'Bout had it!

Hello all. I have a problem with Snickers that has got me at the end of my wits. She has been doing great with the diabetes, her numbers are good and she has more energy and is doing more things like she used to do. But, come on, she's dropping poop bombs that stink the whole house up! We cannot have anybody over for fear of a poop bomb. Her poop is yellow-color, sometimes loose. She uses the litter box (thankfully), but sits in it or walks thru it and drags poop all over the house. If I don't catch her when she does it, she has poop in the carpets, what ever chair she sits in, and all over herself. My wife is working this weekend and I'm on call for my job and have to leave at a moment's notice. Luckily I just caught her a bit ago and limited the damage, but still had to toss her in the tub to bathe her, which of course she fights and claws and howls. I can't keep doing this. I'm deathly afraid when we go somewhere we'll come home to a poop nightmare! We really don't have any place to keep her penned up while we're gone. I used to raise hogs and they weren't this bad! She was at the vet a couple weeks ago, and said her poop was like that because her food wasn't breaking down. I know she poops a lot more than she eats. They gave us some stuff to sprinkle on her food that would help with her enzymes, but she refuses to eat it then. Now she's not wanting to eat any soft food, or DM, and will only eat some hard food that isn't good for her but that's all we can get her to eat, along with some boiled chicken. I don't want to toss her outside but she is getting the best of me and I know it isn't her fault. I'm open to suggestion. Thanx.

 

I hear ya. Leo does similar stunts, not as often. 2 nights ago, I think the neighbors could probably smell it. How can such small animals crank out such foul spawn of the devil!????

Leo is on high protein food. I think it helps. When he gets semi-carb treats, that seems to cause it. I think food regulation helps. Boiled chicken should be digestible.

We often put him near the litter box after food. Sometimes we are lucky and he goes at that time.

 

It sounds to me that she might have pancreatitis. When Max was diagnosed he too became a very finicky eater until one night he just stopped. What does your vet say? Givbg you enzymes he must have some thoughts like mine. Did your vet run any labs or check the stool sample for bacteria?

 

I hear ya. The stink is horrible, but worse than that, we have white carpeting that she has totally trashed with puke and poop. I gotta rip it up and put down wood flooring.

 

Well she does have an appetite, but just doesn't want much of what she needs to eat. My wife keeps blaming the food for her yellowy poop, but even with boiled chicken it's the same. She hasn't had a normal brown poop in months. The vet keeps telling us her pancreas is OK, but I just don't know. They said if she didn't like the enzymes they would try something else and also run some more tests. She is going back this week. Vet said MOST cats will eat food with the enzymes added, but of course Snickers is not MOST cats.

 

You might try mixing the enzyme into a little bit of baby food and syringe feeding it right before she gets her regular food to see if it helps

 

I could try that I suppose. What kind of baby food though? Only thing is we have not had much luck giving her stuff orally, she becomes like a vampire seeing the sun come up!

 

If she were my cat I would be concerned about intestinal disease such as IBD and not to scare you small cell lymphoma or pancreatitis. If your vet uses IDEXX as their lab they can run the Spec fPL test and a panel to check for pancreatic insufficiency IF the fPL is high. It's rare to need enzymes without chronic pancreatitis but it can happen. Good luck sorting this out.

 

She has had a battery of tests which they say are negative. She's had x-rays, ultrasound, and tested for intestinal blockages, all were negative they told us. She was tested once for cancer also and that was good too. I'll ask about pancreatitis again, but they said because of her diabetes is why her poop is like that. I don't read of anybody else with that problem though. She goes an awful lot more than she eats, but at least she isn't losing weight. Still drinks down a lot of water too.

 

Gerber meat only flavors or BeechNut meat flavors.....just look at the ingredients....as long as there's no garlic, onions or sugars/carbs, it's fine for a diabetic cat

China's favorite is the Gerbers ham but they have chicken, turkey and beef too

 

You could try slippery elm bark; it won't treat the underlying cause of the diarrhea but it might help alleviate the symptoms.

 

As well as the pancreas tests, I suggest asking your vet to check B12/folate (if low can worsen malabsorption problems) and also liver, kidney, and thyroid levels (hyperthyroidism can increase GI motility and lead to loose stools/diarrhoea - possibly with a much greater volume of stools - and vomiting).

