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“Poopy butt”

Dobbysmommy

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There's a lot to unpack here but let me try.

While it's generally a good practice to mix in the new food so as to prevent a problem, if there's already a problem that you think is due to food then it's OK to stop that food. That is, if you think the food is the problem, it makes sense to stop that food.

Another thing to consider - an elimination diet prior to starting the limited ingredient. The idea of this is to let the body eliminate the old ingredients so you start the limited ingredient with a clean slate. If you google on elimination diet there is a lot of stuff written on it

Last thing I'll mention is sometimes the GI system is inflamed and anything you give would cause upset. In other words, it's not the food but the cat's system. If this is the case a bland diet is recommended to give the GI tract a chance to recover, and then you start the new food. I actually advocate for this because this way you know it's not the cat's system.

This is the order I follow:
1. Check for guardia and anything medical related
2. Give bland food (such as homemade chicken broth)
3. Start new food (if you suspect a food allergy or a food intolerance, then limited ingredient is good)

Hope this helps.
Thank you so much, that was very helpful. I was also thinking about that with the elimination of current food, and my vet had suggested I try a 3-4 day switch. I’m wondering if since I’ve already started the switch to the limited ingredient diet if I should give it a go and then possibly try the elimination diet if it fails. I really hope it doesn’t fail!
 

Condo commando

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Thank you so much, that was very helpful. I was also thinking about that with the elimination of current food, and my vet had suggested I try a 3-4 day switch. I’m wondering if since I’ve already started the switch to the limited ingredient diet if I should give it a go and then possibly try the elimination diet if it fails. I really hope it doesn’t fail!
Well if you already started you can keep going, but if the problem continues then you would need to backtrack and do bland, elimination, etc.
 

Dobbysmommy

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Small update. Today is day 3 of the transition and it is not going well at all. He’s had several accidents. He pooped on me and it was very watery. Also has pooped on and under my bed. I feel like he didn’t have control of it. I called the vet this morning and asked about the tritrichomonas/crypto etc testing and if they have run those tests, which they have not. I requested it be done, and took him in. They couldn’t get a satisfactory sample and kept pressing me to even skip this testing and to take him to a specialist. She also kept suggesting trying the Hills ID prescription, which we did try. It didn’t work. She told me about 3 more times we might have to try it even though we have. I ended up leaving without them submitting the sample but they said I could bring in a better sample and they would send it out if I want to. I do so the husband just left with a good sample to drop it off so we can run the dang test at the lab. I would feel more comfortable knowing we TRIED. Also will be switching vets because they are not giving me the warm fuzzies. Will see how the results come out (hopefully tomorrow), and most likely be scheduling with a cat clinic that specializes in cats only and has experience with the Sphynx. If anything comes back positive I think I’ll be relieved... to at least know what the problem is. Wish us luck
 

Condo commando

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Small update. Today is day 3 of the transition and it is not going well at all. He’s had several accidents. He pooped on me and it was very watery. Also has pooped on and under my bed. I feel like he didn’t have control of it. I called the vet this morning and asked about the tritrichomonas/crypto etc testing and if they have run those tests, which they have not. I requested it be done, and took him in. They couldn’t get a satisfactory sample and kept pressing me to even skip this testing and to take him to a specialist. She also kept suggesting trying the Hills ID prescription, which we did try. It didn’t work. She told me about 3 more times we might have to try it even though we have. I ended up leaving without them submitting the sample but they said I could bring in a better sample and they would send it out if I want to. I do so the husband just left with a good sample to drop it off so we can run the dang test at the lab. I would feel more comfortable knowing we TRIED. Also will be switching vets because they are not giving me the warm fuzzies. Will see how the results come out (hopefully tomorrow), and most likely be scheduling with a cat clinic that specializes in cats only and has experience with the Sphynx. If anything comes back positive I think I’ll be relieved... to at least know what the problem is. Wish us luck
You could consider seeing an internal medicine specialist. They deal with gastrointestinal diseases all the time (for example, irritable bowel). To be clear I'm not saying Dobby has IBD, just that a specialist could connect the dots faster for you.

Here is a link you can read. Someone else on this forum posted it and I saved it because it's got a lot of good information.
My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

The main things I would say are #1 make sure he stays hydrated (do the tent test) and #2 take away the regular food and give him bland food like a homemade chicken broth. You only can feed chicken broth for a few days because it's not balanced but for a few days it's fine.
 
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Condo commando

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Here is a video for making bone broth. I personally don't leave it as long as she does because I don't care if the bone dissolves and I'd rather not leave something on the cooktop while I'm sleeping. What I do is a very low simmer for 4-6 hours. Make sure the cartilage comes completely off the bones. Then I throw away the bones and freeze the broth and chicken in ice cube trays so it keeps.
 

Dobbysmommy

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Here is a video for making bone broth. I personally don't leave it as long as she does because I don't care if the bone dissolves and I'd rather not leave something on the cooktop while I'm sleeping. What I do is a very low simmer for 4-6 hours. Make sure the cartilage comes completely off the bones. Then I throw away the bones and freeze the broth and chicken in ice cube trays so it keeps.


