Diarrhea help

[PussinKahoots]

Hi, please help!

We adopted a lovely cat 12 days ago. Rescue said slightly upset tummy, probably just food, gave probiotics.

Soon after coming home, it was clear he was actually ill. Leaking, temperature etc. Vet gave antibiotics. This helped - he was well in himself again. But still constant diarrhea. After a few days and antibiotics completed, took him back to vet, who checked for parasites (all clear) and general check - all good. Gave another course ofif antibiotics.

He's still got diarrhea. I started him on plain poached chicken and rice yesterday. Still has diarrhea. Today it looked like rice in his poo but now I'm worried it could be tapeworm? Or rice from his food? He was wormed mid July by the rescue and is in the middle of a course of metronidazole. Would it be ok to worm him again in case it's this? If I need to I'll take him back to the vet, but we are not in UK and it is horribly expensive, so if this might help and won't be harmful I'd rather try first. Or just carry on with chicken and rice for a few more days to see?

Forgot the obligatory picture :)

Hopeful bump thank you ☺️

Dilemma solved, can't buy worming meds OTC here apparently

Ohhhh got home and he's covered in liquid poo :(

Has a food allergy been ruled out?

Not yet - I've put him on rice and chicken but that hasn't helped yet. Vets have both times assumed infection but we're into day 4 of the second dose of antibiotics so I don't see how it can be that?

For short-term relief we used pro-kolin for cats which is a paste. Our cat used to happily lick it off a spoon once she got past her initial suspicion. It's a probiotic with kaolin and pysillium husk to firm up poos. Longer term we had great success with the royal canin sensible regular dry food which cured the diarrhoea in less than a week. We buy it from ZooPlus. Our vets stock Hills but we tried their sensitive food and it didn't make a difference.

It really does sound - especially checking the PDSA guidance as if the poor wee thing needs to go back to the vet.

Can you get Logic Firm Paste where you are? Mercifully for my vegan self I’ve not ever reached point of having cook chicken for either of mine; but the couple of times they’ve had gastro issues that’s - combined with sticking to pouches/tins of plain chicken/chicken with rice/chicken with pumpkin - helped. In your case, think vet is definitely the key though - will they offer advice over the phone? Or will the rescue as cat is still pretty new to you?

Hope that things improve soon.

I'll look into pastes. He still has probiotics alongside the antibiotics. The rescue place have been pretty poor. They did say he can be seen by their vet for the first 2 weeks. The first time I had to beg them and the second time I simply couldn't get through so took to a different vet. They couldn't tell me how long it had been going on for.

He is the most beautiful and friendly cat, ragdoll cross. I'm wondering if he became stray because he had a problem that his owners couldn't manage.
I hate keeping him confined to certain rooms because he's so loving but there is q serious liquid explosion issue that does need to be contained.

It's awful and I'm so worried :(

Can't get logic firm here it seems

My cat has similar issues and has colitis caused by food intolerances. She had vet prescribed gastro food with probiotic paste which has settled it. She’s now permanently on gastro sensitive diet from the vet.

You need to go back to the vet. He can assess whether there is an underlying cause and prescribe a bulking agent to help with the liquid poo.

I had a Siamese with an incredibly delicate tummy years ago. The slightest thing would upset her runny and once it started it was hard to get her out of the cycle. Our vet prescribed a bulking agent (Peridale capsules) which instantly helped to firm up her bowel movements and she would then be OK again until the next time.

Hope all goes well.

Thank you all. I will ring the vets (will try both) in the morning. It's so difficult, poor lovely cat :(

That’s pretty rubbish of the rescue, frankly. (Sorry, not very helpful, I know, but true.)

I hope the vet is able to help & that it’s not anything sinister/too serious.

Hope your cat is OK. This does sound really poor on the part of the rescue. One of my kittens had very soft poo when we got him (not quite diarrhea though) I worm treated him once, then repeated 2 weeks later, changed his food and started pro-kolin paste. He is fine now but not sure which of those things worked or whether it was a combination of the 3.

Dont have any experience of ragdolls so not sure if there are health issues that are common with the breed ? Good luck

Little update for you: pretty sure it's a chicken allergy. After posting here I gave up on chicken and rice - seemed to be making things worse. Switched to a horribly expensive sensitive dry food with lamb and horribly expensive grain and chicken free wet food, using a stool firmer for a few days to start with. He's mostly been completely fine since. Apart from, a few days ago someone gave him a couple of chicken dreamies. Not a good day. Then yesterday our cleaner came in and fed him a bowl of chicken iams. Bad night.

I'm just going to steer well clear of any chicken, keep to the horribly expensive sensitive foods and possibly try a tiny bit of chicken in a few weeks.

Would you agree it sounds like an allergy to chicken?

And I forgot to mention, the rescue still haven't replied to any of my messages or emails asking about his history. I don't expect they ever will.

Uneventful update : still fine :)

I just found you let thread and I’m glad to read your update that his tummy issues are under control!

I’m on day 13 of a similar thing, and trying to rule things out, and your thread has been very helpful. But I sympathise with the constant cleaning of diarrhea you’ve been doing - me too.

Forgot to add - mine was a Shelter cat too. No help from them when I called to find out if he had diarrhea during his 12 days with them, or to clarify if the food he was on was actually what I was told it was…..🤯

Oh good luck! For us, the magic combo seems to be Sanabelle Sensitive dried food along with a non-chicken no grain fish-based canned food (brand local to here). He's put on 1.5kgs in the 5ish weeks we've had him. :)

That’s fantastic! Such a relief for you to be past the cleaning constant diarrhea stage and you can enjoy them!

I am coming up to 48 hours of solid stools, and for me the trick was a(nother) worm tablet, a final explosive diarrhea incident that almost broke me, 14 hours without food, then straight onto Hills dry Kitten dry food, strictly rationed out every 2 hours.

Not sure if it was worms, the old food, him gorging himself or what, but I am so, so, so grateful to be passed that stage!