Diarrhea fixed with dry food?

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
My Simon has been on a combination of l-lysine paste and miralax since we brought him home in October 2018. The miralax was actually added in when it became clear he was having some minor difficulty in the litterbox (since my last cat had megacolon, I tend to be almost hypervigilent with litterbox habits). He gets each dose (one in the morning, one at night) mixed in with his can of fancy feast.

A couple of months back, the vet suggested we ease him over to a purely wet food diet from a combo of wet/dry due to some minor issues with his weight (I think he had hit 13-14 lbs). He had some minor issues with softer stools with mucus when first adjusting his diet, but they seemed to even out after a couple of weeks. They weren't super firm, but it was a firmness/consistency that the vet and I were okay with (my vet is very much a "I'd rather they be a bit soft than too hard" kind of guy; He knows I'll send him a few panicked emails if things change :lol2::lol2::lol2:).

Yesterday, his first stool of the day was pure liquid diarrhea with loud gas so with his breakfast, I just gave him the l-lysine and withheld the miralax. He went again probably 13-14 hours later and it was still not firmed up from what I could tell. I gave him some dry food, thinking that maybe that would bulk it up and also withheld the nightly dose of miralax. All day, he's been acting perfectly normal and will readily scarf down food when given, so I'm not TOO concerned, but it does have me paying closer attention. I would point out, though, that the meal he had last night as well as the two today were the Fancy Feast gravy variety. He's never had issue with it before, but maybe it's TOO much gravy?


Is this something any of y'all have dealt with? Is it reasonable to re-introduce the dry food to add bulk to the stool? I don't want to quit giving the miralax if it's keeping him from developing megacolon, but I also don't want him to be a gassy, diarrhea mess forever.

Is it possible that this is just a cold and I'm being a neurotic mess? :p
 

denice

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
18,836
Purraise
13,144
Location
Columbus OH
Was he eating dry when he seemed to be having issues with constipation? It could well be that an all wet diet is all that is needed to alleviate that issue and the Miralax is no longer needed and could well be causing the issues that he is having now. I personally would try going without the Miralax.
 

MissClouseau

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
1,733
Purraise
2,126
Location
Istanbul, Turkey
If it happened just once, I think it's too early to assume it's the food that is the problem. If he has better stools with dry food, check if the dry food has probiotics in them -- some dry foods have probiotics and I think it's actually that which helps the stools, not the dry food itself.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
denice denice - Yes, he was. He was on a combination diet of the wet food and dry food until probably early to mid December and then we slowly weened him to just being on wet food

I don't think it would be a problem to get the probiotic from the vet - When he had an upset stomach/loose stool during the transition to wet food only, the vet spoke of a capsule that you apparently sprinkle on their food that helps balance their guts (for lack of better term) out to 'normal'. I'll give it another day or so and go from there - Knowing this cat, he's probably getting his kicks from watching me sweat over it :crackup::crackup::crackup:
 

stephanietx

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Messages
14,768
Purraise
3,489
Location
Texas
We give our kitty who is prone to diarrhea saccharomyches boullardi found at the health food store or on Amazon. You can give it long-term at a maintenance dose or you can give it until the stool is consistent and stop. My guy had a steroid shot last year and this was the only thing that would make his stool firm for the long term.
 

verna davies

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
23,619
Purraise
17,456
Location
Wales uk
One of my cats had diarrhoea and a member on this site recommended s boulardii. After 3 days the problem was gone. I now give a quarter of a capsule per day sprinkled on her food. This is what I use.
 

mommytobuck

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Mar 12, 2014
Messages
635
Purraise
189
OMG maybe Mirilax is a bad batch or something. I gave this to my cat 2 weeks ago and now he is diarrhea central. I am just not seeing improvement like I thought I would and I am shoving the probiotics at him. I never had a reaction like that with Mirilax before.

My cat is also eating both wet and dry and I have seen some improvement but it sure is slow going. If ordered a probiotic with enzymes that worked for him before and if that doesn't work I will try that probiotic everyone suggests here.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
M mommytobuck - Nah, I don't think it is a bad batch as he's been using from the same bottle for quite some time (one of the bigger containers will last us a couple of months easily, Thanks COSTCO!). He just goes through spurts of this - I tend to lean towards him maybe having some IBS issues.

