Two Short Bouts Of Diarrhea In 6 Adult Cats, 7 Weeks Apart.

hexie

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** I'm dropping a few fecal samples off at the vet tomorrow. I'm just wondering if anyone has experienced something like this before.

At the very end of May, my six cats developed diarrhea. Always in the litterbox.

At that time, we already had appointments to take two of them for their yearly checkup. We had no idea yet who had diarrhea since it had only just started, but suspected one of the cats we were taking in was the culprit. The vet agreed with us it was likely her as she felt a little gassy. Her temperature was fine. That evening, I confirmed she had diarrhea.

Later that night, it became evident that it was more than just her. I was keeping detailed track of everyone's poop and it slowly circled around. One cat would have it, then another, the first cat would recover, then someone else got it, etc. The vet said that it was probably just a bug going around them all, but if it persisted, come in the next day they were open, two days from then.

By then, everyone was fine/almost fine. They'd cycle through soft poop to mushy poop to runny poop then it'd be solid again over the course of ~4 days or so. Everyone was acting fine, running, playing, drinking, etc - hence why the vet told us to wait and see. They'd have a decreased appetite for one day then be chowing down the next.

Fast forward to now, more than 7 weeks later, in which time everyone had beautifully perfect poop. It's going around again. Once again, everyone is acting 100% normal besides decreased appetite for one day and the varying loose stools for about ~4 days. I've been doing the skin turgor test, and tracking who I see drinking and how often.

Everyone is strictly indoors. Boxes are cleaned daily, twice daily when they're sick like this. Their boxes had been washed and scrubbed clean a day or two before they got sick this time, but no chemicals were used. No changes in diet either times; they're fed wet food in the morning and a little bit of dry food in the evening (except for one cat who hates any and all wet food, so he gets dry both times). I'm pretty confident they didn't ALL get into something (let alone twice). The only thing kind of new this time is their Drinkwell Platinum fountain that I set up a week beforehand, but only half of the cats use it so far.

The most recent addition was brought home September 2016; she was dewormed twice, FIV/FeLV tested negative, and not introduced to the rest of the group until December since she was feral and I was taming her. Everyone gets along with minimal conflict.

I know intermittent diarrhea is a thing, but... seven weeks apart? All cats in the household, staggered? If the fecal tests (I'm taking in a few different cats' samples, at different stages of their diarrhea) all come back negative, I don't know if my kitties are having lousy luck or what.
 
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AbbysMom

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No suggestions here, but did you get the results of the fecal tests back yet?
 

jcat

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Giardia would be one possibility. It's not unusual for cats with giardiosis to have intermittent diarrhea. Stool can be quite normal for days or weeks between bouts.
 
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