Cat Diarrhoea

[mr1992]

Hey there,

I've got a problem that I'd love to hear your opinion on; our cat's been having diarrhoea infrequently of late. We've first attributed it to food and restricted her diet to only dry food and no snacks. When it wouldn't get better, we restricted her movement to first only the house and then only our flat (she's usually in the cellar when roaming the house, not in the main part with my parents because dogs). That's improved the issue; she hasn't had it since. To ensure it wasn't just a coincidence, we let her into the cellar again, and she promptly had diarrhoea the following day.

As a whole, she doesn't appear like she's in pain and behaves normally once her diarrhoea has stopped. When she has it, she appears to be in pain or at least, unsurprisingly, uncomfortable, running around the flat like crazy. The pain aspect we deduced from her lying on the side, flexing her paws a little and shaking (similar behaviour our other cat showed after we had her neutered). I.e. no lingering symptoms once her diarrhoea is over.

Now, there's the problem: what could be causing it? We've had her stool analysed and the results came back as normal, no parasites and nothing out of whack, meaning it isn't worms nor any chronic illness. We don't have any rat poison or something stored or laid out for obvious reasons (plus, she's a good hunter), and we don't store food downstairs. It's a bit messy and there's a slight issue with mould, however, the latter should have long lasting and not immediate effects. We're left a bit puzzled and scratching our heads what it could be - all there is is effectively books, some old clothes, some miscellaneous non-edible non-decomposing items, tools, and some horse-related stuff restricted to a closet she cannot access. I don't think she's killed a rat and hidden it somewhere to go munching on any time she's downstairs, because I'd wager we'd see it and it'd smell, especially since this has been going on for well over a month now. Haven't seen any traces of mice or the like, either. There's no way she can sneak outside, either, so the issue is definitely in the cellar. She loves it there, too (for whatever reason; it's pretty damn cold down there in the winter), so stress isn't the answer, either, imho, since she's more stressed out now that she's confined to the flat. We've had issues with food moths that have/had taken up residence in the storage room where I keep my tobacco harvest, yet she does not enter the room and due to lack of organic matter, the infestation is/was limited to this area; there are none active currently that I can see (and hope they've been dealt with by destroying any infested material). Should also mention that she doesn't eat tobacco, either, so that is not the issue, also she's a picky eater and scoffs at rubbish. There's no litter box in the cellar, but she's not locked out of the flat and frequently travels between downstairs and upstairs, meaning she isn't limited when she has to go (thought I'd include that since she doesn't go when she's outside, instead waiting until we let her back in to run upstairs and take a dump).

Current theories of us are:

- allergies
- potentially eating rodents and being good at hiding the remains

It must be something that is fast-acting to induce it within a day. Completely puzzled as to what it can be, so feel free to go all House on this ;-)

Thanks in advance for your replies :-)

 

[IndyJones]

Does she have access to the dogs food? Maybe she has been eating it. Assuming she is indoor only have you any house plants around?

Could she have gotten into something like a cupboard that you infrequently use?

 

[Mamanyt1953]

If it ONLY happens when she goes into the basement, I might consider having an inspection done...check for contaminants that might not be readily apparent to you, even gasses, such as radon. She might be your "canary in the mine."

 

[mr1992]

Indy Jones, she's got no access to the dog food; that's in the part of the house where my parents live and she does not step foot in there. Also, our other cat lives there as well, since the two of them don't get along and she gets along with the dogs. Had she been in there, there would've been blood. Literally, sadly. As to house plants, we don't have any up here; I grow chilis and didn't want her to be even tempted to try the leaves, knowing they're poisonous to cats. She's generally an outdoor cat, but regrettably a stupid one at times since she doesn't really know that she shouldn't stand in the rain and run around wet when it's cold, thus being quick to catch a cold. So she hasn't been outside much during winter, and of late only confined to the house and now the flat.

Mamanyt1953, didn't consider that, there may be something to it. I wonder though why this would suddenly pop up, there have been no changes downstairs. Should've added that she's very thorough when it comes to cleaning herself, unlike our other cat. Thanks for that suggestion, though I hope it's not that and something less serious.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

And that "thorough cleaning" may be another hint...could be that she's brushing against something in some little corner, and licking it off is what is making her sick.

 

[mr1992]

Thanks for pointing this out, I was aware of that but failed to mention it in the OP, don't know what it could be. Well, dreaded mucking out that cellar anyway, now got a reason to fully overcome that laziness. That cat's been raising me better than my parents in some aspects, first forcing me to not leave any sort of clothing on the floor even briefly since she's prone to peeing on my stuff, now she's making me clear up the cellar. I seriously don't know whether I should hate her or love her sometimes

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL, I so get that! I tell people that I'm never sure if I love my Hekitty despite her wierdnesses, or because of them! Probably both.

 

[mr1992]

UPDATE:

Urgh, it's not in the cellar, seems like we've had a false positive there since she's had diarrhoea today. Cause is still as elusive as it was initially; there's no apparent one.

A few facts to consider:

- there's no contact to other cats, neither directly nor indirectly; none of our friends have cats, and we don't really interact with the cats at the stable (which frankly is more due to their skittish nature than us not wanting to). There is another cat in the house, but she doesn't have any issues and is not outside at all

- she's currently only fed dry food, no snacks, we don't leave anything lying around

- she didn't show any symptoms of discomfort this time

- she's got three water sources in the flat: a tray she doesn't touch, a fountain thingy which she uses predominantly, and a plastic bucket in the bedroom (directly in front of the radiator) she isn't supposed to drink from which is just sitting around so the air isn't too dry. Obviously, that water isn't changed and she drinks from it infrequently

- she's taught us not to leave clothing on the floor, so yeah, thought I'd throw that in

- to my knowledge, there's no mould or anything, we're directly under the roof up here, 2nd floor (3rd floor in the US), it isn't particularly dusty and while don't keep the flat sterile, it's broom-clean

- her movement is limited to three rooms: bedroom but only when we're there (don't let her in after she'd peed on my mattress), the living room, and the kitchen. She's fed in the kitchen, so if there's in contamination, it should originate from there; we hardly ever cook in there currently, though. The shelves containing foodstuffs are closed at all times (she can't open it) and the contents wrapped, i.e. nothing that wouldn't be noticeable if she got to it. And she isn't particularly subtle when she got something; while she doesn't take prisoners, she does leave evidence. Lots of it. Though it must be said she doesn't really go for most human food, preferring to steal her own cat food.


Yeah, back to the beginning. I'd love to hear your thoughts; sorry if I went into too much detail.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Dang. I think we need a stool culture. SOMETHING is causing this! Let me ponder. I was offline due to a dead modem, and a running argument with the cable company about it, but I'm back now.

 

[mr1992]

Had that done, but it came back fine, (un)fortunately. We've changed her food, the other was good quality food; she's quite a fickle eater, so we'll see how she does with the new one. If that doesn't do the trick, we'll see how preparing our cat food ourselves will work - in the absence of any other symptoms and her history of being a bit fickle food, we've taken to this being our safest bet and most controllable factor. Had to change the food a couple of times in the past though usually because she didn't eat it rather than it causing any issues (safe for fish, which isn't in her current dry food).

Thanks for your input, do let us know if you come up with anything else that could be causing this :-)