Runny Poops

[Allison.Mau]

My girl Lily has been experiencing runny poops for the past few months, here's the back story:

Back January, I noticed Lily's poops were very soft and watery (there was always shape though) and she would go 3 times a day (opposite of my other cat who has firm poop and goes once a day).

After a vet appointment and a fecal test....it was determined that she had Giardia.

Both cats were treated for this....it took two rounds...but after the second round I noticed Lily's poop firming up and she was only going twice a day (some days even one!) . After her second round of treatment, her fecal test came back negative for Giardia and I could tell she was doing much better...

After the Giardia was resolved (about a week after our negative test came back)...our boy Jack began to have urinary issues....the vet had us switch him to Hills prescription C/D diet which he transitioned to perfectly with out a problem and has been eating it since. The vet recommended that we transition Lily as well to keep things easy...and for preventative purposes.. (this was early March)

At the end of March we decided to begin Lily's transition (due to having her finish up the old food).

I'm pretty sure I did it very slowly.......first few days i gave her a tiny bit of the new food with more of the old food.....did this for a few days....then increased the new food to the next amount for a few days....then repeated this process......during this time...her stools were going back to loose and watery....so I slowed down the transition..began adding more of her old food to her meals and taking away some of the new food......showed some improvements...so gradually added the new food again...and now we are back to liquid stools...and she is going 3 times a day again (it never got this liquidy during her Giardia).

As of yesterday...I decided to substitute her food with boiled chicken, white rice, and pumpkin (per my vet's recommendation). I have been giving that to her during her normal meal times since yesterday morning....and I thought i saw a slight improvement last night when she went....but today after her lunch..back to liquid.

How long does it take for a bland diet to work?? Once her stools improve from that.....any recommendations on how to transition her??? I am so afraid of her getting sick again once we resolve it. Like I said, I believe I'm doing it gradually ....but now I questioning myself since she is still having a problem.

Another thing to note: I had her on Forti Flora during her Giardia treatments...as well as once her stools became watery and soft with the new food...and it wasn't helping then...and isn't helping now..(even with increasing the amount I give her to per my vet's recommendation). At one point I wondered if the Forti Flora was contributing to the problem... So because of that, I took her off of it.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. I will take her to the vet if completely necessary. But if this is just from her diet transition (which due to timing and our negative Giardia test, I'm pretty sure it is) , I'm hoping this is something that can be resolved at home

 

[Allison.Mau]

Another thing to note: I am pretty impatient when it comes to my cat's feeling sick and getting the better. I just started the bland diet yesterday morning and I feel discouraged that 24 hours later, she is still having watery stools.... Hoping bland diets just take time...

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi, I don't know about the timeline of a bland diet, or even if in her case it would work. Dentary changes, even for what is perceived to be for the betterment, can cause their own set of problems. Maybe a couple-three more days, and then if it were me, I'd start adding her old food (not the urinary care food) back into her diet and see of you can't get her back on track. What to do next, if anything, depends on the results.

As far as feeding both cats the same thing, it may not be possible. But, what exactly are Jack's urinary issues? Crystals/stones, improper urine PH, blood or bacteria? Whether he has to remain on the urinary care food long term has somewhat to do with what his current issues are. If nothing else is going on and it involves struvite crystals, some folks will give them this food until another test shows the crystals have pretty much been resolved and then return to regular food.

But, when I say regular food, it is usually canned food, not dry. The extra moisture in the canned food helps to keep the bladder flushed so sediment doesn't collect in the bladder and cause more crystals. It is possible to get them eating the same thing, eventually, and it just may not be the urinary care food if Jack doesn't need it long term. Canned food for Lily, urinary issues or not, would be best as well.

 

[Allison.Mau]

Hi, I don't know about the timeline of a bland diet, or even if in her case it would work. Dentary changes, even for what is perceived to be for the betterment, can cause their own set of problems. Maybe a couple-three more days, and then if it were me, I'd start adding her old food (not the urinary care food) back into her diet and see of you can't get her back on track. What to do next, if anything, depends on the results.

As far as feeding both cats the same thing, it may not be possible. But, what exactly are Jack's urinary issues? Crystals/stones, improper urine PH, blood or bacteria? Whether he has to remain on the urinary care food long term has somewhat to do with what his current issues are. If nothing else is going on and it involves struvite crystals, some folks will give them this food until another test shows the crystals have pretty much been resolved and then return to regular food.

