Please help - has anyone experienced this before?

[MonkeyGoneToHeaven]

I adopted my cat (domestic shorthair) from a charity six weeks ago when he was 9 months old. He is a lovely, friendly cat who does go outside but seems to prefer to use his litter tray. He has always had very loose poo and we have tried him on a few different foods, but it hasn't helped.

About three weeks ago he started leaking diahorrea. Not all the time but enough to leave a stain wherever he was sleeping, and trails of it over the (cream!) carpets at least once a day. We took him to the vet who said she didnt think there was anything wrong with him and we should try him on hypo-allergenic food. This hasn't made any difference.

The next stage, apparently, will be tests for parasites. He is wormed. I just wondered if anyone had any ideas about what this could be? It may also be relevant that he is constantly hungry and begging for food. He is insured but the excess on the policy is quite high and if I can avoid the tests then it would be helpful.

TIA.

Should have said, he doesn't seem aware that he's doing it so it's definitely a medical rather than behavioural issue.

Well mine had massive digestive problems, the only thing that worked was moving him onto cereal free food.

Some of the hypo food I've seen still has cereals in them.

I put him onto chicken breast only for 6 months. Then I put him onto pouches from Aldi.

He never leaked though. The vets we spoke to where stumped somindid my own research.

I know you said that the problem is 'definitely a medical ....issue' but I'm still wondering if he could be suffering from stress incontinence. Have you tried keeping him inside the house in case going outside worries him at all? He might have met some big bruiser out there that's troubling him and you've only had him for 6 weeks so he won't necessarily be feeling that secure.

Also - do you know anything about his past history? Could he have been in any accidents or have any conditions which might have affected eg his lower spine?

Thank you for your replies. The food we're giving him is James Wellbeloved rice and turkey which is cereal free. I did ask the vet about giving him plain chicken breast only, but she said that it does't contain all the minerals he needs. I might try it for a short period though, if nothing else works.

cozie I am going to keep him in for a few days - this will also help with his diet in case the neighbours are feeding him! He seems bright and happy.

The charity didn't have much information about his as he came from the RSPCA originally when he was quite small, but they didn't think he had been injured.

Hopefully we can get to the bottom (ha!) of this, both for his sake and mine!

OK. Best of luck with him and keep us informed of progress.

PS - to the vet again sooner rather than later, I think, if no improvement. I know the insurance excess will be a pain but you need to cover all bases.

Rice is a cereal.

It could be trying him on several foods that has upset his tummy.

Applaws do a cereal free biscuit, chicken or salmon flavour.

Cats can and do suffer from IBS. When I adopted a cat last year, it was on the understanding that he had these kind of problems and would be on steroids for the rest of his life to control it.
Needless to say over a year on and he is steroid free and having no problems. He also had a history of uti infections, which he was meant to be on a special diet for. He is no longer on the special diet and is not suffering from those either.
I think his problems stemmed from being stressed out in the cattery.
Perhaps try a feliway diffuser, which gives out pheromones that make cats happy and experiment with his diet, as well as perhaps nagging the vet to try him on some steroids.

Thank you all, some great ideas here. I was wondering how long a cat would generally take to get used to a new food? The James Wellbeloved is having zero effect, and this is day eight.

I think I'll give the vet a ring and see what they say.

Yep. Ring the vet. That's been going on for too long for comfort, I think.

We adopted a ragdoll cat from a rescue who had awful diarrhea, we tried everything and the only wet food that worked is Butchers Classic Cat as it is all animal derivatives, no rice or cereal.

The vet has told me to collect a poo sample over three days and they will do some cultures to test for salmonella etc. As MonkeyCat seems perfectly happy in himself, I doubt it is something as serious as salmonella but I suppose we have to start somewhere.

Last night's litter tray deposit seemed to be mostly mucus with green streaks (Sorry TMI). Really hope we can sort this out