Thread: Stupid question about frequent diarrhea

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).

Thanks NCarver, I've found a couple of online stockists for the FortiFlora so I'll order a box and see how we get on.

It's interesting to hear that the dry can cause more problems than the wet. Over the last couple of weeks I've slowly phased her over to adult biscuits (Go Cat) and although the stools were soft before we changed the dry, I could restock on a small bag of RC Kitten 36 as that was what she was on when she first came home.

Thanks again. Feel better now I've got a course of action.

Originally Posted by FreyjaRoMaine

Thanks NCarver, I've found a couple of online stockists for the FortiFlora so I'll order a box and see how we get on.

It's interesting to hear that the dry can cause more problems than the wet. Over the last couple of weeks I've slowly phased her over to adult biscuits (Go Cat) and although the stools were soft before we changed the dry, I could restock on a small bag of RC Kitten 36 as that was what she was on when she first came home.

Thanks again. Feel better now I've got a course of action.

I hope the Fortiflora works as well for you as it did for us, but it certainly might not. Just to be clear on issues with dry...for all but one of our cats we have never had any issues from dry except when trying something totally new. I think they generally take in more actual protein from eating dry because the canned food is so high in water content. That is why I think you can see more issues from changing a dry food, so you should change over during the course of a week--not in one day. We have never noticed any similar issues from rotating among a very large number of flavors and even brands of canned. We have never had any diarrhea issues caused by any dry food that our cats have consistently eaten, except in the one cat that clearly had some sort of issue. I know that at least a couple of people on this group have claimed that they have had diarrhea in cats eating mainly dry, and they claim to have tried several dry foods and still had issues. This goes against our experience with 5 of 6 cats. What we see is the more dry each eats, the firmer the stools. Our girl Bella, who eats probably 80-90% dry clearly has the firmest stools of the group, for example. So in general I would advise a higher dry content for cats with soft stools, as long as it isn't the particular dry food that is causing the problems. I think you should definitely try a bag of one of the high protein (40%+) dry foods that has little/no grain. Also, some dry foods have more fiber than others, so check out the fiber percentage, as your girl clearly does not need a higher fiber diet. Every food has the potential to have something in it that doesn't agree with your cat. Read labels and look for something different to try. Incidentally, I looked at the Go Cat Complete Adult on the web, but could not find ingredients or nutritional info on the site, so hard to know much about it. Does not seem to be one of Purina's "high end" foods or there would be more info. Of course all my friends who own plain old cats, just feed whatever dry cat food is cheapest and claim they never have any issues.

Just to add the fortiflora is on sale in the uk so you should be able to get it from your vet or online.

Simba's have been soft of late then last week I wormed him with Drontal. The next day he had diarrhoea which was very runny and I thought this was probably a reaction to the Drontal and was all prepared to take hiim to the vet the next day. It really was awful because he made a complete mess of himself and it was all over his legs and bottom. Too much to wipe off with a wet one so I had to bath him, I filled the sink in the utility room with luke warm water and sat him in it. He struggled to start with but I was very determined as I had no choice and I held his front legs in one hand the washed his bottom half with the other. He eventually calmed down and stopped struggling and after I got my daughter to lay a towel on the draining board and dried him. He looked very funny, top half all fluffy and bottom half wet with a thin tail - he then spent two hours washing himself

Anyway the next day he did no poos at all as far as I am aware (there is a small possibility he did it in the garden but he has never done this before). So I left the vets and decided to keep an eye on him. The day after about lunch time he did a poo in his litter tray that was about as firm as can be and they have been ever since - perfect. I am wondering now if they were soft because he needed worming?

Simba eats RC Mc only. He has the occasional whiskers treat.

Well, Freyja had the trots again Friday and was also sick (although I'm not sure that it wasn't a hair ball - not seen one for years) so all the food came back up. No problems yesterday so I just put down the faithful RC Kitten 36 and still no problems. Introduced a tiny amount of whiskas back into the diet - still no issues, and I need to do this anyway as it's what Wicca will be used to. Only half a pouch in the am, half in the pm, and plenty of biscuits. So far, so good.

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.

If they have diarrhoea then it is likely they are eating more to compensate and this could make the problem worse - I would stop the free feeding and just measure out the portions according to their weight and let them have that in 2 meals per day. That's what worked for mine.

I also give a small amount of wet food and raw minced rabbit in the morning.

Why are you feeding Whiskas? It is made with animal derivatives, and that can mean the remains of other peoples pets!!! Derivatives do not mean offal, it is a balnket term used by pet food manufactureres to describe things that no sane person would feed their pet, like the remains of dogs and cats that have been 'put down' by vets and taken away for disposal! Look it up on the web if your stomach is up to it. Only feed food that has a meat content and it doesn't have to be too high, my MC's can't stomache the really high 'yes you can eat it and yes I have naturally tasted it' food for long without getting the squirts. Our cats are Royal Canin babies so far with no problems at all, please look at the labels, go-cat and the like are muck!