Diarrhea in a kitten: what to do, first aid, causes, treatment, medications and folk remedies

Cat diarrhea (or, in scientific terms, diarrhea) is a very common phenomenon. Nevertheless, this fact does not mean that you can leave the issue as is and the problem will “resolve itself.” Diarrhea can often be caused by truly serious causes. What to do and how to treat a cat for diarrhea at home? We will talk about this as well as each possible cause of diarrhea separately today in our article.

If it is quite difficult not to notice such a deviation as constipation in a pet, then severe diarrhea in a cat will definitely not go unnoticed. Diarrhea is easy to recognize. The animal often (up to 10 times a day) empties its intestines. In this case, the consistency of stool can vary quite significantly:

• Pasty;
• Watery;
• Liquid.

The color scheme, like the smell of feces, is also very diverse. Representatives of the cat family are quite picky eaters. Therefore, diarrhea in a cat cannot be called a common occurrence, and the owner should pay special attention to the pet’s condition.

Symptoms of diarrhea in cats and kittens

The most obvious symptom of diarrhea in a cat is frequent loose stools. In addition, additional symptomatic manifestations of the disorder may be present:

• Attempts to defecate;
• Flatulence;
• Mucus and/or blood in the stool.

In some cases, secondary symptoms may occur, such as:

• Decreased appetite;
• Weight loss;
• Dehydration;
• Fever;
• Lethargy;
• Vomiting.

If your cat's diarrhea is an unusual color, such as red or black, it may be a sign of a serious illness. In this case, it is advisable to contact a veterinarian as soon as possible. After all, the life of your beloved pet depends on delay.

But in order not to panic in vain, you should familiarize yourself with the symptoms and the reasons for their occurrence in more detail. After all, in most cases everything ends quite well.

Duration of symptoms

Diarrhea in cats can occur suddenly and end just as suddenly. It can also bother the animal for months, practically without stopping or appearing from time to time. A single bout of diarrhea is not a cause for alarm, but if your cat's diarrhea lasts for more than two days, this already signals a more serious problem.

Conventionally, diarrhea in cats is divided into three groups in terms of duration and degree of “neglect” of the situation:

1. Acute (if several days).
2. Chronic (if the cat’s diarrhea lasts for more than a week).
3. Intermittent (if month).

If the cause of the disorder is poor nutrition, poor quality food, etc., you can limit yourself to symptomatic treatment. If a cat has short-term, uncomplicated diarrhea, then a starvation diet for one or two days is the most acceptable treatment measure. It is also advisable to reduce the amount of water in the first hours after signs of the disorder appear. Providing your cat with peace is also a good idea.

Diarrhea in cats that lasts a week or more is a signal that the pet needs to be examined and treated at a veterinary clinic.

With prolonged disorder, the cat’s body becomes dehydrated, which only aggravates the animal’s condition. Therefore, it is highly undesirable to delay in this case.

What to feed during diarrhea

Diet for digestive disorders is very important. To alleviate your cat's condition, you should:

• provide plenty of fluids;
• exclude dairy products, and ideally almost all products from the human table;
• introduce a starvation diet for up to twenty-four, and sometimes forty-eight hours for an adult cat, up to twelve hours for a kitten;
• introduce special medicinal food into the diet - many leading manufacturers of food for cats have “gastro” and gastrointensive lines in the form of dry and wet food;
• you can try giving rice water;
• introduce sorbents into the diet;
• sometimes the use of folk remedies helps - decoctions of chamomile, oak bark, St. John's wort;
• introduce probiotics into the diet (Linex, Baktisubtil).

If your cat has diarrhea without complications

What to do if your cat only has diarrhea and no other aggravating symptoms? In addition to helminthic infestations and food poisoning, diarrhea in a cat can be caused by an infectious disease, pathology of internal organs and other changes associated with the normal functioning of the body. It is also worth considering that cats are individual creatures and the same symptoms in different animals do not necessarily mean the presence of a similar disease. Therefore, to find out the causes and develop effective treatment, you need to contact a specialist.

Why might a cat have diarrhea? The problem can occur in different cases:

• Bowel disease;
• Infection;
• Psycho-emotional disorder;
• Food allergies;
• Invasive disease;
• Poor nutrition;
• Binge eating;
• Poisoning.

