My cats have chronic diarrhea, and one is acting strange. Help!

I would recommend to try switching them to just a plain boiled chicken diet for a few days to see if this settles their stomach and add in some probiotics. I believe you can buy proviable paste online and give as directed. My concern though is that they may have a parasite or bacteria that they aren't finding in their fecal samples. If they aren't improving, contact your vet to see if you can either bring in just a fecal sample or deworm both of the prophylactically. I hope this helps!

Submit a stool sample to your veterinarian to diagnose intestinal parasites or bacterial overgrowth. Deworm him if indicated. You can also have the vet collect a sterile urine sample to submit for urinalysis and culture to rule out UTI or stones. In the meantime, try a 24 hour fast followed by a bland diet in small, frequent amounts. Begin with one tablespoon of food every hour and gradually increase the amount. Feed bland until the stool is normal then transition slowly to the regular diet. Consider a veterinary probiotic, such as FortiFlora, ProViable or ProStora, to promote gut health. A pheromone product such as Feliway spray or plug in diffuser may decrease any anxiety. A small animal repellant along the border of your property will keep strange animals away and out of sight. Thoroughly clean soiled areas using an enzymatic cleaner such as Nature's Miracle.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It sounds like an intestinal parasite. In a close area it is easy for parasites to spread, especially if the cats use the same area to go potty. I would recommend taking 1-2 cats to the vet and bring fresh poop samples so they can look with a microscope. If none are found, they may need to send the sample to a lab to look for a more rare parasite called tritrichomonas. This is usually found in a larger cat group and can come and go but it isn’t as common. Once a diagnosis is made, they may be able to get medications to get the cats treated. I would also clean up stool as often as you can to decrease spreading and clean littler boxes with soap and water daily. Good luck!

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Pet Coach in regards to this problem. When multiple cats within one household have diarrhea this is usually not a dietary problem but highly likely that the cause is a parasite problem. The way to get the diarrhea under control is to take a fecal sample to your veterinarian to be evaluated for parasites. They can prescribe an anti-diarrheal for the kittens with diarrhea that they perform exams on and get the appropriate dewormer for them based on the fecal test results. Best of luck.

Please don't waste your money on those expensive grain free foods. They are not necessary to use except in extreme cases of an actual diagnosed grain allergy which is rare. Grain free diets are now linked to causing heart disease in dogs (we are not sure yet about cats). I recommend you discontinue use of that type of food. My suggestion would be to use a long term course of a probiotic called Fortiflora. Put one packet on his food every day for at least one month. This will help correct any imbalance in good vs bad intestinal bacteria. DO NOT use human probiotics or things like yogurt. Fortiflora is the best in my opinion and it is palatable so cats like to eat it. ( http://www.allivet.com/p-1890-purina-pro-plan-veterinary-diets-fortiflora-cat-supplement-box-of-30.aspx ) As for diet. I would use this one: ( https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-feline-care-nutrition-digestive-care-dry-cat-food/2555 ) If your local pet store does not have this food they can surely order it for you or you can order it online. If these things dont' help, he may have inflammatory bowel disease or something along those lines. You would need to discuss diagnosis and treatment with your vet. Hope this helps. Best wishes!

It's possible the cat having diarrhea is having some sort of food allergy, or it could be stress related. Changing the diet or attempting a food trial with your veterinarian may help rule out any potential allergies and help relieve the diarrhea if there were no parasites or illness present. Reducing stress may also help, and adding in a pheromone diffuser in shared rooms can help with reducing stress along with making sure each cat has their own access to the litter box, food, water, etc without competition (that could lead to stress or accidents outside the litter box). As for your picky eater, switching foods may also encourage them to try a little more.

Hi. Poor Misty. Many times plder kitties can have diarrhea from 2 of the most common causes. Irritable bowel syndrome, or GI lymphoma (gastrointestinal cancer). Unfortunately that is on the list due to age. Of course parasites or overgrowth of bacteria should be ruled out by a fecal float and culture. As far as IBS, the signs can be just like your kitties. It is treated via a diet change to a prescription bland food, and steroids. Lymphoma looks exactly alike, except it doesn't respond to treatment as long as IBS. The only way to definitively diagnose is a GI biopsy. That is onvioulsy intense. So many choose to do the diet and steroids and hope for the best. Others do the biopsy and if cancer, may consult w an oncologist. I would recommend starting with an exam, fecal float, fecal culture, xrays of abdomen, and if all normal, diet change and steroids.