Cat has repeated diarrhea, may be the food...Help!

[pinkeed]

I have been reading these forums to try to figure out a solution to my problem. I noticed there are a lot of helpful posts on here.

I'll give you as much information as possible about the problem.

My cat is 8 months old now, we have not had her for too long (she is up to date on all her shots). Lately, she has had repeated diarrhea and I'm trying to determine the cause. She is still acting normal, just drinking lots of water.

She's been to the vet, but they said the fecal was normal. She's going back on Saturday. She was sick about 2 weeks before with diarrhea (and was on medication), but it stopped after that.

I was forced to switch the 8 month old over because my other cat kept getting into her Nutro Kitten Food (just liked the other cats food better I guess) and that was giving my older cat diarrhea, which stopped when I removed that food.

I recently started to switch her over from the Nutro Kitten Food Dry Food (that she had been eating since I bought her) to the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Grain Free Indoor Cat Formula Dry Food (since this food is supposed to be better for the cat). She started pooing green diarrhea, so I put her on the rice and chicken diet until her stool returned to normal. Then I tried mixing in a bit of the food again and back to green diarrhea. Now it's back to the rice and chicken. She's eating it but, not as much as she normally eats so I am also concerned about that.

My other cat is also on Purina One UTI food Dry Food and that might have been the cause of the original diarrhea in the younger cat. The older cat was also on Friskies Wet Food.

I have also been changing out the cat litter every day because of the diarrhea. It's ending up all over the box and has a terrible smell to it. I've had to buy more litter 3 times now (40 pounds).

What else could be causing this diarrhea? Any suggestions to get it to stop?

I am trying to put them both on the same cat food. Does anyone have any suggestions that will not upset her stomach?

Other information:

She is a extremely active cat and likes to run around early in the morning, jump lots of places, plays with a bunch of toys, etc. She likes to get pet, but always prefers to play over getting pet.

 

[jill-e]

Ask your vet about trying Proviable-KP by NutraMax Labs for your kitty's tummy issues.

One of my old cats, Angie, had continuous diarrhea this past spring, due to the antibiotic she was on to cure a stubborn UTI. Usually, during and after being on antibiotics, I would add a probiotic (FortiFlora) to her wet food, but she wasn't eating anything, and as such, there was no way to get the FortiFlora in her. Well, I guess I could have mixed it in some wet food and spoon fed her, or added water to it with some wet food to make a paste and squirted it into her mouth using a syringe, but honestly, I didn't think of it then. Angie had lost 3.5 pounds, which was half her body weight. Yes, I know, my two girls have always been small. My avitar is of Tibby, my other old cat. She's only 8-8.5 lbs..

Anyway, while researching online for newer, more complete probiotic treatments for cats, I found Proviable-KP. After reading a lot about it, and talking with my vet, he and I decided to give it a try on her. All I can say is WOW! This stuff worked great! It was already in a paste form, in a dial syringe (like I used for worm meds for my horses); so, I knew how to operate the syringe, but you might need to have your vet show you. There are also small capsules too. I just gave her the paste for the first week. By the 3rd or 4th day, she was eating again and the diarrhea was gone!

I kept up with the Provialbe-KP paste until it was done. At some point, I tried to mix the capsule contents (more probiotics) into her wet food, but she walked away from her bowl when I did this. I tried the pill pockets, but she didn't go for those either (she has lost many teeth so maybe it just didn't appeal to her). So, I resorted to shoving the capsules down her throat. I thought they were going to choke her, but she took them just fine, with a dab of butter or yogurt on it. I did two full rounds of the Provialbe-KP, just to be sure her tummy was back to normal. What a difference! She started gaining her weight back. As of today, she' back to her normal 7 pounds.

 

[stephenq]

Hi,

Every time you go off the rice and chicken diet the diarrhea returns so it looks like she has a sensitive stomach basically, and needs to be on a gentle diet.  There area number of diets out there for this, and the trick may be just to find one that she enjoys.  Try for wet and dry in the same brand.

 

[lamiatron]

My Charlie had an upset stomach, which was caused from him getting a bath (baths REALLY stress him out).

Its normal for him to throw up food for a couple days afterwards every time he ate because he just did not feel well. really stressed and tweaked out. After a recent bath, he was eating, but he was throwing up AND having diarreah, whatever food he did manage to get into his system. I know he was not ill. I did a bit of research, and found that in order to help him get over his upset stomach, you have to let his body get rid of whatever it is that's upsetting his tummy, or let his tummy calm down.

