Sudden diarrhoea

[EdinburghCatMan]

Hello! Not a fun topic to start the day off with or as an introduction, but on Friday evening my 7 month old cat suddenly developed diarrhoea. He is very bright in himself and I have just started him on ProKolin to see if this helps. My usual order of food has been delayed so I rushed round to Tesco to get some food. A lot of supermarkets don’t carry the food I use so I ended up giving them Felix. I did wonder if the sudden change in diet did it, but my 3 year old suddenly had diarrhoea too, and another one did a softer stool than normal. They are indoor cats but I was worried if the possibility of something like Giardia maybe coming in on my shoes. I was going to try boiled chicken to see if that helps then when their food comes slowly reintroduce that. I just got a bit worried when more than one had it but the 3 year old has always had a sensitive stomach. I do get worried about feline coronavirus, I know it’s something 80% of cats have been exposed to it and most do well, but I lost a foster kitten to FIP earlier this year (he already looked poorly and didn’t have contact with my cats, and I had a specific shirt for handling him and washed my hands after handling him). It’s not pure liquid, it does have some lumps in it. Since the vet is closed today, I just wanted another opinion if I am going the right way with boiled chicken or should be looking into panacur or something.
Just as I was typing this, I heard one being sick. The 7 month old just brought up a brown liquid

[fjm]

The food change is the most likely cause - did they all eat it? I'd try plain chicken for a day or two, along with the Pro-Kolin, and make a vet appointment if it doesn't improve tomorrow - unless, of course, things take a sudden turn for the worse.

[Mollycat]

Assuming you actually are in Edinburgh, this is very very interesting, because I've just had the same in Bristol.

First the cat - indoor only cat - brought up 4 tiny furballs then the same morning (Tuesday or Wednesday) brown stuff out of both ends, identical except for the smell, which was vile in both cases but at least distinguishable. Obviously very sore and painful stomach cramps as well. Yesterday it seemed to all calm down, she won't take Pro-Kolin so I didn't even try, just made sure she drank and nibbled something no matter how small.

Then on Thursday the dog started, first vomited twice and asked to go out to pee brown stuff out of his bottom (sorry but perfect description) three times in two hours, and he has continued since. Same as cat no more out of the front end but liquid out the back, and waking us up in the night for it. The most horrendous smell.

I suspect the Felix. Whatever cat doesn't finish dog gets added to his next meal, and she has been on Felix for a year and a half now. Obviously she left more as she was barely touching it so the dog got more. She can't bring in anything and I don't wear my shoes indoors, only dog can bring in any nasties (which is why the cat got wormed last time she has d&v, in case he brought them in and dumped them in the water bowls). I took her off it and went to her treat food Gourmet little pate tins.

At the moment I'm treating it as a 48 hour acute bug, dog has an appointment Tuesday for something else and cat seems better. Vet says this time of year always brings a wave of d&v. But I need to know going forward so after a few more days I'm switching her back to Felix and if it kicks off again I will let folks know here obviously. It might sound mean but I can cope better with Molly being ill than a dog that has to be let out and can't be while I'm at work!!