Young cat with persisting stomach issues (diarrhea)

Hello, I adopted a cat in early November, 2015. She is now about 10 months old. I believe she is a colorpoint shorthair (she seems to have some Siamese in her.) She was also neutered before I got her and currently weighs around 8-10 lbs.

The shelter was originally holding her for what they thought were stomach parasites. She had diarrhea all the time and still does. After I brought her home and gave her the last dose of her parasite medicine I waited a few weeks to see if the diarrhea would go away. Once I saw it was not getting better I took her to the vet. They took a stool sample and just said that she had loose stool. They were confident that it wasn't parasites (she was treated twice and has all her shots). The vet diagnosed it as a sensitive stomach/food allergy. They prescribed Royal Canin Gastrointestinal wet food (can be seen in link below) and recommend me give her a teaspoon of plain nonfat yogurt each day for probiotics.

There was almost an immediate change with the prescription food. More formed and darker stool. However, this food is expensive (about $1.30 for a 3oz can) and I can only get it from the vet. After I saw the change the food made I was convinced that is was a sensitive stomach and I started to experiment with other foods. I also stopped giving her the yogurt; I just recently started back.

Food that did not work (bad diarrhea): Friskies wet food, Sheba grain free wet food, Iams wet food, and Hills Science Diet sensitive stomach/skin dry food.

Food that kind of works (mostly diarrhea, some solid stool): Blue Buffalo grain free (pic in album below), and Blue Buffalo sensitive stomach (pink bag).

Food that works: Royal Canin Gastrointestinal (pic and ingredients in album.

The follow up appointment to the vet recommended me try grain free. I am still searching for another food that works.

I am hoping to get some ideas or theories about what to try next. I included the ingredient list of the food that works in the album as well. She seems to be a happy cat and in no distress, but trips to the litter box can be messy and I'm starting to lose hope for finding a less expensive and more convenient alternative food.  Cleaning her almost every day gets old.

I would greatly appreciate any help or advice, thank you.

P.S. I am trying Fortiflora tomorrow.

Thanks,

-Elliot

Pics of my cat Khali and food: 

Have you tried a limited ingredient food like Nature's variety or Merrick? I would go that route if this was my cat, as it does sound like this is a food allergy and for the cost of RX food you could buy her MUCH better food. With food allergies you really have to rule out both fillers as an allergy and/or protein. I would avoid giving her any kibble as well, as kibble has a lot more fillers than canned. Also, what about giving her a probiotic daily? I use this one every day for my cats. I personally don't think fortiflora is a great probiotic and you'd probably do better with a humane grade probiotic. 

My cat had the same problem when I got him, and the vet said it was due to stress. She gave me a probiotic powder to add to his food, and it worked wonders. When you go to the vet, you might ask for it. Over the long run, though, I discovered he couldn't handle canned food. Any canned food gave him the runs. So I buy Beyond dry food, which is grain-free. There are others on the market, too. A year later, I am trying to introduce canned food a spoonful at a time. He loved it tonight, and I have my fingers crossed that he won't have the runs tomorrow.

DreamerRose said:

 
My cat had the same problem when I got him, and the vet said it was due to stress. She gave me a probiotic powder to add to his food, and it worked wonders. When you go to the vet, you might ask for it. Over the long run, though, I discovered he couldn't handle canned food. Any canned food gave him the runs. So I buy Beyond dry food, which is grain-free. There are others on the market, too. A year later, I am trying to introduce canned food a spoonful at a time. He loved it tonight, and I have my fingers crossed that he won't have the runs tomorrow.

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I'd bet it's not actually canned food itself rather the type of canned you're feeding. All canned food is not created equal. 

I tried several different kinds, one of which came from the vet. I gave him Fancy Feast tonight, so we'll see how he tolerates that. He's fine right now, asleep in a chair next to me. It also occurred to me to mix in his regular dry food with it, so it wasn't all canned food.

