Kitty has diarrhea - need help with diet!!

So let me first give you some background on my kitty. His name is Sirro and he is a great little Siamese that is almost 2 years old. he is a small guy - about 7 lbs, he has always been small. Anyways he started to have diarrhea about a month ago. we tried some new food and no luck. my roommates girlfriend who works at a vet brought him in and they reccommended a canned food only diet of "Hills Prescription Diet W/D" Before he was eating Science Diet cat food and he seemed to like it alright. What the problem here is is that the vet is hard-core set on giving him this prescription diet stuff, which I dont necessarily care for, he doesnt seem to like it very much. I have heard that people dislike sciencediet food, but vets will reccommend it because thats what they carry and they want your business. Please share any info that you may have - it will be appreciated! thanks!

Dealing with diarrhea can be fairly difficult. It could be IBD, or just a simple food allergy. I haven't found many cats respond to the WD wet, but rather the dry. One tool I have seen very useful is going the allergy route. A blood test sent to a lab can show you which foods they are allergic to. Once you eliminate these things from the diet, it usually clears up.

As Sandie says, finding the cause and then clearing up diarrhea can be difficult. I am unaware of the blood test she mentioned, but do know they can do a fair bit to test this by diet change - for example changing to the IVD (Innovative Veterinary Diet) foods - which are one protein and one carb (i.e. duck and green peas, venison and green peas, rabbit and green peas) and seeing if this clears up the diarrhea.

It's true I personally do not care that much for Science Diet foods, but I adore the results I've had with the one prescription food I'd used - Hills Z/D - it saved my cats life, and gave us several more years together. I would not change away from a prescription diet without your vet approving an alternative food.

Here is the information page that tells you when this food (Feline W/D canned) is prescribed, and other details on this food.

hth,

check with the vet or vet tech.. i/d and z/d( dry) worked for my dog

The lab I am familiar with is Bio Medical services. The reason I will often mention it, is because it was easier for me to have the test done, than doing food trials giving at 6 weeks in between the foods. It was faster, and easier on my kittys tummy

Originally Posted by Sandie

The lab I am familiar with is Bio Medical services. The reason I will often mention it, is because it was easier for me to have the test done, than doing food trials giving at 6 weeks in between the foods. It was faster, and easier on my kittys tummy

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I wish we could have done this with my Joshua a few years ago - and hope I can remember this, if/when there is a next time with another of my cats!

Hey sry about the pooping problem, whatever you do, make sure the cat has plenty of water, if not your kitty will become dehydrated. It happened to one of mine. THen it takes a lot more money. Just thought i'd let you know.....buh bye

Originally Posted by Sandie

The lab I am familiar with is Bio Medical services. The reason I will often mention it, is because it was easier for me to have the test done, than doing food trials giving at 6 weeks in between the foods. It was faster, and easier on my kittys tummy

Click to expand...

I think the vet probably itemizes the blood test for the food allergies under biomedical services for billing purposes, but that is not the name of any specific blood test. More likely, the vet is looking for antibody titers in the blood that correspond to common antigens found in food, much like when we humans go in and they check our blood.

Yes, the test is a food allergy panel, as I said the lab they send it to is Bio Medical Services.

we have a cat we adopted a few months ago and has been suffering with diarrhea. she has been found to be lacking any good gut bacteria. she has been on w/d wet food, some tender vittles (our vet says there is something in this food that helps), and daily doses of plain yogurt. these helped somewhat, but found that a product by Pfizer drug called Bene-pac pet gel has been the most successful at managing the problem. This item can be purchased thru KV Vet supply 1-800-423-8211. cost of about $6.00 per month.

I am having a similar problem with one of my cats who is on w/d dry. My other 4 cats are on it too but they don't seem to have this problem.

As far as the yogurt goes, how much and do you give and do you add some flavor to it or do they do ok with plain?