Occasional vomit or poop on bed

marc999

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Hi folks, occasionally I will come home to find hair ball vomit, or once in awhile poop on my bed covers.
If it's poop - there's a good chance it's diarrhea.

The latest poop event was early this morning.
I woke up to Willow scratching at the covers, apparently trying to cover her poop.
This is the first time she's done it while I've been right there - in bed.

I'll try to list anything that comes to mind:
1. I was away for a week and had a pet care service take care of her - she's been fine with them multiple times before and recognizes the 1 or 2 different people that care for her.
2. There was a couple hair ball vomits on my bed when I came home a few days ago.
3. No recent food changes. ( 1 can fancy feast pate + 1/4 cup of Go: Lamb+Wild Boar). I realize it's a heavier/rich dry - but she won't touch multiple other expensive brands of chicken based dry that I've tried. Also - she does have normal formed poops most of the time.
4. I carried her to bed with me last night; she spent the entire night with me on the pillow next to me, sprawled out. This is unusual; usually she sleeps in the living room on a couch.
5. Obviously she views my bed as a safe zone when she isn't feeling well?
6. The frequency of diarrhea is the same, the difference is - now she would rather go on my bed, rather than, or in addition to - the litter box.
7. The litter box had some formed poops in it as well this morning.

Can anyone relate or have any suggestions?
 

susanm9006

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The thing is when a cat has diarrhea they may not know they have to go or may not be able to get to the litterbox. She could be trying to cough up a hairball, strain and poop. So you need to investigate why she has the diarrhea in the first place by taking her for a vet visit. You can try to firm up her poop in the meantime by adding a teaspoon of pure canned pumpkin purée to her wet food.
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. Does the diarrhea coincide with the hairballs? Or, perhaps she throws up a hairball and you give her something for the hairballs that causes diarrhea? Does she get an occasional treat (or, even some human food) that might correlate to when she has diarrhea? Is the FF pate always the same flavor(s)? There might be a specific flavor or two that doesn't 'agree' with her digestive tract. If she goes outside, it could be something out there that she occasionally gets into that cause the diarrhea. I offer these types of things because it seems the diarrhea is an intermittent problem.

You could always take a fecal sample to the vet for a full fecal PCR test which would look for bacterial/viral issues in addition to parasites. You can take it right out of the litter box - but it might be better to take a sample of the diarrhea from your bed - bag it, and take it to the vet. Just confirm your vet will take a sample for testing without seeing her. If you can't take the sample in right away, you can refrigerate it for several hours without affecting its viability.

Just curious - how old is Willow? And, how long has this been going on?
 
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marc999

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- The hairballs are independent of diarrhea.
- I have not given her something for hairballs.
- Very rarely do I give treats, but if I do it's the Friskies party mix ~ 3 pieces. No immediate, or delayed negative reaction that I can tell.
- I give her FF 'Chicken', FF 'Beef' pate, as well as FF Ocean Whitefish Tuna pate, but only on Fridays. Those are the 3 I've pretty well given her since I've had her for 5 1/2 years.
- Appetite is normal for her - normal being, she'll always eat the FF pate, yet every other day only eats a little kibble.
- She is strictly an indoor only cat and has not been outside.
- Last fecal sample was ~ 1 year ago.
- Unfortunately I scooped up the flushed the diarrhea this morning off my duvet, but I could keep it the next time it happens.

- She is ~ 7.5 years old now. Ragdoll. This past year she has chosen a different area to sleep, underneath one of the couch end tables, as opposed to her usual shoe box by the front door favorite spot. I'm not sure if that's important but a behaviour change I've noticed. She does still enjoy her play times (e.g. 'da bird, laser toy, or scrunchy balls - yet not as long a period playtime as before, age?)

- 3 yr. rabies vac. up to date (going for every 3 years)
- FVRCP last given 11/19/17 (going for every 3 years)

Appreciate the brainstorming. You're right, it is occasional.
I'm tempted to try going back to a chicken based kibble, for something a little lighter, yet only if she'll accept it.
 

FeebysOwner

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Hmm.... I am stumped. Maybe it just has to do with her starting to get older and things occasionally being a bit off for her because of that. She is still fairly young, but is getting to the senior stage (typically starts around 8 - 10 yo). Feeby (15+ yo), while quite a bit older than Willow, has started to change some of her behaviors as well - sleeping in a new spot, spending less time on her beloved screened in patio, etc. Although she had her first-ever flea infestation this past year and a few health-related issues, nothing else would explain some of the changes even though the fleas/health-issues appear to be under control.

If Willow had a fecal sample tested a year ago, I am guessing maybe that was her last vet check up? Did they do a full blood panel on her at that time (CBC, Chemistry Profile, T4) as well as a urinalysis? It might be a good idea to have a vet check up for senior cats, if for no other reason that to get a baseline for comparison as she ages. I started Feeby with semi-annual senior check ups when she hit around 10.
 
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marc999

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Last June 2019, she was in for an itch/raw spot that she gets on the back of her neck once a year.
I was prescribed some Hibitane ointment and that worked to decrease her itching. The thought was that she was rubbing on something, but I never discovered what that something was. It wasn't bug/insect etc. based.

