Diarrhea Switching to Wet

[sporkula]

I started switching my cats to wet food a couple weeks ago. Initially, we just switched cold turkey because we ran out of their EVO and I couldn't find anybody selling it, and they wouldn't eat any other dry food, but they loved wet. However, a week in we tried a can of Wellness which gave them all really bad diarrhea. I just so happened to find that my bird vet 45 min. away sells small bags of the EVO, so I picked one up a few days ago and have put them back on dry in an effort to return their tummies to normal. They had solid stools until the Wellness, but they have had diarrhea since.

In any case, the past month has been a diet nightmare for them. After running out of EVO, we tried Orijen, and even Fromm's and Flint River Ranch when they wouldn't eat that. In haste I switched to wet food to just get them to eat. So their intestinal balance is probably ruined from all this change, and I know it's my fault. I panicked when we ran out of their food and was desperate to just get them all eating. I feel really bad, but I didn't know what else to do. I hope this is not doing any real damage.

So I planned on just giving them EVO for a few weeks until their stools return to solid, but Ruby is barely eating. Having been given a week of wet food bliss, she does not want dry food. I broke down tonight and gave Ruby a little wet, and the other cats joined in. They prefer wet, but they have diarrhea (although they've been on dry for a few days, and the diarrhea is getting a little better but not gone). Should I force them all to continue with going back to dry, or are their digestive systems so ruined at this point that switching back to EVO would be just as hard as continuing to switch to wet? Would probiotics help? Is there anything else I should do?

[JulieC]

I would give the cats sprinkles of probiotics on their wet food to help them to transition. I buy mine from my vet. It it made by Purina. Some folks here use other alternatives because this product has animal digest as an ingredient. I also use another product made by Eagle Pack that is formulated to help with loose stools and they market one to help with transitioning pets to different foods.
Hope this helps.