I starved him for 18 hours (on the site it said to starve kitty for 24 to 48 hours, but they're crazy). No food and no water. When i finally gave him food, i gave him plain white rice and water. at that point he was so hungry, he ate all of it. for the next few days i did the same. Not much food. only white rice. Gradually mixing in a little bit of cat food. Then one day he just did not want the rice. he sniffed it and walked off. I gave him wet food and prayed for the best. and that seemed to have done the trick. He didn't throw up or have diarrhea after that (trust me i checked). He did have some diarrhea during only white rice, but not much poop in general. You might want to try that. White rice on an empty stomach helps to settle the tummy, and helps to keep moisture in the the kitties system. This whole ordeal took about 3-4 days.

Maybe you can try that. and try to separate your kitties when they eat for a few days, so one doesn't eat the other ones food. 

 

[jill-e]

Cats and dogs have specific enzymes and bacteria in their stomachs and intestines to help breakdown and absorb what they eat. Each cat can have different numbers of these good things, be lacking in some, and/or an over abundance of some. It's a delicate balance to maintain, especially considering the poor quality of many commercial pet foods, and that many medications can also disrupts that balance. Antibiotics can wipe out all the bacteria (good and bad) which causes a severe imbalance. For good health in our animal friends, just as in ourselves, we need to keep our guts in good working order. So, you might need to help him/her rebuild the good bacteria in their gut, which is why there are probiotics designed for felines too.

Animals, just like people, can have allergies to certain foods too, which might be what's going on with your kitten. Also, if you don't know this already, when you introduce new foods, and change brands, you have to go slowly. An abrupt change can cause upset stomachs and diarrhea.

Many vets, like many doctors, are not that knowledgeable about what goes on in the intestines of animals, in terms of the digestive enzymes and bacteria. So, when your vet prescribed antibiotics to cure the previous diarrhea, what was it your cat was found to be hosting?
When the stools were rechecked, what did they look for?
You might want to look for a new vet, or ask them to investigate further into the disrupted digestion issue. Talk them about trying the Proviable-KP. It won't hurt your cat in anyway.

Also, try to move away from the majority of the commercial pet foods you find at most stores. Got to a natural pet foods store, such as Only Natural Pets (they're online if you can't find a local natural pet food store). 15 years ago, before all these wonderful, higher quality pet foods were around, I switched to making my own homemade raw pet food, mostly for a cat that had cancer. She was only expected to live for 3 months after her diagnosis. She lasted 20 more months beyond that, and died at age 16. My other cats at the time lived to be quite old, 21 and 25. My vet was astounded by the changes in their BUN values and other routine tests after I switched them all to the raw food. This was also before probiotics for cats were around.

The cats I have now have Feline Herpes and are on medication almost all the time, though I try to stay away from antibiotics. Keeping their guts in good shape has been easier since I now only feed them organic food and when needed, I give them the Proviable too. They won't eat the raw food I used to make or any of the commercial raw ones either (which is strange), so I feed them Newman's Own Organic wet food, some limited ingredient canned duck, and organic dry food only as a snack, inbetween the wet food meals. Yes, my pet food bill is higher, but they are worth it.

 

[pinkeed]

Jill-E Ok, I'm going to try asking the vet about the Proviable-KP tomorrow and see what they say. If they think it's a good idea then I would be mixing it with the food. She hates needles and syringes, does not react well to them at all (the second she sees one she either runs away or if we are at the vet jumps up on my husband's shoulders with her claws digging in).

Lamiatron Funny, you should mention a bath. I did have to give her a bath three times already and she definitely hated it. It's probably adding to her stress. Maybe I'll try just putting her on wet food. She's never eaten it before though, the pet store had her on hard only. So I'm not really sure...maybe a combo would be better.

stephenq I'm thinking you are probably right about her stomach, I have never had a cat that had so much diarrhea.

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but she has not been spayed yet (she's going in for that tomorrow along with trying to figure out the diarrhea issue). The vet said if she has any diarrhea today I should cancel the spay. I would have liked to have had her spayed earlier, but I have only had her since 7 months old and every time I took her off the rice and chicken she has diarrhea. I don't want to wait too long to get her spayed though, since I heard the process was harder on the cat the older it gets. So I'm hoping she stays diarrhea free.

I'm not sure what she was hosting, she came from Petland if that is any help. The vet had her on Clindamycin HCL Liquid for 2 weeks twice a day (I am not sure that was not causing her diarrhea also). When she originally came home she was sneezing a lot, but still very active. The sneezing died down after being on the antibiotics. But they told me the fecal was normal after she went in and was still having the diarrhea (receipt says Fecal w/Giardia (Antech) if that's any help). This is kinda gross, but I did notice the diarrhea was brown while on the medicine, but green when I tried the new food. Hence, why I am concerned that it's the food.