Thanks for the blood panel and urinalysis suggestions.

I pulled my filing cabinet records - Aug.2014 was the last time I see an external lab analysis work done. I really don't know what was involved in that. After Aug. 2014, I'm seeing the regular vaccinations and occasional fecal sample, upon my request. As well as the hibitane ointment.

I can request a blood panel and urinalysis if you think that's a prudent thing to do at this point in time. At least for peace of mind.
 

ArtNJ

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I'll give my default answer to tricky questions of why -- just break the habit as the first step and see what happens. Keep her off the bed, or out of the bedroom entirely, for a couple of weeks.
 

FeebysOwner

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I'll give my default answer to tricky questions of why -- just break the habit as the first step and see what happens. Keep her off the bed, or out of the bedroom entirely, for a couple of weeks.
That might be an answer if she was pooping on the bed more than just occasionally. With it not actually being more frequent, it is kind of hard to see how this approach would be effective, nor would one know when to start it and when to end it.
 

FeebysOwner

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I can request a blood panel and urinalysis if you think that's a prudent thing to do at this point in time. At least for peace of mind.
Ask your vet when they think she should start having senior check ups and what that means to them in terms of testing. Then, you can determine how you want to proceed. I only recommended it because for one) it could identify something going on that isn't overtly apparent, and two) you have peace of mind that all is OK and that the results can be used down the road to more quickly identify potential issues.

Edit: If she has a lot of hairballs, you might want to consider looking into some gels/treats to give her on a routine basis. Something as simple as a dab of butter/margarine on her paw or from your finger for her to lick off a couple times a week as a maintenance dose might stop the vomiting hairballs. Although I have never tried it, some say the pumpkin can help with hairballs - as well as diarrhea, as susanm9006 susanm9006 has suggested.
 
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marc999

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Ok, thanks again - good suggestion. I will try the butter as well.

Also - I had completely forgotten. About 3-4 months ago, she pooped on some sheets of printer paper I had on the living room floor (to be shredded thankfully), then tried to bury it with the paper. It was of course, diarrhea. So I suppose it's not 100% the bed, but if there's poop somewhere other than the litter box, it will be diarrhea.

If there's hairball It could be either the living room floor or bedroom.
 

ArtNJ

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That might be an answer if she was pooping on the bed more than just occasionally. With it not actually being more frequent, it is kind of hard to see how this approach would be effective, nor would one know when to start it and when to end it.
OP actually never said how frequent it was occurring. He said "occassionally" which is a word that can mean many different things. It seems we both put our own, different, spin on what it means, but the truth is we dont actually know. Our little debate post illustrates that we need more info. I guess I was thinking it meant a couple of times a week, whereas you were thinking once or twice a month or less, perhaps much less. If it is the later, you are correct, my advice will not be useful.
 
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marc999

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I should actually start recording on the calendar how often, in fact I think I'll do that.
I'm going to say - 1-2x per month she will have diarrhea but to be sure, and with my memory these days lol - I'll start recording.
 

FeebysOwner

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I should actually start recording on the calendar how often, in fact I think I'll do that.
I'm going to say - 1-2x per month she will have diarrhea but to be sure, and with my memory these days lol - I'll start recording.
Not to make it a real pain for you, but you might want to record when she eats what - just on the slim chance there is a correlation between the foods and the diarrhea that just hasn't been that obvious to you. I started charting Feeby's foods/food intake/vomiting/etc. just so I could see if there was anything in all of that I was missing. So far, I haven't picked up on anything, but you just never know...
 

ArtNJ

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If its 1-2x diarrhea a month and non-diarrhea is less, than I agree with FeebysOwner FeebysOwner that I was focused on the wrong aspect of it. That almost sounds like the non-diarrhea might be when the cat is not feeling well even if its short of diarrhea. A habit would be more often than that I would think. I've not actually had a poop on the bed habit, just pee, so maybe it looks a little different, but that just strikes me as too infrequent to be caused by a bad habit.
 

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As a cat mama who's dealt with a similar problem, I can sympathize with you. My Ruby girl has a chicken intolerance and from the first day I adopted her she had loose stools. A change to a duck based canned food made a change in her stools overnight.

I did still give her some kibble as a treat, and last summer she started having litter box accidents.

7. The litter box had some formed poops in it as well this morning.
This is how it was with Ruby. I'd find normal poop in the litter box, then softer "accidents" on the floor or carpet. :( Then things would be fine for a while, then reoccur I ended up changing her kibble to a duck based one, and that has totally solved the problem of litter box accidents.

So I'm wondering if your girl has an intolerance to a specific protein.

- I give her FF 'Chicken', FF 'Beef' pate, as well as FF Ocean Whitefish Tuna pate, but only on Fridays. Those are the 3 I've pretty well given her since I've had her for 5 1/2 years.
Since you give her 3 difference types of food, it will be a bit harder to determine if one of them is bothering her. Would she be content if you changed to giving her one flavour all the time for a while, to see if it made a difference?
 
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