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Cat Forum / General Topics / December 2003Cat has very loose smelly diarrhea
I have outdoor barn cats. I feed them dry cat food every day, but they also eat mice and whatever else they catch. Yesterday I found one of them in the barn, in the hay and the cat was "crying". I checked for the usual, broken legs, cuts, etc. Everything looked fine except I noted the cat had a large lump of frozen poop on his rear. I put him in a cat carrier and brought him indoors. The poop came off and while I was cleaning the carry cage I put the cat in my bathroom. That was a mistake. The cat dripped poop all over the floor, on the counter, everywhere the cat went, the poop dripped. Besides being very loose (diarrhea), the odor is horrid. I ended up cleaning the whole room with lots of bleach, . I gave the cat some Kaopectate and Piperzine dewormer, and put the cat back in the cage. This morning the cat had more poop in the cage, and the odor is literally driving me out of the house. I am hoping the Kaopectate will start working soon. However, I am wondering just what I am dealing with. It appears to me that it might be a bacteria of some sort. I take care of livestock and can usually treat them myself, but cats are a whole different thing. I am posting this to see if anyone can offer any advice as to what this may be, and what I can do to treat it. I have been considering giving an antibiotic which I have for livestock (but in very small amounts). If anyone can offer any advice, please post it, including references to websites, etc. If you only want to suggest I take the cat to a vet, please dont waste your time typing. I am already considering this, if I cant do anything myself in another day or so, but I already have a huge vet bill and in all honesty, while I want to help this cat, I cant spend a fortune. These barn cats get themselves run over or eaten by coyotes, and I just cant justify spending a large amount on one cat. I am not being cruel, just know what I can and can't do. Right now I need to find a treatment plan, medicate, and also try to rig another heated place in the barn, to put the cat, because I cant stand the odor in my house. Anyone???????? PS. The other cats are fine! PS2. I can pretty much get any vet medicines I need. Post replies on newsgroup, no valid email provided. > Besides being very loose (diarrhea), the odor is horrid. I ended up > cleaning the whole room with lots of bleach, . I gave the cat some [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > bill and in all honesty, while I want to help this cat, I cant spend a > fortune. > The problem with trying to treat this at home without a professional diagnosis is that the treatment you choose could actually do more harm than good. Your best - and probably most inexpensive - option is to get a stool sample from the cat and take that to the vet for analysis. This type of test is relatively inexpensive and can pinpoint a parasite or other causes and you will thus be able to give the cat exactly the medication it needs. Most of the medications to treat parasites or other are issues are relatively inexpensive, and in the long run this may be the most sensible and frugal way to go. MaryL (take out the litter to reply) Photos of Duffy and Holly: >'o'< http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly) http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in") Yes, Bring a stool sample to the vet. I bet she has parasites. The vet can then give you appropriate wormer. Gail > > Besides being very loose (diarrhea), the odor is horrid. I ended up > > cleaning the whole room with lots of bleach, . I gave the cat some [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly) > http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in") > If you only want to suggest I take the cat to a vet, please dont waste > your time typing. I am already considering this, if I cant do [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > and I just cant justify spending a large amount on one cat. I am not > being cruel, just know what I can and can't do. honestly, you are being cruel by allowing these cats to get run over and eaten by coyotes. The best thing you could do is to take them all to the local shelter and let them find homes where they are going to be loved and cared for. >> If you only want to suggest I take the cat to a vet, please dont waste >> your time typing. I am already considering this, if I cant do [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >local shelter and let them find homes where they are going to be loved and >cared for. Let me guess. You live in a Virginia or New York hi-rise condo with a cat that has never seen a tree except your artificial xmas tree. You have never been on a farm or seen a real cow or barn cat. Also, you have never seen the back room at an animal shelter where they euthanize every animal that has exceeded it's 3 days, or one week limit without being adopted. I pity your poor cat being locked up it's whole life without ever seeing a real mouse, and being exposed to all the harmful chemicals used in a modern home. But you probably love your cat, just like I love mine. I dont pass judgement on you, so take your judgement of myself and my farm and shove it !!!! Goodbye Also, you > have never seen the back room at an animal shelter where they > euthanize every animal that has exceeded it's 3 days, or one week > limit without