Chicken & Rice Diet Advice for Diarrhea

[jk1990]

Hello! If anyone has advice on this situation I'd really appreciate it. It honestly has been causing me so much anxiety. So I have a year old kitty who has had diarrhea issues for some time now. When we brought him home he was totally fine, eating different varieties and brands of wet food, but then I accidentally bought the wrong brand of dry food and he immediately got diarrhea (this was in March). After realizing I switched him back, but the diarrhea persisted (including outside the litterbox). We brought him to the vet, who said she had no idea what was going on (all fecal tests negative) and she prescribed him metronidazole which cleared it up immediately but it returned when he was off of it. I finally did my own research and since about March we've been giving him this probiotic with his wet food which really cleared things up (but anytime I tried to wean him off it the diarrhea would come back): Amazon.com : PROBIOTIC for Cats – Premo Pet – Digestive Aid Plus Prebiotic – Best for Diarrhea, Vomiting, Gas, Skin Conditions – Tasteless – Wheat & Dairy Free – GMP – Vet Approved – 44 Grams : Pet Supplies

Then, about two weeks ago we had to take him to a new vet (we switched to a vet that was much closer to us) for his yearly check up and then unexpectedly had to leave for a funeral 24 hours later. We were gone for about 36 hours. When we got back he had diarrhea again, including a little outside of the litter box. I assumed it was the stress of the vet + our quick absence, so I decided to just monitor it. I've been giving the probiotic consistently, but its been on an off. Today he had bad enough that it caught on his fur. I called the vet, who suggested we bring him in and in the meantime to feed him a bland diet of chicken and rice. Considering our previous mishaps with food changes, I'm wondering what the best protocol is for this. Should we give it to him gradually? And if he does get better, do we then switch him gradually back? I'm honestly hesitant to go through the stressful vet situation since I don't really know what they could tell me that can't be done with a sample or over the phone. Any advice? I'm sort of at the end of my rope here.

 

[daftcat75]

I would try the saccharomyces boulardii that is suggested in this link (among other suggestions in this link):
My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

There are two fecal tests (at least.) The cheaper one looks for worms and larger parasites. But there is a diarrhea PCR test that costs a pretty penny. I think I paid $400 for it. That's why it's usually not performed. But it will look for stomach and gut bugs like clostridium. If your guy has that, it won't show up on the cheaper test but it's a nasty one to deal with. Fortunately, the s. boulardii is very effective against clostridium and other gut bugs.

I don't know what value rice is for a bland diet. Maybe bulk? But cats don't need bulk. Chicken alone is probably fine. Or a meat-based baby food that's only meat (no salt or spices, cornstarch is okay.) But a bland diet won't do anything for him if the cause of his diarrhea is one of those gut bugs. If he's eating just fine and not vomiting, you probably don't need him on a bland diet. But you may want to look at what you're feeding and ditch foods that have a lot of plant-based ingredients (starches, grains, fruits, and veggies.) Pumpkin is the exception here. Pumpkin can be beneficial for both diarrhea and constipation.

 

[jk1990]

Thank you for such an in depth response! We have pet insurance, so I wonder if that would cover things like the PCR test. I assume that's something I can ask the vet for? Honestly, I'd rather have to collect a sample than put both me and my cat through the stress of an unhelpful vet visit, so that's a huge help.

And thank you for the tip about the rice! His wet food is pretty high protein, and we're feeding him Royal Canin dry food. I was skeptical about the rice anyway, so I'll probably skip it. I haven't tried pumpkin or that specific probiotic yet but I'll do some research on that as well! Thank you!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

The bland diet is helpful just to give the digestive tract a break from having to work very hard at doing "it's thing". No, rice isn't really needed, just plain chicken poached in a little water is fine. (you'll see that in the above article) And you don't need to worry about going very slowly in reintroducing his old food when switching from plain chicken back to the old food. You DO, however, need to worry when switching from one dry food to another and go very slowly.

I give my guys a daily pre/probiotic just because. I do this to PREVENT any issues, not because they have issues. Once you get him squared away, I would continue with the Premo Pet that you used before, since it seemed to work. (I also do keep s. Boulardi handy in case we ever do have any issues around here)

Best of luck. Hope this gets resolved quickly.