I'm thinking I should try to return the Blue Buffalo and go with something else entirely (just in case this is what's causing the issue).

We do have a natural pet food store by us, we also have Petco and Petsmart. They carry California Natural, Holistic Select, Nutiscore Grain Free Only, Taste of the Wild, Evo, Innova, Pure Vita, and Wellness. I don't know what their pricing looks like, I've never been in there. I'm usually at the other 2 stores stores a lot getting them toys. I'm at Petco the most, since their crickets are larger and I need them for the lizards.

Are there any good brands out there for cats with a sensitive stomach? Maybe that I can obtain at one of the above places?

When I am switching over the rice and chicken I still go slowly with the new food right (I tried this with the Blue Buffalo, but no luck)? Or can I just switch her over to a wet food?

And just for reference:

She's on the rice again right now.

Before kitten, older cat was on Friskies Wet Food mixed with Purina One UTI Dry Food due to her frequent UTIs. She's overweight and not a very active cat.

The two cats are almost polar opposites of each other.

 

[stephenq]

(receipt says Fecal w/Giardia (Antech)

Antech is the company that performed the fecal test and "fecal with giardia" means they tested for various fecal parasites including Giardia.

 

[jill-e]

The paste is not in a needle type of syringe. It's not a shot at all. It's in a plunger-like thing. Look it up on Amazon.com to see it. You twist a ring at the end, between the plunger and the body of the syringe, to the next number down so the proper dosage of the paste is squirted out the other end when you depress the plunger. No needles involved! You could probably put the paste in or on her food or on your clean finger and then put it in her mouth. It's flavored so she might just lick off your finger, but it's also a little oily to allow it to ooze out the end. Some people have trouble doing the plunger thing though, It's a bit stiff at first. However, I used to use larger ones for worming meds for my horses so I knew how to use it. Frankly, feeding worming meds to a horse was much harder than giving this stuff to my cats, but then my cats are quite used to me giving them meds orally.

Giving a cat a bath, moving homes, new animals and people in and near the house, and going to the vet are some of the most stressful things for them. Mine hate all these. As for cats and stressful events, there are things you can do to help them stay calmer. There are flower essences in drops and sprays, herbals things, as well as homeopathic things. I can't swear that any of them will work for your cat though. It's like catnip - some cats love it and others don't give a hoot about it (one of my cats love it and the other just ignores it). You can find these things mostly at natural pet food stores, natural food stores, online, though natural vets, and even some regular vets carry some.

My daughter is an Herbalist and a Clinical Nutritionist who knows tons about these things too. She makes a spray called Veterinarian's Ally that supposedly calms pets down. If you want to give it a try, you can PM me for more info. She also sells books on natural and holistic pet care, if you can't find them locally, but you probably can find them on Amazon or at your library too. She has a dog with a sensitive stomach, and an old cat that came with her house too. She can give you more info on her spray and other things as well.

As for destressing my cats before doing anything they may might not like, I always sit on the floor, or a chair, or the bed, hold them in my lap, and pet them a lot before giving them any meds. I also use my daughter's spray. I cover their eyes with my hand and then spray the air in front of them. They inhale the spray. You could spray your hand and hold it up to their nose too. I try not to let my cats see me coming or doing anything to their food (not that it's always possible) or preparing any meds to give them. They are pretty smart creatures though. One of my cats watches me like a hawk when I get her food ready. I can often fool her though by putting a salmon treat on the floor for her while I doctor her dish, but it doesn't always work. Otherwise, I have to put her in a closed room so she can't watch me.

You might have to try a few different foods to find the one she'll eat and can stomach. Wet food is soooo much better for cats than dry food! I can't stress that enough. Cats on only dry food tend to have way more problems with UTIs and other stomach and stool problems. Sure, it's easy to feed dry food and many cats like it, but it's not that good for them. Think about this... where in the wild would they be eating dry food?
Nowhere.

Cats need the added moisture in wet food because they aren't big water drinkers. I even mix a little extra water in their wet food too. Also, they like the wet food warmed up in the microwave if it's cold, as it makes it smellier for them. I dish out the food into a clean, microwave safe ceramic or glass bowl and zap it for 15 seconds on high. Wait a minute, add a bit of warm water (I only give my cats filtered water too, the same as I drink, since chlorine and other chemicals in the water can't be good for them if they aren't good for us), then add anything I need to, such as supplements or probiotics, mix it with a spoon then serve it to them.

