Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: JackSpratt on January 03, 2009, 00:18:00 AM
-
Was asked this by someone the other day. (On New Years Eve, actually. :evillaugh:) Their cat, Dorothy apparantly seems to exhibit no other symptoms but loose stools from time to time. Any ideas? (She has been to a vet and they did ask apparantly.)
-
My cat had this recently, we think it was caused by a long acting antibiotic injection given by the vet.
-
First thing I would watch what the cat has eaten, we asked our vet about this and it's usually something the cat is a bit intolerant to.
-
Food, stress.. could be lots of things really. If the vet has ruled out any serious medical cause, they could try a probiotic such as lacto b. Jaffa uses to have loosish stools occasionally so I put him on lacto b and they firmed up. He hasn't needed to have it for some time now as everything is nice and firm these days ;D
-
Depends how sporadic. All animals (including humans) get it from time to time?
-
Causes could be numerous, food, stress, antibiotics, viruses such as corona. What did the vet say about it?
-
also overeating.
if the cat goes out there's no saying what it eats.
-
Susanne and Gillian have probably hit thenail on the head.
I would simply add that parasites can cause this problem. Is the cat regularly wormed? A Bacterial problem e.g salmonella, campylobacter and various forms of E.Coli could also be a problem.
However, from what you say and bearing in mind the problem is inconsistent, I would doubt if it was a viral infection or bacterial infection but a vet is the only person properly placed to make that judgment.
Diarrhoea can be caused by many other non infectious things. As the others have said - stress is a possibility. Does Dorothy share a home with other animals? Do they get on? Have other animals come into the home through any cat flap? Is the cat scared of any members of the family &/or is she a naturally nervous cat with an unknown prior history?
For non-infectious diarrhoea problems:
1. A change of diet not gradually introduced;
2. Milk intolerance is sadly too common. Cow's milk is not normally tolerated by cats and totally inadvisable hence special cat's milk produced by Felix and Whiskers.
I would suggest that the owners keep a proper record of what Dorothy is eating and when. Can they identify if she is stealing or getting food elsewhere? Is she a hunter, asssuming she is an outdoor cat? What does she catch? They need to know food iher food intake and compare it with the occurrence of diarrhoea to see if there is any consistent correlation with certain foods, etc.
-
I had to stop giving Clapton and Alice even special cat milk as it still upsets their stomach.
-
I had to stop giving Clapton and Alice even special cat milk as it still upsets their stomach.
Same here, Taz loved having any left over cimicat dregs but upsets his tum :(