Cartman has had Diarrhea for a Few Days

[cartmans_mommy]

To start, Cartman is on special diet of Fancy Feast White Elegant Medleys (shredded white chicken & garden greens) and Iams Kitten Pro-Active dry food, and I'm supplementing this with GNC Ultra Mega High Calorie Booster and Cat-Sip. Cartman has had diarrhea (runny & loose-formed, no blood) once a day for the last few days & I'm becoming concerned. At first I thought it was because of the diet change (I added the Fancy Feast, Cat-Sip, & a high calorie booster paste to his diet to help him gain weight), but the diarrhea has not subsided & I'm starting to get concerned that he's going to get dehydrated (well, he drinks a lot of water) or an electrolyte imbalance and malnurished. Should I back off on the canned food & extras & start at square one with just the dry Iams kitten food? Do you think it could be a food intolerance to the Fancy Feast or Cat-sip? Or I'm kind of embarassed to say this, but do you think I'm just giving him to much liquid in his diet? Is this normal on canned catfood? I know that dry food isn't good for diabetic kitties, but I imagine it adds bulk to their stool, is there anything I could give him with his canned cat food to help bulken his stool?

 

[Sherry & Zoe (GA)]

For what its worth....when I tried CatSip with Zoe, she had diarrhea....so possibly this is what is happening to Cartman....maybe a food intolerance? You could try giving Cartman a bland home cooked diet of plain, cooked white rice mixed with plain boiled chicken breast.....just kind of mash the rice and chicken together......it is easy on the digestive tract.

Dry food isn't good for any diabetic kitty....doesn't add bulk. Our vet had me give Zoe a little bit of Benefiber when she had diarrhea....like an 1/8tsp per day....but you have to add a lot of water to the diet when you do that.

I'm sure more people will be along with more suggestions......

 

[tuckers mom]

What food was he on before he came to your place? I have not tried the catsip but if Zoe had problems with it too, I'd have to agree to remove that. The FF Medleys is great to get cats eating, but it's not good for kitties with bad bellies. Every time I can't get a cat to eat I use the FF Medleys, but only for a day or two. I've also used to for liquid Program for some outdoor ferals. It's easy to hide meds in.

What do you think of starting her back on her old food and then slowly transitioning her to FF classic pate? I know she didn't care for it, I saw that on your other post, but you could add a little water to it, mix it up and microwave for a few seconds to bring out the scent, kitties seem to like that.

You're doing great, it just takes a little time. You have a lot on your plate right now, learning about kitties in general and about diabetes. You'll be an old pro in no time

 

[WickedSteppMom]

I don't know what kind of "garden greens" are in the Fancy Feast you're feeding him, so I can't say for sure if this is an issue, but my Stinky kitty has some gastro issues (that's how he got his name!) and we were advised to stay away from things w/greens. Made sense to me, since I have IBS & have to avoid them myself at times. If his tummy/system is already irritated, I'd feed him something else & you could always try it again later when things have calmed down.

 

[Dyana]

You could also try to give him some FortiFlora, which helps with Diarrhea.

 

[cartmans_mommy]

Thank you for your replies. Cartman was on Iams Kitten food (dry) before I got him. I discontinued everything but the Fancy Feast shredded chicken appetizer (shredded baked chicken in water) & added cooked rice and only fed him that for 24 hrs. It worked well, a little too well as he became constipated and didn't poop for the next two days :razz: So I ended up giving him a can of Fancy Feast Elegant Medley with Cat-Sip, an oil-based vitamin paste, and a tablespoon of Metamucil mixed in it, which needless to say, got things going. He's fine now and on Friskies pate canned food (finally found one he'll tolerate). Probably changing his diet and trying these different foods threw his system for a loop. Haven't had any problems since, but now I know what works if we have problems in the future ;-)