DreamerRose said:

 
I tried several different kinds, one of which came from the vet. I gave him Fancy Feast tonight, so we'll see how he tolerates that. He's fine right now, asleep in a chair next to me. It also occurred to me to mix in his regular dry food with it, so it wasn't all canned food.

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Have you tried a limited ingredients wet food? Or something like Tikicat? He may have an allergy to either a protein or a filler in lower quality foods. There's nothing about "wet food" that would give your cat digestive issues specifically over kibble, other than something IN the wet food, either the protein or a filler.

missmimz said:

 
Have you tried a limited ingredient food like Nature's variety or Merrick? I would go that route if this was my cat, as it does sound like this is a food allergy and for the cost of RX food you could buy her MUCH better food. With food allergies you really have to rule out both fillers as an allergy and/or protein. I would avoid giving her any kibble as well, as kibble has a lot more fillers than canned. Also, what about giving her a probiotic daily? I use this one every day for my cats. I personally don't think fortiflora is a great probiotic and you'd probably do better with a humane grade probiotic. 

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I haven't tried any limited ingredient food yet; I will though.  I was going to try Royal Canin Special 33 next though.  The only kibble I am giving her now is the Blue Buffalo sensitive stomach kind.  I already have Fortiflora coming tomorrow so I am just going to try that with Blue Buffalo sensitive stomach for a while and if that doesn't work I will try the Royal Canin Special 33 or a limited ingredient food per your recommendation.  I tried to compare the ingredients of food to that Royal Canin prescription wet food (in the pictures), but no other wet food has worked.  I am holding out hope that one of these options will work, because if they do not I will not know what to do next.  Thanks for the advice! 

DreamerRose said:

 
My cat had the same problem when I got him, and the vet said it was due to stress. She gave me a probiotic powder to add to his food, and it worked wonders. When you go to the vet, you might ask for it. Over the long run, though, I discovered he couldn't handle canned food. Any canned food gave him the runs. So I buy Beyond dry food, which is grain-free. There are others on the market, too. A year later, I am trying to introduce canned food a spoonful at a time. He loved it tonight, and I have my fingers crossed that he won't have the runs tomorrow.

Click to expand...

I am going to try Fortiflora tomorrow; hopefully it'll work.  She handled the Royal Canin prescription canned food the best.  She had normal stools on that, but I haven't been able to find another wet food that works for her.  I tried the Blue Buffalo grain free in the pictures, but it didn't help either.  Thanks for the tips!  I hope you diet change for your cat works out well.

Blue Buffalo makes a limited ingredient line of food in both dry and canned: http://bluebuffalo.com/product-finder/cat/?facets=Cat_Basics

Is raw or home cooked diets an option? It's a lot easier to figure out what your cat is allergic / sensitive to with these types of diets, particularly if you make it yourself (control over what ingredients are used) rather than buy a commercial brand. There's a separate raw and home cooked forum here on TCS if you want to learn more.

What type of testing did the vet do to determine that she is parasite free? Did they do a complete diarrhea panel? Parasites such as TF, and giardia are difficult to diagnose. Both cause loose stools sometimes with mucus and blood in it.  These tests are best done in a lab, not the vets office. That said, I have been told by someone who had this problem with her cat that a raw diet can help. I would try a limited ingredient high protein diet.

Khali is a beautiful cat, @ETgoo, she looks like a lynx mix: we have one, too!

