[LindaD]

Hi, I'm new here, and I recently rescued a female Siamese cat. She had been starved and was dehyrdated. Her owners moved and left her behind, in a house with no heat. Her water bowl was completely frozen solid. Before I start ranting about it because I'm furious.. I better get to my question.

I brought her home on Jan.31st. I gave her small meals 5-6 times a day so she wouldn't overeat. She seems to have put on a bit of weight, since I can't feel her spine quite as easily as I could before. She's no longer dehydrated, the skin on her neck doesn't stay stuck out when I lift it up. But since day one has had a horrible case of diarrhea (not watery but more like pudding). I originally thought it might have been from whatever she was eating prior to me bringing her home. But I've had her a week now with no improvement. Is there anything I can give her to slow/stop the diarrhea? I've tried white rice and a small amount of canned food mixed in it. It didn't help. She doesn't have any other symptoms, no sneezing, watery eyes no vomitting.. nothing but diarrhea.


I'm taking her into the vet as soon as I get paid. My vet no longer lets anyone run up a bill since too many people didn't pay. I even offered to leave them my identification, prooving that I would come in and pay it, but they still said no. So I feel like an idiot, now that I"VE rescued this cat and can't get her into the vet right away.

Also from what the neighbours told me is that she is not a kitten.. but about 2 years old. She's very small though. About the size of a 6 month old kitten. :?

Here's pic of her.

 

[drjean]

rescued cat

Poor little kitty! Bless your heart for taking her in! You are a saint and a hero!!

Given her state of neglect, there could be a zillion problems going on. She could have worms, which can contribute to diarrhea. If she didn't eat for a long time, her intestinal cells are probably atrophied and will just take time to rebuild. If she's gaining weight, she's absorbing *something*, so that's good.

To help with the diarrhea, you could try adding digestive enzymes and acidophilus or other probiotics to the wet food to help her digest it better and retain more of the nutrition, as well as to repopulation the gut bacteria that probably died off from starvation. Also, slippery elm bark powder has fiber and good gut-healing properties, as well as important nutrients for the colon cells. I just posted an article about it to our free article library so you can see all its benefits and how to prepare and use it. http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?a ... lipperyelm

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[Bean]

are you feeding her wet or dry? Wet can sometimes cause diarrehea as well, but Dr. Jean knows a lot more than I do.

 

[drjean]

rescued cat

Yeah, Bean, it can, but it's so much better for the cat, and of course easier to add the supplements! With this kitty, I'd guess that just about *any* food would cause diarrhea simply because her GI tract is in bad shape. Dry is harder to digest, that's why I'd keep it to a minimum.

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[LindaD]

Thank you. I'll stop in at the health food store and see if I can find slippery elm bark powder.

I'll also switch her over to wet food instead. Since she already had the diarrhea it's not like it's going to make it any worse.

In the meantime I'm working on borrowing the money to get her into the vet. Since I won't get paid for another 2 weeks. I'm also going to check to see if any other local vets will bill me. But I'd much rather take her to my usual vet.

Thanks very much for the help.

 

[Jeanie]

I'm so grateful that you are caring for this beautiful and needy cat, Linda. And I'm very grateful that we have Dr. Jean to help you with this problem! You are both saints.

 

[kitkat]

I'm glad to hear that you are going to be taking of this kitty. She is a beautiful cat and hope she gets better soon. DrJean has some great advice so hopefully that will help until you can take her to the vet. Good Luck!

 

[LindaD]

Thank you all. I'm glad I found her and this site!

Hubby and I have decided to keep her.. I'm way too attached to her to give her up. I would be a horrible rescue worker, I'd end up keeping every animal I rescued. :lol:

Also regarding her diarrhea. I finally caught her in the litterbox and there are no worms or anything that I could see. But she also had gas and was straining.

Another question, I have 2 adult male cats. Fozzie is 3 and Fido is 7. They met her for a few minutes and go along quite well. But I seperated them because I wasn't sure if what she had was contagious.
Should I wait until she's been to the vet before I let them all together?

 

[drjean]

new cat

Absolutely. She needs to be tested for leukemia and FIV, dewormed, de-flea'd if necessary, and vaccinated as needed before being introduced to your cats. Vaccines take at least 10-14 days to kick in, so there's some waiting left to be done.

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

 

[LindaD]

My vet actually called me back a few minutes ago. He he doesn't normally allow people to run a bill. But he said he'd make an exception for me. Wooohoooo! So she had an appointment for tomorrow morning at 11:15am.

I'm so relieved. I'll let you all know how it goes.

 

[LindaD]

Back from the vet!

He gave her a physical exam. Took some blood. And checked her for parasites. He said he didn't find anything in her stool. But he de-wormed her anyway just in case. And gave her 3 anti-diarrhea pills. I didn't catch the name of them, but they were tiny red pills. And gave me Metronidazole 250mg and she gets half a pill every 12 hours. She also has ear mites. He recommended some stuff that kills them with one treatment. So I got him to treat that too.

In a few weeks she will be going in to get her shots, and be spayed.

 

[Jeanie]

Linda, it looks as if things are looking up. I assume the vet tested her for feline leukemia and FIV. I hope all goes well from now on!

 

[LindaD]

I think he did. Are they tested by blood test? He said if he found anything concerning the blood test that he would call me back.

Also the ear mite medication he gave me was called MilbeMite. I'm hoping I caught it soon enough, since she has came into contact with my cats when my son left the rec-room door open earlier. I went and got her right away but Fozzie was right there with her. I guess if all else fails I'll have to treat all 3 of them for mites.. Lovely.