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- Oct 28, 2013
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Hey guys, I've come from a different forum, desperately seeking advise from free ears and eyes.
I'm having diarrhea issue with my 3 indoor cats and I keep getting different advise with no actual help or real experiences of this type of thing. It's quite a long story so I will break it down as best as I can.
Thank you all in advance for your time
TINKER is 4 years old, rescue cat, has a heart murmur and has had an UTI. He doesn't drink water out of a bowl at all so I have to feed wet food with added water, twice daily. WILSON 1 year old, I've had him from a kitten of 8 weeks old. OSCAR 1 year old, Wilsons brother.
All 3 cats are INDOOR ONLY. During the very hot summer months I occasionally took them outside into my garden for half an hour or so. They are all wormed and flead with products from the vets. Drontol and Advocate was used nearly 2 weeks ago.
They all eat the same food. Dry food is a mix of Meowing Heads chicken and Hills Oral Care and Hairball. They have approx 10g each of this at about 6.30pm everyday. Wet food is given in the morning at about 7.30am and evening at about 10.30pm. One pouch each and it would be either a Whiskas, Felix, Supermarket own brand, NaturesMenu, Hills and Bozita. They all go through phases of liking a food so I have always offered a variety in order to keep them interested. I offer a range of qualities as I can no offered to feed the most expensive wet foods every day. On occasion I will feed them NaturesMenu raw nuggets for the 10.30pm feed instead of wet food.
Treats aren't very common for them, sometimes Dreamies, sometimes small bits of raw meat (chicken, beef).
They are all active, happy, playful cats and all get along well.
They have no access to any chemicals, or plants. During my work hours they stay in my large kitchen/dining room/conservatory and when we get home they have range of most of the house.
I keep my house clean. I hoover 2/3 times a day (mainly because of the hair and cat litter), the floor in mopped once a week or more in needed. Kitchen sides are cleaned daily. I never let the cats near any cleaning equipment or washed sides or floors until they are 100% dry.
Cat litter I use OKO plus. They have 2 litter trays. One MASSIVE deep container with a whole cut out the front (Wilson is a massive digger) and another standard, high backed tray. We clear out poops and wee's 3 times a day and do a full dump of litter once every 5/6 weeks (more often when diarrhea strikes). Tinker does 1/2 wee's a day and 1 poop, the kittens do 2/3 wee's a day and 1 poop
Ok so.. the Diarrhea Diary!!
Approx 12th September Wilson had diarrhea (d++ for short), We first of all thought that it was from a new treat (Good girl chicken pieces). He went about 4 times in one evening, each time in the tray and each time the amount decreased.
I withheld food for 12 hours and then just fed 10g dry. Slowly introduced him back to normal feeding.
Approx 1 week later, Oscar has d++. Withheld food and did the same as I did for Wilson. He was ok for about 24 hours with soft poop but not runny.
D++ on/off for approx 7 days and then..
30th September Tinker got 2 bad bouts of d++. So now this is both Tinker and Oscar with d++, Wilson is fine.
Withheld food from both for 12 hours, then just fed 10g biscuits each time, did this for about 4 meals (with added water for both to keep them hydrated)
In this time I completely blitzed the kitchen and the litter trays.
I slowly introduced wet food again, just with the sauce, then with just a few chunks of meat etc etc
At this time, the only wet food we fed were the lower quality ones. Felix, whiskas, supermarket ones.
Normal poops for nearly 2 weeks.
13th October Oscar has a soft poop, followed by d++. 30 Minutes later, another bout of d++.
Withheld ................ same same.....
Went and got worming treatment from vets
All good poop
28th October, 2 weeks later, Tinker just had d++!!! I could cry, honestly!
WILSON, NO D++ SINCE 12TH SEPT, OSCAR, NO D++ FOR 2 WEEKS..
I called the vet and asked if I could bring in the poop for analyses but they said no, they had to see the cat first. In my mind, they just want to waste my time and money. With Christmas coming up funds are low. Of course I will take them to the vet but it's kind of my last resort.
All cats are happy, they get a bit sleepy after a bout but in general they seem fine.
The nasty bit. Let's talk about the poop!
Always brown, paler than coffee but I'd say it was normal. No blood. Tinker had a a bit of mucus the first time but no one else has had any. It smells. It's kind of like watery jelly. When you pick it out it almost wobbles.
The receptionist at the vets said it sounds like they can't deal with change of foods but I'm not so sure. Yes if it was just one cat but it was all 3. And why would they go 2, 3, 4 weeks with nothing, then get a bout again? It's never after the same food, it's completely random. I've always thought it was good to give variety but anyways, my next move is plain boring samey food.
I've never slowly changed foods. They have all had sooo many different things with no problems at all. I just can't see that all of a sudden all 3 of them can't handle food changes.
I'm just going to give Meowing Heads biscuits but I NEED to add water to it for Tinker, he just won't take water any other way. Is it ok to add water?
Everyone keeps saying to feed just boiled chicken and rice but I don't think I should really, if it's a food change then surely it will cause d++ again and then cause it again when I put them back onto normal food??
