Food for diarrhea

[tommykitty]

My 8 year old male cat seems to have chronic diarrhea. It comes and goes but seems to come more often. He has been seen by the vet and as of now he has nothing wrong with him. He eats purina indoor dry cat food. I occasionally give him canned food but with the diarrhea I'm not sure if it makes it will make it worse. I want to try a different, better, cat food that may help. Any suggestions on what cat food to try???

[opus88]

I should have added to do the transition SLOWLY over from dry to canned as a rapid change in any diet can cause even more GI upsets....and it also may take awhile for your kitty to enjoy the new food...
start by adding 1/4 canned to the dry....after a day or two you can increase the amount of canned food and lessen the dry until she is eating 100% of her diet from cans...
many cats don't like the taste some more natural diets so its going to be a trial and error thing, but certainly in the best interest of your cat to get one she will eat and enjoy:)

[opus88]

I will send you a long article with tons of info on DIETS...by a very renowned Vet Dr. Pierson who is an expert on nutrition. Persistent diarrhea is usually associated with an allergy to the grains in commercial pet foods in particular dry diets which are also full of pesticides and a whole lot of other nasty ingredients added for preservation.
the closest you can keep kitties diet to a good protien source (not by products) and the least amount of additives the better for bowel/urinary tract and over all health they will be.
read all of the article its full of very sound advice and tips...at the very end Dr. Pierson names the brands of the best commercial canned foods.
I would strongly advise to stay clear of steroids if at all possible, they address the immediate problem but are not addressing the CAUSE and steroids even just ONE use can lead to diabetes in many cats..thus another problem to deal with....many good Vets are reluctant to use because of this.
good luck, if we can be of anymore help please post again....

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods

[tommykitty]

Thankyou!

[AnnieBrooke]

I would try a more hypoallergenic or natural style product, but try to keep it in the bigger brand names.  My cat got so sick once on one of the natural foods from a smaller supplier.  And counter-intuitive as it sounds, kitties can get better from anything relating to the bowel and digestion on canned food.  Some dry foods just are tough on the digestion.  If he doesn't get better with a diet change, you might ask the vet about a very short run of steroids, like 4 days.  That is what finally knocked out my cat's problems with the runs.  The vet was hesitant to do it but we had tried everything else, and it did work.