I never buy pet food at PetSmart or Petco as they aren't that close to me anymore. I do know that PetSmart is carrying some better food brands now, but I don't know which ones. I had trouble with Wellness brand a few years ago. My cats eat that for a few years before I started seeing problems with it. I kept finding bits of plastic wrap in the Turkey wet food cans. It's like they didn't remove all the outer wrapping before throwing it into the vat they cooked the food in. I contacted the store I bought it at and the company about it. Wellness sent me some coupons to replace the tainted ones and I returned all the food to the store. Still, it happen a few months later again. It was only that flavor though. After the second time it happened, I switched to Newman's Own Organic Cat Foods. I've never had any problems with them, but they aren't cheap. They also aren't the most expensive either. As for the other brands you listed, I know of them but haven't tried them all. I'm sticking to what I know my cats like and I know is a very good brand. I would Google the other brands for any reviews and any problems before trying them out. Also, make sure you read the ingredients on the labels for anything questionable.

Many commercial pet foods are made with non-human grade foods and fillers. So, spoiled foods, sick and/or cancerous animals, etc., often end up as pet food. Also, there are many "animal parts" used in pet food that in the wild, these animals wouldn't normally eat, unless they were totally starving. My cats can't stomach beef or pork, for example. I stick to rabbit, duck/chicken/turkey, and fish, but try to stay away from farmed fish (there's antibiotics in them). I also try to feed preservative-free pet food, so I don't buy large cans of food, nothing larger than what's used up in two feedings.

Many brands have a known carcinogen used as a preservative called ethoxyquin. Sometimes, it's in the feed given to the chickens that are later made into pet food. Ethoxyquin has been linked to liver cancer in dogs and cats, so be sure the food you buy is FREE of that. Last I checked, and this was a few years back, many of the brands sold as "special diet" brands, through PetSmart and some vets, had this in it. When I was at Colorado State U. Vet School with my cats about 10 years ago, I checked their wet cat food labels too and every brand had it! All the Purina foods had it too, and Purina owns many, many brands. I pointed this out to the vet at CSU and even sent him the studies on ethoxyquin and the cancer link. He called me to discuss it and said eventually said they had to carry those brands because those companies provided the vast majority of their funding for research. Btw: Purina is now owned by Nestlé, a Swiss company.

I hope this info is helpful.

 

[pinkeed]

stephenq Ok, that makes more sense. It sounds like they outsource their tests then. So if I went to Antech to see if I could figure it out.

Apparently they test for:

Hookworm

Toxoplasm

Coccidia

Roundworm

Giardia

I know Petland also had her tested for leukemia, which she didn't have. The Petland I got her from gets many of their pets from shelters if that makes any difference.

Is there anything else she should be tested for?

Jill-E I hope a paste is ok with her. I brush my older cat's teeth with cat toothpaste which is similar, so hopefully the kitten won't mind (fingers crossed).

I'm looking into the different pet food brands that are available round me. I noticed a lot of people seem to like Trader Joe's brand of wet food, which is literally across the street from the vet, so I could try that.

I noticed that this website seems to be really helpful in explaining cat nutrition:

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods#Commercial_Foods

I have not looked up all those brands yet (but these seemed like a good start for trying):

Natural Balance

Nature's Variety

Trader Joe's (wet only)

Solid Gold

Pure Vita (grain free)

Fancy Feast Classics (not very good but affordable)

Some of the other brands scared me off for food recalls or people's cats being allergic.

Newman's Own Organic Cat Foods doesn't look bad either.

 

[jill-e]

Excellent link about cat food!!

I use a freeze dried 100% salmon treat called WildSide Salmon for my cat Angie. She's the only cat I have at present that likes treats. I crush 1-2 treats on to the top of her wet food, and add a bit more warm water to wet it down and make it smell more, when she's not eating her food. She has trouble smelling due to FHV. This generally works very well for her. Unfortunately, I've also caught her stealing the treat bag off the counter, out of a cupboard, and she even managed to open a drawer I stored it in. Then she rips into it for more treats. So, now I have to keep them in the refrigerator because she can't open that door. She's a clever cat, but not strong enough to manage that!

 

[pinkeed]

I wanted to let everyone know what has been happening with the younger cat.

She was spayed on Saturday (since she was diarrhea free for 2 days), along with being checked by the doctor because of the diarrhea.  I did bring up Proviable-KP, the vet seemed to think it was a good idea, but did not prescribe anything Probiotics-wise. She had an IV running during the spay to keep her hydrated and laser therapy. She was also on pain meds for 3 days (yeah, I know more medicine for a cat that already had diarrhea). The vet instead recommended that I put her on Science Diet Gastrointestinal I/D Dry Food, we are trying out a 4 pound bag. So far, no more explosive diarrhea, hooray!!! Her stools are still soft though and in a diarrhea shape, but as far as I can tell they are getting better. I'm hoping to switch her over to wet food eventually, but I want her stools to return to normal first.

