Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

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Catlover12345
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Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Catlover12345 »

I have a kitten who is now 9 months old. I got her off a rescue when she was 2months and they swear her stools were perfect when she was with them. Her very first poop she did at mine was diarrhoea and I have never seen a solid poop from her.
I work at a vets, and they have sent stool samples away and everything is coming back clear. I have tried all veterinary foods hills ZD, DD, ID. All with no improvements. I have tried all probiotics, no change.
Here are a list of foods I have tried also
Kitten Virbac- pork
Kitten James well-beloved hypoallergenic dry food
Kitten James well beloved hypoallergenic and grain free wet food - turkey
Digestive care hills wet pouches
Plain boiled chicken- 3days
Whiskas dry kitten- chicken
Hills ZD feline canned - hated it and made symptoms worse
Royal Canin Kitten- made her throw up too
Hills DD dry
Purina one sensitive
After speaking with the rescue I switched her back to basic whiskas as that’s what they fed her on, I figured if she was fine when with them then it’s worth a go.
Whiskas wet pouches kitten- fish (coley and whitefish) - And this was the only food change with improvement (no leaking, energy levels increased)
but still no formation.


They gave me steroids to try, which worked for a few days then back to loose stools.

The vet has basically said they can’t find anything wrong and to just keep feeding her whiskas. But when she can only have x6 sachets out of a x12 sachet box, it’s getting expensive and wasteful.

Will she be ok with diarrhoea for the rest of her life? She has no temperature and she is gaining wait.

just want answers so my little fur baby can be happy.


Thanks for taking time to read this, I will be grateful for any feedback.
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by booktigger »

What has she been wormed with? How long have you tried each food for?
Catlover12345
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Catlover12345 »

She’s had panacur and milpro. The stool sample tested for all parasites, but we tried a longer course of panacur as well just in case the test didn’t pick up on anything properly. And we aimed to trial foods for the recommended length and gradual changes but her symptoms would just worsen. Resulting in having to stop.
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Kay
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Kay »

apart from the chicken, you don't seem to have tried a single source protein cat food, and that might just be worth trying

I can recommend this one https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/can ... cks/314409 which might well work out cheaper than Whiskas, as you need less, and it of course is much better quality
Catlover12345
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Catlover12345 »

Hello, thank you for the recommendation.
These foods I tried below were single sourced proteins:
-James wellbeloved only contained one protein which was Turkey
-Hills DD is single source protein- Duck
-Hills ZD had a single source but it’s hydrolysed-chicken liver.

Do you think it’s worth trying them still. I am currently pregnant with only 4 weeks left to go, so unable to do so at the moment but someone’s recommend raw feeding once babies here. What are your thoughts on this?

I honestly don’t mind the price of foods, just fed up of having to buy a big box and not being able to use it all. The recommended amount to feed for her age is 3 sachets a day but there is only 6/12 in the box that she can have, so I’m going through it like crazy, arrr!! Just want to find something, the vets recommend a gut biopsy when she’s a bit older.
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Kay
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Kay »

Hills z/d lists as its main ingredient grain, and as that made your cat worse I wonder if grain is the problem - though Hills d/d should have helped - I suspect your vet recommended the Hills, as many vets get a pay-off from the comany

JWB contains rice, which is not usually a problem but could be in this case - and there are more and more grain free dry foods out there these days

I'd still suggest giving the Feringa a trial though, as a wet food will help to make up for the lost fluid which is the main worry with diarrhea - most supermarket wet foods contain cereals of course

I've never had a cat who would eat a raw diet, but I know it can work wonders - it needs a lot of research though, and you're going to have your hands very full very soon, so you will probably want to leave that as a last resort for a bit
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by fjm »

It might be worth trying home cooked, if you cannot solve it any other way. It is much easier to feed limited ingredients that way, and might be easier to handle than raw with a baby in the house. If you buy the complete balanced minces (80% muscle, 10% offal, 10% ground bone) you don't need to add anything, and they can be fed raw or gently simmered in water. But with a baby due soon a commercial diet would be much easier to manage, if you can find one that works.