If the yellow, foul-smelling stools are a bit 'fluffy' or marshmallowy and float in the loo (steatorrhea - fatty stool) then that is another possible indicator of pancreatic enzyme insufficiency.




Mogs
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Where would I find slippery elm bark?

 

Yes they are soft, from what I can see cuz I ain't gettin' any closer to it. Except when I have to clean it up. Very smelly for sure. I call them poop grenades. It's usually a large pile. Sometimes very loose and that's when she gets it on herself. I told the wife to get her back to the vet this week. I'll have to check the "float in the toilet" later today. I'm sure she'll drop another one. Thanx.

 

Is any mucus present in the stool? Sometimes cats develop idiopathic colitis when under stress. It can help to mix unflavored psyllium husk or a little pumpkin in the food for added fiber.

 

Might be an idea to ask the vet to clip the fur on her rear end - easier clean-up?


Mogs
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I will say Smokey has horrendous stinky, greasy looking, slimy poop from the colors of grey to yellow. I took him to vet because of it. It was something new for us. It turned out to be pancreatitis. Vet didn't think it was, thought it was IBD, ultrasound confirmed pancreatitis as well as the blood tests that came in later.

 

I bought mine at Amazon.com. Just remember it won't treat whatever is causing the problem, you still need to have your vet look into it. I agree, it really sound like pancreatitis, which needs veterinary intervention.

 

She doesn't have any mucus in her poop that I can tell. As far as clipping her fur on her rear, she usually gets it smeared all over her tail, butt, legs, and belly. Don't ask me how she manages to get that messy but she's good at it. It's only when it is runny. When it is a little more firm, she won't get it on her. Like I said, she'll poop, then dive out of her box and take off running, dropping it all over the house. Usually when I'm here and my wife is gone. I think my cat hates me!

 

Health food store maybe?

 

Oh boy! I just inherited a kitty with uncontrolled IBS, so I feel your pain. Until we figured his issues out, he was a poop machine, and I spent lots of time cleaning up the explosions all over the house. It's a terrible thing!

So yellow stools sometimes indicate liver issues in addition to pancreas. If these are ruled out, I'd ask for a parasite panel to rule that out as well. Unfortunately, the most common GI issues that cause chronic diarrhea are IBS and lymphoma. Both can be treated, but it's often with steroids. For our cat, he still has accidents at times out of the box, but the steroids stopped the diarrhea in about a week. Prior to the steroids, the vet recommended a high fiber diet, so we added psylum powder to the food. For him this was terrible, we went from 5 stools a day to non-stop liquid poo, yuk. Also, we changed to natural balance wet venison food, which seems to help.

My other cat, who sometimes "sits" on it after he goes, I bought a whal clippers and give him a bikini shave every few weeks. It takes about 5 minutes if you have a helper, and really does keep the poo off him and the floor, as he doesn't have the urge to fly out of the box after he goes when he's shaven.

 

Yes, you can probably find it at most health food stores, just make sure it's pure SEB with nothing else added.

 

I have a kitty with IBD, Candy, I know what you're going through! The whole first year I had her she had uncontrolled diarrhea. I finally found a combination of food and meds that works for her, so we were diarrhea-free for about 5 months, which was wonderful! Unfortunately she stopped eating the food that she was on and I had to find another, so - you guessed it, back to constant diarrhea. Between the probiotics and SEB it's starting to come back under control now.

It's interesting that the venison works for your kitty, that was one of the absolute worst offenders for Candy! I'm glad it's working for you!

A bikini cut is a great idea, wish I'd thought of it during Candy's worst bouts!

 

Could it be a food allergy? When my cat Julie ate pork she would totally get the squirts. Stinky.

Maybe try a bit of plain pumkin in her food... It doesn't raise bg. http://pets.thenest.com/long-pumpkin-stop-diarrhea-cats-11070.html

 

Well she's been eating the same food ever since she was diagnosed last Feb. She eats Friskies lo-carb soft, sometimes turkey deli meat. She has an appetite but I think she's getting tired of the same food. We give her boiled chicken which she loves but it doesn't matter what she eats. It's not runny all the time, but it is soft and yellow-y and has been since last summer. The vet isn't much help. But she's going back this week since my wife will be out of town next weekend and I'll have to deal with kitty myself and work my job. She did drop another poop grenade tonite, but didn't mess herself up. For that I am pretty happy!

