Canned food suddenly gives cat diarrhea

[meows4life]

Hi friends.
My cat Lulu is a little over one year old. She’s been eating a combination of dry and wet food her whole life. Suddenly she can’t eat the canned food, it gives her diarrhea. About 1 to 4 hours after she eats it, she gets sick. She’s otherwise fine. And if I don’t give her canned food and only do dry, she doesn’t have any diarrhea. I’ve tried giving her probiotics. And I’ve tried giving her a couple of flavors that she’s had before but not recently. Still has diarrhea. She’s going to the vet next Friday for her annual check up and vaccines and I will definitely ask about it there. I was just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts?
thanks.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Canned food gone bad, or a bad batch/lot? Have you gotten some new cans from the store to see if they affect her the same way?

It is possible that she has developed an intolerance to one or more of the ingredients in these foods. Can you compare them to see if there is a common ingredient? If so, can you look for other canned foods that don't contain that ingredient? If the food is good, odds are it is not as likely to be the meat source in them, but rather one of the fillers. What are the foods that are involved?

 

[Caspers Human]

What brand of cat food is it?

She might be sensitive to one or more of the ingredients.

Don't forget that, even when feeding the same brand, things can change. The manufacturer might change the recipe, substituting ingredients that may or may not agree with your cat's digestion. Further, your cat might develop sensitivity to an ingredient that they didn't seem to have, before.

The same thing can happen with humans, too. I often have digestive issues and, sometimes, food that didn't give me trouble suddenly does or vice-versa.

Yes, do check in with your vet but also check the ingredients on the label of your cat food. If you can't sort it out before your vet visit, take that information to the vet and tell them what you've been feeding.

 

[meows4life]

Thanks for the replies. Her main food is fancy feast grilled chicken feast and grilled turkey feast. And sometimes fancy feast gravy lovers chicken. Fancy feast is definitely not my first choice, but I have four cats and it’s hard to find one that they all like. When she started getting sick from those, I tried wholehearted that I had on hand. I thought maybe she was reacting to the grains or byproducts in the fancy feast. But it was still diarrhea with that. Today I tried a can of instinct because it doesn’t have any gums or carrageenan. Nope. It can’t be the protein because her instinct dry food has chicken, turkey and fish in it. I don’t know what it can be. I guess I’ll have to start comparing the ingredients lower down on the list.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Well, it makes it a bit more complicated, but you will also need to compare the canned food ingredients to the dry. There would appear something(s) that must be more commonplace in canned.

 

[Mickey Boo Boo Channel]

There has been an increase in reports of this happening. My cat threw up and had a lot of diarrhea from all the new friskies formulas. I heard they got bought out or changed the formula. I avoided them and got fancy feast instead and she rarely has diarrhea. Also dry food is bad for cats in the opinion of 7 out of 10 veterinarians. The other 3 out of 10 must be out for profit, because no doubt wet food is the only food cats should be eating. The temptations treats hopefully got outlawed. So many cats died from those and they almost killed my old cat!!

I hope your cat feels better soon

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi Mickey Boo Boo Channel - Sorry you had troubles like so many others with various foods. But, as you can see it really all depends on the cat, as yours is doing fine on Fancy Feast, but M meows4life 's cat is not.

If you have stats that substantiate your comment about 7 out of 10 vets supporting the idea that dry food is bad, that would be great for you to share! I am not sure how many of us on this site have exposure to what you are quoting, so corroborated data is always appreciated. Also, not all cats will eat wet food, and because they must eat something, sometimes dry is the only answer. Most on this site do try to give their cats at least some wet food if they are willing to eat it.

I am also sorry you had a bad experience with Temptations treats. Again, if you have stats that show us that so many cats have died from these treats, please share. Having said that, many folks use Temptations treats - in moderation, me included - and have had no issues. But, again, every cat is different, and some will have issues and others will not, just like with the wet foods.

Thanks for your input.

