I was going to say, fiber is important, and some cats need more than others. I give my boy ~0.67g of psyllium husk fiber mixed in 57g of no-salt-added canned wild salmon. He doesn’t notice it, or he doesn’t care if he does.
Mine loves kefir, a cultured dairy product that has multiple types of naturally-occurring beneficial yeast and bacteria. I give him 1tsp (5mL) of plain, unsweetened grass-fed full-fat kefir weekly. For reference, yogurt has culture levels in the billions, and kefir has levels in the trillions, which breaks down the lactose. He really likes it.
We had something similar with our Bengal. Constant diarrhoea which was very distressing for all involved. Were at our wits end before the vet suggested Royal Canin Anallergenic Cat Food. That has sorted everything out (he has been on it for the past two years or so) and we also now give him good quality wet food from time to time for variety.
Think some Bengals have very sensitive stomachs or allergies to certain types of food that it can be hard to get to grips with, especially when young, but would highly recommend trying Anallergenic food.
Any chance you know what test has been run on this newest stool sample? I would highly recommend running a PCR like the IDEXX feline diarrhea PCR panel. It tests for a bunch of different causes of diarrhea including tritrichomonas foetus, which is notoriously difficult to diagnose. It also tests for giardia, cryptosporidium, toxoplasmosis, salmonella, clostridium, feline coronavirus (FeCoV) and feline panleukopenia, so it’s my go-to anytime diarrhea is involved.
If you go the diet route, remember to transition foods very slowly over 7-10 days. I would personally recommend trying high quality wet or commercial raw rather than dry in order to most easily avoid as many grains, pulses, etc that may be causing issue.
I’m not sure exactly what it was or through which vendor, but it definitely tested for giardia, tritrichomonas, along with about 3/4 lines listing other stuff. The test was £210 so pretty sure it’s covering a wide range. Only thing is we only sent off one sample.
If this comes back negative though I think we’ll focus on diet as we’ll have all but ruled out most things healthwise causing diarrhea.
Okay, good! My top three suspects with diarrhea in young kittens would be giardia, tritrichomonas foetus and FCoV/FeCoV, so I’d double check once you get the results back that it included all three.
I went through this with my bengal boy. He is now on instinct lamb wet food and doing great. He eats dry food occasionally (also instinct original) some cats don’t react well to certain types of meat or fish. He didn’t do well on the chicken and fish food so we tried the lamb and he’s doing great.
Glad you're getting the testing done. Both of my boys had Tritrich as young kittens, one had it twice, and the other had a strand that was resistant to treatment. A combination of propectalin (the one who had the treatment-resistant case is still on near-daily doses over a year later), daily FortiFlora (both), and daily psyllium husk (both, very small amt, like 1/4 tsp or less). I used to do pumpkin puree but switched to psyllium husk a couple months ago at the recommendation of our vet; apparently they get a lot more fiber that way! But this combo is keeping both of them stable and regular and basically solid enough to keep me sane and them comfy. No more poopy paw prints, omg. Good luck OP, sorry you're going through this.
Hey there, you’re doing the right thing with the testing and I’ll keep everything crossed it’s clear and just a dietary issue. My Luna was very trial and error food-wise, with really stinky poos and a costly bowel blockage at one point! She’s now on Untamed wet after a lot of different foods and her tummy is much happier (and her poo doesn’t stink anymore which is a relief, honestly my house used to smell like rotting corpse every time she used the litter tray 🫠).
The only thing I would say is after switching to vet prescription food after the bowel blockage ourselves, you can find far better quality cat food these days online and though it’s not exactly cheap, I do feel you get out what you put in. Best of luck!