As for the food issues, our vet's advice when we adopted our two Siamese mixes was to be careful with their food because Siamese and mixes have a tendency toward gastrointestinal issues. She recommended feeding only wet food, all grain-free, high-protein, low-carb. Our cats do have sensitive stomachs: our biggest problems have been vomiting and gas, with only one (week-long) diarrhea episode. We feed the cats a combination of raw and canned foods. They don't get any grains, carrageenan, potato (regular or sweet), peas, carrots, or other carby vegetables other than an occasional chicken/pumpkin food. Potato, which is a common filler ingredient in cat foods these days, was what caused problems for one of our cats; potato's not a common irritant but a few other people on the Cat Site have mentioned it bothering their cats, too. Pumpkin, by the way, can be helpful, both for diarrhea and constipation.

missmimz said:

 
Have you tried a limited ingredients wet food? Or something like Tikicat? He may have an allergy to either a protein or a filler in lower quality foods. There's nothing about "wet food" that would give your cat digestive issues specifically over kibble, other than something IN the wet food, either the protein or a filler.

Click to expand...

Based on our experience, I couldn't agree more with what missmimz says! We've found that foods with relatively simple recipes (meaning short ingredient lists and no fillers) have worked well for our cats. It can be hard to sort through ingredients to figure out what's causing a problem -- it was pretty much luck that we figured out potato was Edwina's problem -- but we've done well with brands like Tiki Cat, Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen cans, Merrick's limited ingredient, and Nutro Natural Choice. Some of those foods cost less than your prescription food but Tiki is expensive (though worth it because it's so meaty). And, as LTS3 mentioned, raw and home-cooked foods work very well for lots of cats. More than half our cats' diet is commercial raw food: some frozen, some freeze-dried. They really love it and it works very well for them.

Good luck!

If the problem is sensitivity to an ingredient this may not be helpful, but if the probiotics are making a difference, it probably means there wasn't a good balance of bacteria in her gut. But floriforta is expensive to give every day. The way my vet, who specializes in nutrition, explained it to me, is that the good bacteria eat fiber, so providing a good fiber source is more helpful then just taking probiotics. Even though my cat was on a good quality food, there may not have been enough of the right kind of fiber in it to solve her issues. The vet recommended acacia fiber, which is a tasteless powder that doesn't bulk up stool. It seemed to work for us. It's marketed to people under the name "Skinny gut," and I give my 13 lb cat 1 tsp a day in her food.

I would try limited ingredient foods first though and rule out an allergy/sensitivity, and only change one variable at a time (ex change the food but don't add probiotic yet) so you know for sure what fixed the problem.

I also suggest to try a limited ingredient food; and possibly stay away from chicken and any by-products. 

I am using Natures Variety for my cat. For-Flora contains animal digest. It is a good probiotic, but if you cat is allergic to chicken, it may not be the one for her. I am using Proviable. I order it from Chewy.com..much cheaper.

It could be IBD...Is she eating ok.. any vomiting?

BTW, she is gorgeous.. beautiful face and eyes

I am not a fan of Blue Buffalo..

missmimz said:

 
Also, what about giving her a probiotic daily? I use this one every day for my cats. I personally don't think fortiflora is a great probiotic and you'd probably do better with a humane grade probiotic. 

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A bit off topic but might it not be the case that there might be strain(s) of "good" bacteria that are unique to felines and so not in any human grade probiotic?

Fortiflora is made expressly for cats and is distributed only by vets. It is great stuff and relieved my cat's diarrhea right away.

21Rouge said:

 
A bit off topic but might it not be the case that there might be strain(s) of "good" bacteria that are unique to felines and so not in any human grade probiotic?

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There aren't any issues with using a human grade probiotics for pets as long as its good quality with no additives. My vet was totally fine with it. Here's a comment from Conscious Cat

"Is it ok to give cats human probiotic supplements? I use Nature’s Life milk-free acidophilus."

"Reply Ingrid

July 17, 2015 at 6:08 am (6 months ago)
As long as the human probiotic contains strictly probiotic cultures and no other additives, it’s usually okay to give to cats. Some probiotics have other supplements added in, so make sure you read the label"

LTS3 said:

 
Blue Buffalo makes a limited ingredient line of food in both dry and canned: http://bluebuffalo.com/product-finder/cat/?facets=Cat_Basics

Is raw or home cooked diets an option? It's a lot easier to figure out what your cat is allergic / sensitive to with these types of diets, particularly if you make it yourself (control over what ingredients are used) rather than buy a commercial brand. There's a separate raw and home cooked forum here on TCS if you want to learn more.

