is toxic to cats, and they distill the leaf after removing the latex and use no preservatives. This is healing to the GI system. So is slippery elm bark. http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/slippery-elm/

The final ingredient is a human grade probiotic with acidophilus and bifidus.

You should be able to find all three at a health food store. If they sell the slippery elm bark powder loose, even better. It's less expensive that way. And just buy the best acidophilus+bifidus supplement you can afford. You want 10 billion CFU (colony forming units) if you can. If you can't afford that, use the 5 billion.

I don't know what wet foods you're using, but high protein, low carb options are best. Buying Friskies pates (they have rice but no other grains) fit the bill and can often be found on sale; same for the Fancy Feast classic lines (no grains at all). Neither have any kinds of veggies in them, which can aggravate IBD. I think the Petco store brand is Soulistic; this is a good food, as is PetSmart's brand, Authority (the canned food). Do stick with the wet foods only.

The way to use the aloe vera juice, slippery elm bark powder, and probiotics is:

1/4 teaspoon of slippery elm bark powder
Add one teaspoon of aloe vera juice.
Empty the capsule of probiotic into that.
Let it gel up. It takes a few minutes. Stir it so it becomes a jelly-like slurry, and there aren't lumps of slippery elm in it.

Mix that into wet food; you can add some water if you need to.

Most cats just eat it without a problem.

You can feed this to him 2x a day, morning and night.

You can't afford a vet visit? Because a shot of B-12 might really help him out. You might also want to ask the vet about prednisone. A dose of 5mg a day might really help provide him some relief from the discomfort.

Many vibes for you and your boy.

LDG has some great advice. I, too, was going to suggest a good human grade probiotic to help clear up the diarrhea.

Personally, I would not use Pepto-Bismol. It contains a type of salicylate, similar to what is found in aspirin. Salicylates can be fatal to cats.

I hope your boy is feeling better soon.

 

Thanks so much I'll give that a try. I'm not partial to the Pepto myself but it seems to help his diarrhea, but only for a little while. I'll have to go to PetSmart for the food. I have a problem wth Friskies and Fancy Feasts pates. Every can we've bought had bones in them whether fish or other meats. My mom and I have been discussing on just feeding him straight boiled chicken that we shred but I know they still need vitamins that is usually put in the canned foods. I just don't know what kind of vitamins they need. As for the juice and probiotics I'll look on Amazon for them, unfortunately there are no health food stores around here. Today was a bad day for Bud The Cat and my dad's about had it. Our vet suggested to put him on a liquid diet for 3 days thinking that water and chicken broth will help him and my dad is making sure that happens so he put him in the room that has the other litter box and his little house and is keeping the door closed. Its breaking my heart because I love my cat and I want him to be well and out with the rest of us but I don't know what's wrong with him and neither does the vet other than saying its IBD. We've had him on two different medications including Prednisone but they haven't helped. I pray to God the Aloe Vera and probiotic mix you suggested does. Thank you for your feedbacks.

There is a supplement that you can add to just meat (raw or cooked) to make it nutritionally complete. It's called Call of the Wild by Wysong. You just add 1 tsp for every 3 oz of meat.

I'm so sorry that Bud had a bad day, but it may not be a bad thing to keep him in one room for a while and give your dad some time to calm down. As long as you and others visit him regularly, I'm sure he'll be ok. I really hope that you can help him feel better soon. Many vibes for both you and Bud.

The absolute miracle food for my cat with chronic diarrhea was Royal Canin Gastrointestinal formula food by prescription. I tried so many foods - hypoallergenic, limited ingredient, grain-free - RX and pet store varieties. This food absolutely cured the problem. Several years later my elderly dog also started having problem with diarrhea. Royal Canin Gastrointestinal worked great for him too. Highly recommend trying this food.

My cat has very bad food allergies, and he has diarhea and uses many corners instead of a litter box if he is given the wrong food.  My cat eats IAMS Sensitive Stomach food only. 

I've so far changed the food he's been eating to make it a grain free foods and have used the Aloe Vera juice mix but nothing's worked. I checked further in regards to his symptoms. Diarrhea and vomiting are not the only issues we've noticed. He eats like a pig but has lost so much weight. He's become reclusive a lot hiding in their little house, I even pet the cat carrier to give him another place to go in case my other cat is occupying the house. But he's also jittery too, he paces around and cries all the time to the point where it sounds like he's screaming, literally. He's never been that vocal before. This cat is a water drinker, always has been. I fill up the glass to the top and he'll spend a good five to ten minutes just drinking water so he has no problem with hydration not to mention the amount of times he urinates. I put in all these symptoms to search for and they all pretty much pointed to Feline Hyperthyroidism. On one site I pulled up, every symptom listed, he has, every single one of them. I decided now that its out of our hands and I need to find the money to take him to get blood work done. Having no income and bills I already can't afford makes it so difficult but if this is the cause and there are treatments available to provide a solution for him so that he can stay with us longer, I'll do whatever it takes to find a way. So I want to thank you all for your advice and feedback its appreciated. I'm still going to use the Aloe Vera juice mix because just to help his digesting until the vet instructs me on what we can do for Bud. Thanks everyone.

I'm so glad you're going to get him to a vet. Have you seen this thread? There may be ideas in there to help you help him.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/155462/cant-afford-a-vet-please-read

Please keep us posted! Continued vibes for your boy. :vibes

The additional symptoms you describe do point to hyperthyroidism. It is treatable with medication, so I am glad you're taking him to a vet. Many vibes for you and Bud.

Thanks a bunch, found a vet that seems to have good reviews and is close by. Appointment is tomorrow. Poor thing has had a bad day today and I can tell he's getting frustrated. I know how it feels when your body gives out on you and you don't know what's going on, hence why I'm out of work and disabled. Hopefully getting this blood work will tell us the next step. I don't want him to have a disorder but if he does I'd rather it be something treatable that will give us a few more years with him than something that isn't treatable and we'd have to put him down to keep him from suffering any longer. After just losing our dogs less than a year ago, I'm certainly not ready to lose another pet. That is most definitely the worst thing about being a pet parent is having to make a decision to end their life, even though you don't want them to suffer, just seeing my dogs faces looking at me as they were going just killed a bit of my soul away. Having to put my cats down that I raised from little tiny kittens, not something I can handle so I'm just praying that God will help us out here and that we can finally help Bud in dealing with it all.