I was able to return the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Grain Free Dry Food to the store. I can't recommend it to anyone after my cats reactions to it. I will be staying from away from this brand.

The older cat is back on the Friskies Wet Food and Purina One UTI food Dry Food, until I switch her over to the better brand.

I stopped by Trader Joe's and bought some of the Trader Joe's Wet Food in Turkey favor. I also scored big time at Dominick's since they are closing and was able to get many cans of  Newman's Own Organic Wet Food in Turkey for half price!

If anyone knows how I can speed up the process of getting her stools back to normal, let me know. Also wondering if I should still go ahead and buy Probiotics anyway.

Would wet food improve her stools? I'm worried that starting another food change will just make it worse for her again.

She has also been getting a little crazy about food lately and acts likes she is starving when it's time to eat (she's fine the rest of the day). I'm worried that maybe she needs more food, so I'm been giving her almost 1/2 a cup twice a day. The problem is that she is an extremely active cat, still growing, and right on the weight threshold for the recommendations so I am never sure exactly how much to feed her. Right now she eats all the food I give her like a horse. I don't want to make her fat though. Right now she weighs in at about 6.6 pounds.

I figure she may be eating and drinking more because of the diarrhea though.

Science Diet Gastrointestinal I/D Dry Food Recommended Daily Feeding Amounts

Weight of Cat	Growth less than 4 months	Growth 4 to 6 months	Growth 7 to 12 months
1 lb (0,5 kg)	1/4 cup (30 g)
2 lb (0,9 kg)	3/8 cup (45 g)	1/3 cup (40 g)
3 lb (1,4 kg)	1/2 cup (65 g)	1/2 cup (65 g)
4 lb (1,8 kg)	2/3 cup (85 g)	5/8 cup (80 g)
5 lb (2,3 kg)	3/4 cup (95 g)	2/3 cup (85 g)	1/2 cup (65 g)
10 lb (4,5 kg)		1 1/8 cups (140 g)	7/8 cup (110 g)
15 lb (6,8 kg)			1 1/4 cups (155 g)

 

[jill-e]

Another very helpful thing for cats and dogs that works wonders to soothe intestinal issues is the herb Slippery Elm Bark. It is especially good for treating ailments affecting the mouth, the stomach, bladder and kidneys. It normalizes constipation and diarrhea, and helps during renal failure (known as CKD). Kidney disease and diabetes are common ailments in older pets who don't have good diets. Slippery elm bark is known for preventing, and in some cases reversing damage to cats (and dogs) digestive organs. Four of my cats have had remarkable changes in their health since I learned of it's uses.
Read these links for more on it:
http://www.naturalnews.com/035014_kidney_disease_cats_Slippery_Elm_Bark.html and read her other articles, which are very informative as well.
http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/slippery-elm/

I make the Slipper Elm soupy stuff every week and use a 3 ml monoject oral syringe (got from my local Target pharmacy) to dose them with 1 ml of it, once a day before I go to bed. This has done wonders for both my cats. They don't cough up hairballs or foamy white bile anymore. No more constipation of diarrhea either. They are 13.5 year old now; so as senior cats, they are more prone to kidney disease at this point in their lives. But, I've seen their test numbers improve since I began doing this a year ago. They are much happier too.

I would stay away from the Science Diet foods too. They are mostly pure junk. Just read the ingredients:

​

Chicken by-product meal. What the heck is that? I'll tell you; it's the most disgusting, indigestible parts such as beaks, eyes, feet, etc., that have little to no nutritional value and most animals don't normally eat those parts in the wild; so why feed them to house pets? You'd be surprised about the truth of what's in many pet foods, including the "prescription" diets. Read this: http://www.naturalnews.com/012647_pet_food_dog.html

​

Lots of GMO filler grains and crap and that are know to lead to diabetes and allergies, and probably many other ailments as again, cats don't eat this stuff and can't really digest it: corn gluten meal, whole grain corn, brewers rice.

​

Fake products: chicken liver flavor?? Why not use real chicken liver??

Vets like to prescribe prescription diets because they make money from them. I've found that they aren't that helpful. I've had cats for over 40 years now and have learned a great deal. Only one cat, our now deceased Snowshoe Siamese, Samboy, was ever prescribed a Science Diet "special" food for CKD (kidney disease) from one vet I no longer use. When he didn't improve much after several months of being on that food, and multiple visits to that vet, I switched to a local, holistic vet. I got him off that crappy food quickly and on a high quality, natural, grain-free diet, and he lived a much happier life for another 8 years, in far less pain, and became a much nicer cat to us too. I wish I had known about the slippery elm back then. It probably would have made him happier and healthier sooner.

