Chronic Wet Stools

[floriney2]

Hello,

I'm feeling lost with what to do for my cat Andy! She's 5 years old and I got her 2 years ago, and since I have had her she has suffered bouts of loose and wet stool. I have had her checked and the vet ran some tests a few months ago and said she didn't have enough vitamin B, so she was given a cycle of vitamin B shots and seemed to improve.

A couple weeks ago she was having the same issue, very loose stool, practically liquid, so we talked to the vet again and she is back on the vitamin B injections (6 shots over 6 weeks). She's on week 4 and she's still having loose stool. I'm not sure what to do for her. Of course I will talk to my vet but I was looking to see if anyone else has had this issue and what they did for their cats. She's having some litter box avoidance and has peed outside of the box a few times and I'm sure she's uncomfortable so I just want to help her feel better.

(A note about food-- She's currently eating the canned food "earthborn chicken cacciatore" and I have tried to change her food in the past, but she will not touch anything else. She's notoriously picky. I'm willing to try and ease her into a new food if it could solve her problem, but I'm also not sure where to begin with a food to try.)

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Since she was low on Vit B, did the Vet say she might possibly have IBD? It's unfortunately pretty common these days in cats, and diarrhea and/or vomiting is one of the signs of it, as is low Vit D. I would suggest you let the Vet know the shots aren't helping this time around and see what they say.

As far as the Earthborn, I see it has potatoes and guar gum in it, both of which can cause issues, but not necessarily . When you have a picky eater, it's definitely an issue trying to get them to eat something that might be more cat friendly. I've got one of those too.

If the Vet doesn't think she has IBD, you could try using S. Boulardi added to her food to see if that helps firm up her stools. It helps with a lot of cats. You use 1/2 capsule in the morning and 1/2 at night.

 

[floriney2]

The vet didn't mention IBD, but I have wondered if she possibly has that issue.

And regarding her food it's so overwhelming to look at the options and try to find one I'm happy with and then go through the process to try and switch her over! She doesn't make it easy lol

Also I remembered the injections are for vitamin B12, not just vitamin B! That was my mistake

 

[FeebysOwner]

B-12 is the 'norm', so we understood that. I would, as suggested above, look into S. Boulardi for a probiotic that might help. But, as you already know, you really are going to have to let the vet know that the B-12 regimen doesn't seem to be taking care of the problem this time. Wish we could help more.

 

[Mia6]

My vet did the same B12 regimen when my Vince girl had a bout of IBS. He said she needed food change as well. he prescribed Science Diet.but wouldn't eat. I went through hundreds of dollars till they started making Blue for Cat bellies and the IBS was gone in 3 weeks. I fed her both FF wet and dry.Blue. It never came back. Doc riggs thought it was stress related because it began soon afer there was a fire in my apartment.He doesn't like to overmedicate small animals so I bought liquid Immodium and asked my pain doc if it would ok.i couldn't tolerate her belly felling so rough. he asked her weight and found the correct dosage. I trusted him as he is an anesthesiologist. I am not recommending this....only telling you what worked for her.

 

[LTS3]

I would not trust a Human anesthesiologist to recommend a OTC medicine and a dose for a cat. Human medicine and veterinary medicine are different though some very general aspects overlap.

IBS can't be cured, only managed. How well it can be managed depends on the severity, the individual cat, and the vet's course of treatment.

F floriney2 talk to the vet about the possibility of IBD or other gastrointestinal issue. It may be helpful to start a bland-ish novel protein diet. As already said, cheap fillers like guar gum can irritate tummies. You don't need a prescription diet which is most likely what your vet will recommend / suggest / push. There are commercially available brands of limited ingredient foods you can feed.

Adding a probiotic or S. boulardii to the food may help some. Here's info: Prebiotics & Probiotics for Cats: Healing Inflammation and gut dysbiosis A digestive enzyme may also be helpful.

 

[floriney2]

LTS3 I will bring that up with my vet! I have talked to my vet before about the prescription foods and she knows I prefer not to feed them, so I'm going to look at some cat food options and see if I can find a good can to switch her too. She's only ever eaten chicken, so I can hopefully find something with a different protein, and without the guar gum. I'm also going to buy that S. boulardii and add that to whatever food I pick up and see if it helps.

Last time I tried to change her food she peed on my bed lol so here's hoping that was a poorly timed coincidence haha. Thank you for your help and hopefully my girl feels better soon!!

 

[LTS3]

You can use the chart here to find gum-free canned foods that also do not contain chicken: Check This Out.... Chart For Cat Food Ingredients

 

[Mia6]

I would not trust a Human anesthesiologist to recommend a OTC medicine and a dose for a cat. Human medicine and veterinary medicine are different though some very general aspects overlap.

IBS can't be cured, only managed. How well it can be managed depends on the severity, the individual cat, and the vet's course of treatment.

F floriney2 talk to the vet about the possibility of IBD or other gastrointestinal issue. It may be helpful to start a bland-ish novel protein diet. As already said, cheap fillers like guar gum can irritate tummies. You don't need a prescription diet which is most likely what your vet will recommend / suggest / push. There are commercially available brands of limited ingredient foods you can feed.

Adding a probiotic or S. boulardii to the food may help some. Here's info: Prebiotics & Probiotics for Cats: Healing Inflammation and gut dysbiosis A digestive enzyme may also be helpful.

Lt, I trust this doc with my life so I trusted my Vincie's girls life with him. He is a world renowned Pain Management Doc He did not recommend it, I brought in the bottle and showed it to him and he read several articles on it before he came up with the dosage. As I wrote before I am not recommending it, only letting folks know what worked for her . It is not something to use all the time