Desperately need help!

My husband and I recently took in a stray cat that is super friendly and has a pleasant temperament. We took him to a vet the very first day we found him. Had blood work done and tested negative for feline leukemia. Vet prescribed prebiotic and a pill for parasites as a precaution. We have had him for two months and he continues to spontaneously poop runny diarrhea outside the litter box all over our place. He never pees outside of the box. I switched him to high quality wet food that is grain free a month ago. Any suggestions would be very helpful. He is a sweet cat and we are worried. Thanks so much.

Diarrhea is not normal, or okay.

It is due to basically a few things, food, worms, parasites.

Food is usually the grain put into it.

I would def. try a good quality grain free and allow it time to clean up his intestines.

Or an allergic reaction to food, but usually it is the grain.

Has he had a fecal float done for this?

It is a poop screening that can detect parasites.

Thank you for your response. Yes his stool was tested for parasites and it came back negative two months ago. He has been on grain free food for a month. I have seen blood in his stool twice. He is not having trouble urinating in the box. He has about 3 diarrhea accidents a day. :-(

You might want to do a PCR test - it is expensive (well, for us in Australia, as it has to be sent to USA), but it is absolutely comprehensive and will pick up things that other tests wont.  

When we went through 'what's wrong?' with a kitten with persistent tummy upset, we tested everything - nothing conclusive showed (did TWO PCR tests!).  Then we did 'drug trials', basically giving two different medicines (one first, then the next as it still hadn't solved anything) that the vet thought 'could' be helpful - basically it covered our bases for anything that hadn't showed, but was there.  Then we did food trials.  This was what finally made her healthy.  Food trials were one protein at a time, given for 2-3weeks before the next was added.  Because commercial foods have a real mix of stuff, we had to use homemade raw - and it certainly wasn't balanced over the trial time, as we had to let her tummy adjust slowly, one protein at a time.  Over time of course, we built her up to a balanced raw diet (homemade).  The overall result I think was that this gentle introduction of proteins gave her tummy time to heal.  The little princess has since rejected a fully raw diet, but her tummy now has the ability to handle most things - so no allergies in our case thankfully.  It took a long time  - around 3-4 months from memory. So big vibes to you...dealing with constant cat-diahorrea is exhausting for the humans as well!  Best wishes.

Sometimes it's as simple as their gut flora is out of whack and giving fortiflora daily will fix it.

Meanwhile try adding pure pumpkin to his food everyday.

What a real pain it is to have diarrhea clean up duty several times a day, I know.

Hang in there though, you will figure it out soon enough.

It sounds like hookworms. Another possibility is giardia or Coccidia. The dewormer Fenbendazole will treat both hookworms and giardia but it must be given for three to five days. If you don't want to go to the vet you can try that first.

If it is coccidia you need to go to the vet as that needs a prescription drug. The good news is that coccidia is rare in adult cats.

Another possibility is inflammatory bowel disease. Again you need a vet to treat that as the cat will probably need steroids.

I would guess it is one of the first three things I mentioned. Fecals are not that accurate! It depends on the vet techs ability and they are often poorly trained and under paid. It is not a requirement for a vet tech to be licensed at least in some states. Considering they do the same job as a nurse, it is downright scary!l

Please do not give up on your cat. It sounds like it should be easily treated.