Chronic Diarrohea

Marble · 31-10-2007, 03:43 PM

Hi, I am new to the forum and I'm really hoping someone out there can help. We have 2 cats who are sisters from the same litter and are about 6 years old. The live together in close proximity and even sometimes share the same litter tray. We moved into a new house about a year ago in an area with a lot of bully cats prowling around. As a result one of them (Marble) will no longer go outside. A few months after moving in she started developing lots of scabs on her skin and lost a lot of hair and weight. She has also now had diarrohea for about 10 months and despite various pills from the vets and sensitive stomach foods nothing seems to work. Occasionally she will do some solid stools for a week or two, then its back to the runny stuff. We now have to keep her locked in the conservatory which is breaking our hearts since she used to always curl up at the end of our bed. She doesnt seem to have any loss of appetite and is always meowing for more food and will usually clean her bowl. She still has scabs, mainly around the top of her head and under her chin although most of her fur has grown back. Her sister (Zara) despite living and sleeping in the same area is totally unaffected and is healthier than ever. I think that is all of her symptoms. Any help would be extremely welcome. We have run out of ideas and no one seems to know what is wrong with her so we cant treat her. We are happy to pay whatever it takes, we just want our lovely little cat back!

yola · 31-10-2007, 03:48 PM

Fran and Alex, two of our members both have cats who had/have bad stomach problems. I'm sure they will share advice with you shortly.

Oh, and welcome to Catsey! I hope even after Marble's problems are identified/resolved you might stay on here with us and continue to chat

angieh · 31-10-2007, 03:48 PM

So sorry to hear about Marble. You have obviously tried all sorts of things - have you tried any homeopathic remedies at all?

dinahsmum · 31-10-2007, 03:51 PM

Welcome! Sorry you have a problem.
Do you think she is stressed? If so a Feliway plug in and rescue remedy drops might help.

There are at least 2 members here who've had bad problems but in both cases their cats were younger and they have now recoveered - whether they have grown out of it or what, who knows?

Do you think she might benefit from a change of food (scabby skin & runny belly + food sensitivity, maybe?) Burns is a good food which markets itself as good for sensitive tums/skins.

If your vet has ruled out any possible infection etc you could think about prebiotics (the Yakult theory) or maybe even Canikur, which is basically just a gumming up medicine - nothing in the way of drugs in it. This helped my daughter's cat who was another of the 'young adult with runny belly' brigade. You can buy it without a prescription at the online vets like VetUK

Others will be along to help too - hope you can sort something out.

alexgirl73 · 31-10-2007, 03:56 PM

Hi there Marble, so sorry to hear of your problems. Believe me when I say I know exactly how you are feeling with this. It took 10 months to get my Teddie to stop having chronic diarrhoea. With the scabs and such, I presume she has been tested for ringworm and mites etc. I cant really offer any advice on those issues sorry.
With the other business though, this is what I tried. For around 3 months the only thing Teddie was fed was boiled white fish, basically because it was the only thing she could keep inside her for any length of time. It didnt stop the diarrhoea, but did slow it down and enabled her to get to a litter tray in time. I too had to confine Teddie to the kitchen for weeks at a time, and it is so heartbreaking. We then moved on to a different regime with her which was metronidazole from the vets, along with RC wet sensitivity trays to eat. This made a huge difference with her, as it helped her tummy to settle right down. I dont know if your cat has dried food or not, but Teddie couldnt handle any dried whatsoever. Now however, she is on Asdas own Tiger meat with a handful of RC biscuits on top and is a different little cat completely. Please PM me or ask any questions you like if you think I can be of any help to you. ((hugs)) because I know how stressed you probably are about this.

alexgirl73 · 31-10-2007, 03:58 PM

oh forgot to mention the canikur that DM has mentioned above. This stuff was fantastic for helping Teddie during difficult bouts, along with promax paste (a binding agent you can get from your vets). I also had some powder sent from one of our members in America and I think it was a combination of all of these which helped.I now keep allof these on hand 'just in case' (though fingers crossed I haven't needed them in a few months.

sarahd · 31-10-2007, 04:04 PM

Maybe the vets could give you some form of solution to this problem.

It sounds like the scabs, hair and weight loss need looking into first and possibly they could be the underlying cause for the diarrohea. Its just a thought.

Panacur paste is good for runny poo but if it is some kind of stomach bug or infection it wont work alone it will need some form of antibiotics to work alongside it.

Good luck
Sarah
x

Marble · 31-10-2007, 04:15 PM

Wow, what a quick response, thank you all for all of your thoughts. My name is Chris by the way

I was thinking we were the only people to have these problems! Dinahsmum - I think stress definately had a big part initially. We moved into the house, had the problems with the other neighbourhood cats (4 Siamese had previously had the monopoly on the back gardens) and then went on holiday 2 weeks later and had to put them in a cattery since we didnt know anyone locally to cat sit for us (She got significantly worse while in the cattery although she was sharing with Zara who was fine!) I'll definately try your suggestions and see if there is any improvement. Alexgirl - It sounds like Teddie has had a very similar illness and its great to hear she is better now. It gives me hope for the future. I'm not sure what pills we have tried giving her although I think the last lot also included some steroids. The food she has is Chicken and Rice and comes in purple and white pouches for sensitive stomachs. We put sensitive stomach biscuits down for her but I dont think she eats them. Maybe she does and thats whats keeping her diarrohea going. It sounds like we should remove them from the diet too. At one stage we had to force some horrible brown goo down her throat which was supposed to help gum things up but to no avail. I'm not sure if it was Canikur but I'll definately give that a go too if not. I havent tried any homeopathic remedies at this stage but I'm open to all suggestions and I'll try anything to help her. Thanks, Chris.

dinahsmum · 31-10-2007, 04:18 PM

Canikur is 'palatable granules'. Handy, because you can start by giving a whole sachet and can give a gradually decreasing dose as it (hopefully) clears up.

Grete · 31-10-2007, 07:34 PM

Hiya Chris, welcome to Catsey

Does sound very much like a stress problem and would recommend trying the Feliway as well as the foods and treatments the others have mentioned. Hopefully with the runnies resolved or at least improved, she will feel much happier and gain weight.

Hope she improves quickly and can be your end of the bed kitty again

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