 

[lisahe]

Thanks for the replies. Her main food is fancy feast grilled chicken feast and grilled turkey feast. And sometimes fancy feast gravy lovers chicken. Fancy feast is definitely not my first choice, but I have four cats and it’s hard to find one that they all like. When she started getting sick from those, I tried wholehearted that I had on hand. I thought maybe she was reacting to the grains or byproducts in the fancy feast. But it was still diarrhea with that. Today I tried a can of instinct because it doesn’t have any gums or carrageenan. Nope. It can’t be the protein because her instinct dry food has chicken, turkey and fish in it. I don’t know what it can be. I guess I’ll have to start comparing the ingredients lower down on the list.

Yes, it's always important to compare all the ingredients. It could be just about anything. One of our cats can't eat stuff like potato, agar-agar, green-lipped mussels, and possibly a few other things (like tapioca, which is painfully ubiquitous) that I've taken out of her diet but haven't tried reintroducing.

In your case, I think what I'd try (and you may have already done this!) is go back to feeding Lulu only dry food for a week or so and then try introducing the simplest possible wet food she'll eat, maybe something like plain Tiki Cat shreds, where there's no thickener, no vegetable matter, just meat and nutrients.

Good luck!

 

[meows4life]

Yes, it's always important to compare all the ingredients. It could be just about anything. One of our cats can't eat stuff like potato, agar-agar, green-lipped mussels, and possibly a few other things (like tapioca, which is painfully ubiquitous) that I've taken out of her diet but haven't tried reintroducing.

In your case, I think what I'd try (and you may have already done this!) is go back to feeding Lulu only dry food for a week or so and then try introducing the simplest possible wet food she'll eat, maybe something like plain Tiki Cat shreds, where there's no thickener, no vegetable matter, just meat and nutrients.

Good luck!

 

[meows4life]

Thanks. I’ll give that a try. Hopefully she likes tiki cat.

 

[skylerlark]

Hi friends.
My cat Lulu is a little over one year old. She’s been eating a combination of dry and wet food her whole life. Suddenly she can’t eat the canned food, it gives her diarrhea. About 1 to 4 hours after she eats it, she gets sick. She’s otherwise fine. And if I don’t give her canned food and only do dry, she doesn’t have any diarrhea. I’ve tried giving her probiotics. And I’ve tried giving her a couple of flavors that she’s had before but not recently. Still has diarrhea. She’s going to the vet next Friday for her annual check up and vaccines and I will definitely ask about it there. I was just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts?
thanks.

My vet recommended a 'natural food' tuna in water 0o for my CKD cat. His BUN shot up owing to the amount of phosphorous in the tuna. I too tried Fancy Feast and had the same problem, but worse than that he will not eat any wet food at all. I had a bag of renal biscuits left and he only nibbled at those. Yesterday I'd grilled and shredded a chicken breast (so dry then). He woofed that down, having not eaten for a day and a half, but now won't touch it. I've given him a drop of canaboid (legal here) which sometimes help with inappetence and will inject some Vitamin B12 subcutaneously as that is said to help too. I really do feel your pain. It appears the Fancy Feast the thing set him off, with no return.

 

[skylerlark]

Having spotted your post, and assuming we both didn't buy it from Prompan Supermarket in Thailand, I'm assumind bad batch and just returned from vet with antibiotics for three days. She also said to fry/grill some fatty salmon and give cat the fatty bit to get him to start eating wet food again.

 

[Kflowers]

When looking for a new food remember that manufacture is the important clue. Manufacturers produce many different brands, so it's reasonable to assume there is a similarity among all the brands that any one manufacturer produces -- in short, if your cat doesn't do well on one brand, he is more likely to not do well on another brand by the same manufacturer. Look for a different manufacturer when changing brands. Yes, it's hard, it's confusing, that was the plan when they produced a lot of different brands.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Brands by the same manufacturer/producer may likely sometimes play a role, but in this case apparently not. Both Friskies, which bothered one poster's cats and Fancy Feast which didn't are owned and produced by Purina.

