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temporary diarrhea

Sent to Cat Experts July 28 02:06 AM

Joanne--

Cat name - Chloe, 3 year old Brittish shorthair. Very active and healthy. Two sisters in house. Sister is a bit more chubby, calico. Chloe is the sleek one, marbled blue. ALways healthy, no problems. When young (from birth until 2 years old... always had looser stool than sister. Her sisters harder and more like pellets, Chloes actually loose. Then, vet had me change diet and she became very normal harder stool... for one yeaar now. When she feels occassional upset, she loves to chew on greassy plant or baby's breath flower. Last night, she started having very loose sttol, sort of diarrhea. No accidents, but when go to box, very spirty and loose. Still active, ate food and played. Today, she went to box a bit more than usual (3-4 times instead of 2-ish) for stool... and it was lighter in color and loose, sort of like a human baby. Ate all day, but did not eat her dinner. Played but not as active as usual.... sleeping now. Still watching her birds. Took good care of herself bathing, etc. Very affectionate, not aggressive or sad. ONLY change I can think of is that I brought in some hydranga flowers from garden (never before in house) and but in the vase with her babys breath. I don't know if she ate any.... I know that about one month ago, our garden guy did spray for spiders... but much rain sine that time. Also, I think she could have eaten more than one of her usual hairball treats (she got one or two that dropped on the floor and I couldn't catch them before she ate them)....
This diarrhea thing has happened once before for a day, and she just ate more kibble and slept and drank water and all was well.
Is there something I can give her... or is there a food I should have her eat or drink that will help (ie with a human you eat more crackers and it helps, etc.) my little chloe???

Please help and anser.... thanks.

 

Customer (name blocked for privacy)
Answer
July 28 3:10 AM (1 hour and 3 minutes and 58 seconds later)
         
ACCEPTEDCheck Mark
Hi,

Thank you for such a detailed description of Chloe's situation.

Eating more than one hairball treat may have had a laxative effect on her digestive system as it's made to help hairballs move through the system quickly, so mentioning that was helpful. The ingestion of the new flowers you brought in are of concern. Hydrangeas ARE included on the list of plants/flowers TOXIC to cats.

When cats have diarrhea, and the cause isn't a viral or bacterial infection, ingesting a poisonous substance, or parasites, which would need evaluation and medication from the vet, sometimes a teaspoon of canned pumpkin (plain canned pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling) mixed in with her food can help. There's also a prescription food made by Science Diet called i/d which is helpful for gastrointestinal problems. You can only get this at a vet's office, but I wouldn't use anything the vet hasn't recommended. If you bring a stool sample to the vet, it would be helpful.

The possible ingestion of the hydrangeas is worrying to me. I would suggest that you bring her to the vet ASAP to find the cause of the diarrhea and get a treatment. If she doesn't seem to be getting any worse tonight, bring her in the morning. If she exhibits any other symptoms like rapid and/or shallow breathing, dilated pupils, excessive vomiting and extreme lethargy or limpness, rush her to the nearest emergency vet IMMEDIATELY!

Please keep me posted on how Chloe is doing and I hope she's feeling better very soon!

Cher : )


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