Cat has repeated diarrhea, may be the food...Help!

[jill-e]

If you want to make your own cat food, there are some great recipes online, but be very cautious and go slowly when you introduce these new ones too. Take a week to make the complete switch, or else your kitty might get sick again.

Be sure you only buy organic ground chicken, duck or turkey. Beef, pork, lamb, venison, and vegetables are not natural protein sources for domestic cats. My cats would maybe try them once or twice but then never again. Beef actually made them sick. When I made mine, many years ago for a cat that had cancer, and before there were all these healthier diets pre-made, I got my recipes from a local holistic vet who had developed them. I had to experiment to find the ones my cats would eat. My present kitties haven't tried homemade cat food in a long time because I've been too lazy to make it.

Also, be very careful of the supplements too. You'll only want to give what they really need, which must have taurine in it, and never garlic or onions. Too many vitamins and supplements aren't necessary, or worse, could actually be harmful. Most of the supplements sold for pets have NOT been tested for purity or anything else, such as efficacy.

 

[peaches08]

Pinkeed, check out the raw and home-cooked forum. We can help you balance the chicken or whatever you want to feed. Organic isn't 100% necessary, but if you can afford it then it's certainly fine to feed. I use the chicken thighs recipe from www.catinfo.org. when I make pork or beef I use the same supplement recipe but add eggshells for the calcium source.

All of my cats' diarrhea stopped within 24 hours of starting raw. Considering your cat's response, I think you'll find a good outcome as well. Check out the resources stickies in that subforum for information about a homemade diet and recipes.

 

[jill-e]

For more on feeding fresh-made, home-made, and/or raw, food, go to the top of this page and in the Search box, type in those terms, one at a time. You'll get lots of advice there.

When I made my own raw cat foods, I would freeze the raw, ground meats/fish in standard sized ice cube trays (same as when I made my own baby foods). Once frozen, I would double bag the cubes in Ziplock freezer bags, marking on the front the variety (chicken, duck, turkey, or fish) and the freeze dates.

I only bought enough raw, ground meats/fish for 1 month at a time (so about a half pound of each flavor), as I don't have much freezer space. Then, I would only take out enough cubes for 2-3 days of meals (1 cube per meal per cat), allowing them to defrost in the fridge. If necessary, you could microwave them a little to heat them up for the smell factor or to quickly defrost the cube(s), but not enough to actually "cook" it. However, heating up the meat/fish will change the nutritional content, if the supplements are added in prior to freezing. Heating probiotics will definitely kill them, making them useless. So, you might just want to freeze the ground meats alone, then once defrosted (and warmed in the microwave if needed) add the supplements just before serving. I had to heat the cubes for two of my cats who have feline herpes as they can barely smell anything, but not for any of the others.

 

[pinkeed]

The canned pumpkin is working, normal poo. I've been mixing Newman's Own Organic Wet Food in Turkey Flavor with pumpkin and so far poo has been normal.

She has a vet appointment coming up, so I will get everything checked out again. I'm still a bit worried though because she acts like she is constantly hungry. I've been giving her a quarter of the can with the pumpkin twice a day. The cans are 5.5 ounces. Is she supposed to be getting the whole can due to her age (half in the morning and half at night)?

I'm looking into home-cooked, but my husband is not too keen on the idea (so I don't know if it will ever happen).

The older cat is now on the Trader Joe's wet food, she stopped eating the Newman's Own so I had no choice, but to switch it. She's always been very picky when it comes to food. I'm used to feeding her a quarter of the can, that's all she'll eat.

I do have a Whole Foods about half an hour away from me., it might be a while before I get over there though with all the snow. I believe there is also a natural something or another store in that same area, so maybe they would carry the Slippery Elm Bark.

I'm thinking I should just stick with the pumpkin for now though since it seems to be working.

 

[oneandahalfcats]

Glad to hear that the diarrhea is clearing up and that the pumpkin is working to help with this .. Although don't be too surprised if your female suddenly stops eating the food with pumpkin in it. Cats can reach a saturation point with pumpkin (especially females), so I would try and keep looking for the slippery elm bark as a backup. Its a good thing to give to prevent diarrhea and constipation. I purchased some recently in a health food store, but you may be able to get this at some pharmacies that carry natural supplements, so you might try a few places.

Re. the constant hunger, is this a sudden thing? Depending on where you are in the world, I find my cats appetite tends to increase in the winter months. I am in Canada.

 

[pinkeed]

She went to the vet and they did another fecal test and a blood test, everything was normal.

The vet said I should just keep giving her pumpkin for at least 5-6 weeks. She also said I could just continue to give it to her if I wanted since it wasn't harmful. She said that the problem was probably that the cat did not have enough fiber in her diet.

I did find out something bad while I was there too though, her back teeth are yellowing at a faster rate than normal. So I have to start brushing her teeth. The vet said this is because some cats are just more sensitive to tartar. On a more serious note, this is sometimes an indication that the cat's body is rejecting the cat's teeth.

On the hunger note, I started feeding her half a can in the morning and half a can in the evening of Newman's Own Organic Wet Food in Turkey Flavor with a tablespoon of pumpkin. She is ALWAYS hungry though. She'll eat just about anything that is edible (or that she thinks is edible like cardboard).

I'm a little concerned about her sneezing bouts too, that she has had since I got her. I mentioned to the vet that she sneezes a lot, my husband doesn't seem to think so though. I'm almost sure that it's allergies, since she didn't sneeze like that while at the vets. The vet didn't seem too concerned.

I used to have a dog when I was younger that was allergic to something that lived in the carpet. Mom hated carpet anyway, so she tore it all out and then the dog was fine. Unfortunately, I won't be able to test this theory until I move later this year, but maybe that will help.