Abrupt Food Change Diarrhea

[abby2932]

How long does this last?

My cat eats a raw diet and is used to eating approximately 1 month of rabbit/beef mix, 1 month of turkey and 1 month of pork without digestive upset. I decided to give her lamb this time and I did not gradually introduce it, which was a mistake. She ate the new food for 2 days (Friday & Saturday) and I noticed she had diarrhea Sat night.

I immediately put her back on the food she was on before the lamb on Sunday morning and for every meal since. She is still having loose stool as of this morning. I thought she should be getting back to normal by now but wanted to run it by the forum.

She still has a healthy appetite and no vomiting.

I'm just hoping someone can let me know if it's normal for the GI system to take a couple of days after an abrupt food change or if I should schedule a vet appt.

Thanks,

 

[Timmer]

Well....I'd probably take the cat into the vet, but that's me.
I switched my cats to grain free and after two weeks of grain free they both got diarrhea. I had to take them in and then took them off the grain free diet.

 

[KarenKat]

We started trying canned food with a Trin, all chicken flavors since he loves that, and with cooked chicken toppers so he’d try it. He had diarrhea for a while so we switched back to his normal kibble. No change for two weeks. We brought him to the vet and found out he has IBD and the chicken caused a flare up.

I wouldn’t wait two weeks, but it’s probably best just to be sure something in the Lamb didn’t uncover a condition.

 

[abby2932]

I wanted to update this thread because it drives me crazy when posts don't have updates or an ending when I'm searching for things LOL

I took Kali to the vet on Tuesday and we did bloodwork for a full CBC and a fecal. It turns out she has a very rare parasite/worm. My vet said she had to look in her book to identify it because she's never seen it before. I forgot what she named it but I am in the process of deworming her now.

For anyone who doesn't know my story, I lost my dearest cat, Malibu, to large cell lymphoma 4 months ago. So of course, when Kali was sick I was a complete basket-case thinking that I was about to lose her too.

I brought home a Savannah kitten on 6/13/2018 and my vet thinks that he was probably a carrier of the parasite, even though he wasn't showing any symptoms and passed it to Kali. My new kitten was actually wormed prior to coming to live with me so I don't know how this all happened.

Both cats are going through a deworming treatment now and I'm expecting a full recovery. Such a huge relief for me with what I've been through a few months ago.

 

[Daisy6]

It could happen because such a rare worm wouldn't be included in the deworming medication.

 

[silkenpaw]

Thank you for updating! Those hanging threads make me crazy, too.

I am so glad Kali’s diarrhea is completely curable! I can understand how worried you were.

 

[KarenKat]

Wow, good thing you got her to the vet! It's crazy how something like new food coincides with illness and we are tricked into thinking it was just food changes.

Glad Kali is feeling better!