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Thanks!  I am going to try and find an off the shelf food that works first.

posiepurrs said:

 
What type of testing did the vet do to determine that she is parasite free? Did they do a complete diarrhea panel? Parasites such as TF, and giardia are difficult to diagnose. Both cause loose stools sometimes with mucus and blood in it.  These tests are best done in a lab, not the vets office. That said, I have been told by someone who had this problem with her cat that a raw diet can help. I would try a limited ingredient high protein diet.

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They looked at her records from the shelter and said it was highly unlikely that she would have any parasites.  The shelter did numerous treatments. 

LisaHE said:

 
Khali is a beautiful cat, @ETgoo, she looks like a lynx mix: we have one, too!

As for the food issues, our vet's advice when we adopted our two Siamese mixes was to be careful with their food because Siamese and mixes have a tendency toward gastrointestinal issues. She recommended feeding only wet food, all grain-free, high-protein, low-carb. Our cats do have sensitive stomachs: our biggest problems have been vomiting and gas, with only one (week-long) diarrhea episode. We feed the cats a combination of raw and canned foods. They don't get any grains, carrageenan, potato (regular or sweet), peas, carrots, or other carby vegetables other than an occasional chicken/pumpkin food. Potato, which is a common filler ingredient in cat foods these days, was what caused problems for one of our cats; potato's not a common irritant but a few other people on the Cat Site have mentioned it bothering their cats, too. Pumpkin, by the way, can be helpful, both for diarrhea and constipation.

Based on our experience, I couldn't agree more with what missmimz says! We've found that foods with relatively simple recipes (meaning short ingredient lists and no fillers) have worked well for our cats. It can be hard to sort through ingredients to figure out what's causing a problem -- it was pretty much luck that we figured out potato was Edwina's problem -- but we've done well with brands like Tiki Cat, Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen cans, Merrick's limited ingredient, and Nutro Natural Choice. Some of those foods cost less than your prescription food but Tiki is expensive (though worth it because it's so meaty). And, as LTS3 mentioned, raw and home-cooked foods work very well for lots of cats. More than half our cats' diet is commercial raw food: some frozen, some freeze-dried. They really love it and it works very well for them.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Thank you!  I will keep those brands in mind if the current food does not help.

Molly92 said:

 
If the problem is sensitivity to an ingredient this may not be helpful, but if the probiotics are making a difference, it probably means there wasn't a good balance of bacteria in her gut. But floriforta is expensive to give every day. The way my vet, who specializes in nutrition, explained it to me, is that the good bacteria eat fiber, so providing a good fiber source is more helpful then just taking probiotics. Even though my cat was on a good quality food, there may not have been enough of the right kind of fiber in it to solve her issues. The vet recommended acacia fiber, which is a tasteless powder that doesn't bulk up stool. It seemed to work for us. It's marketed to people under the name "Skinny gut," and I give my 13 lb cat 1 tsp a day in her food.

I would try limited ingredient foods first though and rule out an allergy/sensitivity, and only change one variable at a time (ex change the food but don't add probiotic yet) so you know for sure what fixed the problem.

Click to expand...

I will look that up.  I never thought about a fiber supplement.

Artiemom said:

 
I also suggest to try a limited ingredient food; and possibly stay away from chicken and any by-products. 

I am using Natures Variety for my cat. For-Flora contains animal digest. It is a good probiotic, but if you cat is allergic to chicken, it may not be the one for her. I am using Proviable. I order it from Chewy.com..much cheaper.

It could be IBD...Is she eating ok.. any vomiting?

BTW, she is gorgeous.. beautiful face and eyes

I am not a fan of Blue Buffalo..

Click to expand...

