I have a fixed male cat that always has diarrhea. I took him to the vet and they ran test on him and said it might be his food, nothing found in tests. I have been giving him a fiber supplement daily which I have seen some improvement. Do you have any other suggestions?
Hi Judith, I'm Linda, a vet with 10 years of clinical experience.
I'm sorry to hear about this ongoing diarrhoea.
This sort of diarrhoea can have a wide range of causes including:
You don't mention which tests were run but I'd hope they analysed his stool and scanned his abdomen. A blood test is also useful, especially if we run an intestinal panel which can check levels of cobalamin and folate and well as Tli.
As well as a fiber supplement, I'd start a probiotic and a hypoallergenic hydrolysed diet. When on this diet, he should have no other food or treats.
I'd also ensure he is up to date with a broad acting wormer such as Fenbendazole.
Just my experience with my latest adopted cat, a 1 year old, skin and bones, ginger male. His coat was dry and rough too. We though his soft smelly gassy stools were due to stress or multiple diet changes, or food "allergies', after stool and blood tests were normal. Only lots of gas on x-rays. We started him on a single protein simple food (fish) and his stools became normal within 3-4 days. He accidentally got into the only food my senior cat would eat, beef, and got diarrhea immediately. It took another 2 days before he went back to normal. He only eats good quality dry fish food and chicken wet food. NO beef. Nothing fancy or filled with extra stuff either. Treats are chicken or tuna fillet. It has been 3 yrs and he is a handsome, sweet, happy, active and healthy 20 pounder. His coat is super soft too.. I hope you find the cause of your cats diarrhea soon - it has to be causing your cat pain and stress. Be patient but dont give up and work with your vet on finding the cause of the problem and a treatment. Please do NOT give him human meds like peptobismol and follow your vets recommendations. Good luck to you both.
