My cat has been having issues with diarrhea off and on for a few months. He is otherwise healthy, still playful and bright-eyed, not lethargic, no fever, and is at a good weight. He vomits daily, but that’s just pretty much his deal – he developed an intestinal malformation a couple years ago (which I won’t go into unless you really need to know).
For the most part it’s not severe. Stools are a little soft (like frozen yogurt), but not completely disgusting. The biggest issue is that I can no longer convince him to use the litter box for number 2 even when his stools are fine.
I recently tried switching him to Iams digestive care kibble. This worked wonderfully… for about three weeks. Then his stools started to go soft again, and as of yesterday we’ve got brown puddles on the floor.
Are there any kind of home remedies or other things of the sort that I could try? I did some Googling and as of last night am trying the “bland diet with fiber” approach, feeding brown rice combined with chicken baby food. It hasn’t seemed to do much – they seem to be barfing it up more than keeping it down, and the two messes today, while not puddles, were still pretty damn disgusting.
I would love to take him to the vet. However the day I planned to call for an appointment, back in July, I got called into my boss’s office and got laid off instead. I’m also reluctant to ask for charity care again, because the last time Merlyn got really sick (the intestinal thing), I also got fired the day after I brought him in. (Long story. Basically the boss that promised me he wouldn’t penalize me for being sick, fired me for going to chemo.) So if I were the vet, I’d be a little :dubious: that this chick manages to conveniently be unemployed every time her cat is sick, yanno?
Anyway, it might be too much to hope for to find something that will work permanently, but if there’s something I can do to get rid of it for now, I’d really appreciate it. (I wish there was a Kaopectate for cats.)
One of my former cats had a diarrhea problem, from an airborne virus. The vet prescribed Kaopectate, shot into his mouth with a plastic syringe. It eventually worked, but the entire room was speckled with spat-out Kaopectate.
There are so many possible causes of this but if you are unable to work it up the best thing you could do at home is try changing his diet. Perhaps your vet would be able to advise you over the phone of some diets you can try? The feline vet I work for part-time is always saying that cats don’t need carbs. She doesn’t recommend raw diets but she does recommend a natural diet formulated for cats with low carbs. I can’t remember the name of it right now, my brain is fried from the flu.
As for the litter box issue. Do you have more than one box? Try different types of boxes to try to get him to use it for number two, maybe he’d prefer an uncovered box?
This prescription stuff I’ve got is only available at your vet’s office or through one of those “you need a prescription” mail-order places, where it isn’t really cheaper. They say it’s not the stuff you can get at the pet store. (Granted, you feed so little the bag does last a long time.)
I have considered trying a raw diet with him, but am apprehensive about the poo.
i had a cat with a bad case of ibd. the only food that worked with her was science diet indoor. she also took medication.
i now have a little cutie with a very mild case of tummy troubles. the science diet indoor works very well with him, any other food with have him “puddling” with in a day.
give it a go. if it doesn’t work, then try the prescription z/d mentioned above. you can get the indoor at any store. i believe the z/d is only available at the vets.
it might take a while for litter box use. hopefully you will be able to retrain.
My otherwise healthy 2 year old cat had a similar issue. Still bright-eyed, purry and filled with boundless energy, he developed really gross, smelly, liquid diarrhea. I took him to the vet and they put him on a regimen of 2 times a day pills for a week (sweet, brainless baby that he is, he didn’t figure out the pill down the throat until about the 4th day “hey, you’re going to stick something down my throat! No way!”).
After a week with no relief, the vet said he might have cancer or inflammatory bowel disease brought on by a food allergy. To test for cancer, Diego needed a 400.00 ultrasound. I dearly love the cat (he is a gem of a Siamese) but I listened to all the options. In the case of a food allergy, the vet recommended switching his food to a food he has NEVER eaten before. She suggested duck and sweet potato or venison and green pea. Well, I thought my little lion would prefer to take down a deer at the water hole rather than some wuss duck, so we bought a bag of the WORLD’s MOST EXPENSIVE CAT FOOD and his poop firmed up in a day.
I honestly didn’t believe that was his problem when the vet suggested it. Diego has eaten Wellness brand salmon and blueberry practically since the day I got him, but I can’t argue with results. The only downside is I don’t have any treats for him to reward him for good behavior (like scratching his scratching post) since bonito flakes are off limits right now. So now Im stuck buying hugely expensive cat food at the vet (and for his sister cat too!) but I love that cat and he’s worth it.
Diego had also decided that the main litter box was the cause of his ouchy poops, so I had set up a second one a little farther away (after he dug and dug and dug and dug and hopped out of the box right after pooping his liquid poop with a “damn, did you see what that box did to me” look on his face). He still poops in the second box most of the time, but I’m hoping I can get rid of it eventually.