I have no idea how old Samboy was when we found him, though likely he was somewhere between 6 and 10 at the time, according to the holistic vet who helped us nurse back to health. We rescued him from a sewer near our home while we were out walking one evening. We kept hearing this low whiney yowling sound and tracked it down to a sewer opening, where he was lying. At first, we thought he was an all black cat until we bathed him. We think someone either threw him out a car window or he'd been hit by a car, or had been abused maybe. He was in terrible shape when we found him... a few broken teeth, a broken leg that ended up having to be amputated when it just wouldn't heal, both ears packed full of mud (he was deaf for awhile until we got all the mud out), fur that was scraped away in places to raw and oozing skin - really, really sick. He was on antibiotics and pain killers for a month. He had been someone's pet at some point because he was spade already. We had him for 11 years and my kids and I loved him to his dying hour, and he knew it. He also got along well with dogs and our horse. He became pretty nice after we nursed him back to health during his fist year, but never warmed much to our other female cats, only to one other male cat who unfortunately disappeared from our lives when he snuck out of the house and probably got grabbed by the neighborhood owl.

 

[pinkeed]

Younger cat is having diarrhea again (sigh). It's not explosive any more at least and it's a mess to clean up. We have to keep changing out all the litter.

She is still acting completely normal besides this, eating, drinking, getting into trouble, etc.

Maybe I will try the Slippery Elm Bark next. I have never had a cat that was this prone to diarrhea.

I'm even considering taking her back to a vet again, though it doesn't seem to be helping at all.

I also have heard that Purina Naturals works for some cats because they have trouble with the preservatives in food. The ingredients don't seem to be much better than Hills food though.

Ingredients:

Chicken meal, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, brewers rice, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), corn meal, chicken, salmon, powdered cellulose, ground whole wheat, natural flavor, soybean hulls, malt extract, phosphoric acid, salt, dried spinach, choline chloride, taurine, calcium carbonate, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, potassium chloride, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite. C-4521

So far, I have had no problem getting her to try new foods (and to eat them), it's just that the diarrhea won't stop.

As a side note:

I think she might have "spay sway" from being fixed (hanging skin from her belly), but I heard this was normal.

 

[cprcheetah]

I would avoid the Purina Naturals, and try to find something other than the i/d cats can't digest grains and both of those foods are very grain heavy.  I would try to find something grain free.  Here is a good site with foods recommended for cats who have Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  http://ibdkitties.net/Food.html  I think the foods listed on that site would help your kitty.  Sometimes the grain free foods can be a little rich which could be why your cat had diarrhea on the Blue Buffalo.  Also try not to switch foods very often, or if you do make sure you mix the new food with the old this can help prevent diarrhea.

 

[happybird]

Have you tried mixing in a little bit of canned pumpkin? My Wheezie has occasional bouts of diarrhea and this works well to firm up her stool. Just make sure the label has only pumpkin as the only ingredient. The pie mixes have spices and other stuff added.

Wheezie is super picky so I have to hide the pumpkin a 1/4 tsp at a time in her wet food, but some cats will accept more. Usually one tsp does the trick. I guess the best thing to do is to start small, you can always add more. The poop comes out kind of orangey, but it works like a charm every time!

Almost forgot - I agree with cprcheetah about changing foods a lot. I know it takes some of my cats 2 weeks or more to totally adjust to a food change. It is very upsetting to their bellies, especially if you have a sensitive kitty, and it sounds like you do

 

[jill-e]

I agree with the diet changing so often too. Loose stools (and sometimes vomiting) is a common side effect of switching foods too quickly. Go slowly. Start by mixing 1 tsp of the new food with the normal amount of the old food variety the first 2 days, per meal. Then on each subsequent day, increase the new food by 1 tsp per meal and remove an equal amount of the old, until you have completely switched over. If you have any unopened cans of the old food, most pet stores will allow you to return those and/or exchange them.

Also, add the cat specific probiotics too, especially if your cat was on antibiotics! I can't stress this enough. They need the added support to rebuild the good gut bacteria that antibiotics kill.

And stay away from dry food altogether. I admit, I still give mine a little dry food as a treat, but it's going in the trash tomorrow.

Ideally, you want to feed a wet food that is a high quality, meat protein, absolutely no by-products at all, with a little fat and a tiny bit of gravy. You can always create gravy yourself just by adding some warm water. However, your kitten probably will use up the fat quickly if he's so active. Duck foods will naturally have a higher fat content. Gravy and fat are sometimes added to canned foods as weight fillers. I recently noticed the variety I had been buying for the past few years (Newman's Organic) shrank the amount of actual food in the can, while upping the gravy amount. This is an obvious rip-off. Also, the cans used to be either 3 or 6 oz. ones. Now they are 3 or 5.5 oz. Another rip-off. Many canned foods though are now 3 or 5.5 oz cans (for cats).

