Pregnant cat with bad diarrhea

ElaNBudders

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Hi everyone! I’m in need of help with my pregnant queen, Ela.

Ela has had bad diarrhea for a couple days, so I took her to the vet. They did tests and detected NO parasites or worms. But they also notified me that she was pregnant, which I had NO IDEA. 6 weeks pregnant in fact! So, with her being pregnant that limits what they could give her. They have her on Metronidazole antibiotics, 50MG twice a day, which the vet said would reduce her diarrhea. The vet also said something about her anus “winking”. I’ve been giving her it for about 3 days now, but there is 0 improvement. I’m currently trying everything I can. She has a cone to prevent her from licking herself raw, as of today she is being fed boiled skinless, boneless, plain chicken and plain rice, as well as starting today I’ve been wiping her gently and applying antibiotic ointment every time she poops (a trick that an emergency vet had told me about previously).

Is there anything else I can do? The vet says there’s nothing wrong they can tell and she said maybe it’s the kittens upsetting her.
 

di and bob

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Make sure she is not getting any cows milk products either, that is notorious for giving diarrhea. Most cat's are lactose intolerant after a certain age. Goat's milk is fine. Have you changed her diet lately, if you have go back to teh old one. Start her on a small amount of kitten food to see how that affects her, she needs good nutrition right now. Make sure she is drinking, good clean water often she may be getting dehydrated. a small amount of human infant pedialyte would be good too. The antibiotic could be keeping the diarrhea going, so hopefully it will be done soon. Keep her on the chicken and rice for 3 days to see if it helps. If not try the kitten food. The trick is to not try to change a whole lot in her diet, and that's hard to do with diarrhea.
 

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I agree with di and bob, and it may be caused by pregnancy hormones. IF she has intestinal bacteria the metronidazole will cure it, but while taking it she may experience an upset tummy and continued diarrhea. Good you are keeping her bottom clean and applying ointment. I hope she improves soon!
 
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ElaNBudders

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Her area looks a lot better! Less inflamed and it’s just pink now instead of full on red. She’s a little hormonal today you could say, as she’s been very mean to our boy cat. He could be drinking water and she’ll push him away from it. Other than that things look better today.
 

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I agree with the pedialyte suggestion. Having much diarrhea causes losses of salts. So pedialyte is very good for it. Otherwise, you can for example, sprinkle a little of minerale kitchen salt on her water or her food. If you dont have minerale salt at hand, you can begin with common table kitchen salt, this with just NaCl.
You can also give her of some good minerale water. Let out the gas, and add of this minerale water to her drinking water.

The same tip for children and adult humans with lotsa of diarrhea or vomiting.
 
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ElaNBudders

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Been about 4 days since I updated!

It’s been about 5 days on the chicken and rice diet and it made things a lot better. She had colitis I’m pretty sure, as she was pooping frequently, feces was very liquidy, mucus in feces, and an inflamed anus.

Today her poop is no longer straight liquid, her anus is not inflamed, and she’s not trying to lick at it a bunch. She needs a bath because there’s some poop stuck to her fur.

Is it okay to give her a bath since she’s pregnant?
 

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Good to hear she is better! I’m sure mama kitty feels less drained now as well. Try to clean the poop with a warm wet wash cloth rather than a full bath if possible. Keep her on the chicken and rice diet for awhile longer if you can also.
 
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ElaNBudders

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Diarrhea is lessened but still going. She is now in her 7th week. She has started drinking a ton of water and grooming herself. I let her have her cone off, we had one on her because of her inflammation and didn’t want her touching it, but I took it off because I was afraid it was stressing her out that she could not groom herself for nesting. I’m still watching her closely to make sure she does not harm herself but wanted her to be able to groom her belly as she wanted. Gonna pick up some FortiFlora on Saturday to try that for her.
 

Sarthur2

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What brand foods is she eating? Wet, dry? She may have a food allergy. Glad you’ve got the cone off. They can be very stressful.
 

StefanZ

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Diarrhea is lessened but still going. She is now in her 7th week. She has started drinking a ton of water and grooming herself. I let her have her cone off, we had one on her because of her inflammation and didn’t want her touching it, but I took it off because I was afraid it was stressing her out that she could not groom herself for nesting. I’m still watching her closely to make sure she does not harm herself but wanted her to be able to groom her belly as she wanted. Gonna pick up some FortiFlora on Saturday to try that for her.
Yes, some good probiotic may help. S.Belissarii(?spelling?) is said to often help against long term diarrheas.

Had you being given her more of salts or pedialyte?
 
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ElaNBudders

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What brand foods is she eating? Wet, dry? She may have a food allergy. Glad you’ve got the cone off. They can be very stressful.
She’s currently only eating shredded chicken and rice. I can potentially just try the rice and see if chicken upsets her. Probiotic is getting ordered tomorrow so hopefully it helps.

Had you being given her more of salts or pedialyte?
I’ve been giving her more salts and I’m trying to order some pedialyte. Do I use the powder or the regular stuff from the bottle? And do I use advanced care or normal if from the bottle?
 

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I would not withhold the chicken. She needs the protein, especially while pregnant and nursing.

Use normal unflavored pedialyte from the bottle that you buy from the baby aisle.

Try a grain-free dry food that she can eat between wet meals. Purina One makes grain-free dry food that is excellent. I use it with my cats. Hopefully the probiotic will help. I’m still hoping this clears on its own eventually once her hormones settle down.
 
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ElaNBudders

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I ordered pedialyte which will be here Monday, FortiFlora will be here tomorrow, and I’m currently feeding her Taste of the Wild which is full of protein and probiotics (grain-free!!)
 
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ElaNBudders

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Bless Amazon. The pedialyte also came today. Gave her about 2 cap’s of it mixed in with her water. Also started her on the probiotic. Gonna go pick up some more chicken and rice and we’ll see from there!
 
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