How to treat a cat for diarrhea at home? If the cat’s health is fine and diarrhea does not in any way affect its appetite and playful mood, then changing its diet or fasting day is a good opportunity to solve the problem without resorting to medicine. It should be borne in mind that even if the symptoms of liquid discharge are one-time in nature, this is still a reason to control the animal’s nutrition.

If the diarrhea does not stop for several days, and what is worse, the feces acquire an unusual smell and color - this is a reason to rush to see a veterinarian. Many cat diseases develop rapidly, and delay can be fatal for your pet.

Individual intolerance to any products

For each animal there is a specific list of products, the consumption of which can provoke an allergic reaction and loose stools. In kittens and adult animals, this phenomenon is often caused by dairy products. Because there is not enough lactose enzyme in the body. The following foods can also cause diarrhea:

• cow meat;
• horse meat;
• fish;
• eggs (raw);
• corn;
• wheat seed;
• soy;
• some ready-made food.

To eliminate allergies, you simply need to remove the inappropriate product from the cat’s (kitten’s) diet. If the kitten actually has a deficiency of the enzyme lactose, it is necessary to remove dairy products from the diet. Its absence will not affect the pet’s health in any way. Including fermented milk products in a kitten’s menu is not prohibited, especially since they are usually digested well.

If your cat has water diarrhea

Most often, heavy watery discharge in cats signals a minor, one-time problem. But it may also be a sign of the initial development of a disease. If your cat's water diarrhea lasts for a long time, it is better to call a veterinarian at home or visit a specialized clinic. If this is not possible at the moment, then you will need to follow certain recommendations:

• If your pet only has diarrhea, without vomiting, then he needs to be given clean boiled water to drink. This will prevent dehydration;
• The food should be reduced or the cat should not be given food at all during the day;

At this time, easily digestible food is best for the animal.

If your cat has diarrhea and vomiting

What to do if your cat has diarrhea and vomiting? Most often, this is a sign that the animal’s digestive system is struggling with the negative effects of external factors.

Sunstroke or heatstroke can also cause vomiting in your pet. Quite often, vomiting and diarrhea in cats is a consequence of the negligence of their owners. When feeding an animal, some cat owners give them human food, which is not always compatible with the digestive system of a small creature.

Treatment

How to treat a cat if it has diarrhea and vomiting? It is important to provide first aid to the animal and follow the following recommendations:

1. The water in the bowl should be changed and the dishes themselves should be washed thoroughly.
2. You should refrain from feeding the cat for a while, but not more than 48 hours.
3. While the animal is forced to starve, you can go to the store and buy special canned food for cats with gastrointestinal diseases. The difference between this food is that it does not irritate the stomach, and it also promotes the adsorption of toxins and the formation of feces.
4. Until the cat's stool returns to normal, in addition to special canned food, you can give your pet medications recommended for loose stools.
5. If all of the above recommendations do not have a beneficial effect on the cat’s body and diarrhea with vomiting still plagues the pet, then you need to take the animal to the veterinarian.

Harm and benefits of dry cat food

Dry food is very convenient to use. I poured it in and that’s it. No need to waste time cooking or cutting meat or fish. In addition, dry food is developed taking into account the characteristics of each animal; it contains vitamins and minerals necessary for normal life. Dry food, especially economy class, has negative aspects:

1. They contain a lot of plant protein, which is poorly digested, thereby the cat’s body does not receive the proper amount of amino acids - a breakdown product of protein foods.
2. Too much carbohydrate content is harmful for cats, since their body does not contain the necessary enzymes to break them down. The result of such a diet is obesity.
3. Dry food retains little moisture, which leads to insufficient urine production, an increase in salt concentration, and this is fraught with inflammatory diseases of the urinary system and urolithiasis.
4. Ready-made foods are supplemented with various chemicals to enhance their smell and taste. These substances are very harmful to the health of cats.
5. They replace meat with cheap offal, which cannot provide the body with the required amount of protein.

If your cat has diarrhea with blood and/or mucus

What to do if your cat has diarrhea with blood or mucus? It has been noted that diarrhea with mucus most often occurs during the period of anthelmintic therapy, after the use of appropriate drugs.

This is especially pronounced in animals with a large number of worms. The parasites die from the drugs and leave the body along with fecal matter in the form of mucous diarrhea.

Also, often diarrhea in a cat with blood and mucus can be the cause of the development of colitis (inflammatory disease of the colon) in a cat. Colitis can appear due to many factors, so the best thing an owner can do for a pet in this case is to take it to a doctor.

