All I want for Christmas is solid poo

[nearlynermal]

Seriously. I want two cats both simultaneously producing normal cylindrical crap that is not all over the litter box, on their bottoms, their feet, in perfect butthole prints on the sofa cushion, or my work shirts. I've had them for 6 weeks and feel like I'm permanently knee deep in diarrhoea. Am seriously considering giving them back...

God speed.
We had giardia it took three months to get rid
Couldn't get a full dose of panacur in any of the buggers, ended up buying liquid and enduring the mess.
We were using a 30litre bag of litter per day but the drips!

I feel your pain, Mia. Cat Flu Cat is getting 4 pills a day for the foreseeable future. I try to follow the Helpful Vancouver Vet technique, but have to wedge my fingernail over his little bottom teeth to open his mouth and am always afraid of hurting him. He gets a Thrive chicken treat to take the taste out of his mouth between pills.

He’s so gorgeous! Good luck with it.

Have you tried hiding the pills in some food? Stuffed deep into a piece of chicken breast?

My cat will take it in a blob of Philadelphia cheese, but probably not ideal for your cats and their sensitive bellies!

Also, meloxicam gave my cat terrible diarrhoea when he had flu. So if he's on that then could also be a cause. He tolerates onsior much better but it is more expensive, so you could consider for next time.

Most likely both will have giardia though....hope you don't get it too!!!

Winky I tried to hide the pills in sticks as well. My cat ate the stick and spat out the pill...

Remembered, if you need pet safe disinfectant check Amazon for a five litre pump bottle and refills.
We used so much it's ridiculous but the refills worked out considerably cheaper.
Also bought a couple more litter trays so could soak m for the ten mins after cleaning.

Queef Yikes, sounds like you had quite a time of it! I'm using Dettol, but I suspect that's a bit risky as it's so strong smelling.

I knew from the thread title what it would be
I remember that stage, then the stink gets worse (it's possible) and you start to despair!
My old lady cat was a supreme horror, wouldn't have medicine and would run away for two days.
Then come home and reinfect the others
I was worried enough to consider getting the stronger treatment
Tea towels are good for covering work surfaces, easy to boil wash. I used old towels to cover beds in, changed several times a day after each wet pump.

Oh man. Sounds like Cat Flu Kitten is definitely going to need the meds too. Poor little beast. Last thing he needs.

Where did you get them from OP?

How is it going?
Don't be shocked if they do sudden mad cat scrambles and bomb the litter tray
Is the smell bearable?

I am cautiously optimistic! Cat Flu Kitten doesn't seem to have caught it yet, and Poopy Kitten has taken on 2/3 doses of meds and produced something more or less normal this evening! And either I've got used to the stench, or the house is smelling less bad! Fingers crossed...

Or possibly eating my roses has settled his tummy...

Fingers crossed for you.

Ooh, this is encouraging: Poopy Kitten, while still pretty stinky, seems to be coming right. Cat Flu Kitten just produced a beautiful 2.5 on the vet's Poop Richter scale, so he still doesn't seem to have it and the chicken and Fortiflora seem to be counteracting his antibiotics.

(Oh God: what has happened to my life...)

Dettol is poisonous to cats (icatcare.org/advice/cats-and-poisons/). If it's the type that goes milky when you add water then it contains phenols and shouldn't be used around cats. I use Method products, which I understand are petsafe.

Zoflora is safe once it has dried. Or use an enzyme cleaner from the pet shop

(Oh God: what has happened to my life...)

You got pet cats, this is all inevitable. Next step is leaving family events early, spending longer in the pet food aisle than can possibly be normal, the cold fury when the supermarket stops making their favourite litter, losing all fleece blankets to them, giving them filtered water because they didn’t like Volvic or their water fountain.

All inevitable.

You also end up trapped on the sofa desperate for a wee as you don’t want to disturb the sleeping cat.

It's exhausting dealing with diarrhoea all the time it really is.
My cat has had inflammatory bowel disease for 10 years. No amount of steroids, diet or probiotics has cured her. Vet is stumped.
She has to live in the kitchen with a cat flap into the garden as she's so messy.
Litter tray gets emptied and cleaned twice a day. She's OK in herself and I love her. She's 18. She looks well and is happy but by God there have been days when I don't know how to carry on.
I feel your pain. Is the vetc investigating this actively. Consider changing vet. Some of them are hopeless when it comes to diarrhoea.

Thanks all. I'll swap out the dettol ASAP. The cats already own all three of the fleece blankets in the house, and Simon my tiny bladder has indeed been tested by snoozing beasts! They are on the sofa next to me now, with some heroic farting going on (them, not me).

Madcatlady what a kind cat mum you are! My local vet practice are lovely, and pretty much saved Cat Flu Kitten's life. They called for the giardia test and got that diagnosis right, so I'm pretty sure they're OK.

It’s amazing how we all get manipulated into handing over our creature comforts & we don’t complain about it.

Oh he is gorgeous.