Diarrhea on grain-free

Hey everyone!

I adopted a 13 year old cat named Minnie about a month ago. She's had very smelly, loose stool since I brought her home. I was given a bag of Science Diet, which is what she had been eating, so I figured that was likely the problem. I started mixing her SD with Natural Balance L.I.D. canned, just so I could try weaning her off the kibble. Now, she's only eating canned food. However, she just had the worst bout of diarrhea yet. She's from a working environment, so she did see a vet fairly frequently. Unfortunately, there was no definitive cause for it. She does have a positive coronavirus test, but I know that doesn't necessarily mean she has FIP. I can't afford to take her to the vet just now, so I was wondering if there was anyone that had any experience similar to mine. I did try her on Nature's Variety raw bites, but she threw up immediately after both times I tried it, so I figured a slower transition would be better. Her stomach seems to be a little finicky. 

Any help would be great, guys. I'm feeling kind of at my wit's end. 

Your not allowed to be at your wits end with this cat, you haven't done any diagnostics on her. She is allowed to be at her wits end with you though because she has had diarrhea for the last month and I am sure she doesn't feel very well.

Bottom line is you need to take her to a vet and have a physical done and have them check for internal parasites and such. It could be something very simple but if allowed to go on untreated it could become much more.

That really is the only thing you can do. You can run a stool check to see if she has parasites yourself. You need a vet for that. You also need them to assess her hydration etc. You can't just go get an over the counter de-wormer because I am almost sure if it is a parasite it is a protozoa that is causing the problem and you cannot get the medications for those over the counter.

As for her being taken to the vet before, that is all before she was your cat right? Were they having issues with her GI? Did they give you any paper work or any medical records? If not I would try to get them so you can show the new vet what was already done? Has she been dealing with these kind of GI issues all along? What is the canned food you are  are feeding now? .

I guess I am at a loss to understand the situation with the cat. Do you know her history? Indoor or outdoor? Weight? Attitude? Is this your only cat? Why did the people who had her give her to you? Had they had her the entire time? what kind of cat is she?

So if you could answer those it would help allot in getting you answers.

I think you need to feed her a bland diet right now and a wet diet. No dry. I think you need to get her into see a vet asap to avoid dehydration if it isn't already going on and to try to figure out what she needs. I think you need to get any medical records from the previous family. As for what to feed with the bland diet, try to answer the questions and it will help. But you can also get Gerber blue label baby food in chicken or turkey or beef. The only other ingredients will be water citric acid and corn starch. Try feeding her that if what you are currently feeding is causing worse diarrhea than before. Stay away from dry food if you can. /she cannot live on the baby food and she needs to see a vet but until she gets in it may help. You don't want allot of changes or things added to an upset GI tract. But the baby food is not balanced with all the vitamins and minerals that a cat needs. That is why I say don't leave her on that diet for more than a day or two. It also may cause diarrhea as well.

Remember don't let a cat go more than a day without eating or you risk them developing fatty liver disease and that can be fatal.

As for the Corona/ FIP titer. You need to know what the titer was. I know you said positive but it should have other numbers. Example Pos 1:400 or Pos1:600. All that test does is confirm that the cat at some time in her life was exposed to a corona virus. It does not mean she has FIP. And it doesn't mean she was exposed to the corona virus that causes FIP, just a corona virus. So unless she is showing symptoms of FIP and the titer is over 1:400 then I wouldn't be to concerned about that right now.

I got her from a rescue that had her for a very long time. Since she'd been there she had recurring problems with diarrhea. She was treated a couple of times for hooks and tapes. She got a fecal done a few months back and it was clean. They pretty much just told me that her stool has always been a little soft. This is what made me think it was a food sensitivity, hence trying grain free. Right now she's eating Natural Balance LID Duck and pea canned food. She has a great appetite and is very active. She had diarrhea yesterday, but it's back to being thicker today-- not solid, but nowhere near liquid. Which is where she's been since I've known her (about three months). So she hasn't had diarrhea for a month, it's just softer than my other cat's and very smelly. It doesn't smell as bad since I switched her over to strictly canned food, but it's still bad enough that my husband is lighting a candle every time she goes to the litter box.

I am going to take her to the vet when I get my next paycheck, I just wanted to pick someone's brain on getting her solid. How long does it typically take to see if this food is helping? She's been eating only grain free canned food for about two weeks now. 

As for the FIP, unfortunately the printout from the vet that I saw only said that she was positive and that she received a vaccine. This was about twelve years ago though. 

There is a probiotic that has good results with diahrea. I forget the name of it. It's something like bournuli I think. There were recent posts about it maybe within the last week.