Treatment

In some cases, changing the animal's diet is enough to restore intestinal function to the proper level. If the owner decides that the cat needs a diet, then first of all smoked and sweet foods are excluded from the diet. The same fate awaits milk. Porridges are good for the diet, especially oatmeal and rice.

In advanced cases, the veterinarian may prescribe antibacterial and antiviral drugs. These include special serums and immunostimulants. Another cat is being treated:

• Disinfecting enemas;
• Enzymes that improve the functioning of the digestive system;
• Broad spectrum antimicrobial agents.

If the cause of bloody and/or mucous diarrhea in a cat is worms, then the pet will need to undergo deworming. This is a standard procedure that helps cleanse the animal’s body of parasites. Also, regardless of the type of procedure performed, the cat must be provided with constant access to clean water. After all, if the cause of diarrhea lies in poisoning, then water is the best way to rinse the pet’s body without the slightest harm to its already poor health.

Diagnostics

To diagnose the disease that caused diarrhea in a cat, the following methods are used in veterinary medicine:

1. Compiling a medical history. The veterinarian collects data on the nature, duration and frequency of stool, studies associated factors, and the presence of vaccination. Be sure to evaluate the appearance and objective condition of the animal. The factors of diarrhea are determined - external or gastrointestinal.
2. A diagnostic examination of stool is carried out - biochemical examination, laboratory assessment, testing for reoviruses.
3. If necessary, radiographic and ultrasound examination of the abdominal cavity is prescribed to identify foreign bodies and neoplasms
4. Secondary cytological examination of a rectal smear.
5. Study of markers for pancreatic insufficiency and pancreatitis, culture for salmonellosis, PRC analysis (polymerase chain reaction).
6. A biopsy is prescribed for chronic diarrhea if all other methods have failed to determine what caused the disease.

If your cat has black and/or red diarrhea

Under normal conditions, the color of a cat's feces can vary from brown to light brownish. But if your cat has black, liquid feces, also called “melena,” then this is a sign of a possible problem. What to do in this case? First, we understand the possible causes and analyze additional symptoms.

The reason for the change in the color of stool lies in the following:

• The animal receives iron-containing vitamin supplements;
• The pet's diet consists of raw meat or blood meal;
• The cat is given iron supplements.

If the cat feels well and it is known for sure that she is eating foods that can stain the feces, then everything is fine. But your pet definitely needs to be examined as soon as possible if the following additional symptoms are present:

• Refusal to eat, lethargy;
• Vomiting, diarrhea;
• Abdominal pain;
• Temperature.

Red diarrhea in a cat is an additional alarming symptom. This usually means there is blood in the stool. And this is a direct sign of bleeding in one of the sections of the gastrointestinal tract. For all of the above symptoms, the most reasonable help is to contact a specialist. After all, black feces, as a symptom of the disease, accompanies the following diseases.

• Worm infestation.
• Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis.
• Traumatic gastritis, colitis.
• Tumors of the stomach and small intestine.
• Ulcerative enterocolitis, ulcerative gastritis.

In this situation, home treatment can only aggravate the situation and lead to the death of the pet, so treatment of cats with possible signs of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract is carried out under the supervision of veterinarians and only after undergoing tests.

How to help a cat yourself

There is no need to panic at the first sign of an upset stomach in your cat. You can try to stop diarrhea with your own remedies. The following methods can help normalize digestion:

• Deworm the animal, especially if it has not been done for more than three months. Often this measure helps solve the issue of normalizing digestion if the problem is a helminthic infestation.
• If there is a suspicion of poisoning, you should give the cat sorbents - activated carbon, Enterosogel, Smecta.
• An unfavorable reaction to a change in food can be eliminated by eliminating the new product from the animal’s diet.
• In case of allergies, you can alleviate your pet’s condition with the help of antihistamines - Diphenhydramine, Diphenhydramine. If the reaction is caused by the flea collar, it must be removed.
• If the animal has diabetes, then diarrhea may be caused by a violation of the diet. You should establish proper nutrition for your pet and follow all doctor’s orders on time.
• A cat with diseases of the liver, kidneys, or gall bladder should be kept on special dry or wet food until contacting a doctor.
• If you suspect that indigestion is caused by hairballs, you should give your pet a special paste to remove them.
• For intestinal diseases, a special diet (gastrofeed) will help. If the stool does not return to normal within a few days, you can use tablets from a “human” pharmacy - Ftalozol, Enetrofuril, Furazolidone. You just need to remember to follow the dosage.
• In all cases of indigestion, the animal should receive as much fluid as possible and a special diet. Sometimes a wet fast for up to forty-eight hours (for adults) helps.
• If dehydration is suspected, a subcutaneous infusion of Ringer's solution, Ringer-Locke solution, glucose with vitamins B and C will help.