I just picked up some Nature's Variety limited ingredient food.  It is the dry turkey kind.  Is is eating great and never vomits unless she gets into food that she isn't supposed to.  Thanks for the input!

So over the past couple of days I have tried Fortiflora.  First time giving it to her she has a normal poop.  That's the first normal one since the prescription food.  I had high hopes, but the next time she went to the litter box the stool was mostly soft and hasn't changed since.  I am getting her off the Blue Buffalo sensitive stomach food and getting her on limited ingredient Nature's Variety now; still using the probiotics.  The initial normal poop leads me to believe that the probiotics did something and maybe with a food change it will help even more.

Thank you all for the help!  I will update when I have more info.

I hope your cat is improving.  I wanted to share an experience with you, since I went through the exact same thing with one of my three cats a year ago.  My vet did the same thing as far as testing for parasites.  I did some reading on this site and others, and after evaluating our lives, I realized our household had been through a lot of change right before the diarrhea (which lasted months--took me a while to figure out which cat of three it was, too). When I say change, I mean things like both of my kids going to college (son commuting and daughter on campus) and all of the time my husband and I were gone from the house together before they left doing college tours and then orientation and such).  I work from home, so I am rarely gone for more than a couple of hours at a time.  This particular cat has always been sensitive about me leaving.  When he was a kitten, if I left and was gone a couple of hours, he would refuse to come and greet me for half an hour or so, until he got over being upset about me leaving.  I think he had great anxiety that I might not return or something.  Interestingly, my cats are siblings (all left outside my home after their mom weaned them since she knew I would feed them, as I had fed her before she went to have them), and the other two are much less emotional in that way

So, what I did first was think about how my own personal diet can make me feel lousy if I do too much processed/junk food and also how stress and junk food is even worse.  At that time, my cats had transitioned to a nearly all canned diet, and at the time, it was pate flavors of Fancy Feast.  They were still getting some dry (Blue Buffalo grain free at that time).  By the way, the vet also gave me some Fortiflora, and I put off trying it at first but wished I had tried it sooner.  I tried other dry foods, and actually, the Royal Canin Special 33 worked so well that it made him constipated, and he was straining, and I also hated feeding it, since I had worked so on transitioning my cats to grain free. After much trial and throwing away a ton of dry food.  The dry food I finally landed on was Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Chicken and Pea.  However, since they were eating mostly canned, the biggest change I made was feeding canned with fewer ingredients.  The fewer ingredients, the less chance of something being offensive.  Some others have mentioned the brands my cats are now on, and I chose them because they had very few ingredients or fillers (and of course, all of my cats liked them).  I did use the Fortiflora.  I feed my cats twice a day on a schedule, and I only added part of that packet to his meals (like 1/4 of a packet).  I put the rest in the refrigerator (I used a zipper sandwich back to keep it fresh and also to keep the animal digest from being near my food).  I actually put all of the packets the vet gave me in the refrigerator, since it made sense it might keep better there, but I could have been wrong.  Anyway, Fortiflora is costly, but I found that I could only use it for one meal a day and then only every other day and then a couple of times a week.  By that time, my cat was having good stools and was eating a diet without any by products, carrageenan, artificial colors, artificial flavors, etc.  When my dad died a year ago and the household experienced extra stress, this same cat developed loose stools again.  I started adding Fortiflora to his food (again maybe 1/4 packet) for about 2 weeks, and he got over it very quickly. 