He did finally go yesterday (today? idk - Wednesday. I haven't slept yet :lol2: ), but I wasn't in the room, so I can't tell if it was more formed or if the litter did it's job before I got to it. I did end up giving him a dose of the miralax last night, but refrained from the dry food - so we'll see how Thursday goes.

Much like with my megacolon cat, I guess this will just be a lifelong game of adjusting meds and diet as needed.
 

stephanietx

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 1, 2005
Messages
14,768
Purraise
3,489
Location
Texas
Have either of you tried, s. boullardi? It's a lifesaver for diarrhea and loose stools.
 

mommytobuck

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Mar 12, 2014
Messages
635
Purraise
189
Have either of you tried, s. boullardi? It's a lifesaver for diarrhea and loose stools.
If it didn't improve I was going to. But it is hard to get on a quick basis when you work. I am happy to report a smelly but fully formed poo was left for me today. Fully 2 weeks after this nightmare began. I think he is on the mend. This is the second sort of fully formed poo this week so I am optimistic.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #12

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
stephanietx stephanietx - I haven't yet. If the loose stools continue, I'm going to contact my vet to try his recommendation first and go from there. He's yet to steer me wrong - but (as messed up as it is) I'll have to price check the difference between what he thinks and this s.boullardi
 

kittyluv387

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 10, 2015
Messages
3,368
Purraise
5,177
The fancy feast classic pates are honestly better quality.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #14

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
@kittyluv837 - Yeah, I know there are better quality foods out there - but between cost and having a picky eater, I've learned to pick my battles. It's better for him to get the moisture from a "meh" quality food than having him refuse to eat altogether.
 

kittyluv387

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 10, 2015
Messages
3,368
Purraise
5,177
You could put warm water into the fancy feast pate. Or is the gravy one a lot cheaper? We put in water into all of the pates for extra moisture.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #16

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
Well, he did go today - but it was another nearly liquid stool (and he was licking his lips afterwards, but it was also his dinner time. He tends to get worked up to the point of throwing up if I'm even a little late on his dinner - so it could've been that or having just been in the litterbox that upset his tummy).

I'm sending the vet an email (he's generally good about responding when he gets to the office the next day) about maybe adding s boulardii, but he also shows Fortiflora on the pharmacy page linked to his website. Do any of y'all have experience in using fortiflora to treat diarrhea or should I just stick to asking about s boulardii?

(also, we buy his wet food in almost bulk, the 24-can packs on chewy.com)
 

mommytobuck

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Mar 12, 2014
Messages
635
Purraise
189
Yes I have used toe fortiflora this week to get the stools formed better. I had it in the house anyway. I am sure it worked but it took 2 weeks. That is very unusual for it. It usually works right away.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #18

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
Called the vet this morning - he recommended that we skip a meal (I guess to give his digestive system a chance to recover/relax), and add a probiotic that I assume is Fortiflora since that's what most vets seem to recommend. If those don't work, we'll have to take Simon to have some tests ran and get him looked at.

I'm just hoping it's something relatively simple like kitty IBS or something and not another case of megacolon trying to get started. I mean, I'm familiar with Megacolon, but I just don't want to see my lively boy's spirit go to south by having to be force fed Lactulose for the rest of his days.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #19

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
I take it back - The probiotic is Proviable DC, to give one capsule daily. It said by mouth, but I don't think pilling this cat is going to be an option, so I'll call back after lunch to see if I can sprinkle it on his food instead.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #20

dkb817

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 29, 2013
Messages
230
Purraise
175
Daily update: Simon has gone two more times since this morning and while both were still much softer than they should be, they at least looked vaguely formed, so progress. I'm hesitant to skip a meal tonight, but the vet has yet to really steer me wrong, so I guess I'll give it a shot.

Tomorrow will go back to a purely wet food diet with both miralax and l-lysine, and the addition of the probiotic to (for lack of better word) bulk up the stools to get them to no longer be primarily liquid.
 
Top