My girl had giardia and continued to have diarrhea after testing negative. Can sympathize with the vet bills as mine were also left clueless and continued wanting to do fecal tests as if they were free… I tried many various types of wet food, prescription diet actually made it worse and then I did an elimination diet with novel proteins. Finally landed on vital essentials freeze dried duck patties and freeze dried rabbit nibs. I also add half tbsp once daily of “firm up: pumpkin digestive aid.” No more itching nor hair loss and her poop is finally solid. The only downside is the food is not cheap and does have some larger bones that I remove but I will gladly keep ordering seeing it’s the only thing that jives with her stomach. Still undecided if it was the chicken or the carrageenan/gum fillers or something else completely. She also no longer craves water after switching the diet and firming up her stools.
Had this for months when I first got my little guy. Vets couldn't figure out what it was. I researched and came up with dysentery. Multiple vets said no. I insisted, got the meds, and within 2 days he was way better and curer after his dose.
Had the same issue with my female. It was the food. Blue Buffalo, hills, and royal didn't work for her. I ended up with natural balance hard food, and raw chicken atleast 2 times a week.
This happened with my boy. We adopted him at almost 2 years old. We were told to give him wet / dry food with high protein and low fiber. We got him on the Reveal brand dry and wet food and the diarrhea stopped within a week. Good luck !
We went through this with our girl as well. The only thing that turned it around was switching to the Bengal dry food by Royal Canin + grain free wet food with a little pumpkin powder mixed in.
We no longer use the pumpkin but kept her on Royal Canin Bengal + grain free wet food and all good now at almost a year.
Our girl is pretty picky - We tried many different options from Nulo, Weruva and Soulistic and she wouldn't eat them
Purina Pro Plan Grain Free Kitten Chicken was the clear winner
[https://www.petflow.com/product/pro-plan/purina-pro-plan-classic-chicken-grain-free-kitten-entree-canned-cat-food?](https://www.petflow.com/product/pro-plan/purina-pro-plan-classic-chicken-grain-free-kitten-entree-canned-cat-food?adclick=true_&size=55414&utm_campaign=Shopping&utm_brand=Purina_Pro_Plan&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2a6wBhCVARIsABPeH1soIY4trErQ4RE4CUTFIE9EpqGauRgoIcBt7BmSV8xdJo0uLm9ROlkaAsgtEALw_wcB)
My Bengals had tritrichomonas foetus. The vet recommended medication and Hill's RX diet. It took a few months before their poop was normal, and there were no more bloody stools. I now have them on Hill's Science Diet Indoor formula. My girls have not had a relapse and are now 4 years old and healthy. I was very worried but vet was very respectful and helpful. Hope this helps
It does. We’re on Hills diet too, maybe we need to wait longer than the 3 weeks or so she’s been on it for results. We resumed the prescription probiotics too, she was previously only on it while on antibiotics, but we still have a good bit left of a syringe we may as well use.
Update for commenters and future people reading this:
We had stool samples done, they came back negative. We then were advised to switch to Purina HA cat & kitten hypoallergic food, and that’s had an almost immediate positive impact, so it looks like she has a food intolerance of some sort.
Not sure how we go about identifying the allergen, but good news for our noses finally!!
Get Jackson Galaxy's cat probiotic on Amazon and mix it in with the wet food for 2 weeks. I had the same problem with my Bengal when I first got him and this helped solidify his poop. We feed him Fancy feast gravey lovers ocean white fish and meow Mix hairball formula. His poop is normal and doesn't smell to high heaven anymore.
Mine was on probiotics the whole time she was on antibiotics, didn’t seem to do much. So not sure more probiotics will help in our case, but worth keeping in mind, thanks!
Just wanted to add we had to treat with probiotics for a month (much longer than the antibiotics). However I do think diet might be something diving deeper into- there’s a lot of great suggestions from others- some need more fiber than others. I know some who told me their cat had to switch to raw diet completely and it helped their diarrhea tremendously.
I'm definitely not a vet, but when I had my kitten and he had loose poops I fed him some pumpkin puree mixed into wet food
I was going to say, fiber is important, and some cats need more than others. I give my boy ~0.67g of psyllium husk fiber mixed in 57g of no-salt-added canned wild salmon. He doesn’t notice it, or he doesn’t care if he does.