But, when I say regular food, it is usually canned food, not dry. The extra moisture in the canned food helps to keep the bladder flushed so sediment doesn't collect in the bladder and cause more crystals. It is possible to get them eating the same thing, eventually, and it just may not be the urinary care food if Jack doesn't need it long term. Canned food for Lily, urinary issues or not, would be best as well.

Thank you for your reply!

Jack had struvite crystals and an improper PH. He was recently retested (about 3 weeks after he started the diet) and the crystals are completely gone and his PH is back to normal. Our vet never mentioned this diet being a temporary thing. She lead us to believe that it is completely necessary to have Jack on this diet for the rest of his life.

The only reason why I prefer for them to be on the same diet is because occasionally Jack is known for running to Lily's bowl and stealing some of her food...the vet made it clear that on this urinary diet...jack can NOT have any other types of food...I fear that if we keep Lily on her old food ...during the times we are not home during their automatic feedings...he may eat some of her food. I just dont want to make his issues come back.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Again, just MO, but if they are both on canned food - not dry - I would not be inclined to worry about Jack stealing some of Lily's food - that is unless he wipes out her food! That is a problem for both of them!

I don't know what Jack ate before, but if it was dry, it was half the problem. Just not enough moisture to help keep his bladder flushed. If you do change his food, routine urinalysis, which likely should be done anyway, can tell you if there is a problem brewing again.

You have to do what you feel is the right thing, so I am only offering my personal layperson's opinion.

 

[Allison.Mau]

Thank you again!

I feed them both wet food for breakfast, dry for lunch, and dry dinner. Since Jack's urine issues, I have been adding water to both their wet food and their dry food (kinda like a dry food soup lol) and surprisingly they both eat/drink it all up! I do this because although I know eating fully wet food is ideal, our schedules don't always allow us to be home to feed them during their normal feeding times...and i'd like to keep them on a routine with times (we have an automatic feeder for their dry food to help us out while we are not home).

My plan is to keep Ms. Lily on this bland diet for a few more days. I also ordered a new probiotic that I read great reviews about (both on here and on Amazon) Nexabiotic for cats. Any experience with this probiotic? I've read that it offers more strands of good bacteria than Forti Flora does (which didn't seem to work on Lily). In a few days....I will try to slowly reintroduce her back to her old food to see if she gets better. I am leaving for a trip for a week at the end of the month so I'd prefer to just put her back on what she knows (pending her stools get better) for that time while I am away....and I can always try to reintroduce the new urinary food once I am back. And if Jack decides to steal a few bites of her old food during that week (he's been improving in that department and doesn't do it as often as he used to).....it is what it is and it will be a temporary thing . I would hate to have Lily have an upset stomach while I am away...and put that on my cat sitter as well.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention the Forti Flora is a pretty miserable excuse for a probiotic. It is really more of a flavor enhancer than anything else. Good on you for searching for something more substantial!

Good luck with all of this, including your trip! And keep us posted!

 

[Allison.Mau]

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention the Forti Flora is a pretty miserable excuse for a probiotic. It is really more of a flavor enhancer than anything else. Good on you for searching for something more substantial!

Good luck with all of this, including your trip! And keep us posted!

Thank you again! Will do!

 

[tabbytom]

My plan is to keep Ms. Lily on this bland diet for a few more days. I also ordered a new probiotic that I read great reviews about (both on here and on Amazon) Nexabiotic for cats. Any experience with this probiotic?

Take some time to read this article and it has been very helpful to my boy.

My boy had chronic diarrhea for about 3 months and was given probiotics mentioned in this article and his chronic diarrhea was resolved after administering it to him. Now he's taking it on a daily basis, twice a day at a reduce dose for maintenance.

My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?


I'm not a vet.

 

[stephanietx]

I would try a novel protein that's not chicken or fish as many cats are intolerant of those ingredients. It's difficult to find chicken-free cat food. I would also encourage you to feed wet twice a day as it's healthier and keeps them hydrated better. You can also ask the vet for Metronidazole to help firm up poops and add saccharomyces boulardii to wet food to firm up poops. What we have found works best for our diarrhea prone kitty is food change and adding slippery elm bark syrup to his food.

Oh! And I would definitely get the GI Panel done to make sure there's nothing else going on like a B12 deficiency.

 

[Allison.Mau]

Take some time to read this article and it has been very helpful to my boy.

My boy had chronic diarrhea for about 3 months and was given probiotics mentioned in this article and his chronic diarrhea was resolved after administering it to him. Now he's taking it on a daily basis, twice a day.

