My 13-year-old cat has persistent diarrhea. What should I do?

Poor Lucky! I'm glad to hear that he still seems to be acting and eating normally despite this ongoing diarrhea. Some possible causes of persistent diarrhea include parasites, inflammatory bowel disease, gastrointestinal cancers, liver disease, food allergies, among others. You can try transitioning his diet to a novel protein diet ( http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=34182 ) with one protein source and one carbohydrate source to limit the ingredients that he is exposed to. Mix his old and new foods together over 5-7 days, then exclusively feed a new diet for at least 8-12 weeks to determine if the change has been effective. Also adding a probiotic ( http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=21478 ) may be beneficial. However, if his diarrhea continues or worsens, Lucky will need to go to his vet for further evaluation and testing. I hope that all goes well!

Poor Milo. This frequent diarrhea in a cat his age could be caused by stress, pancreatitis, or hyperthyroidism. Hyperthyroidism can be common in senior cats. He needs to see a vet for this problem, and I recommend getting a geriatric blood panel and urinalysis done. These tests are tailored to senior cats and look for diseases like hyperthyroidism. Once the cause of the diarrhea is found, the vet can discuss treatment options. Please take him into a vet in the next few days. I hope this helps!

Poor Kila! The diarrhea could be due to many conditions including eating something she shouldn’t have, bacterial over growth, parasites or even organ disease. If the diarrhea has continued beyond 24 hours, I recommend to have her examined by the veterinarian. With continued diarrhea, there are often bacterial shifts in the gut that will make matters worse regardless of the initial cause. Make sure to bring in a sample of fresh stool. The doctor will check her for parasites and bacterial over growth. Many times a bland diet can help and then a slow, gradual introduction to the normal food can be done. A bland diet can consist of 25% boiled white meat chicken and 75% boiled white rice. This should all be plain. This link also has good information: https://www.petcoach.co/article/diarrhea-in-cats/ I hope your kitty starts feeling better quickly! Please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hello, thank you for using PetCoach. I suggest you have him dewormed and I would also start him on a probiotic (Fortiflora). If you do those two things and the diarrhea doesn't start to resolve in a few days then you need to take him to a vet for an exam. ( https://www.1800petmeds.com/purina+fortiflora-prod10376.html ) ( https://www.1800petmeds.com/drontal+for+cats-prod10073.html ) I don't think the oral flea/tick med is the issue but of course it can be. If you use that again in the future and the diarrhea starts again then you can probably confidently say that it is the issue in which case I would stop using it. Usually if that is the case the diarrhea starts within 24 hours of administration. Two weeks later, it is not likely. The new food is also possibly the culprit but again, you didn't switch cold turkey and it doesn't sound like he is eating that much of it anyway. Again, possible but not likely. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

If this was caused by a food change I would expect him to be back to normal by now. There may be something else underlying going on here that is the cause of Zebco's diarrhea and weight loss, such as intestinal parasites, pancreatic disease, diabetes, or even thyroid disease. I would recommend taking him to your vet for a through examination and potential tests (bloodwork, fecal exam), to hopefully identify the underlying problem so that he is treated appropriately. In the meantime I would suggest feeding Zebco a bland diet of boiled plain chicken and rice or cottage cheese to help settle his stomach a bit. You can also try adding 1-2 tsp of canned pumpkin (not the pie filling) in his food daily to add fiber and help harden the stools up. Best wishes with Zebco and I hope he feels better soon.

Hello, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. If you can get a dewormer into Shadow, that would be a good start. There are many on the market that get roundworms, the most common one to plague cats. Then I would try a product called FortiFlora for cats. It is actually a probiotic, but it can help in some diarrheas, especially in cats. It comes as a box of 30 small packets, & you try to feed one per day in some wet food for a full 30 days. Give this a try & hopefully it will help with shadows problem. Take care..

From my understanding of your post, you have been giving Proviable to Misty for many months now, and while it seems like it initially worked, she is still having diarrhea. I hope I have that correct! Because she has been having diarrhea for such a long time and the Proviable has been given to her for many months, I would say it's not working for her, and I recommend taking her into the vet again as soon as possible. A year is a very long time for a senior cat to have diarrhea, and she may need further tests to diagnose the cause of her diarrhea such as a geriatric blood panel, urinalysis, and possibly x-rays of her abdomen. The cause of the diarrhea needs to be diagnosed so she can be treated correctly. I recommend bringing her into a vet tomorrow. Good luck!