My cat has diarrhea and is too anxious for vet visits. Advice?

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.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding PJ. You can consider a diet change. If she is a high anxiety kitty, I like Royal Canin Veterinary Diets Calm. It is an anti-anxiety food. You could also add a probiotic such as Fortiflora or Proviable to help with her digestive health. If all of these changes do not help, then I would recommend further testing. There is a parasite known as Tritrichomonas in cats that will cause soft stool. She may also require a blood panel specific to GI disorders. It measures two pancreatic values as well as cobalamin and folate levels. I hope this information helps!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Molly. I recommend discussing the use of gabapentin with her veterinarian. This medication can cause sedation and calming effects in cats. A probiotic such as Fortiflora can help with GI distress. Her veterinarian may prescribe an antibiotic to have on hand as well in case the diarrhea occurs. I hope this information helps!

Poor Shadow! I am sorry to hear that he is not feeling well. Until you can get Shadow to the vet (which I definitely recommend) you can with hold food for 12- 24hrs, then offer a bland diet of plain boiled chicken and rice (he may only be interested in the chicken) for about 1 - 2 days. After which you can reintroduce his regular diet. You also want to make sure that both litter boxes are extra clean. Sometimes in multi-cat households one cat decides that he/she no longer is ok using a "used" litter box (cats are wonderful, but have odd behaviors sometimes). It may be worth just keeping them separate so that Shadow has his own personal kitty bathroom until he sees the vet. As I stated earlier, I definitely recommend having Shadow seen by a vet as soon as possible because chronic diarrhea results in dehydration, which in a very small, young kitten we want to address sooner rather than later to prevent progressive potentially severe illness. I hope that this was helpful for you and that Shadow starts to feel better soon!

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!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! He is so handsome! Vomiting and diarrhea can occur secondary to conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, dietary indiscretion, parasites, among other possibilities. I recommend that you have Kalvin evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. At the very least they can start him on medications to make him feel better and check his hydration status. In the meantime, keep water available at all times to try to prevent dehydration. Good luck and have a good day!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. The next steps for me would be a deworming and switching to a prescription GI diet to see if that helps. If no improvement, abdominal ultrasound and full bloodwork are indicated. Best wishes to you and Sven!