Thread: Stupid question about frequent diarrhea

I know, we were starting to get worried about his weight as he'd hardly put on any since we got him

We get the Bozita from Zooplus though the local petstore owner seems to be able to order anything so I may ask him if he can get it for me so we can get that and the chickfeed delivered to our home. We get the Porta 21 from there aswell and tbh i'd probably eat that myself if i heated it up it looks that good

Originally Posted by ayeizajedi

We get the Porta 21 from there aswell and tbh i'd probably eat that myself if i heated it up it looks that good

Note to self: politely decline dinner invites to Schrodinger's house...

Applaws and Cat Deli sounds like Porta 21 - a breeder told me that a human could eat Applaws if they wanted to. Although I'd have to have exhausted beans on toast and (possibly) pot noodle before I'd resort to it! Well, maybe I'm exaggerating with the pot noodle.

[QUOTE=FreyjaRoMaine;6865]a breeder told me that a human could eat Applaws if they wanted to. It is made from human grade products and yes I have seen a pack eaten by a human! It was after the rep had been in and we had agreed to stock it at work, the guy on our team who buys food decided to give it a try and said it was really good and tasty! I declined his kind offer of a taste as did the rest of us. Thankfully my remit does not involve trying anything food related the closest I get to trying anything only goes as far as smelling stuff or trying out hand stuff soaps and hand gel mostly.

I agree that the applaws does look and smell like a yummy tin of tuna...can;t say I have ever been tempted though and I just take my cats empty bowls as proof that they like it!!

One of our girls has always tended toward the "soft side" and used to occasionally have brief bouts of diarrhea. I think you have gotten some good suggestions. Canned food has a very high water content so too much unbalanced by dry could be an issue (our girl will eat almost exclusively wet if allowed to). Our experience has always been that the more dry the cats eat, the stiffer their stools are (as long as they do not have an issue with the dry). We also found that there are particular foods that cause her problems and we have learned to stay away from them (e.g., Fancy Feast florentine flavors). However, when our youngest brought something in that gave everyone diarrhea, the vet gave us Purina Fortiflora, and this actually almost totally eliminated Allie's issues. So I definitely agree that probiotics are worth a shot, as it was unbelievable how much of a change it made. She has had almost no issues now for a year (and had more Fortiflora only once or twice more).

Thanks all, some very helpful info here. I am happy to report that bowel movements have returned to their normal (albeit soft) consistency.

I can't decide the best way to 'test' for what the cause of 'soft stool syndrome' is - do you think start with the kibble first, or re-introduce a small amount of whiskas? Anyone got any tips for how best do to that latter? Given that the poor little lamb's stomach is all over the shop I don't want to make things worse for her.

Probably the easiest thing to try is something like the Fortiflora probiotics. if the cat will just eat it. All we do for our youngest is mix a bit of water into it to form a paste and he licks every bit of it. Unfortunately the female that we would like to feed it to periodically has to have it syringed in, which is a big pain. I am sure you can get Fortiflora in UK, but others there have mentioned different probiotics, I believe. I of course can vouch only for the Fortiflora, but it almost immediately improved our female that used to often have soft stools. We originally bought it at the vet, but subsequently ordered online for much less.

Here is the Purina site for it:
Purina Veterinary Diets - FortiFlora - Feline Formula

Here it is on Amazon so you can see price (not sold by Amazon):
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/FortiFlora-FELINE-Box-gram-packets/dp/B00164YL22"]Amazon.com: FortiFlora FELINE - Box of 30 (1 gram packets): Kitchen & Dining@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IFIiB2EDL.@@AMEPARAM@@51IFIiB2EDL[/ame]

The next easiest is probably to experiment with the amount of wet being consumed and also try experimenting with different wet flavors. We quite rapidly found that every time our girl ate any Fancy Feast florentine flavor, her stools the next day would be much worse. So you would have to try feeding just one (or maybe two) flavors one day, and a completely different flavor the next day and keep track of what happens (may have to write down what you are doing if you find the days blend together, which sometimes happens to us). Not sure how easy changing flavors is for you from your post. Our cats rotate among about 20 different flavors of Fancy Feast so it was very easy for us.

I find experimenting with dry food to be the most difficult as changing seems to be the most likely by itself to cause upsets, and because you cannot just buy the equivalent of a couple of cans to try. Still, it would be worth trying some other brand to see if perhaps the current one just does agree with your girl. We did have one young MC that was very sensitive (we believe he had some food allergies) and we had to search for a dry that did not cause him problems. All the other MCs that we have had, though, have never had any issues with any of the half dozen or so dry foods that we have tried. The more dry vs. wet they eat in a day, the firmer their stools.

And of course pay attention to treats! Our youngest loves the Science Diet TD that we use as a treat, but if he eats more than 15-20 pieces in a day, even he will have "dire consequences" (as we say).

Hi, Karen. Both Hobbes and our "new" lad Paddy have had squishy bums recently.Took Hobbes to the vet where he got a jab and a six-pack of "Sensitive RC Vet sachets". Clearly Hobbes thought these were vile, judging by the look on his face and the fact that he didn't Dyson the bowl clean, but his "problem" went away. A week later, Paddy marched out to his litter tray, balanced himself delicately with all four paws on the edge and let rip, as it were. So we tried him on the remaining "Sensitive" stuff - nix, nada, no improvement.
Went and bought white fish and cooked it simply. Hobbes thought we didn't love him any more, Paddy ate some, but we still have the problem. Now Whisper has a "nasty bum" as well, so I am wondering what exactly they are all snacking on

We do know that we have to keep the two youngsters away from Spike's High Life Tuna - it is WAY too rich for them.

Our vet has two MCs and his final recommendation was to keep a 1.5kg pack of the RC Prescription Sensitive in hand and when this starts, put them on it for a couple of days and stop feeding the wet stuff. Trouble is, four MCs free-feeding on prescription kibble gets expensive and it is difficult to explain to the two who DON'T need it that it is only for the two who DO.

Oh, and Hobbes has, unfortunately, never grown out of "stepping in the poo" and he is 15 months old . He frequently has Very Smelly Feet as a result.

I think we'll have to eliminate the squishy food for a bit and keep them all on kibble - see whether that makes a difference.