Chronic diarrhea & cat switching into raw

cliff conquest

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I'm a week into switch to raw food for my boy Sniffy, who has had chronic diarrhea for quite some time now. Year and a half ago he underwent radioactive iodine therapy for hyperthyroid condition. Tried fortiflora for a month before I went to the raw food with little or no results. That was after a two week course of prednisone which also didn't seem to do much. Just wondering if others out there had a good result from switching to raw and how long that took.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I'm a week into switch to raw food for my boy Sniffy, who has had chronic diarrhea for quite some time now. Year and a half ago he underwent radioactive iodine therapy for hyperthyroid condition. Tried fortiflora for a month before I went to the raw food with little or no results. That was after a two week course of prednisone which also didn't seem to do much. Just wondering if others out there had a good result from switching to raw and how long that took.
Cliff, results are different with different cats. Some cats immediately start getting firm stools, one recently had explosive diarrhea when put on raw    Have you taken your little guy to see a Vet recently?  Is that who suggested FortiFlora?  IMHO, FortiFlora is not a very good probiotic, but I know lots of Vets suggest it's use for diarrhea.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.   When you started you little one on raw, did you also give him a GOOD probiotic and digestive enzyme along with the raw, since he was already having digestive issues?  Has he been diagnosed with IBD?  Did you try putting him on a bland diet of home cooked chicken and rice at any time during the past month to see if that helped?  What raw are you feeding him? 

It might be best if you started up your own thread and gave us more details
 
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cliff conquest

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The fortiflora was my idea, as there are days where he was less interested in food, and I'd heard cats liked the taste of it, so I thought it might solve 2 problems at once. I tried this after a two week course of prednisone which didn't seem to be effective.

The raw I am feeding him so far has been boneless chicken and chicken thighs, mixed with the corresponding 'raw made easy' kit from feline's pride USA. He seems very happy with the taste and in the 8 days since I started, he has cleared his plate twice a day, every day. He also has not vomited, which he would occasionally (3-4 times a month) do along with his diarrhea in the past (and not just a hairball or a little liquid, I'm talking everything he ate). I guess i would say apart from the continued diarrhea, which is very watery given that there is more water in the raw mix, I would say it has been a qualified success. The other cat in the house i switched at the same time is a 16 year old Himalayan who is very thin but hasn't had any health issues of note; she also cleans the plate and her stool has reduced in volume and is more dry/less odiferous as was mentioned in various sources I have read.

I have not added a probiotic or digestive enzyme. I am open to suggestions as to what and how much. I had also planned on revisiting with the nutritionist at felines pride.

He does not have an "official" diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, just a lot of the symptoms. I have done some reading, not an extensive amount, but I was under the impression I would need an intestinal biopsy to confirm that and I haven't done that yet. He has been on (canned) Science Diet I/D and W/D with limited success. He would eat it for a couple of days, then lose interest in it, and just graze on the kibble I have out for the rest of cats in the house (Iams proactive health). With the raw, I am limited him to feeding 2x per day, and taken away access to the kibble.

I had recently switched vets as my longtime vet has all the business he needs, and they were wanting to have all my cats in and vaccinated annually. I have 7 cats, all exclusively indoors, and I just didn't see the need for it. At that time, I was more or less told they didn't have time for my cats. I'm not sure my present vet is all that supportive of the whole raw food concept. I hate 'experimenting' with my boy, but the status quo (canned food and kibble) was not working, which is why I started him on the raw. I had not tried the home cooked chicken and rice prior to switching (I have no doubt he'd eat the cooked chicken, as he is very interested in the plates that come back from the grill in the summer).

Have not tried flagyl/metronizadole yet; he did have an infusion a year or so ago that seemed to cut down on the diarrhea/vomiting and was effective for a few months. I did want to give the raw food a decent trial before I went that route.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Well, assuming he doesn't have one of the very difficult to detect  "bugs", you might TRY probiotics and digestive enzymes. 

Here is a recent thread on probiotics that has links to many other threads on probiotics:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/269700/probiotics

I, personally, give my cats Natural Factors probiotics, and Prozyme digestive enzymes.  I give one capsule per day of the probiotics, split into 2 meals, and use the enzymes based on how much I feed them.

If his diarrhea persists, you might consider having a PCR panel done, which looks for hard to detect "bugs", like T Foetus.  There have been a few cats lately who have had endless diarrhea that tested positive for it and the "cure" is a simple one, once it's detected.  (however, it's not a medication you want to give unless you really need to)
 

stephanie93

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My fiv+ cat had diarrhea for months. Two different vets prescribed different things, none of which helped. Even when I used probiotics and slippery elm, it still persisted. Then I switched to a novel protein raw diet. Now she doesn't have diarrhea anymore. It was like magic.
 
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