My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?


I'm not a vet.

Thank you so much for this!!!! I am looking forward to getting this type of probiotic and seeing what happens! Now that I'm reading more about this specific probiotic, I am feeling foolish for ever giving Forti Flora a chance!

Did you ever find out what caused your baby to have this diarrhea?? Did you ever change his food since? or was the probiotic all he needed?

 

[Allison.Mau]

I would try a novel protein that's not chicken or fish as many cats are intolerant of those ingredients. It's difficult to find chicken-free cat food. I would also encourage you to feed wet twice a day as it's healthier and keeps them hydrated better. You can also ask the vet for Metronidazole to help firm up poops and add saccharomyces boulardii to wet food to firm up poops. What we have found works best for our diarrhea prone kitty is food change and adding slippery elm bark syrup to his food.

Oh! And I would definitely get the GI Panel done to make sure there's nothing else going on like a B12 deficiency.

Thank you! Out of curiosity, what food does your cat eat now?

 

[tabbytom]

Thank you so much for this!!!! I am looking forward to getting this type of probiotic and seeing what happens! Now that I'm reading more about this specific probiotic, I am feeling foolish for ever giving Forti Flora a chance!

Did you ever find out what caused your baby to have this diarrhea?? Did you ever change his food since? or was the probiotic all he needed?

I did not find out what caused him to have this chronic diarrhea as he was on the same food for 7+ years. My guess is that he ate something or licked something off the ground which was out of the ordinary.

This is the first time he's on this probiotic and has been on it since. And so far, his poop has been firm and nice and just occasionally a little soft or watery which is normal but it's much better than chronic diarrhea. I'm also on the same probiotics as my boy.

 

[Kwik]

Don't feel foolish for trying the Forti Flora,there's good reviews,bad reviews and for whatever reason some folks have success with it and it may very well be because they've also changed to a better food after becoming more aware - who knows? You want to help your babies when something is wrong,don't ever feel foolish for that- they advertise the heck out of that & many other " useless " (imo) products so how are you supposed to know ?Pat yourself on the back for PAYING ATTENTION and being a good pet parent!

I agree completely with FeebysOwner -personally I'm not sure why your Vet is insistent on this specific brand food as there are many other comparable foods that are not Rx diet- may I ask if you purchase it there? Not saying anything bad about your Vet but you might want to consider researching some OTC foods,same ingedients--- or msybe I'm mistaken and it's not an Rx food?

tabbytom provided good info for you- I'd give it a try after your vacation- perhaps feed Lily what she's done well on ,Jack what he's eating now and revisit the situation when there will be no interruption

I think I'd want to focus on Lily not having any more problems and have a good conversation with my Vet in regards to Jack and why she thinks he needs to be on this specific FOOD for the rest of his life

Hope youll be encouraged by all of our 2cents- I get impatient too when my kitties have issues so I understand completely how thst goes,it's frustrating and not easy when they all have different dietary needs,very difficult -so I'm hoping you can find something that works for them both and makes your life a little easierIt isn't always possible but sounds like you can look into easier alternative foods

Enjoy your vacation and please keep us updated( got any photos of Jack n Lily)?

 

[stephanietx]

Thank you! Out of curiosity, what food does your cat eat now?

He now eats Royal Canin Gastrointestinal, RAWZ duck and turkey flavors wet food. For dry food, he gets RC Gastro and Taste of the Wild Mountain Stream.

 

[Allison.Mau]

Hi all!

Update on Lily: we are on day 4 of her bland diet and her potty is improving. Instead of going 3 times a day...for the past 2 days shes only gone once! TMI: her poops have gotten more firm but still a little on the watery side...but deff an improvement. I gave her her new probiotic for the first time last night and will repeat that with dinner for the days to come. Depending on how her next potty looks (she hasn't gone since yesterday afternoon)...I may begin the transition back to her OLD food tomorrow evening.

Seeking Transition Advice: I am nervous about upsetting her belly again ..even though it will be her old food.....she gets fed breakfast, lunch, and dinner.....Do you think I should slowly transition all three meals at once (adding a tiny bit of her food to her bland diet each meal)??? Or do you think I should start with one meal.....and then gradually add the food to her other meals in the days to come?

Thanks!

 

[FeebysOwner]

I am glad to hear things are heading in a positive direction. My personal opinion is to not give her a full dose of her old food at once, even for just one meal at this point. So, a mixture for all meals would be IMO better.