Stay away from cat foods that have any beef, venison, pork, lamb, or pea protein, etc.. Many pet food companies are now putting peas and soy beans into dog and cat foods to up their protein claims, but these are indigestible forms of protein for dogs and cats. In fact, soy beans are terrible for most animals. Cows and horses have been having major issues with soy too. Also, I know a lot of humans who now can't eat soy either. Most of the people in my family are soy intolerant now, (thanks to Monsanto and other seed companies messing with nature - PLEASE NO GMOs), so we have to be very careful ourselves too.

Yes, cats need to have some supplements in their food too (for example: taurine) as cats will die without some of them.

Stick to foods that cats would normally eat in the wild (either raw or canned), which are mostly feathered ones (chicken, turkey, duck). I've been looking at raw prepared foods at the natural pet food store, but so far, I'm not happy with all the added ingredients in them. I've tried a few, but with no luck. My cat's don't want them. Yet, I'm thinking of buying my own ground poultry and making my own raw pet food, after the holidays are over that, to give it a try again.

I recently switched to a couple of new brands of cat food - First Mate Turkey and First Mate Chicken (made in Canada) which are limited ingredient and grain-free, and Innova Evo 95% Duck (made in the USA) also grain-free. So far, both cats are loving these.

Cats will also eat vermin, such as mice, rabbits, moles, or rats, but I don't know anyone who feeds these to their cats intentionally. The cats would want them live, since their hunting instinct would be piqued, but not too many of us are willing to let one of those things run around in our homes so our cats would catch and eat them. Although, my first cat, when I was a child, our siamese, was an excellent mouser. We rarely saw them in our house, but when we did, the cat wasn't far behind, and she always got her prey.

We should all be on probiotics for at least a month after finishing any antibiotics. I also give (and take myself, though not the same ones I give my pets) probiotics when my cats are on the antibiotics, but not at the same time of day. I give the antibiotic at least an hour after the food with the probiotic mixed in. I give them a dose of probiotic with every meal, which is 3-4 times a day, mixed into their food, according to the directions. My cats eat 1/4 of a 5.5 oz can at each meal. The Proviable-KP paste can be added to wet food too, if giving it by the syringe is too difficult.

Hope this helps.

 

[oneandahalfcats]

The other thing to consider with quality foods is that cats may not need to eat as much of this at first, as the content is more complete. Plus depending on what they have been eating beforehand, their systems will not be accustomed to a more concentrated protein content. The cheaper foods contain fillers, inadequate proteins and other nutrients, and in a lot of cases, flavour enhances so cats tend to want to eat more of this.

It is really important as previous posters have mentioned, to transition slowly when trying other dry foods, but the best thing is to stay away from dry food altogether if you can and especially anything with wheat, corn and soy as ingredients. These are very bad for cats. As your cat is young, this is the best time to make the transition. The link to Dr. Pierson's site that was posted is a very good site with a lot of reliable information about cat nutrition, thoughts on dry food and recommendations for transitioning to wet foods along with a list of reputable canned wet foods.

The mention of pumpkin (puree not the pie mix) is a good idea to see if this can help to firm things up. Try it in her wet food rather than alone, as some cats don't like the taste.

Different drugs can cause diarrhea and stomach upset, so this needs to be factored in to the equation. Be careful and question the use of antibiotics with your vet in favour or trying things that are natural. As with humans, antibiotics are not selective and will kill off good bacteria as well as the bad. Jill makes a good point about giving probiotics after antibiotics to help replenish healthy bacteria in the system.

I wouldn't worry too much about your cat gaining weight. She is young, active you say and will burn off whatever food she takes in. I have a young tuxedo who is very active. All of my cats get fed well but the same quantity of food at regular intervals. Thomas seems to always be looking around for more and will eat and eat until he explodes if I let him, but I chalk this up to just being bored at times.

Hope your kitty can get find some relief soon.

 

[pinkeed]

I've been trying to find the Slippery Elm Bark, with no luck. Any store that carries it for sure?

At this point, I have also tried yogurt. It didn't seem to be affecting her poo either way.

She was back on the rice and chicken and I tried adding the cat food (Newman's Own Organic Wet Food in Turkey) back gradually, She was ok with the first 2 days, but on the 3rd one explosive diarrhea again. I have also been switching the older cat over to this food with no problems (besides the one day she found the flowers I was throwing out and had yellow diarrhea, eeekkk).

So now I am trying the canned pumpkin with wet cat food. No worries about her being a picky eater, if it's in her bowl she'll eat it (no matter what it is). She does have preferences though, such as picking all the chicken out first.

