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- Dec 11, 2014
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I just cleaned up some diarrhea that was mostly just outside a litter box. I have three cats and four litter boxes. One of my cats has been seriously ill and probably has had diarrhea occasionally in the weeks leading up to her diagnosis; she recently spent several days at a specialty clinic (she has anemia and is taking prednisolone daily plus a chemotherapy drug); right now I'm just watching her closely and staying in touch with the doctor while we monitor her progress on the medications. Another cat has unquestionably had diarrhea and vomited at least once in the past week, possibly twice, and has a vet appointment in a couple of days. I don't know who was responsible for the recent incident. Joy, the cat who has anemia, was near that room when my nose led me to the mess, which clearly had just occurred; a second was with another family member, and the third I could see at the other end of the hallway. However, either of the two cats who weren't with my son could have wandered around in the few minutes between the diarrhea occurring and my discovery. I have a video monitor in another room where there are two boxes, but not on this one. Joy had stopped eating before a series of appointments, tests, and exams led to her diagnosis a couple of weeks ago, and although she now is eating well, she's been finicky. I have tried various new foods, trying to entice her, but today she rejected two of them that she had been scarfing down for the past week, so I also tried a can of an old favorite (she wasn't interested) and yet another new variety, which she ate enthusiastically. I'm worried that the mix of so many new varieties, sometimes all in one day, could be a trigger, or maybe it's the medication. The two cats who weren't hospitalized still eat the "regular" foods but are also getting portions of the food I'm giving Joy, so their diet is disrupted as well. I will note that long before Joy was diagnosed with anemia (root cause still unclear), I was seeing diarrhea in the litter boxes and cleaning up vomit at least once a week, so maybe the recent medical issues and dietary changes are not the cause of the latest diarrhea incidents. Two of the cats, not the one with anemia, were adopted six months ago, and I rarely saw diarrhea in and outside the boxes before I got them, so that's a big clue. But here's what I'm trying to get at: How long after eating is diarrhea likely to occur? Within minutes? Hours? Nobody had canned food for at least a couple of hours before this latest incident. Dry food is always available: I just opened a fresh bag of one of the varieties I give them, but it's something they've been eating for several months, so I wouldn't think it would upset their stomachs. I gave them a few Temptations shortly before the diarrhea incident this evening; they were a treat for Joy after her dose of prednisolone, and since all three were hanging out together, I tossed out enough pieces for everyone to have a few. I wouldn't think a few treats could cause diarrhea within five minutes, but maybe I'm wrong. I'd like to be able to tell my vets definitively if any of the cats is regularly having diarrhea, so knowing how long a food or medicine typically takes to cause that would be useful. Guess I also need a couple more video monitors to cover my other litter boxes!
