Diarrhea- HELP!

[BooetBear]

Hi everyone, I’ll aim to try and keep this short!

Just over 3 weeks ago our resident cat Teddy picked up Giardia from a little kitty we were fostering - we didn’t have little foster tested but as Teddy had been totally fine prior to little foster’s arrival and then started having diarrhea a day later - then tested positive for Giardia - we assume this is indeed what happened.

Little foster was then adopted into a new home one week after we took him in.

Roll on 3 weeks. Teddy still has chronic diarrhea. He has just come back from a weeks stay at the vets. The Giardia test is now negative. Blood work negative. Stool tests and cultures negative. The vet said it may be down to a change in food. I did change their dry food but that was after the diarrhea he started.

The vet suggested giving Teddy a diet of boiled chicken only. Not easy as he’s already turning his nose up at it - and our other cat Oscar - who has remained perfectly fine through all of this - loves both dry and wet food.

I’m not sure how to go about all this. I’ve read that dry food can cause diarrhea- yet I’ve also read that wet food can. I got some dried medicated Gastrointestinal food from the vet but then they say to give him chicken only.

Teddy has been eating and drinking normally throughout all of this. He did appear unwell in himself, not as playful etc but since his return from the vet yesterday his old personality seems to be returning but the diarrhea remains!!

For those experienced with chronic diarrhea- what’s the best course of action?!

How can I harden up his stools?!

Not as short as I’d hoped - sorry!!

Xxx

 

[Jcatbird]

Have you tried adding some plain puréed canned pumpkin to a food Teddy likes? Make sure it is just pumpkin. No spices.
Was Teddy checked for Coccidia? That is very common but sometimes when there is already one diagnosis, this might be missed. Poor Teddy! He has my sympathy. I hope he gets well quick. You might ask the vet about some probiotics too. Please let us know how Teddy is doing.

 

[LTS3]

Read the info about using Saccharomyces boulardii to help with diarrhea:

http://www.rawfeedingforibdcats.org/uploads/8/1/2/3/81236524/probiotics_for_cats_-_why_and_which_ones_2019.pdf

 

[verna davies]

I use s boulardii as mentioned above and it works a treat.

 

[FeebysOwner]

The vet said it may be down to a change in food. I did change their dry food but that was after the diarrhea he started.

Hi! In addition to the good advice you've already gotten, it still might be possible that he is allergic to something in the food that you changed him to. The diarrhea may have started with the giardia, but continued on with the new food. How drastic of a difference in ingredients is there between his 'old' and 'new' food? If you find enough differences, you might consider changing his food back to the 'old' one and see if the diarrhea stops. Abrupt food changes can cause digestive distress, but even so, it generally will go away after some time - unless there is something in that food that is causing the distress. Just another possibility to pursue...

 

[Swttea]

I adopted / rescued a street kitten very recently who came to me with horrible liquid diarrhea and it took much longer then I am used to (with dogs, and my other kitten) to clear it up. It's still not 100%, and sometimes it's mushy again, but we're doing far better then we were. I didn't have him checked for giardia, wanting to wait a bit first to see if it would clear up, but I do not think he had it, since it's gotten better without heavy medications.

The vet prescribed him Probiocin, which is just a probiotic gel that apparently taste really good. You can get it without an RX, I would suggest only getting it from your vet / chewy (cheaper -a lot cheaper then the vets!), In addition to that, I read a lot about Saccharomyces boulardii on this site, and it seemed that it worked for a lot of people, so I got some of that. After only a few days on the Saccharomyces boulardii, his stool started getting much less frequent and normal looking. I was honestly shocked at how fast it seemed to help! So - I'd like to suggest Saccharomyces boulardii and a probiotic. You can give them at the same time, since the Saccharomyces boulardii is actually a yeast, and acts differently.

I also started adding about 1/4 a teaspoon of 100% pumpkin to his wet food, along with about 5ml of unflavored Pedialyte and a couple splashes of warm water, to try to keep dehydration at bay. He wasn't too fond of the pumpkin or Pedialyte taste but as long as I heated the meal up for about 6 seconds, and sometimes sprinkled Parmesan cheese on it, he ate it. I did this for all of his wet food meals, which is currently about 4 a day (growing kitten). For the Boulardii, I bought one that was 5 billion CFUs and I gave him 1/4 a capsule, twice a day - so 1/2 a capsule total. He is just a kitten, I think adult cats would get more.

I don't know that this will help if he's still got any parasites, but if his system just needs some help resetting, it might be worth trying. Good luck, I hope Teddy feels better!