Cat Diarrhea

My cat just had a bout of it. It was very mucus like.  I don't know what worms look like but long strings of mucus .. like hair, was surrounding the poop. The thing is, my cat NEVER had diarrhea. I don't think he has ever had a bout. 

I did nothing differently. He has the same food that he always had.

Something I am bit scared of and maybe you could re assure me. He got put on a diet in July.  went from giving him two 3 oz cans of food with extra dry sprinkled during the day.  To just two three oz cans.   This started in July and I have been strictly following it.  He has lost approximately two lbs. (from 20 lbs to 18) it is hard to be sure weighing him on my scale.   I feed him about 4 times per day. Once in the morning (broken up into two servings about an hour apart) and same at night, two servings broken up. 

He has, however, spent about every day crying at me for more food.

I am afraid I might have done some liver damage in light of this diarrhea... which he never ever ever has.

But then I think it has been three months... wouldn't liver damage show up earlier? 

Yes I am a nervous kitty mom.  He is 8 years old.

Sorry to hear kitty isn't feeling well.  The diarrhea could be the result of something other than diet.  I would suggest a call/visit to your vet.  You could take a stool sample in to them as well.

My vet is not opened. I called the emergency place but they wouldn't tell me anything without a visit and I don't feel I should do that.  It will just make my already miserable cat more miserable.

My cat is now crying at me steady stream.  And continuing to have the issue.  I am having trouble distinguishing if he is crying because he is hungry and thirsty (he does that often) or,  sick.

I think I am just going to have to deal with it until tomorrow.

The guy at the emergency vet asked me if he was lethargic. I said no, just the opposite.  He is running around like a crazed boy and begging for food. I am trying to go easy but he finishes food and wants more. 

I can't say it's the cause of the diarrhea; but, I do highly suspect you are not feeding him enough. How many calories are in the canned food?

6 oz a day (depending on brand, caloric value) is what the average 8 lb cat would eat a day. How much SHOULD your cat weigh?

CatPack said:

I can't say it's the cause of the diarrhea; but, I do highly suspect you are not feeding him enough. How many calories are in the canned food?

6 oz a day (depending on brand, caloric value) is what the average 8 lb cat would eat a day. How much SHOULD your cat weigh?

Click to expand...

Well he should weigh about 12 to 14  lbs but my vet said I should be happy with 15 or 16.  I suspect these 3 oz cans are about 120 to 150 each. I wish I could figure out what they are exactly but they aren't on the can. Earthborn anyone? I feel like 2 lbs over three months is not insane.  Unlike most three oz cans these seem to be "rich" with fat and oil.

He went about 3 more times...  very watery ... and seems to be claming down ... I hope. He is still hungry ... and begs for food. I thought worms but he had a stool sample tested in April.. could he develop it later?

I should also mention that he is on prednisone for cat asthma. Though he has been on it before, the other ways of giving it to him I was not sure he was getting the full dose. Now he seems to be getting the full dose.  

I gave him it for one week (full dose)  and then this week I was giving it to him every other day... so ...

According to the Earthborn website here are the calorie contents of their food:

Harbor Harvest:
3 oz: 63
5.5 oz: 115

Monterey Medley
3 oz: 63
5.5 oz: 115

Catalina Catch
3 oz: 63
5.5 oz: 115

Chicken Catcciatori
3 oz: 55
5.5 oz: 100

Their feeding guidelines:
Feed adult cats 2 to 3 cans (3 oz. can) or 1 to 2 cans (5.5 oz can) per 4.5 pounds of body weight daily.

According to this, Earthborn canned is a very low calorie food (similar to Tiki Cat.) I looks like you need to at least DOUBLE what you are currently feeding him.

To answer your question about worms/parasites...
It is certainly possible for them to be misses in 1 in-house fecal sample at the vet. All parasites have different shedding cycles and if your cat isn't shedding something at the time of the vet visit, the parasite isn't caught.

Is your cat indoor only? Is it possible that he could have eaten something he shouldn't?

The fact that this is a new symptom for him and he is having severe diarrhea, he needs to be seen by a vet and soon. Are there any clinics in your area open today?

Dehydration is a big concern with cats that have severe diarrhea.

I would also want to rule out an obstruction of some kind...though cats do *usually* become lethargic with this...but, not always.

As for liver damage, in-house bloodwork can be done to give you an answer to this.

CatPack said:

According to the Earthborn website here are the calorie contents of their food:

Click to expand...

Oh SH**... ok well, I definitely will give him more.  Though, he wasn't getting that much more before... so ...  I don't think that can be right though... because my cat got up to 20 lbs on that and some lite dry food.

But as for taking him to the vet,  I am going to hold off.

I feel that it is counter productive to take him to the emergency vet. I did just give him some water.  I just mixed in some of his food. And he drank all of it.  When I take him to the emergency vet... he fights,  and they don't know his history... their goal is not to find the problem but to stablize him. 

He seems like possibly he could be stablizing.  He has stopped crying at me and is sitting in the sun watching the birds outdoors.

It could also be his predlisone -- we will see.

So he got a lot worse yesterday afternoon.  He was going every hour a horrible smelly poop. Then at 7:30 he threw up. I took him to the vet ER but IMHO, they were useless. They didn't do any tests (my cat is bad at the vet) and gave me an anti diarrhea medication.  I came home and gave it to him but, he thew that up too.  I went to bed and woke up at 3 AM. I went downstairs and found more puke and poo. I cleaned up the puke and went back to bed.  When I got up at 7, there was no more puke or poo. 

My cat was looking haggard but was crying for food. So I gave him the medicine and - yes, I don't know how much he got because he fought it (liquid) but it stayed down. So I gave him a little (teaspoon) of his food in water (like a kitty soup) and he licked that right up.  No puke. So I gave him some more and he didn't puke. Then he went to bed for 6 hours.  I gave him more when he got up (this time a prescription bland food) and he has kept that down too. No trips to the litter box.

I feel like we might be though the worst. Every once and a while he will like do a burp but I wonder if that isn't related to gas.

Might be a dumb question but should I give him the medication anymore? I would hate to give him it and have it cause constipation.

Has anyone noticed or know of some sort of an issue with cat food? Salmonella or such?  His food is earth born.  He is 8 and has NEVER had anything like this happen before. NEVER ever ever had diarrhea.  Seems like it was food poisoning or something violent.