? 21/04 Hercules PMPS 155. Diarrhea.... need to change food?

previous thread: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/13-4-hercules-amps-297-what-to-do.246119/#post-2777360

Hello everyone!

Hercules had a few bouts of soft stool recently. He has been diagnosed with pancreatitis in february due to high spFLP(?), but he hasn't had any actual symptoms. I am concerned that this sudden appearance of soft poo is the signs that something is getting worse

Vet suggest changing to hydrlyzed food back in feb, but I resisted since he had no signs of digestive problems. Should I look into this now?

It has been 3 occurences, and i have a tendency to overreact.... am i overreacting?

Thanks for any opinion!

 

If you decide to stay on ferringa, you could add some fibres to it. Psyllium fiber, or HUSK. Just watch out, it CAN lower his BG

 

I have been giving him Psyllum when I changed to wet food, but I tought I was avoiding constipation.... since he seemed Ok i have been giving him less regularly.... Hummm... I shall try going back to giving regularly and see if that is the problem.

 

Was the food change because if pancreatitis or is IBD suspected?

 

I changed to wet when he was diagnosed with diabetes last year.

He never had digestive issues before. I think the vet was just following protocol when she suggested I change to the hydrolyzed diet (I didn't by the way).

I have introduced in the last month some new food with higher carb, but it is too long to show up effect now, no?

 

I am often SO confused by what people tell me about fiber, that it can help with constipation AND diarrhea. It doesn't make logical sense, but adding the psyllium back in might help. Slippery elm bark powder is also supposed to combat diarrhea as well as S. boulardii with MOS, a probiotic with a prebiotic. You can buy it in the UK as Bioglan. This website might help: https://www.foodfurlife.com/my-cat-has-diarrhea---what-do-i-do.html#/

I've been spreading the gospel of raw feeding around here since I transitioned Ruby to it a few months ago. Have you thought about doing that for Hercs?

 

Thanks for the link Katherine. Very helpful! I don't think he is going more frequent, so perhaps not an official diarrhea?
I'll start with putting psylum back, and procure S. boulardii.
Raw food, I am afraid will be quite late in my list.... I don't like dealing with meat the transition to wet cans is already a bone of contention with vegetarian teenagers....

 

Fibers absorb fluids, and give the gut something to work with. The movements fibers give makes the poops more frequent and in good shape. Fibers is acting like a motility drug. It makes sense if you research it

Raw is awesome!!!!!
And can be bought all done, so all you have to do is take out of the freezer and serve. Voila!
It's so easy, you don't have to get dirty or doing a lot of research. Good quality commercial raw food. I think you have MUSH too, Karen. I've used it for about a year now.

 

Understood, but as Sasha said, you can buy raw premade and not have to fuss with any of it. Hercs might be reacting to the fillers they put in canned food.

Vegetarian teenagers. Oh dear. One day they will understand that cats are obligate carnivores.

 

Thanks. I was wondering what would be different about raw food. This explanation makes sense, although the food I give supposedly do not have the "fillers", but who knows?

Teenagers hopefully will understand lots of things when they get older....but requires a lot of patience....

 

I’m glad it’s not IBD. I feed my two Primal and Small Batch raw frozen which they love. I started when less than a year old because one seemed to be having intestinal issues with canned. The problem stopped immediately. They adjusted immediately too but they are foodies.

Susan Thixton puts out a list of finds she feeds her pets. Small Batch is on it. Primal used to be when I started but she took it off a year ago but won't say why.

 

@tiffmaxee
How is IBD formally diagnosed?

 

First an ultrasound and if any abnormalities a biopsy, either by endoscopy or surgery to rule out scl. Informally a food trial with a novel protein sometimes takes care of tge problem and then you know it’s most likely IBD.

 

Thanks Elise. Just checking that I fully understand you: At the moment he eats a mixture of many different source of proteins. So if I wanted to test for IBD, I would find a new protein , and see if that caused digestive issues? Would that be a stronger indication of IBD?

Because I have been desperately trying to avoid bounces, I have been mixing 2% and 7%, so altogether he is getting quite a variety of different food. Do you think I should stick with one type, and one source of protein for a while?

 

F you want to see if a novel protein will help you understand correctly. You need a new single protein that he’s never eaten before and you need to feed only that for a couple of months. @Marj & Djoko did this and it has worked well. You would need to use hubby or karo syrup to being up the BG rather than reach for fancy feast. Has he ever eaten duck or rabbit? There’s also venison and lamb easy to find.

 

Funilly enough, duck and rabbit is his most usual food
He has also been eating different fishes and veal. I'll see what happens with his poo this week as I get back to give him psyllum. After that I might be seacrhing for kangaroo or bison

 

One of my has skin issues. I was feeding a circulating 4 proteins and tried to figure out which was the culprit. I ruined all four. I think chicken and turkey were the ones I thought duck was too fatty so tried rabbit but then she got another skin reaction, a different one that may or may not have been due to rabbit. Kangaroo is a good one but we can’t get it in California.

 

Just as an idea, we are currently suspecting Chico being sensitive to fat. We gave him duck (which is much fatter than turkey or chicken) and his stool got worse. Maybe you can try as well foods with less fat. As higher carb you can try honey for a while,
just to exclude too many unknowns.
Good luck and hope you will tackle this faster than us