Diarrhea and returning foul smelling mucus cough up

[Jaylin A]

Back again, I actually posted about some of this 2 years ago. Long post warning

Recently my cat has been having diarrhea and it has been going on for almost 2 months now. Id have to clean him up almost everyday during classes because he was constantly getting poop all over himself. He showed no other symptoms and generally seems like normal. We've been to vet visits, we don't have pet insurance have and spent upwards $100 already for a fecal test and a checkup only for them to say they found nothing at all and didn't comment on the other symptoms we told them about (like his noisy breathing, he sounds like he's snoring even though he's up, and he does actually snore very loudly when he sleeps). We did as they recommended and started adding pumpkin to his food. We're not sure if it helped because we were never able to catch him pooping during the entire time except once and his poop was slightly more solid but still mostly soft, and he wasn't getting dirty anymore so we assumed it was working a bit. We ran out of pumpkin this past week and he seems to have returned to some diarrhea.

He's also been spitting up mucus/foam again lately (its been a long time since he has) with a little hair but hasn't produced a hairball in over a week. This would happen all the time when he had his asthma?/wheezing cough fits which drastically improved once I deep cleaned the dust in my room. Everytime the mucus comes up there is a foul smell that fills the room. They said if the pumpkin wasn't working we'd either have to start buying meds for him or come in for more testing, but we're a bit hesitant because it's a lot of money and we're having issues this year at home

Hes an average 7-8 yr old male tabby, normal weight (around 12-14 lbs)

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Your cat needs veterinary attention - one who is better at listening.

Try this;
Find a Veterinarian and Practice | The Cat Community

Maybe something here will help:
Financial Aid for Pets

No Money For Vet Care? How To Find Help And Save Your Cat's Life

About Waggle | Vet Financial Assistance | Financial Aid For Pets

5 Ways to Pay for Vet Costs

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. It sounds as if he might either have multiple issues, or they are are related to allergies. I do think he might have dust induced respiratory issues, but I am not able to connect that to the diarrhea. Obviously, if the pumpkin helped, get him back on it. There are also probiotics to help with diarrhea as well (saccharomyces boulardii is one frequently mentioned on this site). But, the foul smelling vomit seems as if it might be bile, and that does need to be looked into. There is a slim chance that it might connect to the foods he is eating, but if that were the case, I would be inclined to think his poop would smell equally foul. I am thinking (just a layperson's guess) that he is coughing/hacking so much that it is causing him to vomit from it, and bringing up bile/stomach acids that can build up in a cat's stomach after periods of time without eating. So, dust and/or other environmental factors may be into play again.

If you can find a way to use one of the many resources Furballsmom provided above, I would suggest a second vet opinion (one from an entirely separate practice, to avoid colleague bias). Some of the costs might be minimized by getting a copy of all his records from the current vet - which should be FREE to you - and sharing them with a new vet to help reduce redundant testing and associated cost.

 

[Jaylin A]

Hi!
Your cat needs veterinary attention - one who is better at listening.

Try this;
Find a Veterinarian and Practice | The Cat Community

Maybe something here will help:
Financial Aid for Pets

No Money For Vet Care? How To Find Help And Save Your Cat's Life

About Waggle | Vet Financial Assistance | Financial Aid For Pets

5 Ways to Pay for Vet Costs

Thank you for these resources!

 

[Jaylin A]

Hi. It sounds as if he might either have multiple issues, or they are are related to allergies. I do think he might have dust induced respiratory issues, but I am not able to connect that to the diarrhea. Obviously, if the pumpkin helped, get him back on it. There are also probiotics to help with diarrhea as well (saccharomyces boulardii is one frequently mentioned on this site). But, the foul smelling vomit seems as if it might be bile, and that does need to be looked into. There is a slim chance that it might connect to the foods he is eating, but if that were the case, I would be inclined to think his poop would smell equally foul. I am thinking (just a layperson's guess) that he is coughing/hacking so much that it is causing him to vomit from it, and bringing up bile/stomach acids that can build up in a cat's stomach after periods of time without eating. So, dust and/or other environmental factors may be into play again.

If you can find a way to use one of the many resources Furballsmom provided above, I would suggest a second vet opinion (one from an entirely separate practice, to avoid colleague bias). Some of the costs might be minimized by getting a copy of all his records from the current vet - which should be FREE to you - and sharing them with a new vet to help reduce redundant testing and associated cost.

Thank you for the input, I do believe he has allergies because he has watery eyes (that we have to clean often) and is prone to cold like allergies during certain seasons/weather (sneezing and noisy breathing). We try to keep our house/rooms clean and vacuum every week and I personally air out my room twice a week even in the winter sometimes (especially since he spends 90% of his time in my room).

We have 2 other cats and have not had any major issues with them when it comes to these symptoms. His poop indeed smells god-awful, which is why I was hoping they'd pick *something* up on the fecal test, or give us thoughts on what it is. We have switched through different cat dry foods over time+have mostly kept the wet food the same and his symptoms remained the same over the years (other than the diarrhea which is new and we didn't make any food changes until after it happened). He only seems to cough up mucus when he needs to cough up a hair ball, but I never catch him able to do that. Around this time I have to keep him away from fake plants because he constantly tries to eat them, which makes me think he needs cat grass and we'll try that next time he starts up again