Cat has loose stool

Hi,

My cat has had loose stool for a few months now and I have been spending a lot of money to fix it.

A few months ago, the vet gave her a shot of antibiotics. She began to have loose stool and the vet said that the antibiotics could have caused some issues with that. They prescribed some fortiflora and also did a fecal test. When I got the results of the fecal test back, they tested positive for giardia. We went through the necessary steps to treat giardia and after a few weeks she was parasite free! However, her loose stool continued. They decided to try a diet change, switching from Wellness wet food to Science diet light wet food. The symptoms continued so I decided to do a PCR panel. The test came back negative.

After all of that, I spent close to $500, and the loose stool continued. About a month ago, I decided to try the fortiflora one more time. This time, her stool became normal again for about 3 weeks. However, about a week ago, the loose stool came back, even though I'm still on the fortiflora. I contacted the vet and they said the next step would be a maldigestion panel. However, this test would cost $220. I've already spent $750 in the past few months with vaccines and treating this issue, so if I can avoid any more large fees, I want to.

Any suggestions on what I should do? I've been thinking about trying another diet change, but not sure.

Thanks! 

Sometimes a very bland diet of chicken in broth (such as plain chicken human baby food) mixed with plain canned pumpkin for 5 days or so can help settle the GI tract down. These things are easy to digest and the pumpkin is very high fiber and will help firm up her stool without causing constipation. Then find a wet food that she likes the taste of and integrate it back in. You wouldn't want her to be on a baby food and pumpkin diet for too long as it lacks proper nutrition for the long term. The pumpkin can be added to her regular wet canned cat food as well (a tablespoon a day split among her feedings seems to work nicely). I would certainly use this approach as opposed to more testing if she has already had a negative PCR. I would think if she had a malabsorption issue her poop would appear greasy or fatty from not properly absorbing fats and proteins as opposed to just loose. I suppose you could see if her poop floats in the toilet as that can indicate fats passing through that have not been properly absorbed or digested, but if her poop is runny you might just want to see if you can form things up a bit with a bland diet and pumpkin. Our Siamese mix girl is more prone to gi issues and this worked for us. We have also used canned pumpkin when transitioning between foods to prevent loose stool. Just be sure to get plain canned pumpkin and not the pumpkin pie mix.

I agree with he above poster.  And along with what she says, you might also add in a GOOD probiotic.  Forti-flora is a probiotic, but not a really good one.  I give my cats a human probiotic (the same one we take), and I give it to them every single day, just mixed into their wet food.  1/2 capsule in the morning and 1/2 in the evening., just to keep their gut flora happy. 

Additionally, I would take a look at the food you  are feeding.  Many cats have food sensitivities, some to fish , many to wheat, corn and soy, which are in a lot of cat foods.  If you can find foods that don't have those products, maybe give them a try.  (Even Fancy Feast CLASSICS don't have those last 3 items, but many of the Science Diet foods do) 

Totally agree with you mrsgreenjeens on the probiotic - human grade! We use nexabiotic. I order it off amazon and have been using it since my babies were very young! Forgot to mention that

try pumpkin.  I use this on all of my feral kittens for runny stools.  Even my dog.  Works wonders