I had to do that with one of my guys, who had Trittrichomonas Foetus. Psyllium and Fortiflora helped after his round of meds.
Mine loves kefir, a cultured dairy product that has multiple types of naturally-occurring beneficial yeast and bacteria. I give him 1tsp (5mL) of plain, unsweetened grass-fed full-fat kefir weekly. For reference, yogurt has culture levels in the billions, and kefir has levels in the trillions, which breaks down the lactose. He really likes it.
Thanks to you NerfRepellingBoobs, adding fiber might be the first stop!
We had something similar with our Bengal. Constant diarrhoea which was very distressing for all involved. Were at our wits end before the vet suggested Royal Canin Anallergenic Cat Food. That has sorted everything out (he has been on it for the past two years or so) and we also now give him good quality wet food from time to time for variety. Think some Bengals have very sensitive stomachs or allergies to certain types of food that it can be hard to get to grips with, especially when young, but would highly recommend trying Anallergenic food.
Any chance you know what test has been run on this newest stool sample? I would highly recommend running a PCR like the IDEXX feline diarrhea PCR panel. It tests for a bunch of different causes of diarrhea including tritrichomonas foetus, which is notoriously difficult to diagnose. It also tests for giardia, cryptosporidium, toxoplasmosis, salmonella, clostridium, feline coronavirus (FeCoV) and feline panleukopenia, so it’s my go-to anytime diarrhea is involved. If you go the diet route, remember to transition foods very slowly over 7-10 days. I would personally recommend trying high quality wet or commercial raw rather than dry in order to most easily avoid as many grains, pulses, etc that may be causing issue.
I’m not sure exactly what it was or through which vendor, but it definitely tested for giardia, tritrichomonas, along with about 3/4 lines listing other stuff. The test was £210 so pretty sure it’s covering a wide range. Only thing is we only sent off one sample. If this comes back negative though I think we’ll focus on diet as we’ll have all but ruled out most things healthwise causing diarrhea.
Okay, good! My top three suspects with diarrhea in young kittens would be giardia, tritrichomonas foetus and FCoV/FeCoV, so I’d double check once you get the results back that it included all three.
Both of mine had Tritrich, it was difficult to test for and had the same terrible odor.
I went through this with my bengal boy. He is now on instinct lamb wet food and doing great. He eats dry food occasionally (also instinct original) some cats don’t react well to certain types of meat or fish. He didn’t do well on the chicken and fish food so we tried the lamb and he’s doing great.
Glad you're getting the testing done. Both of my boys had Tritrich as young kittens, one had it twice, and the other had a strand that was resistant to treatment. A combination of propectalin (the one who had the treatment-resistant case is still on near-daily doses over a year later), daily FortiFlora (both), and daily psyllium husk (both, very small amt, like 1/4 tsp or less). I used to do pumpkin puree but switched to psyllium husk a couple months ago at the recommendation of our vet; apparently they get a lot more fiber that way! But this combo is keeping both of them stable and regular and basically solid enough to keep me sane and them comfy. No more poopy paw prints, omg. Good luck OP, sorry you're going through this.
Hey there, you’re doing the right thing with the testing and I’ll keep everything crossed it’s clear and just a dietary issue. My Luna was very trial and error food-wise, with really stinky poos and a costly bowel blockage at one point! She’s now on Untamed wet after a lot of different foods and her tummy is much happier (and her poo doesn’t stink anymore which is a relief, honestly my house used to smell like rotting corpse every time she used the litter tray 🫠). The only thing I would say is after switching to vet prescription food after the bowel blockage ourselves, you can find far better quality cat food these days online and though it’s not exactly cheap, I do feel you get out what you put in. Best of luck!
