My cat has diarreah, what can I do?

[Bumblebee87]

I'm a little bit worried about my cat. We have been on holiday for the last 5 days, so he has been in a caterry for that time. The lady who looked after him was lovely so I'm sure she would have told me if he was unwell whilst there, but I might text to double check.

Whilst he was the he was eating different wet food and last night when we picked him up I also gave him some different wet food to the one he usual has.

I woke up last night to hear him crying in his litter tray and then when I got up this morning at 8 he had had diarreah (which for the life of me I cannot spell) in his litter tray and on the floor. Since then he's done it 3 more times.

I feel so sorry for him and I'm quite worried. He's our first cat and we've only had him since New Year so we're quite inexperienced. I'm wondering if it's because of the different food or because of the stress of moving from here to a cattery and then back here (he was very upset with me when I picked him up, he's normally very affectionate but he was flicking his tail at me and walking away, growling at me and scratching, which he never ever does. He was back to his normal affectionate self as soon as we got in the car to go home though.

I'm really worried about him. What can I do today to help him? I was thinking about just giving him dry food and plenty of water all day, no wet food?
When does it become necessary to take him to a vet?
Is there anything I can buy that will help him? (DP is convinced they must do something like immodium for cats, I'm not so sure!)

Any advice at all would be very much appreciated, thanks

[shaska]

I would monitor for the next couple of hours. If he's still... running... this afternoon I'd probably give the vet a ring, as that's quite a lot of output for a morning. Or of course if he seems to be worsening.

I'd also keep him off food until this evening, and definitely switch back to your normal food once you start feeding again. It could be that he's not coping with the food change for some reason, or could be a bug he picked up at the cattery.

[Bumblebee87]

Thank you shaska
Thankfully he's been fine for the past hour and a half, I'm hoping he stays ok. He seems perfectly fine in himself though He keeps going over to his food bowl though, I feel really sorry for him.

I'm just glad it's the Easter holidays, I'd normally be in work so wouldn't be able to keep an eye on him. I've got to go out later but I should know by then if he's ok

Thanks again for your reply and advice, it's just a bit worrying the first time it happens I think.

[cozietoesie]

My mum was a teacher and once had a sick note in for a child apologising for her absence because she had 'dire rear'.

You're not alone - it's an awful word!

Hope he's better later on.

[Bumblebee87]

Haha 'dire rear'. To be fair, that describes it quite well

The worst thing is, I am a teacher and usually pride myself on my spelling. That word seems to be my nemesis

[shaska]

Poor wee popppet. Good that the flow seems to have stopped though.

I can't spell it either and I'm good at spelling...

You could probably cave in and give him a late lunch/early dinner if he stays ok through the afternoon. Though maybe keep him away from the sofa afterwards just in case!

[Bumblebee87]

I was hoping to be able to do that, he keeps going to his food bowl which is making me sad. He's just had a little bit more in his litter tray though not as much as before though, so I think he's improving. I think it must be the food that I gave him last night, which is a shame as he really enjoyed it.

[Bumblebee87]

The sofa doesn't worry me too much, it's leather so would clean off easily I think. It's the carpeted floors that are bothering me I think we need to get laminate flooring.

[cozietoesie]

Back to his usual food, I think. If he has diarrhoea, then his innards may well be/have been quite sore and gassy.

If I recall - but any vet posting will put me right - the current advice is to feed them through it and if you know that his previous food agreed with him...... I think I'd give him a morsel in his bowl, myself.

[Micah]

Have you got any plain chicken? Little and often.

As long as he's drinking, and ok except for the dire rear I wouldn't worry. If he's been in the Cattery it's unlikely to be a fb/poison etc. so most likely reason is stress and food change.

My kitties used to like a stomach massage if they were upset :)



P.s immodium isn't a great plan anyway, even for humans. The body is expelling nasties for a reason, the last thing you want to do is trap it in there to cause more problems.

[Bumblebee87]

I don't have any plain chicken but I'll be popping to the shops soon so might pick up some there. He does like chicken
I'm tempted to give him a little bit of his usual food. I might give another hour or so and see how he is. He's currently snoozing in a little sun spot on his blanket so I don't think he's too poorly

Thanks for all the advice so far, I was so worried this morning.

[chickenfuckingpox]

yakult is recommended for cats on antibiotics which give them diarrhea get some of that? i remember when my cat was ill like this the vet told me to give him bio yogurt the only one he would eat was tesco raspberry flavor!