Out of curiosity, if it’s a food allergy, would it come and go like this? The last time he’s had truly disgusting poo was over six months ago, and I haven’t changed foods aside from the switch to digestive care, which was about a month ago (and as I said, worked for a short while).
I can see an allergy that develops later in life which then renders him permanently shitty (until a diet change), but one that only makes it bad for a week, and then only mildly to not-at-all for months at a time?
(I suspect it has to do with his intestinal malformation, actually, but don’t really know what to do about it. Short of surgery, he’s stuck with that for the rest of his life, so I imagine the only way to deal with this is to treat the symptoms without expecting a cure.)
Yes he would, which is why they’ve had an uncovered box since shortly after I got him.
I imagine the litter box issues will be resolvable once the nasty poops are taken care of. I don’t have more than one, because I really don’t have space for more than one. I barely have the space for the one I have.
I have an automatic box, too, so cleanliness isn’t an issue.
As Glory said, sometimes they will associate the box with the intestinal or urinary issue so that may be why he avoids it now for poops.
As for the coming and going of the problem, cats and their issues is weird. Anything is possible, perhaps his system manages to compensate for a while and then can’t and the loose stools start again. There could be more going on than an allergy but since you are unable to pursue diagnostics and he’s not seriously ill, a food trial is your best at home option.
My kitten is having similar issues, but is also very gassy. I switched diets to no avail. She is growing well, and a very happy kitten. Her stools are soft and semi-formed and really stinky. The vet doesn’t think it is anything serious, she is growing and normal in all other ways.
We have tried Benebac (beneficial bacteria), it is available with out a prescription from most online pet outlets. I would give her 1 mL per day. That didn’t seem to do anything, so we had her on anti-biotics for two weeks. They worked, but now that she is off them, she is gassy again.
We are currently trying Fortiflora, a prescription supplement to help out. I’m not sure what the next step is. I eliminated the corn from her diet, we may have to switch to another protein source like venison or rabbit to see if that is what is causing the issue.
Checking in to say I had a similar problem with my cat for a little while - it doesn’t appear to be chronic at this point. I tried to find a cite online from a vet, but all a google search reveals is anecdotal evidence. So, this is purely based on my experience.
Based on a discussion with a vet, on a pet message board and an online search, I fed my kittens canned pumpkin (no flavouring!) I started with this horrible concoction of tuna and canned pumpkin twice before I figured out that the kits would eat the raw pumpkin by itself - no mixing required. I also mixed water into the pumpkin to help them get additional fluids - dehydration is a serious concern here.
Perhaps give it a try? The fiber in the pumpkin seemed to “firm things up”, not to be indelicate.
Ha. This is true. When my cat was seriously ill a couple years ago, his official diagnosis was “fever of unknown origin.” And according to my vet, that diagnosis is really common in cats.
Anyway, I’ll definitely keep the pumpkin in mind, and if this recurs again I’ll look at some of the science diet foods (I noticed they had a “sensitive stomach” formula available at pet stores, too).
For the moment, though, things are looking good. He usually messes overnight or early morning, and as of now there’s been no mess at all since yesterday morning. Not even vomit, which is a minor miracle. Knock on wood. Maybe the rice thing did the trick, for now.
I put him back on kibble mid-morning, so cross yer fingers.
Yay! I saw him poop in the box this morning. Normal poop, too. Woohoo!
Nothing on the floor for two days. (Well, there was barf, but I don’t think I’m ever getting rid of that completely.) Gotta remember the rice/fiber thing.
Hooray for normal poops, indeed! I spent about a year (and $600 at the vet) trying to problem-solve my kitties’ yucky poop syndrome. At his worst, Waverly was puking daily, too. I wish I could say that I know I’ve finally picked the right food, but I wonder if maybe it just takes kittens’ digestive systems a while to normalize or something. Anyway, if the yuckies come back, I highly recommend experimenting with different brands of food and not spending money at the vet if they’re otherwise healthy.
Poops are soft again (although not the toxic waste slime of three days ago), and on the floor.
So I guess we can conclude that 1> he poops on the floor because he feels icky, and not because of some larger aversion to the box; and 2> he’s probably going to need extra fiber on a daily basis.
Rice and tinned chicken/turkey catfood tonight, hopefully the one serving will be enough to get him regular by morning.
I don’t mind doing the rice and poultry thing for now, but there will be times it becomes problematic if I have to be away for a weekend (I can leave kibble out, but wouldn’t want to leave tinned food out that long, due to risk of spoilage). Does anyone know of any OTC kibbles that are specifically designed to bulk up poo?
I’ve tried wheat grass too, some time ago, but both cats completely ignored it.
How long can you leave out tinned catfood, anyway?
My kitty had soft stools for a long time (and he would cry when he pooped :(). Finally, the third vet I took him to said, “He has colitis caused by a bacterial infection. Antibiotics will clear that right up.” And it did! (Although trying to squirt nasty fish-flavored liquid into his mouth twice a day was not easy.)
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