May give this a try if we don’t see more improvement by tomorrow. Right now I have given him some boiled sweet potato and boiled chicken 2:1. His stool is thicker, as before it seemed like water. It’s still leaking a little when he has to go but it’s only been hours on the chicken/sweet potato. We are hoping to have the results from the lab tomorrow. If everything is negative we will be scheduling with the specialist. At his appointment today he had gained weight, and he is still playful/active and acting normal
 

Dobbysmommy

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Hey everyone. Update. The lab results were all negative. I want to try a raw diet before going to the specialist. I’ve been researching and found a local pet feed store that carries Rad Cat raw. Dobby has been on the bland diet for about 24 hours and still has a tiny bit of leaking but has been pooping way less often, and making it into the box. If I were to give the raw a go, how do I go about starting it? I know we are going to have to run more extensive testing upon visiting a specialist and honestly trying out raw seems like a good option right now before going that route. Any advise and recommendations welcome. I just really want my baby to get better.
 

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Sheldon13

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I think that’s a great idea! I had phenomenal success with raw food until Ellie started refusing it lol. We can only do our best!


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
 

Dobbysmommy

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I think that’s a great idea! I had phenomenal success with raw food until Ellie started refusing it lol. We can only do our best!


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
Really keeping my fingers and toes crossed that we can solve the problem with raw. His poop has improved a lot on the bland diet we started yesterday and the odor is completely gone, which leads me to believe it is the food causing issues. The husband picked up a box of raw chicken cat food (frozen) and we gave him a bit tonight. He loved it, licked the plate clean. Keeping an eye on him like a hawk and gonna take baby steps from here
 

Dobbysmommy

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Wanted to pop in with a quick update on my break. Dobby hasn’t had any more diarrhea. Saturday we started a bland diet, and Sunday we alternated the bland diet with raw. He also had raw for breakfast this morning. He did NOT leak at all last night! He actually didn’t even go to the box last night, whereas before it was at least 1-2 times a night. I had a towel underneath us just in case and it was clean in the morning. Fed him his meal, he went poo, and that was that. It’s kind of similar to soft serve texture right now. We hope it keeps improving. I took a picture of his poop this morning, it had some specks of blood and it also seems to be changing colors due to the raw. He had his temp taken rectally on Saturday as well as an unsuccessful attempt at a fecal collection so I am not surprised but I wanted to see if anyone who has switched to raw and seen the transition from diarrhea to a healthy poop could let me know if it looks promising? I know that may be soooo odd to ask so sorry if I come off batty as hell
 

Jeanhill72

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Don't feel "batty", it is really frustrating to deal with health issues with our babies, especially when you aren't seeing any positive results. It can take several days for the changes you make to fix the issue, so unfortunately you just have to wait and see. It seems promising that he is already going less often. The Fortiflora should help as it replenishes the bacteria in the gut. It took a few weeks before I saw really good results with my boy. With that said, maybe just stick to the raw and see if that clears things up? If things get better, you can try adding the Fortiflora later to further firm up his poo.
 

Dobbysmommy

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Don't feel "batty", it is really frustrating to deal with health issues with our babies, especially when you aren't seeing any positive results. It can take several days for the changes you make to fix the issue, so unfortunately you just have to wait and see. It seems promising that he is already going less often. The Fortiflora should help as it replenishes the bacteria in the gut. It took a few weeks before I saw really good results with my boy. With that said, maybe just stick to the raw and see if that clears things up? If things get better, you can try adding the Fortiflora later to further firm up his poo.
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. We are doing raw and bland at the moment but adding more and more raw until the bland is gone. I’m terrified to try dry kibble or fortiflora at the moment due to the reaction he had with leaky bum. It was just falling out, everywhere. I am definitely thinking about adding the fortiflora at a later time if things improve so that we can replenish all the good stuff. He’s had on and off diarrhea (diarrhea like 90% of the time) since we’ve had him. That’s over 2 months. I know his bum and system need a break. Thank you for your time reading and helping me out
 

Condo commando

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I am definitely thinking about adding the fortiflora at a later time"

Raw food is high in probiotics, so if you keep feeding raw then the probiotic later wouldn't be necessary. If you were going to use it now would be the time. If you still have a problem later, after feeding raw for a while, the problem is probably not probiotics.
 

Yoda mom

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@Dobbysmommy soo happy Dobby is improving! all paws crossed for continued good news!
btw, love to know what raw you are feeding? looks like you are on the right track ! yah! helpful to our members.
we have seen numerous threads where raw has been well received and a real help to resolve poo issues.
 

Dobbysmommy

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@Dobbysmommy soo happy Dobby is improving! all paws crossed for continued good news!
btw, love to know what raw you are feeding? looks like you are on the right track ! yah! helpful to our members.
we have seen numerous threads where raw has been well received and a real help to resolve poo issues.

Thank you! The brand is called Savage Cat, bought it in the freezer section at a local pet feed store. Here is a picture of the ingredients, we started him on chicken since chicken seemed like it was okay with the bland as far as him tolerating it. He loooves it. If we are able to actually solve this without a specialist I’d be thrilled.
 

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Dobbysmommy

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So happy to hear Dobby has solid poops now. My boy Toa had diarrhea for 6 months. From the moment I switched to raw food he had solid poops!
His poop turned into soft serve consistency pretty quickly and I’m happy to say that today he had a firm, solid poop. Like a normal poop should be!!!! Overjoyed! It’s been less than 48 hours since slowly adding in raw.
 

Yoda mom

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@Dobbysmommy yah! did you ever think you would be owned by a kitty that we do happy dances for solid poo!
we all know poo patrol all too well!

keep the good news updates coming..thanks again for sharing the Savage Cat food raw food info..
sooo happy it is helping Dobby so quickly

hugs n head smooches
 

Dobbysmommy

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Probably did not think that, lol. Wouldn’t change a thing. Of course you are all so welcome, I’m happy to share anything that has helped because I know how hard it is to see your baby going through what Dobby did. He’s the most lovable little dude ever
 

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