Persistent diarrhea in young cat

Hi there,

A year ago, I adopted two kittens. One of them, Bilbo, has had really runny stool since the day we started looking after him. We've taken him to the vets several times, he's been screened for parasites, had blood work done, been prescribed antibiotics and probiotics, we've changed his diet to high quality dry foods, tried chicken and rice etc. But it seems whatever we do, he just doesn't agree with his food.

I'm at a bit of a loss here and I'm not quite sure what to do next. Apart from the very runny stools, he is a very happy and healthy cat. His sister's stools, Leeloo, are quite normal, so I'm pretty sure it's an allergy problem, but I can't figure out what it is.

I've tried feeding him orijen, hills, and a dozen other foods just to see if we can find something that agrees with him. Thus far, we've had no success.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Has he had a PCR fecal test?  It has to be sent out and there are very few labs that do it.  It can find parasites and bacteria overgrowth issues that the float test done in the vets office can't find.https://www.idexx.com/pdf/en_us/sma...tes/realpcr-canine-feline-diarrhea-panels.pdf

Thanks for the reply. I don't think so, the most recent screen he had was a screen for Campylobacter, I believe, which came back negative. I'll look into this.

Do you happen to know if these are contageous? If they are, I highly doubt that is the problem, since my other cat is absolutely fine.

Have you tried a hypo-allergenic food.  I adopted a 3-ish year old shelter cat and she had diarrhea/runny stool for the first 3 months I had her. At that time she was eating a mix of IAMS wet and dry.   After a vomiting incident and a visit to the vet, we tried the vet hypo-allergenic canned food (Royal Canin duck) and her diarrhea cleared up literally overnight.

Occasionally now if she eats too many Temptations treats, her stool will get a little soft, but never the "pudding-like" deposits she had when I got her.

Hey there

Yes, I've tried several hypoallergenic cat foods I'm currently trying him on a new duck flavoured dry hypoallergenic food, as I'm beginning to suspect that he may be allergic to chicken or fish. Did the vet recommend you the brand that you currently use?

Thank you for the reply!

The vet only had the Royal Canin duck hypo-allergenic canned food.  He suggested staying away from dry food, as it seemed to be the cause of the vomiting incident that prompted the vet visit.

Ruby seemed to be more sensitive to chicken and fish flavours too.  However, even beef caused the loose stools.  She also used to vomit a clear liquid frequently and the change in food cleared that up as well.

Although usually it is suggested to change food gradually, we changed to the new food "cold turkey" and the diarrhea was gone either the next day or the day after.  

I also gave her a pepcid-like tablet for about a week, but I think that was more for the vomiting.

I ran into this when I adopted 3 of the cats I have now.  Gadget had diarrhea the worst, and it alternated between Mason and Julie (bro and sis) as to what food bothered whom but Gadget was almost always affected.  I tried tests, elimination diets, medications...everything was negative and nothing really made a difference.  I finally offered raw with real fresh bone and that made all the difference in the world.  Can you get a hold of chicken wing flats or wing tips?  It might be worth a try and see what happens.  Mine cleared up in 24 hours, but some it may take a few days.

Here's my recent experience for what it's worth.  A few weeks ago I took my  cat in for diarrhea.  He has had several spells of it, so I'm thinking it may be chronic at this point.  Anyway, the vet didn't run any tests yet, just recommended I try the purina EN veterinary diet and some fortiflora.  So first I tried the food and about a week later started worked up to a packet of fortiflora a day.  This went on for three weeks and I didn't see much improvement, though he did go from more watery to cow pie.  Then it occurred to me to try the simplest thing - pumpkin - a teaspo0n in each of his three meals (he never gets dry food.)

Well finally he is laying some cable (thank god!).  I probably should have done it in reverse order - pumpkin and fortiflora, then the veterinary diet, but who knows if it was the pumpkin or a combination of 2 - 3 things that did the trick.   Just keep in mind it took 3-4 weeks to see real improvement.  Throughout this time he's been happy and energetic and drinks water regularly.   I'm trying to be more systematic and patient with attacking their health problems and (this time at least) it seems to have paid off.

Update:  Well, guess I spoke too soon.  This morning he had a normal poop but then was followed by some mud-pie with blood in it.  Sigh....guess it's off to the vet again this week.