Change of diet may cure feline diarrhea

While the detection of many feline medical conditions requires a veterinarian’s sharp eye or experienced hand or even a superbly trained specialist, few cat owners go to the veterinarian without already knowing their cat has diarrhea.

No wonder – the overwhelming evidence is piling up right before their eyes or under their noses!

“Those of us concerned with a cat’s wellbeing need to pay careful attention to both what goes in and what comes out of cats,” says veterinarian James Richards, director of Cornell University’s Feline Health Center and past president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners. “Rather than looking at cleaning up the litter box as a disgusting necessity, you should look at this “doody-duty” as an important litmus test of your cat’s current health status.”

Other important indicators of overall health are appetite, attitude and body weight.

The “mother of all feline intestinal problems” is diarrhea. Severe diarrhea in a kitten can become life threatening in a matter of hours. Diarrhea in a kitten, especially if accompanied by lethargy, means that an immediate emergency trip to the vet is essential.

Usually diarrhea is a temporary condition in cats that’s nothing more than an inconvenience for the owner. But sometimes diarrhea can be a chronic – ahem – pain in the behind, figuratively and literally, that tests the understanding and patience of a kitty’s human mom or dad and can seriously impact the health and longevity of the cat.

Just talk to veterinarians and shelter personnel, and they’ll tell you that cats with chronic diarrhea that paint the house flooring and walls like the world’s worst impressionist painting are often removed from the home or euthanized.

The good news is that if it’s an occasional problem, diarrhea typically responds to a change of diet and tincture of time. Drugs or surgery are seldom necessary.

Yet other times, the cat may be suffering from a diet-induced problem (called “adverse reaction to food” or “dietary sensitivity”), bacterial or viral infection, internal parasites, malabsorption problem, irritation of the intestines, or a foreign body – and the cat will not get better without treatment by a veterinarian.

“The key to treating intestinal disorders of cats is to get an accurate diagnosis,” said Dr. Todd Tams, a veterinarian and chief medical officer of Veterinary Centers of America – Antech. “With a correct diagnosis, these conditions are almost always treatable.”

In fact, if diagnosed early enough, even many cats with intestinal lymphoma can be managed comfortably for months to years.

To diagnose what’s causing the intestinal problems, a thorough medical history is very important. There are several questions a veterinarian might ask to try to determine if the small intestinal or the large intestine is the culprit.

This is important, because the location of the problem determines what tests can and should be run as well as what might be the causes of the problem.

Depending on what your veterinarian finds after taking a history and doing a complete physical example, she may need to run additional diagnostic tests.

A comprehensive “fecal diagnostics panel” is available at many commercial laboratories. This is not just the old-fashioned test looking for worms and eggs but an advance in helping to make an accurate diagnosis.

Blood tests, such as a complete blood count and serum biochemistry panel, as well as a urinalysis and a thyroid test, can also yield a lot of information

Some studies have shown that almost one third of all diarrhea cases are related to diet. Treatment typically involves changing from a typical protein source (fish, beef and dairy products are the most allergenic proteins) to a unique protein food source (lamb, rabbit, venison, duck, poultry) or a special therapeutic food like Hill’s Prescription Diet z/d, which works similar to hypoallergenic infant formulas in humans (milk source, casein or whey), in that it contains predigested proteins that are less likely to trigger an allergic reaction.

“Besides fish and beef, dairy products are taboo for cats with gastrointestinal problems,” says Dr. Phil Roudebush of Hill’s Pet Nutrition. Although the reactive fish and beef proteins are found in many cat foods, milk products are not.

Owners wanting to pamper their pets may give their cats milk, cheese or cottage cheese with the best intentions but with bad outcomes, literally and figuratively.

Management of diarrhea depends a lot on the cause. Many disorders, such as food allergy or hypersensitivity, can be managed by diet change alone.

Other disorders may require antimicrobial medications (antibiotics, anti-protozoals, anthelmintics) or anti-inflammatory medications such as corticosteroids. Tams notes that unlike many humans, cats respond to and tolerate corticosteroids very well with rare side effects.

While some who don’t own cats might think its crude, there’s joy in solid cat stools.

Debbie Borner of Lincoln, Neb., who volunteers at The Cat House shelter, said the volunteers are joyous when they discover a normal, firm stool: “Guess we need to get a life!”