I'm Losing my mind

I posted recently in the Behavior board about a male stray I took in that is estimated at 2 years old. It has been six days. My initial problem was his going after my resident cat (older female). That has gotten somewhat better but now my resident cat hides all the time and won't eat because she is nervous. That is problem number #. Problem # 2, new cat has chronic diarrhea. I called the vet and they said it may be due to him eating new food (he was on the street before so we have no idea what he ate). So I tried to be a bit patient but it seems the diarrhea is getting worse. Am bringing him to the vet today. 3# I orginally brought him to the MSPCA when I found him on the street, I felt so bad leaving him there I went back and adopted him. They did the standard tests for FelV and FIV, Neutered him and gave him shots. When I went to get him they said his tests were negative but as a precaution to always follow up with another test in 6 months. So now I am paranoid as heck that this cat will show up with FelV in 6 months and I will have exposed my resident cat. I am probably just being paranoid, but I had never heard of doing that before so it got me worrried . God, can someone just tell me something nice to calm me down

There is something called the gastrocolic reflex- when food goes in, the bowel empties. Sometimes , it's like a trigger and the food goes right through like in diarrhea. How to stop it? Don't feed solid foods for awhile. Just give broths( no salt) because it helps to rehydrate the cat and it doesn't trigger the reflex action. Then gradually introduce foods like boiled chicken( no bones, skin or fat- fat triggers diarrhea) and some cooked rice all mashed up. The diet change could have caused this initially and then it jsut turned chonic because you kept feeding him food that kept triggering the diarrhea response. I hope this helps you get things in perspective!

I wish I had good advice! Glad you are going back to the vet. Miss Lil's idea of a simple diet may help. I hope he feels better, and your kitty starts accepting him!

Miss Lil, Our stories are so similar, it's not even funny. I adopted a male cat from a shelter almost 2 months ago, who is approx the same age as your male. I have a resident female who is a few months over 3. She is by nature a very sweet lovable kitty (but lazy! ) and he hounds her too. On a side note, he also produces loose stools when he eats her wet food (and he's kind of dumb so he just keeps eating it, whether or not his tummy acts up as a result).

Anyway, I was going to say that it's probably the change in diet, plus added stress of a new environment and another cat in his "territory" that he has to watch, is probably compounding his health issues. You did the right thing by taking him to the vet, but try to feed him the broths as someone suggested to keep him hydrated.

On *another* side note, I am going to PM you, so please check them when you have a chance .

Glad you are going back to the vet. I would suggest following his/her advice as the rest of us can only guess at what is wrong with your poor wee kitty.