Traveling with cat. Home sick and anxiety?

melchiors · Dec 26, 2016

I came to my parenst house for christmas and brought my cat along with me.
She was fine the first 3 days, but is now leaving small puddles of poop multiples times a day in the litter box and has lost her appettite.

I've been keeping her locked in my room, as the family cat doesn't accept others cats inside the house.
She isn't lettargic. I let her explore the house at night as the family cat sleeps outside.
She is very curious about everything, chases bugs, asks for petting all the time, jumps and meows after me when i came with food but eats very little.
And keeps trying to get out of the room to explore all the time.

She seems fine, but the diarrhea is concerning me.
Could it be she caught parasites ? or is just stressed with the new routine and missing home?
If she is stressed what can i do to help? I already have been making her company all the time. Lots of cuddling and play time. Is there anything else?
Or is just wait and see if it goes away?

She has been eating the same food for almost 2 months with no issues, i'm sure it isn't her diet.

mrsgreenjeens · Dec 26, 2016

Certainly stress can bring on this type of issue. That's not to say she couldn't have picked up some bug or something, but I think that's really somewhat unlikely. When my cat's get soft stool, I give them a little bit of regular yogurt (not artificially sweetened) That often does the trick, but then again, I don't think theirs is brought on by stress. One of my cats gets soft stools now on and off since he got a dental back in May. Our Vet said to give him FortiFlora when this happens. It really works for him. I believe you can purchase it at places like Petco and/or Petsmart, if you have those nearby (I usually order mine via Amazon.

In the meantime, perhaps there is something in this article that will help you: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/six-surefire-strategies-to-reduce-stress-in-cats

As far as her loss of appetite goes, this is not good. You may need to use toppers to tempt her, as she cannot go too long without eating or it can cause serious health issues. FortiFlora (mentioned above) is actually a great topper for many cats. One of mine actually hates it, but luckily the one who needs it LOVES it, so often I use it two fold, as a topper and to help with his soft stools. Other toppers can be crushed treats, tuna juice, parmesan cheese bonita flakes, that type of thing. Or try warming up smelly wet food to really get his attention. If nothing works, then she may need to see a Vet, especially since she's got that soft stool business along with the loss of appetite.

melchiors · Dec 26, 2016

mrsgreenjeens said:
Certainly stress can bring on this type of issue. That's not to say she couldn't have picked up some bug or something, but I think that's really somewhat unlikely. When my cat's get soft stool, I give them a little bit of regular yogurt (not artificially sweetened) That often does the trick, but then again, I don't think theirs is brought on by stress. One of my cats gets soft stools now on and off since he got a dental back in May. Our Vet said to give him FortiFlora when this happens. It really works for him. I believe you can purchase it at places like Petco and/or Petsmart, if you have those nearby (I usually order mine via Amazon.

In the meantime, perhaps there is something in this article that will help you: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/six-surefire-strategies-to-reduce-stress-in-cats

As far as her loss of appetite goes, this is not good. You may need to use toppers to tempt her, as she cannot go too long without eating or it can cause serious health issues. FortiFlora (mentioned above) is actually a great topper for many cats. One of mine actually hates it, but luckily the one who needs it LOVES it, so often I use it two fold, as a topper and to help with his soft stools. Other toppers can be crushed treats, tuna juice, parmesan cheese bonita flakes, that type of thing. Or try warming up smelly wet food to really get his attention. If nothing works, then she may need to see a Vet, especially since she's got that soft stool business along with the loss of appetite.

She had issues with soft stool for 10 months. But turns out she was allergic to the food i was giving her.
I changed it a lot but finally found a combination that works great with her and she hasnt had a issue for two months.
But this time she isnt having soft stool, it is almost liquid. Looks different and the frequency she goes also is.

When she had soft stool i would giver her some boiled chicken and sweet potato and it used to work wonders.
I`m giving her small amounts of chicken (as she wont eat much each time) but is not working.

We had guests over yesterday and she did nothing but hide. Also the resident cat makes her nervous.
And she has always been afraid of everything.

On the other hand we do feed feral cats outside and the family cat wanders inside and outside.
So she could have gotten a stomach bug or something.

For now she seems very alert, more today than she did yesterday. And is a bit more interested in food.
I`ll follow the article and keep an eye and take her to the vet if things dont improve in a day or two.

Thanks a lot!

mrsgreenjeens · Dec 27, 2016

Try boiled chicken with WHITE rice. Boil the rice in the chicken broth as the chicken is cooling. If course, this is not 100% nutritionally complete, but will suffice for a few days. I wold definitely add in some probiotics to this mixture to help get her gut flora in balance.