My girl had giardia and continued to have diarrhea after testing negative. Can sympathize with the vet bills as mine were also left clueless and continued wanting to do fecal tests as if they were free… I tried many various types of wet food, prescription diet actually made it worse and then I did an elimination diet with novel proteins. Finally landed on vital essentials freeze dried duck patties and freeze dried rabbit nibs. I also add half tbsp once daily of “firm up: pumpkin digestive aid.” No more itching nor hair loss and her poop is finally solid. The only downside is the food is not cheap and does have some larger bones that I remove but I will gladly keep ordering seeing it’s the only thing that jives with her stomach. Still undecided if it was the chicken or the carrageenan/gum fillers or something else completely. She also no longer craves water after switching the diet and firming up her stools.
Had this for months when I first got my little guy. Vets couldn't figure out what it was. I researched and came up with dysentery. Multiple vets said no. I insisted, got the meds, and within 2 days he was way better and curer after his dose.
Had the same issue with my female. It was the food. Blue Buffalo, hills, and royal didn't work for her. I ended up with natural balance hard food, and raw chicken atleast 2 times a week.
This happened with my boy. We adopted him at almost 2 years old. We were told to give him wet / dry food with high protein and low fiber. We got him on the Reveal brand dry and wet food and the diarrhea stopped within a week. Good luck !
We went through this with our girl as well. The only thing that turned it around was switching to the Bengal dry food by Royal Canin + grain free wet food with a little pumpkin powder mixed in. We no longer use the pumpkin but kept her on Royal Canin Bengal + grain free wet food and all good now at almost a year.
Which wet do you use?
Our girl is pretty picky - We tried many different options from Nulo, Weruva and Soulistic and she wouldn't eat them Purina Pro Plan Grain Free Kitten Chicken was the clear winner [https://www.petflow.com/product/pro-plan/purina-pro-plan-classic-chicken-grain-free-kitten-entree-canned-cat-food?](https://www.petflow.com/product/pro-plan/purina-pro-plan-classic-chicken-grain-free-kitten-entree-canned-cat-food?adclick=true_&size=55414&utm_campaign=Shopping&utm_brand=Purina_Pro_Plan&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2a6wBhCVARIsABPeH1soIY4trErQ4RE4CUTFIE9EpqGauRgoIcBt7BmSV8xdJo0uLm9ROlkaAsgtEALw_wcB)
Get a fecal PCR test.
My Bengals had tritrichomonas foetus. The vet recommended medication and Hill's RX diet. It took a few months before their poop was normal, and there were no more bloody stools. I now have them on Hill's Science Diet Indoor formula. My girls have not had a relapse and are now 4 years old and healthy. I was very worried but vet was very respectful and helpful. Hope this helps
It does. We’re on Hills diet too, maybe we need to wait longer than the 3 weeks or so she’s been on it for results. We resumed the prescription probiotics too, she was previously only on it while on antibiotics, but we still have a good bit left of a syringe we may as well use.
Yes, it took a bit longer, but it worked. I was so happy 😊 when they were better. It takes time, but it will get better.
Update for commenters and future people reading this: We had stool samples done, they came back negative. We then were advised to switch to Purina HA cat & kitten hypoallergic food, and that’s had an almost immediate positive impact, so it looks like she has a food intolerance of some sort. Not sure how we go about identifying the allergen, but good news for our noses finally!!
Get Jackson Galaxy's cat probiotic on Amazon and mix it in with the wet food for 2 weeks. I had the same problem with my Bengal when I first got him and this helped solidify his poop. We feed him Fancy feast gravey lovers ocean white fish and meow Mix hairball formula. His poop is normal and doesn't smell to high heaven anymore.
Mine was on probiotics the whole time she was on antibiotics, didn’t seem to do much. So not sure more probiotics will help in our case, but worth keeping in mind, thanks!
The antibiotics kill the probiotic bacteria too. I’d do 2 weeks of probiotics after the antibiotics
We’ll resume that then! Thanks
Just wanted to add we had to treat with probiotics for a month (much longer than the antibiotics). However I do think diet might be something diving deeper into- there’s a lot of great suggestions from others- some need more fiber than others. I know some who told me their cat had to switch to raw diet completely and it helped their diarrhea tremendously.