Hello, I have been reading with great interest a previous thread about a perplexing and concerning problem - diarrhea in one of my cats. Carly is 12, she's an indoor cat and has an unremarkable health history - except for her bowel habits. For the past year or more she has had chronic diarrhea. Other than that she is active and alert, and seems to be feeling fine. The only thing that isn't "normal" about her is that she is always wired (extremely jumpy) and is very needy. Even though I give her as much attention as I can, she always begs for more. She is also a fastidious groomer, She sees the vet regularly and her last senior profile did not reveal anything out of the norm.
At this point, I suspect her bowel issues are related to diet, so that is where I am currently focusing. My kids have always had a combination of a wet/dry commercial diet - I realize the health risks of dry food but they are healthy drinkers and use their fountain often. For most of their lives I had been giving them Iams dry food, but after doing a lot of reading on the subject of "grain free" diets I have converted them to Taste of the Wild dry. However, after finding out that they are part of Diamond Pet Food I am not so sure of the quality of the product. The canned food is another story - in my efforts to give them healthier food choices, I have exhausted every wet food option at both PetSmart and Petco (the ones that don't contain carregeenan) but haven't found one that they will eat. So, they are still getting served Fancy Feast Classics. In an attempt to supplement that with something more basic I regularly add some partially cooked diced chicken. I would love to go with a homemade diet - which makes so much sense - but if it they don't eat the healthy canned stuff why would they eat the homemade food? Sigh.
The first thing I hope to do is get Carly's diarrhea under control. Of course a homemade diet may take care of that, but there might be something else going on. In the previous thread someone suggested a test for tritrichomonas foetus, which I will ask my vet about. A couple of weeks ago I did order some "Probiotic Miracle" and have been giving her a dose of that every day, but it doesn't seem to be helping with her problem. I realize there are other probiotic products available so I am hoping a different one will have a better result.
I would be very interested in knowing about other situations that parents of senior cats have experienced as far as this type of problem goes. Thank you all for your advice, suggestions and support! This community of cat parents is one I am happy to be a part of.
Karrie, Carly and Simon
At this point, I suspect her bowel issues are related to diet, so that is where I am currently focusing. My kids have always had a combination of a wet/dry commercial diet - I realize the health risks of dry food but they are healthy drinkers and use their fountain often. For most of their lives I had been giving them Iams dry food, but after doing a lot of reading on the subject of "grain free" diets I have converted them to Taste of the Wild dry. However, after finding out that they are part of Diamond Pet Food I am not so sure of the quality of the product. The canned food is another story - in my efforts to give them healthier food choices, I have exhausted every wet food option at both PetSmart and Petco (the ones that don't contain carregeenan) but haven't found one that they will eat. So, they are still getting served Fancy Feast Classics. In an attempt to supplement that with something more basic I regularly add some partially cooked diced chicken. I would love to go with a homemade diet - which makes so much sense - but if it they don't eat the healthy canned stuff why would they eat the homemade food? Sigh.
The first thing I hope to do is get Carly's diarrhea under control. Of course a homemade diet may take care of that, but there might be something else going on. In the previous thread someone suggested a test for tritrichomonas foetus, which I will ask my vet about. A couple of weeks ago I did order some "Probiotic Miracle" and have been giving her a dose of that every day, but it doesn't seem to be helping with her problem. I realize there are other probiotic products available so I am hoping a different one will have a better result.
I would be very interested in knowing about other situations that parents of senior cats have experienced as far as this type of problem goes. Thank you all for your advice, suggestions and support! This community of cat parents is one I am happy to be a part of.
Karrie, Carly and Simon
