Diaherrea

[KittyGal]

About a month ago, I changed my cat's food from Natural Balance to California Natural. All three of them seem to really like CN and have liked it from the beginning. However, two of the cats are having diaherrea. Could changing the food cause this? Also, how long will it take their stomachs to get use to the new food?

[icklemiss21]

It is quite possible that its the changing of the food. Did you change it gradually or just switch them to the new food? This will usually give them upset tummies.

Even changing food gradually, it took about a month of just the new foods for ours to get back to normal - we had two with diarrhoea and one who threw up - eeek

[KittyGal]

They have a self feeder and when I first started the change I mixed it in with the old food, but then the old food ran out and they just went straight to the new food. So, I'm hoping it's only upset tummies from the food change and they will gradually get better.

[coaster]

I don't know...it sounds to me like a month is a long time to adapt to a different food, maybe they just aren't going to tolerate that new food, period. My own experience is that it only took a little over a week transitioning to a new food. But that's only one cat. I'm lucky...the other two cats seem to have iron stomachs.

I should mention that my cats are on about a 50/50 diet of dry/wet, so maybe that improved results.

[KittyGal]

Hmmm...I guess every cat is very different! I read/heard somewhere that it could take up to 3 months for a food to work itself out. I'm going to give it a little longer and if it doesn't clear up, they're going to the vet.
One of the problems could be that I've changed their food 3 times now in about 6 months. I feel horrible, which is why I want to stick with this food a little longer and see if it'll work out. About 6 months ago, was when I learned about this forum and the better choices in food, so I've been trying them out. I guess I might have been going too fast for them.

[coaster]

I was also curious as to why you discontinued Natural Balance. I haven't tried it, but researched it and thought it looked like an excellent food.

[KittyGal]

Well, I started reading on this website about carbs and different types of "not-so-good foods," and Natural Balance uses potatoes and other unnecessary carbs. I felt like my cats didn't need that. Also, my older cat was a little picky with the food and instead of feeding two seperate dry foods, I wanted to find one that they all would eat. I had gotten a sample of California Natural and liked the simple ingredients in the food, and the cats all seemed to like it. So, I'm really hoping that it's not the food (so to say) that's causing the diaherrea. I hope it's just the transition, but we're starting to get a little bit concerned.

[coaster]

OK, that sounds reasonable. It wasn't clear from your msgs how long the diahrrea's been ocurring. Gotta hit the sack, will check this thread in the a.m.

[KittyGal]

My older cat has had it for awhile now (couple of months). He's been to the vet twice and they can't figure out what's wrong. They did xrays and blood work on him. He doesn't have any parasites and it's not a bug. The vet says it could just be stress from the new kittens we've had for about 4 months now.
The other one that has started the diaherrea is a recent one, which is why I'm blaming it on the food (for now). He was doing great and everything till I started changing their food too much.
So, we're still miffed about the older cat and why he's having the diaherrea. The weird thing is that even though they have diaherrea they still are acting very normal. They're eating, drinking, playing, sleeping...all the normal cat things. Nothing has changed.
My other suspision is that the older one use to chew on my peace lily plant, which I just found out was poisonous. It has now been moved out of all the cats reach and is in a safe spot. Some of the sickness that comes with ingestion of the plant is diaherrea, vomitting (he doesn't do) and lathargy..which he has. So, we're hoping that it's not too bad and everything will clear up. But for now, it's all a mystery.

[coaster]

Originally Posted by KittyGal

...they can't figure out what's wrong....the older one use to chew on my peace lily plant

It sounds like you've got a pretty good handle on the situation. But did your vet say anything about irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) for the older cat with the chronic diarrhea? You hit upon the plant, eliminating that. And stress for the new cat is a pretty good possibility. So it sounds like you've eliminated medical conditions and environmental factors.

What I'd suggest are two things you can try: first, give them a little dollop of plain yogurt once a day. I suppose your California Natural food has probiotics in it, but nothing beats fresh. Second, if that doesn't work, there's an herb called slippery elm bark, available at health food stores. Scale down the dosage to cat-size. Give each a try for about a week before giving up.

I would like to throw out some things from my own point of view: fixed discrete mealtimes is better than free feeding, and canned food is better than dry. But you mentioned you've done the research, so I don't need to get into all that. I'm assuming the reason you feed dry only from a self feeder is necessity rather than convenience.

Good luck to you!! It sounds to me you're a good cat parent, and I hope this frustrating situation resolves soon.