Please help me, give me ideas of what it could be. What should I do? It's driving me mad, I'm so down about it
I've searched the internet hi and low for stories like mine but I can't find anything quite the same
I'm having diarrhea issue with my 3 indoor cats and I keep getting different advise with no actual help or real experiences of this type of thing. It's quite a long story so I will break it down as best as I can.
Thank you all in advance for your time
TINKER is 4 years old, rescue cat, has a heart murmur and has had an UTI. He doesn't drink water out of a bowl at all so I have to feed wet food with added water, twice daily. WILSON 1 year old, I've had him from a kitten of 8 weeks old. OSCAR 1 year old, Wilsons brother.
All 3 cats are INDOOR ONLY. During the very hot summer months I occasionally took them outside into my garden for half an hour or so. They are all wormed and flead with products from the vets. Drontol and Advocate was used nearly 2 weeks ago.
They all eat the same food. Dry food is a mix of Meowing Heads chicken and Hills Oral Care and Hairball. They have approx 10g each of this at about 6.30pm everyday. Wet food is given in the morning at about 7.30am and evening at about 10.30pm. One pouch each and it would be either a Whiskas, Felix, Supermarket own brand, NaturesMenu, Hills and Bozita. They all go through phases of liking a food so I have always offered a variety in order to keep them interested. I offer a range of qualities as I can no offered to feed the most expensive wet foods every day. On occasion I will feed them NaturesMenu raw nuggets for the 10.30pm feed instead of wet food.
Treats aren't very common for them, sometimes Dreamies, sometimes small bits of raw meat (chicken, beef).
They are all active, happy, playful cats and all get along well.
They have no access to any chemicals, or plants. During my work hours they stay in my large kitchen/dining room/conservatory and when we get home they have range of most of the house.
I keep my house clean. I hoover 2/3 times a day (mainly because of the hair and cat litter), the floor in mopped once a week or more in needed. Kitchen sides are cleaned daily. I never let the cats near any cleaning equipment or washed sides or floors until they are 100% dry.
Cat litter I use OKO plus. They have 2 litter trays. One MASSIVE deep container with a whole cut out the front (Wilson is a massive digger) and another standard, high backed tray. We clear out poops and wee's 3 times a day and do a full dump of litter once every 5/6 weeks (more often when diarrhea strikes). Tinker does 1/2 wee's a day and 1 poop, the kittens do 2/3 wee's a day and 1 poop
Ok so.. the Diarrhea Diary!!
Approx 12th September Wilson had diarrhea (d++ for short), We first of all thought that it was from a new treat (Good girl chicken pieces). He went about 4 times in one evening, each time in the tray and each time the amount decreased.
I withheld food for 12 hours and then just fed 10g dry. Slowly introduced him back to normal feeding.
Approx 1 week later, Oscar has d++. Withheld food and did the same as I did for Wilson. He was ok for about 24 hours with soft poop but not runny.
D++ on/off for approx 7 days and then..
30th September Tinker got 2 bad bouts of d++. So now this is both Tinker and Oscar with d++, Wilson is fine.
Withheld food from both for 12 hours, then just fed 10g biscuits each time, did this for about 4 meals (with added water for both to keep them hydrated)
In this time I completely blitzed the kitchen and the litter trays.
I slowly introduced wet food again, just with the sauce, then with just a few chunks of meat etc etc
At this time, the only wet food we fed were the lower quality ones. Felix, whiskas, supermarket ones.
Normal poops for nearly 2 weeks.
13th October Oscar has a soft poop, followed by d++. 30 Minutes later, another bout of d++.
Withheld ................ same same.....
Went and got worming treatment from vets
All good poop
28th October, 2 weeks later, Tinker just had d++!!! I could cry, honestly!
WILSON, NO D++ SINCE 12TH SEPT, OSCAR, NO D++ FOR 2 WEEKS..
I called the vet and asked if I could bring in the poop for analyses but they said no, they had to see the cat first. In my mind, they just want to waste my time and money. With Christmas coming up funds are low. Of course I will take them to the vet but it's kind of my last resort.
All cats are happy, they get a bit sleepy after a bout but in general they seem fine.
The nasty bit. Let's talk about the poop!
Always brown, paler than coffee but I'd say it was normal. No blood. Tinker had a a bit of mucus the first time but no one else has had any. It smells. It's kind of like watery jelly. When you pick it out it almost wobbles.
The receptionist at the vets said it sounds like they can't deal with change of foods but I'm not so sure. Yes if it was just one cat but it was all 3. And why would they go 2, 3, 4 weeks with nothing, then get a bout again? It's never after the same food, it's completely random. I've always thought it was good to give variety but anyways, my next move is plain boring samey food.
I've never slowly changed foods. They have all had sooo many different things with no problems at all. I just can't see that all of a sudden all 3 of them can't handle food changes.
I'm just going to give Meowing Heads biscuits but I NEED to add water to it for Tinker, he just won't take water any other way. Is it ok to add water?
Everyone keeps saying to feed just boiled chicken and rice but I don't think I should really, if it's a food change then surely it will cause d++ again and then cause it again when I put them back onto normal food??
Please help me, give me ideas of what it could be. What should I do? It's driving me mad, I'm so down about it
I've searched the internet hi and low for stories like mine but I can't find anything quite the same