being adopted. Don't paint all humane societies or shelters the same. We have two no-kill shelters locally. They do exist. Add me to the list of getting a fecal sample to the vets. My hope is that we are not looking at an FIV or FeLV cat that could easily infect all of them. -Sharon > Also, you > > have never seen the back room at an animal shelter where they [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Don't paint all humane societies or shelters the same. We have two no-kill > shelters locally. They do exist. Cats Protection in the UK are strictly no-kill. They will keep a cat for as long as it takes to be adopted. Many is the time one of the shelter staff/volunteers have taken in a long term resident :-) See www.cats.org.uk for more info. Ivor > I have outdoor barn cats. I feed them dry cat food every day, but > they also eat mice and whatever else they catch. Yesterday I found [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > That was a mistake. The cat dripped poop all over the floor, on the > counter, everywhere the cat went, the poop dripped. Has the cat been vaccinated for distemper? 8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail) ~~~~~~ "I reserve the absolute right to be smarter today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson ************************************************* http://www.suzanne-eckhardt.com/ http://www.intergnat.com/malebashing/ > I gave the cat some > Kaopectate and Piperzine dewormer, and put the cat back in the cage. > This morning the cat had more poop in the cage, and the odor is > literally driving me out of the house. I am hoping the Kaopectate > will start working soon. A word of caution with Kaopectate: the formula is changing/has changed to bismuth subsalicylate (same component as Pepto Bismol), which is not as safe for cats as Kaopectate is, as it contains an compound similar to aspirin which cats do not metabolize very quickly and can lead to toxic results. If you're using Kaopecate for a cat, double check the label to see what's actually in it. DMW >> I gave the cat some >> Kaopectate and Piperzine dewormer, and put the cat back in the cage. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >DMW I called the vet and they told me to give Kaopectate and to keep the cat off food for a day. If that dont help, they will discuss what to do next. The cat is looking a little better today. He just passed the 24 hours without food, and I just gave him a small amount of food again. I guess I'll see how he is doing soon. The "Kaopectate" I am using is sold in gallons and is for livestock. It's called Kaolin. It's the pure stuff. The Kaolin bottle says "For animal use only", which means I used it when I had the flu, and I lived. After all, humans are animals too :) > Besides being very loose (diarrhea), the odor is horrid. I ended up > cleaning the whole room with lots of bleach, . I gave the cat some > Kaopectate and Piperzine dewormer, Make sure Kaopectate is not the new, reformulated bismuth subsalicylate type. Honestly, Kaopectate might treat the symptoms, but you have to deal with the underlying problem. > It appears to me that it might be a bacteria of some > sort. I take care of livestock and can usually treat them myself, but > cats are a whole different thing. Why bacteria? It could be a helmith. It could be protozoal. It could be several other things. Point is, you have no idea what it is so no idea how to treat it. > I have been considering giving an antibiotic which I have for livestock (but in very small > amounts). No. Don't. Bad idea. It might be bacterial, but given your description of the diarrhea and the fact these are barn cats, I'd lean more towards protozoa or helminths. And if you goof up the dose you might fix the problem by killing the cat. > If you only want to suggest I take the cat to a vet, please dont waste > your time typing. I am already considering this, if I cant do [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > and I just cant justify spending a large amount on one cat. I am not > being cruel, just know what I can and can't do. Until you do take the cat to a vet, you have no idea what it is and therefore no idea how to treat it. We could suggest a bunch of meds, which you say you can get, you'd outlay money to pay for those, and then if they don't work what are you going to do? It's false economy. It sounds like you've got an established veterinarian who I'm sure would be happy to do a fecal exam for you and give you the right meds. You also say you have livestock around. I'm going to assume you might have a cow or two. There is a protozoa called Tritrichomonas foetus that can be carried asymptomatically by bulls that can also cause the symptoms you are describing in cats. If you have a bull around for live cover or AI with non-tested sperm and you've seen abortions in your first calf heifers who can then be succesfully bred a month or so later then I'd be especially concerned. The difficulty in diagnosing it in cats is that it looks a lot like Giardia, and is often misdiagnosed as such. I'd mention to the vet that if any protozoa are found in the fecal to take some care in distinguishing it, and if it does look like Tritrichomonas have your bull tested. *I am posting this to see if anyone can offer any advice as to what *this may be, and what I can do to treat it. I have been considering It may be: parasites (including giardia) inflammatory bowel disease cancer