Cats: Diarrhea And Now Not Eatting Or Drinking

[meowgi]

Hi, I have two cats about 2 years old. The youngest cat (Gideon) has a heart condition. He saw the cardiologist Wednesday for a check up and was fine and given a good report. Not sure if it is related in anyway, but starting on Friday he got diarrhea. Not being my first rodeo with this I figured I would wait a few days to see if it sorted itself out on it's own, as it always has with my other cats. Well, the diarrhea continued and then by Sunday my second cat (Stella) had diarrhea.

As of this morning, Gideon no longer wants to eat and is not up and about but rather hiding under the dining table and chairs. Stella ate some but then threw up. That is not uncommon for her...she occasional has gotten sick before as she has a sensitive stomach and will sometimes get sick if she eats to fast but it is not that often. Otherwise she is acting fine. She has nibbled a bit of dry food and was still hungry so rather than giving their normal food I made some boiled chicken and rice. Gideon also came over as if interested but neither of them would eat it. I had a packet from Applaws of just shredded chicken in chicken broth and so I poured that over, and Stella ate some of that chicken only. Gideon only ate a few shreds of chicken and was done.

Not sure what the root cause is. Until today I haven't changed foods (they eat Simply Nourish canned Chicken in light cream sauce and dry Nulo Duck & Cod). And Gideon normally doesn't have a sensitive stomach.

I made a vet appointment for 1:30 today, but I am worried sick. The only time I have ever had a cat not eat was when my 15 year old cat was battling kidney disease. Gideon's heart condition in the mix makes me even more worried because last time we had to give him fluids he went into heart failure and that is when we discovered he had a heart condition.

Any suggestions on getting him to eat and foods I should offer would be appreciated. I will give an update once I get back from the vet, but I am sure they are going to want to run blood work and stool samples which will take a day.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Good luck with the vet appointment. I hope you can get to the source of the problem and treat it quickly!!

Have you tried canned tuna/tuna water - to add a little to the food they are eating, or even the chicken? How about something like Gerber's Baby Food Meats (no additives)?

 

[meowgi]

So just got back from vet. Gideon had a pretty high fever (104) so the vet believes it is a virus. Stella was a little warm but she always runs warm at the vet due to stress so they were not as concerned about her. We are also running blood workup and stool testing as well just to ensure nothing else is going on.

The vet prescribed Metronidazole for Gideon as he said it was an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medication that could also help firm up his stools. Gideon also got a small dose of sub-Q fluids that the vet said would help with his slight dehydration and may also help break the fever. He also gave me FortiFlora Probiotic to give to both cats and cleaned both cats up for me (they are long haired and had pretty bad poopy butts).

The vet is hopeful that once the fever breaks that Gideon will start eating normally. He said that the virus just needs to works its way through...like a human battling the flu. He said if Gideon is not better by Wednesday (eating and acting normally) or if the blood/stool work up shows something else I am to come back and he may try a more broad based antibiotic.
As for Stella, he is hoping that since she got the virus second that it isn't as aggressive, so for now she isn't on any medication (except for the FortiFlora) but that if she worsens that she will also be put on the Metronidazole.

He wasn't worried about what the cats ate as he believes it is the virus causing the diarrhea not a food intolerance. He did say special GI foods would not hurt, so I took home a can of prescription GI food to try.

When Gideon got home he did nibble on some dry food and at least he did not run and hide... which I was happy to see. Just hope his fever breaks soon. I am so worried about the little guy. Fingers crossed.

 

[She's a witch]

are they vaccinated? My fear would be they picked something up at the vet office - the worst being panleukopenia but hopefully it's just GI virus

 

[FeebysOwner]

Fingers crossed.

One for each paw!!!

 

[meowgi]

Yes they are up to date on vaccines. Vet didn't seem overly concerned so assuming he thinks it is just a GI virus.

I fed both cats wet food last night with the FortiFlora probiotic and I think they hated it. They both seemed interested in dinner and were circling my feet but as soon as I sat down the bowls they sniffed it and looked at me as if to say, "what the heck did you do to my food?" Stella, my picky one, won't even try it. Gideon licked at it a bit but wasn't interested. My vet said cats love it and for some cats it is almost acts as an appetite stimulant and the reviews online (Chewy.com) make you think it is kitty crack so many cats love it...but apparently my cats are not the norm. Needless to say they didn't eat any wet food last night but I did leave dry food out which I would say they ate about 1/4 cup combined by early morning.

This morning I was happy to see both cats up and about and doing their normal routine of jumping on the bed to wake me up. Fed them their normal food (minus the FortiFlora) and they both ate about 1/2 their can rather than gobbling the entire can, but that could have partly been due to the fact that they were able to free-feed dry food which I normally do not let them do, so by morning they are usually starving.

There was one soft stool in the litterbox this morning, so still not out of the woods, but based on the way Gideon is acting I am thinking his fever has broke (or come down at least) and fingers crossed they are on the mend.

Going to continue Gideon's course of antibiotics, but not sure I am going to be able to get them to eat the FortiFlora. I almost wish it was a pill rather than something you sprinkle on food. With my cats pills are easier than messing with food.

Thanks for all the well wishes.