[Higgle]

When I started my care managers course the tutor said she would not accept any incorrect spelling of diarrhoea and taught us

dia R - Roger -R -Rabbit H- hops O - over E-every A apple
to remember. Hope your cat is better soon, OP, with my dog I always take his food to the kennels with him as any variation in make / type gives him squitters for days.

[RubbishMantra]

Scrambled eggs? Not made with butter, mind.

[DidoTheDodo]

My cats appear to like Activia (from the lid-licking that goes on). Happy Tummies, anyone!

[SpringtimeForShatner]

Diarrhoea Is A Really Runny Heap Of Endless Amounts.

Poor cat . My moggy had an upset stomach when we brought her home from the shelter. She hadn't eaten for days, then they thought they'd struck gold and found a food she liked and gave her a few trays of Gourmet something or other. We think she'd eaten it out of desperation, and wasn't used to it at all. We put her on dry food for sensitive stomach and the diarrhoea cleared up quite quickly. Unusual wet foods seemingly can have horrible consequences.

[Bumblebee87]

Thanks everyone, will be adding some bio yogurt to my shopping list too. Although he seems ok ATM, there's been no more diarrhoea for a few hours.

Funnily enough Springtime, it was gourmet that I gave him last night! It was very wet, much wetter than his usual food. I also gave him two pouches throughout the evening rather than one, so I think that must have been it. He really enjoyed it, it's a shame but I don't think I'll be giving him that ever again.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Cozie gets the gold star the advice is to keep feeding them their normal food. Most cats are lactose intolerant so if you give them yoghurt you make the diarrhoea worse, there are non lactose containing probiotics presentations that are okay.
In a well cat who is eating and drinking it is okay to wait 48hours to see if the diarrhoea resolves. If the cat is not eating or drinking, is unwell or if there is blood in the diarrhoea they should say the vet.
Cats should never ever be starved it can lead to other far worse problems.

[cozietoesie]

Hope he's dried up some overnight.

I think I'd be getting an extra tray for him as well if he only has one. Not just because he's unwell and to save him making too long a trip if he's caught short (and therefore having an accident) but on general principle if he's an indoor cat. They're not expensive and always useful to have around just in case. (And not just for cat things - nothing special about trays, they're just sturdy plastic containers, so they can be usd for a multitude of household tasks - and actually are so used at cozietowers.)

[Bumblebee87]

Sorry, I thought I posted a reply last night but I must have done something wrong.

I came home last night and it had happened again but on the new advice (and the fact that he kept going to his wet food bowl) I have him some of his usual wet food which he wolfed down, bless him.

It hasn't happened since He seems back to normal. Thanks so much everyone for your advice, I really appreciate it, I was so worried yesterday morning

He does have two litter trays, for some reason when he had the diarrhoea he didn't seem particularly keen on using either one

[cozietoesie]

That's extremely promising.

Poor lad maybe couldn't get to his trays in time or was temporarily associating his tray with a sore gut - which he'd likely have had if human diarrhoea is anything to go by.

I'm glad he's improved.

[shaska]

Glad to hear he's on the mend, and good to have learned about feeding through stomach upsets. I guess I was imagining letting everything 'pass through' for a few hours like you would with humans - every day's a school day!

Looks like he'll be going to the cattery with his own food in future!

[cozietoesie]

Oh I think everything has to 'pass through' right enough, shaska - you just likely need to give it a little push with some new food.

[pilates]

I'm surprised the cattery didn't ask what food you normally use. When I visited a cattery a couple of months ago, they immediately said they would use the same brand of cat food so as not to upset my kitten's stomach. Hope he gets better soon.

[Bumblebee87]

Thanks everyone I did actually give the cattery his normal food and explained that he can be a bit fussy, but when I picked him up she'd tried him on different food and hadn't used all of his normal food, I'm not sure why. She was really lovely so I didn't think anything bad of it at the time. Next time he goes I'll have to insist he stays on his normal food

To be fair though, I think it was the food that I have him, which was also different. We were driving back from holiday and the only shop we were nearby didn't sell his usual food, so I blame myself more than the cattery

[cozietoesie]

Some cats seem to have cast-iron innards and some don't. (Seniorboy, for all his patrician lineage, appears to have the general constitution of a Massey Ferguson.)

Now that you know his insides are possibly a bit sensitive, you can make future allowance for it.