Slippery Elm Bark can help too. Here's a thread about both Rice AND Slippery Elm Bark: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/275755/anything-else-to-help-soft-poop-other-than-pumpkin

melchiors · Dec 27, 2016

Also, the house is way more agitated and noisy than my apartament.

mrsgreenjeens said:
Try boiled chicken with WHITE rice. Boil the rice in the chicken broth as the chicken is cooling. If course, this is not 100% nutritionally complete, but will suffice for a few days. I wold definitely add in some probiotics to this mixture to help get her gut flora in balance.

Slippery Elm Bark can help too. Here's a thread about both Rice AND Slippery Elm Bark: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/275755/anything-else-to-help-soft-poop-other-than-pumpkin

Thanks!
We let her explore the house yesterday for the whole night and she looked more relaxed.
We also had a good playtime session. First one since she got here (6 days ago)!

And she is eating more than the last three days!!! She had a lot of chicken today

Maybe it's a good time to offer some extra food.
No change in the litter box tho ):

I'll get her some probiotics right away and a visit to the vet if things don't seem to improve soon

melchiors · Dec 28, 2016

update: she still is having diarrhea! 8-10 times a day, has lost some weight, is still active, alert and playful but i'm freaking out.
I took some stool samples to the vet for exams BUT i'm brazilian and in a very very small town, what i discovered visiting
all vets and pet shops in town is that no one does it!!!!!

The vet my family takes the family cat gave me some random wide spectrum dewormer. Is that doesn't worked he sugested a blood test.
Or antibiotics for coccidia (only because i brought it up) WITHOUT TESTING FOR IT.

I feel hopeless and stressed and now i'm stop eating too. That's just great.

I also got some probiotics, and am feeding her sweet potatoes everyday.
I tried to find something to calm her nerves, herbs/feliway but what you would expect

from vets who don't do stool exams.

I gave her the dewormer since the vet said to. But she had diarrhea exactly one hour later, the color was close to the dewormer pill.
will it be effective?

mrsgreenjeens · Dec 28, 2016

This is a very strange thing, but wonder if you could get a HUMAN doctor to test her stool sample

Humans can get worms,and they can get certain forms of coccidia. It would probably be a waste though, because they wouldn't test for the right things I guess.

In the meantme, it may not have been enough time for the chicken and rice to work...it's only been a day, right? And NOW, she is probably picking up on your stress, which cats can do, very easily. As long as she's still acting pretty normal, and eating, those are good signs

Here, here's a thread on EXACTLY what you can do when a cat has really bad diarrhea that should help (it's the chicken and rice, but in more detail): http://www.thecatsite.com/t/253036/help-explosive-poop#post_3291827

I say, worse case scenario, do start her on antibiotics without knowing if it's coccidia or not if this doesn't subside within a few days on the very bland diet. I don't think it would hurt. That's what the Vet is advising, right?

I suspect the de-wormer will still work even though she had diarrhea an hour after taking it. (assuming she has worms)

melchiors · Dec 28, 2016

mrsgreenjeens said:
This is a very strange thing, but wonder if you could get a HUMAN doctor to test her stool sample

Humans can get worms,and they can get certain forms of coccidia. It would probably be a waste though, because they wouldn't test for the right things I guess.

In the meantme, it may not have been enough time for the chicken and rice to work...it's only been a day, right? And NOW, she is probably picking up on your stress, which cats can do, very easily. As long as she's still acting pretty normal, and eating, those are good signs

Here, here's a thread on EXACTLY what you can do when a cat has really bad diarrhea that should help (it's the chicken and rice, but in more detail): http://www.thecatsite.com/t/253036/help-explosive-poop#post_3291827

I say, worse case scenario, do start her on antibiotics without knowing if it's coccidia or not if this doesn't subside within a few days on the very bland diet. I don't think it would hurt. That's what the Vet is advising, right?

I suspect the de-wormer will still work even though she had diarrhea an hour after taking it. (assuming she has worms)

I messed around her last diarrhea, after the dewormer, and it had some white soft segments on it.
So i'm guessing tapeworms from eating an infected flea? even though she is on flea control ?
We do have ferals nearby so not impossible. I really thought Revolution would prevent this and she isn't in direct contact with them!

I was really careful with the fleas, as i don't want her picking any from the family cat and infesting my apartment, oh the irony :')

Now, dewormers for the whole family it is! lol

Thanks a lot, I'll update if i see any improvements

melchiors · Dec 30, 2016

Case solved. She got worms, one day after the dewormer she was completely fine!

mrsgreenjeens · Dec 30, 2016

Good to know what it was, and that it's resolved. Is she eating well again?

melchiors · Dec 30, 2016

mrsgreenjeens said:
Good to know what it was, and that it's resolved. Is she eating well again?

She is eating normally again and has SO MUCH energy!
She won't hold still for one minute, we have a good backyard and she wants to see it all :')

Traveling with cat. Home sick and anxiety?

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