Practically every cat food seems to contain chicken - if she is intolerant for that it could explain her issues.
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Mollycat »

Wow. Diarrhoea can get serious very quickly through dehydration especially in a young kitten so although she may be ok in spite of it, it isn't advisable to give up. I have a 12 year old who has had loose stools for 6 months and is otherwise fine but she did have a metablic problem that may be still settling, but a 9 month old is a different matter.

Does she have any kind of milk or dairy product?

Can you get Butchers cat food where you are? Cheap, decent and grain-free.

Do you feed her any treats, even in small amounts maybe that could be the issue?

What about switching to adult foods?

The thing with changing foods so much is that some cats either don't like change or react badly at first. That's why the advice is usually to transition gradually from one food to another and not change suddenly. This can be really expensive (think opening two pouched every meal but only feeding half of each) but the reason they can react is gut flora. Same as us, if we eat always the same few foods, gut flora grows to deal with that food and struggles to deal with anything else, so when we eat something different, it's not absorbed properly and causes issues. So first of all I would stick with one food for a few weeks at a time and let her gut get geared up for it, if it can.

Whiskas isn't the best of foods though if it's the best for her symptoms fair enough. My old cat couldn't have it, it made her really loose and smelly and as soon as we switched she was fine. So I could be biased but maybe holding out on another grain-free decent food (like Butchers) while the initial storm passes might be worth a go?
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Catlover12345 »

I have never given any type of milk, dairy products or treats, and I feel bad because I just want to spoil her. But nope I didn’t want to make anything worse.

I always make a gradual change and at first it seems promising but the more I add in of the new food the worse it gets.

Most of the other foods have been adult, only because there is such a lack of kitten special diets. The vet said it’s quite uncommon for a kitten to have an intolerance.

I have tried James wellbeloved wet pouches also, because they are hypoallergenic and grain free, again no difference.
Do you think switching to adult Whiskas would make a difference?
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by fjm »

Last summer both my adult dogs had diarrhoea. As they started a day or two apart both the vet and I suspected an infection. At first they got symptomatic treatment - bung up paste and sensitive diet for a few days. Slight improvement, but immediate relapse on stopping the treatment. Then over a week or two worming, giardia treatment, antibiotics - no improvement. Then tests for absolutely everything - which came back negative all round. At that point my vet said that as they were perfectly OK apart from loose stools, and as most bugs are self limiting in a healthy animal, the best thing would be to give it another few weeks, and if it still didn't clear he would consult the university research departments. Fortunately things got back to normal soon after that, although we were left not knowing what caused it. By that stage I was just grateful for an unbroken night's sleep - dogs need taking out sometimes several times a night when they have diarrhoea, and with two of them I was exhausted.

But I did find the Purina Pro-Plan Sensitivity wet food very effective, so much so that I now keep a few tins in the cupboard in case of need. I don't know if that is amongst the foods you have tried - I think it is only available online and from vets. Poppy only needs about 1/3 can a day, so once a tin is opened I portion it into pots and freeze them - ice cube trays also work. Far less waste that way.
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by booktigger »

I'm surprised your vet said its unusual for kittens to have an intolerance, I've fostered a few that have (mainly ones that were born outside or not given proper diets as tiny kittens), I had a litter with giardia, and my vet said it can take up to 12 months for them to be 'normal' after that. My neighbour adopted a trio of kittens that were sensitive to dry food, they are now 3 and still can't tolerate dry, we think there's was having cat flu at a young age, the one who had it worst is still a dainty cat, a lot smaller than her siblings.
Catlover12345
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Catlover12345 »

She is pretty dainty but her mum was only a small cat. I got her and her sister, her sister weighs a tad more but She is perfectly fine she’s been no trouble at all. This is why I doubt it was anything contagious anyway.