She is completely off the dry since all it was doing is upsetting her stomach.

I plan on going to another vet for a second opinion, I want to double check the fecal and everything just to make sure. So far the things that the first vet recommended are not working, so I think it's time for a new one.

I don't know if anyone else has ever done this, but I'm really tempted just to feed her the regular chicken with some kind of vitamin supplements for cats. I figure that might be a win-win situation for both of us, no more explosive diarrhea for either of us. I'm not sure this is healthy for her though.

Jill-E My older cat hates the fish and beef flavors, so I can't buy those (her dislike of beef I only found out about last month, she used to be ok with it). I actually won't mind feeding them mice if it didn't make such a mess (I feed the lizards crickets, but they are in a cage so easier clean up). The cats have caught some cricket escapees a few times.

 

[jmljml19]

I think anything with Meal in it is a problem too. Chicken meal, turkey meal, or any other meal. They're allowed to have the 4-D's in it(dead, dying, diseased, or disabled) which means you're not getting the best product out there. Try brands like Halo, or Now! for dry foods, or Halo and Wellness for wet. All are grain free and none have any meals of any kind in it so you're getting premium quality ingredients. Hope something helps

 

[jill-e]

Canned pumpkin might work well, but please make sure it's organic. Pesticides are not good for our animal friends, any more than they are for us. I've never tried it, though I have seen it as an ingredient in some of the pet foods I checked out at Only Natural Pet (a local store that is also online and has a lot of choices).

You can usually find slipper elm powder at most natural grocery stores, such as Whole Foods, but I don't know where you live, so can't recommend any places near you. Stay away from all the tinctures and anything that isn't pure slipper elm powder, as they have other things in them that are harmful to your animals.

I would recommend sticking to the organic powder, if you can find it, though I'm not sure that there is any difference, as it's made from the lining of the tree bark, and to my knowledge, the trees are not sprayed since they are growing in the wild. The trees grows throughout much of Central and Eastern N. America. Unfortunately, I've recently found out it's all wild crafted. The bark, from which it's gummy lining is used to make the powder, is often being illegally stripped from slippery elm trees in N. American forests and private properties. Some herbalists, and those looking to make a quick buck, are stripping too much bark off mature trees, leaving them to die, and the wood itself has no commercial value at this time. This worries me greatly! Too many people are not being ethical nor sustainable about their harvesting practices of wild plants. Seems someone could make a good living if they grew slippery elm trees for this purpose and found a purpose for the wood too. However, I have no idea how long it takes for the trees to mature to get all the product value out of it.

From herbalgram.org:
"Although it is possible to harvest the bark of slippery elm trees in a fashion that does not kill the tree—by removing only segments of bark at any given time—some harvesters girdle [stripping the bark all the way around a tree], and thereby kill, the tree. The inner layers of the bark provide for the flow of water and nutrients throughout the tree, and this process is cut off when the bark is completely or mostly removed. The tree literally starves to death [when it has been girdled]." Here is the rest of this article, which is very informative: http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/issue74/article3123.html

Try calling around to various stores to see if you can find it from an ethical source. I've contacted Now Foods to find out if theirs is. You can also buy it on Amazon, though the quantities might be more than you need. I saw it there just yesterday, as I was posting it to another thread as well. However, it's more expensive when you buy it on Amazon than what I found locally, and I don't know if those sellers are selling ethically/sustainably sourced powder. I do know where I get it, it is, and it's pretty inexpensive. I buy it from my local Natural Grocers Vitamin Cottage, where I found it in the bulk section for only $1.85 p/oz (including sales tax), but I know they sell it in other forms too, by other manufacturers. It's a very popular supplement since it has so many good uses for people and animals. I only by a couple ounces at a time, because it lasts quite a long time in the dry powder form. It's light brown in color and is a very light, fluffy powder.

You'll only need 1 tsp to 1/2 cup of cold water to make the syrup (which thickened to almost a gel when I last made it). When the powder is fresh, it actually thickens very quickly once you start to heat it up. I found that out when I made my most recent batch. I had been using the powder from the old capsules I had. I think those capsules were too old, because I had to use 8 of them to get any thickening actions. I finally threw away the bottle of capsules after I saw the difference when using the fresh powder. I have to give it through an oral syringe as my cats would not eat it when I tried mixing it with their wet food.

Now Foods has the smallest quantity you can buy on Amazon, 4 oz, which would likely last you a whole year, or longer, since you'd only be making it once a week, and for as long as you need to normalize your kitty(s), but theirs doesn't claim to be organic. However, Now Foods is an excellent brand for supplements. I buy a few of their others things, none of which are organic.