Diarrhea In Domesticated Rescue

[chatty catty]

We've taken in a lovely, sweet little boy named Muffin. He's completely domesticated, always uses the box, eats any food offered (although he's had access to quality dry food all of the time.) He has persistent liquid diarrhea and there is a colony of feral cats outdoors that he's been living with for eight to ten weeks. I've kept Cayce, my other cat, upstairs and away from him and his box. I believe I need to take him to the vet, but I'm terrified of hearing "cat leukemia."
chattycatty

 

[denice]

If he has been living outside with a feral colony I believe parasites are the cause of the diarrhea. He should be checked for leukemia though along with being treated for the worms. No one wants to hear leukemia but he does need to be checked and you need to know if he has it or not especially with another cat in the home.

 

[jjc1140]

Yes, take home to the vet. If he came from a cat colony outside he most definitely has works and you won't always see them in the stool. Roundworms will cause this diarrhea. I'm going through this right now with kittens that I rescued. All of them cleared up after getting on a stable diet and wormed.

In the meantime though (before you can get to vet), get Metamucil from the store. It comes in a capsule or powder. It is a fiber supplement and sprinkle some on his food. The capsules in my opinion are easier because you can dose it easier by just sprinkling half a cap on it. Plaines canned pumpkin works ok but I found the fiber cap did better. Petco sells a bran called Soulistic that makes a packet with pureed pumpkin that I noticed they like much better and will Also work.

Also get probiotics of you can and sprinkle. It helped tremendously.

You can actually get pyrantel over the counter to cover the roundworms and Bayer tapeworm dewormer (praziquantal ) to cover tapeworms. Both are sold at pet smart and Petco.

Also, there is anti-diarrhea liquid with kaolin and pectin at pet smart and petco to help in the meantime to until you get him to the vet. Try to get control of it now before he becomes dehydrated and harder to treat.

With that said, the pyrantel and tapeworm medication does not cover all parasites but the most common from an outside kitty. There is Coccidia and Giardia protozoa that can also cause this liquid diarrhea which is why a vet visit is important. Both are treatable but the sooner he is treated the better. Other reasons could be bacterial.

I would start there worming and getting the fiber and probiotics to start and get him to the vet.

What color is the stool? And is he having any other symptoms?