She shows the symptoms of giardia, but the stool test came back clear and the vet gave me medication just in case it didn’t pick up on it properly but it made no difference. Just wish there was a simple answer, I feel like it’s been 7months and I still have no idea what could possibly be wrong. I will be keeping her on whiskers over the next few months, once I’ve had baby and am settled, I will explore further again.
For now I want to say thank you to you all for your Ideas and help. I really appreciate it.
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by doodlebug406 »

Can someone help, I have a cat that is about 3 months old and he is having chronic explosive diarrhea also. The vets have done all kinds of tests on him and all negative. He has been wormed a couple times, on antibiotics, and his food has been changed several times in his short life span so far. It just oozes out of him and I am at my wits end with him, but feel so sorry for him because I can't help him. Does anyone have any insight on something I can try to help this poor cat. His bottom and legs just stay wet and nasty at all times and now his butt and testicle area is just raw from all the moisture back there. Please, I need help.

Thanks, Doodlebug406
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Mollycat »

Just stop. Your kitten is only just old enough to leave its mother and has been weaned for just over a month, and already he's had antibiotics and "several" changes of food? My guess is he was weaned too quickly and separated from his mother too young, how long have you had him? What's his background that you don't know his exact age, was he found?

Every time you change a cat's food you are potentially upsetting its tummy. It takes time for their system to get used to a different food, so if you are feeding a food for a couple of days his system doesn't get a chance to settle before it's all upset again by yet another new food. Same if he was weaned too young or too fast. What worming programme has been used?

Have the vets offered any diet advice, or just expensive tests and medications? Did he ever get any GI support to counter the effects of antibiotics? Do you feed him wet food, dry food, kitten appropriate food? Do you give him any milk and if so what milk, from what animal?
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by vanilla »

Agree with Molly. Please stick to a single food for a while. I suggest a single protein food, preferably grain free. My kitten had diarrhoea for a few weeks before it started to settle. I stuck to one food source and also gave pro-kolin to help firm up the stools. Now he eats anything and has no issues. I just think they have very delicate tummies when they are little. I found whiskas too rich for my kitten plus it wasn't good as it doesn't have a high meat content.
Mummyofmia
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Mummyofmia »

Hi can I ask if you were able to resolve this? I’m
In a similar situation with my kitten x
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Newkittenmum1 »

Hey, I’ve been going through a similar ordeal. My kitten is 4 months old and he’s had diarrhoea since he arrived with me a few weeks ago. I rehomed him and they insisted that he was fine before hand but he had issues the moment he arrived.
He’s been dewormed, had antibiotic and had meds for giardia but to no avail. He’s now changed food and have been on Hills dry kitten food for 6 days and no longer on any wet food (as advised by vet - no treats or any other food), if anything he’s more gassy!

I’ve sent off a decal sample so we will see, but I don’t want to change his food again or put his body through too much strain trying to stop the diarrhoea. He’s eating and drinking and putting on weight.

It’s so tough, and I’m worried all the time and probably more anxious as he’s my first ever cat. He’s very playful and energetic.
Any advice is much appreciated x
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Mollycat »

He might benefit from some support to help his gut recover. Diarrhoea risks dehydration but also means vital nutrients are passing straight through their system and not being absorbed, including vitamins and minerals that can help stop the problem. Sometimes what starts out as a 24 hour looseness of no concern can become self-perpetuating as the kitten doesn't get the trace elements it needs for the gut to slow down and mend. Antibiotics while they can clear any bacterial infection also irritate the gut lining and can cause diarrhoea - to help counteract this an injection of vitamin B should help but unfortunately most vets wait to be asked about it rather than offering it as routine.
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Kiran »

Hi, I'm not sure if this will be helpful for anyone but I got a kitten at 10 weeks and she had diarrhea from the moment we brought her home. This went on for at least a month, stool samples were clear, she was wormed with panacur for 5 days and even prescribed fortiflora by the vets. The only thing that seemed to help was giving her boiled chicken but we knew this couldn't be a long-term solution as it's not a complete meal. After a couple of weeks on the boiled chicken I came across 'Natures Menu' kitten satchets which are mainly chicken. This has massively helped and she still gets diarrhea if I add anything to her diet (can't tolerate dry or other proteins yet) but I was finally able to relax knowing she is having a complete meal and her stool was more formed. Worth a go if you're really stuck!
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Re: Help with cats diarrhoea, at wits end

Post by Gemini67 »

Try prokolin
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