And, to further confuse the issue, the OP has had trouble with their cat having diarrhea with cat foods from two different manufacturers - Purina and Blue Buffalo.

So, there are all sorts of different issues impacting what causes problems for one cat versus another.

 

[skylerlark]

Hi friends.
My cat Lulu is a little over one year old. She’s been eating a combination of dry and wet food her whole life. Suddenly she can’t eat the canned food, it gives her diarrhea. About 1 to 4 hours after she eats it, she gets sick. She’s otherwise fine. And if I don’t give her canned food and only do dry, she doesn’t have any diarrhea. I’ve tried giving her probiotics. And I’ve tried giving her a couple of flavors that she’s had before but not recently. Still has diarrhea. She’s going to the vet next Friday for her annual check up and vaccines and I will definitely ask about it there. I was just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts?
thanks.

I've just given cat last of the antibiotics. I've tried to give him a tiny piece of the salmon fat recommended by vet, he ate an even tinier bit, a look passed his face 'oh no, not wet food again' and walked off. He then became constipated (does that a lot too so keep Miralax on hand). May I ask if your cat is eating wet food now? Did you give cat antibiotics and if so, how long did they take to work once finished. Cat now on 'holistic' (read very expensive) dry food now but am tempted to syringe a little Choo Choo Kidney Support into him tomorrow as antibiotics should have run their course and he's CKD. Thanks.

 

[meows4life]

Hi. I’m sorry your little one is struggling. Lulu isn’t eating wet food right now. She would if I would give it to her, but right now I’m giving her a break with just dry food since that doesn’t bother her tummy. I’m going to try can food again on Monday. Ordered some Tiki Cat to try. No antibiotics. Her vet appointment isn’t until next Friday. That was the appointment I scheduled a couple of weeks ago for her annual check up. I called this week to see if she should go in sooner, but they said as long as she was eating and drinking it was fine to wait. I hope your cat starts to feel better soon.

 

[skylerlark]

Cat was eating dry food just fine and then, because the course (3 days) of antibiotics finished, today I tried assist feeding by syringe, some of the kidney care Choo Choo smoothie. He was fine at first so I was emboldened to give him some more. Again ok, but after around 5 to ten minutes I saw something looking like diarrhea again in his box. He now only nibbles a tiny bit of kibble and has taken to his bed. I may have rushed it so will stop the kidney care (shame as Albumin very good for kidneys). He's now taken to his bed. I'd also found his subQ moving very very slowly this morning and discovered hard red B12 I'd inserted into his line yesterday blocking opening, so he probably didn't get the usual 100 mils either. I gave him some CBD oil and he's taken to his bed. God this is so hard

 

[maggie101]

Hi. I’m sorry your little one is struggling. Lulu isn’t eating wet food right now. She would if I would give it to her, but right now I’m giving her a break with just dry food since that doesn’t bother her tummy. I’m going to try can food again on Monday. Ordered some Tiki Cat to try. No antibiotics. Her vet appointment isn’t until next Friday. That was the appointment I scheduled a couple of weeks ago for her annual check up. I called this week to see if she should go in sooner, but they said as long as she was eating and drinking it was fine to wait. I hope your cat starts to feel better soon.

For a quick reference to compare ingredients,check out CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

I feed my cats ff classics but not grilled. Instinct and ff are high in fiber. If given too much it can cause diaheria so it's good you do not feed that every day.

 

[skylerlark]

For a quick reference to compare ingredients,check out CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

I feed my cats ff classics but not grilled. Instinct and ff are high in fiber. If given too much it can cause diaheria so it's good you do not feed that every day.

I tried to feed him a kidney 'smoothie' with Albumin which vet says very good. However, he's now stopped eating it and I had to 'assist feed' with a syringe. This pm I tried again and he managed to keep just one cc in without running to his box, I watched him. BUT, besides a few Perfecta kibble for senior cats, that's all he'll eat today. I would never feed him high fiber in his current condition.