Having said all of that, I am thinking that your cat has been through a great deal (spent time at the shelter, then off to your home, then a trip to the vet, etc) That may not seem stressful to you, but cats are funny.  Small stuff can stress them out, and for some, it seems to end up reflected in their bowel habits.  For my cat, cleaning up his diet and using the Fortiflora seemed to help his body stop reacting so to the stress. Also, cats are great at hiding discomfort from what I have read, so your cat may not feel so great from the diarrhea, which would also seem like it would be stressful.  I guess I sort of equate it to a human with IBS who has flares with things like a new job or a move or whatever. I feel certain that, as you new kitty adjusts to the new home and routine, stress will become less overall, but the cleaner diet and Fortaflora will hopefully help stop the cycle of inflammation and whatever in the intestines.  Of course, your life cannot stay stress free, and they pick up on that.  When you get this round of loose stools under control, if it happens during stressful times for you, you can add the Fortiflora back (and I even try to serve the simplest of the cat foods; in our case, that was Weruva Paw Lickin' Chicken) if diarrhea occurs during stress until the Fortiflora has a chance to soothe the system.

At this time, my cats are all eating:

Canned--

Nutro Natural Choice Chunky Chicken.

Nutro Natural Choice Chunky Turkey

Nutro Natural Choice Smooth Loaf Chicken (Petsmart has kitten and senior on that one, and we buy senior since it has a few extra calories, and two of my cats are on the lean side)

Nutro Natural Choice minced chicken

Nutro Natural Choice minced chicken and shrimp

Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken

Nature's Variety Instinct Beef

Nature's Variety Instinct Duck

Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Turkey

Weruva (various including Paw Lickin' Chicken, Quick n Quirky, Peking Ducken, Chicken Fricka Zee, Fowl Ball, and the occasional one with fish as a special treat)

Soulistic (Good Karma and Autumn Bounty when I happen to go to Petco)

Dry--

Only a handful a day--

Natural Balance green pea and chicken

Anyway, I thought I would share my experience in case there was anything you could glean from it to help your cat (who by the way seems to be adjusting by the looks of the lounging on the couch and the photos in the cat tree).  Like I said, on the outside, cats can seem like all is well, but on the inside, the digestive system may be reacting to change.

I hope the Fortiflora helps.  You might even try to Royal Canin Special 33, only a little bit at a time, and if it causes constipation, you could try slowly moving to a limited ingredient like the Natural Balance or, I think, Nature's Variety has a limited ingredient turkey dry.  Honestly, though, if the cat I was dealing with who has these issues was not so hooked on dry food, I might try the canned Nature's Variety, starting with a limited-ingredient one.  With the diet, I would find one brand, one flavor that seems to be tolerated and then slowly try a new one.  If the cat is not picky, that will help.  I was pretty lucky.  My cat ate pretty much everything I tried, though he does have favorites. Carrageenan caused him and his sister to hack up what looked like hairballs, and my cats have not had any hairball issues in years, so none of the foods I feed have it.

I know you mentioned cost.  My list of foods are not the cheapest, but at least they are available at Petsmart or Petco (I get Weruva from a specialty pet store locally, so you might have to hunt down who sells it in your area, but Petco does sell Soulistic which, from my understanding, is canned by Weruva and is their exclusive.  My cats like Good Karma and Autumn Bounty.) Also, one trip to my vets with labs of any kind usually costs me hundreds of dollars.  I watch for sales on the brands they eat and try to stock up.  Also, you could look into order some online if you can afford to buy in bulk, but that has not worked so well for us and the way the cash flows.

You did a great thing by adopting this sweet little kitty!  Please stop back by and let us know how things are going!

Hello,

Just a quick update.  Khali is doing exponentially better.  Normal stools and no more mess!  This is a huge relief; thank you all.  It looks like the Nature's Variety and Fortiflora are doing the trick.  I am going to try to take her off the probiotics and see how she does now. 

ETgoo said:

 
Hello,

Just a quick update.  Khali is doing exponentially better.  Normal stools and no more mess!  This is a huge relief; thank you all.  It looks like the Nature's Variety and Fortiflora are doing the trick.  I am going to try to take her off the probiotics and see how she does now. 

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That's great to hear! The Nature's Variety food seems to work well for a lot of cats with digestive issues. Here's hoping Khali continues doing well!

Good news! I would keep her on the forth-flora for a while...just in case, then you can slowly wean her off of it.