 

Try the pumpkin. A teaspoon mixed with her food. The fiber may help firm it up.

 

Pumpkin in what form?

 

Plain canned pumpkin ....not pumpkin pie filling or anything with added sugar

What a lot of people do is open a can and put it into ice cube trays and freeze.....that way you can put the "pumpkin cubes" into a baggie and take them out of the freezer to use as needed instead of throwing a lot of pumpkin away

 

Well the wife took Snickers to vet today. She told them of her problem and brought up pancreatitis. They said, well, we'll try this first before taking a blood sample to send off at $100. They gave her some different DM, told us to stop feeding the hard stuff, gave us some hard food for diabetic cats that she wouldn't touch before, and something to give her orally. I don't know what it is, there's no name on the bottle except for 500 mg of metronidazole for infection and inflammation. This cat does NOT do oral medication very well at all. So we'll see what happens. I'm not optimistic. Mama made some boiled chicken for her and she is resting comfortably on her new fluffy blanket.

 

The metronidazole is an AB. Helps inflammation and infection of gastrointestinal tract. Also helps with teeth and some pain relief properties. Smokey was on it for a few weeks when first dx with pancreatitis and possible IBD.

 

They also told us to stop giving her the enzyme powder because the new medication was something different along with the antibiotic they mixed in. Hope it works.

 

If even suspect pancreatitis, supportive meds should be given. Why should animal suffer. They can do a SNAP test. It's like a home pregnancy test, positive or negative. It shouldn't cost $100. Doesn't need to be sent out for results. Consider getting a second opinion from another vet.

 

Any advice on trying to give oral medication with a syringe to a cat that doesn't like it??

 

Burrito wrapping usually works for me. You do sometimes have to be pretty quick to duck if they spit the med back out though...I've had a mouthful of Clavamox liquid myself more than once. I also always bribe with a treat. I let the cat see the treat, then tell them they can have it AFTER they take their meds. The first day or two, they'll often struggle to try and grab the treat first, but they usually learn fairly quickly that the faster they behave and take their meds, the faster they get to the treat.

 

Well we have been feeding Snicky the DM from the vet, and she doesn't get anything else. She gets some soft and some hard food. She's been eating it surprisingly. This morning she had her first normal brown poop in months. I don't know what the difference was, but we'll keep doing what works.

 

My wife seemed skeptical about burrito wrapping. I said, well just keep doing it your way and you'll get more medicine on you than the cat gets in her mouth. Stubborn. Guess I'll do the burrito wrap myself. How do you hold her, straight up? On her side? Belly up or down?

 

I put the towel I want to use on a chair, then put the cat belly down on the towel and wrap the towel fairly tight around the cat. Then I pick up cat and towel together and put them belly up in my lap...I keep them kind of half-sitting up with their head in the crook of my left elbow for a little control over them turning their head away. Then I give the med with my right hand (I'm right-handed so that works better for me). With syringed liquid meds, you don't really have to get their mouth open far - I put the syringe in the natural gap in their teeth so they don't have much option over allowing it into their mouths. Biggest issue I've had is that a cat will occasionally try to outwit me by letting the med trickle straight out the other side of their mouth (that's why I need to control how far they can turn their head to the side). And very occasionally, some cats (thank you Regan) will manage to spit the med back out at me. But it definitely works better for me than just trying to 'freehand' a liquid med. And a lot of cats find the wrapping procedure calming in itself - it can make them feel secure and loved.

 

I can try that, but with our cat, I can foresee many bite and claw marks on me. Gotta try something though. And she hates to be picked up and handled.

 

Just make sure you get all 4 paws in the towel! With some cats, I've started off with their head in the towel too until I get them into position...then I just pull the towel back enough to get to their mouth and get the meds in.

 

Liquids are the worst and that med is nasty tasting even in pill form. I got the pills and put in gel caps. Chased with baby food. Much easier for me.

 

Sounds like I need 5 hands to do all that! Her medicine looks sticky, and whatever she does get into her mouth she howls and mulls it around like it was peanut butter.