bacterial enteritis or enterocolitis viral enteritis or enterocolitis (with a really putrid smell I often worry about an enteric coronavirus type of thing but that's certainly not definitive by any stretch) maldigestion malabsorption pancreatic insufficiency hyperthyroidism it may of course be something else, too. It's really not possible to figure out the most likely thing without seeing the cat at the very least! *If you only want to suggest I take the cat to a vet, please dont waste *your time typing. I am already considering this, if I cant do Oh. Sorry. Nevermind. Best of luck with your cat!! Make sure to offer it plenty of water; fat-free low sodium chicken broth is a good source of liquid too if it won't drink regular water. I wouldn't recommend any GI motility modifiers without seeing the cat to rule out something like intussusception or partially obstructive foreign body or bacterial enterocolitis, which could get worse from such treatment. -h.  Signaturehillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net info@hillary.net "uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est." not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large :) > *I am posting this to see if anyone can offer any advice as to what > *this may be, and what I can do to treat it. I have been considering [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > partially obstructive foreign body or bacterial enterocolitis, which could > get worse from such treatment. Yes foreign body, like colon tumour or mice bones (carcass) stuck? I feel sorry for the situation, because my 16 year old cat had something similar for almost a year. Phew what a mess I'd come home to, had to cover everything with plastic or washable covers and even then "gag"... The vet's tests couldn't find, and the suggestion was to open her up, but at that point, she was too frail, so I declined and had to have her put to sleep when her misery outweighed her quality of life. I"ve always wondered if it was cancer of the pancreas or liver. Although I would have thought with liver, something would have showed in her bloodwork or the whites of her eyes? She ate and kept getting thinner and pooping more and more, nothing worked, diet change, meds etc.. Is there a website that describes various cat cancers? (anyone?) J Kaopectate contains salicylates which are a form of aspirin and can kill a cat. LT >Kaopectate contains salicylates which are a form >of aspirin and can kill a cat. > >LT The "Kaopectate" I am using is sold in gallons and is for livestock. It's called Kaolin. It's the pure stuff. made for animal use, NO salicylates. The vet recommended using Kaopectate when I called. The hardest part was getting it down the cats throat (major hassle). The final result. The cat looked half dead for several days, the poop was green, the odor was horrid. The 4th day the cat was a little more active, and the cage needed a major cleaning. The weather was warmer, so I put the cat outdoors in a wire cage while I cleaned the cage and let it dry. A few hours later I came back to bring him indoors and grabbed the cage. When I got outside, I found the wire cage completely flipped over and no cat. That night I found him outside running around with his buddies and he has been outdoors since, and looks just fine now. I think I may have found the problem too. Our refrigerator died in mid summer - 100 degree weather. I hauled it outside with some really smelly food inside. Some critter got into the old fridge last week. I suspect a coon forced the door open, and I think I know who ate some of that rotten meat and stuff !!!!! YUCK !!! Suppose I got to haul that fridge to the dump now, (and get this cats brain inspected)....... > I think I may have found the problem too. Our refrigerator died in > mid summer - 100 degree weather. I hauled it outside with some really [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > that fridge to the dump now, (and get this cats brain > inspected)....... ah, smelly, old, rotten meat. Cat's paradise. He paid for that one! LT > >> I think I may have found the problem too. Our refrigerator died in [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >LT He sure did pay for it. Just tells me which is the dumbest cat I got. None of the others got sick. All remaining rotten crud has been properly disposed from that old fridge. End of that problem !!! > I have outdoor barn cats. I feed them dry cat food every day, but > they also eat mice and whatever else they catch. Yesterday I found [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > That was a mistake. The cat dripped poop all over the floor, on the > counter, everywhere the cat went, the poop dripped. What's in the barn? Open containers of liquid? Cows? Milk? J >I have outdoor barn cats. I feed them dry cat food every day, but >they also eat mice and whatever else they catch. Yesterday I found [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >sort. I take care of livestock and can usually treat them myself, but >cats are a whole different thing. <snip> Other than the usual take it to the vet (which I assume you'll do if possible), I wanted to let you know about the possible Kaopectate problems: I've read that the newer formula has something in it that is very harmful for cats. I've used 1/8th of a tab of immodium on my IBD cat (with the vet's blessing) with success. Good luck. please see a vet |
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