If your cat has yellow diarrhea

When the stomach functions in a normal rhythm, it receives the required amount of bile containing yellow bilirubin. During the digestion process, bilirubin is converted into stercobilin, the standard brown color characteristic of the fecal matter of a healthy animal.

In principle, yellow diarrhea in a cat is normal, since with diarrhea, all digestive processes are accelerated, and bilirubin leaves the body in an unprocessed, yellow form. However, if the color of the diarrhea is very yellow, even orange, then this is a clear sign of jaundice.

Treatment

First of all, yellow diarrhea in a cat signals poor digestion of food. Therefore, before starting to treat an animal, you should analyze its diet. If in recent days the cat has consumed a lot of milk, raw seafood, liver, or too fatty meat, then this may be the problem. The best treatment is to change your pet's diet. It is best to keep your cat on a semi-starved diet or not feed it at all for a while. If simple methods do not bring results, then you may have to take the cat to the veterinarian for testing. This is the best way to assess liver function.

Unsuitable food for a kitten

Diarrhea can be caused by:

• eating animal corpses and live mice;
• expired products;
• sauces;
• spices;
• fatty and fried foods;
• poisonous plants.

Sometimes diarrhea is caused by changing the water. Therefore, always give your pet only liquid that is familiar to him.

Often, diarrhea in a kitten occurs when switching from mother's milk to regular food. It is necessary to gradually transfer him to food that is unusual for him, slowly adding it to the milk. How to introduce new products so that the kitten does not vilify? 2 months is the period when you should first give him slightly diluted milk and milk porridge. And then gradually offer other products.

Sometimes even minor changes in diet lead to diarrhea. This especially happens with cats of unnatural breeds.

If your cat has white diarrhea

As is already known, the color of stool is affected by bilirubin contained in bile. And if there is too much of it, then the animal’s feces acquire a yellowish tint. Conversely, the absence of bilirubin causes the opposite effect - white diarrhea in cats. The main reason for this phenomenon is blockage of the bile ducts and problems with the formation of bile in the liver.

Liver dysfunction of this kind rarely occurs due to mild illness. Most likely, the pet has a deep, chronic illness. And even if white diarrhea is noticed in a cat just for the first time, this is already a reason to take your pet to a doctor’s appointment.

Causes of diarrhea in kittens

Diarrhea – frequent bowel movements (more than three times a day). The etiology of stool disorders in young individuals is extensive.

Common causes of frequent bowel movements:

• Helminthic infestations. Dyspeptic disorders, including diarrhea, are most often caused by giardia and coccidia.
• Poor nutrition. Intestinal dysfunction is caused by poor-quality formula, whole milk, and early transition to food for adult animals.
• Bacterial and viral infections: dysbacteriosis, peritonitis, immunodeficiency virus.
• Benign and malignant neoplasia.
• Intoxication, small animals are inquisitive, often tasting household chemicals.
• Changing teeth.
• Accumulation of hair in the stomach;
• Reaction to vaccines, anthelmintics.

If your stool is upset, you need to take quick action.

If your cat has green diarrhea

Green diarrhea in cats indicates putrefactive and fermentative processes in the intestines. As a rule, this happens if the cat has eaten rotten food containing a large number of putrefactive microorganisms.

Green diarrhea in a cat is also dangerous because toxic substances are released during the process of decay of the product. As a result, the animal receives severe poisoning of the body. This adversely affects not only her health and stool, but also the functioning of all organs. Therefore, if diarrhea continues for several days, then you should take your pet to the clinic. Quite often, treatment of green diarrhea in cats is accompanied by the use of antibiotics and drips. Only a veterinarian can prescribe the correct medications. And not every pet owner is able to independently administer an IV to their pet.

Treating a cat for diarrhea at home

Next, we will talk about the basic rules for treating whiskers - how to treat a domestic cat for diarrhea. When symptoms of a gastrointestinal disorder appear, it is too early to panic and worry about thoughts of a serious illness in your pet. If the cat is vaccinated and does not come into contact with other cats, especially homeless ones, then most likely the cause of diarrhea is a banal intestinal disorder. And in some cases, the reason is not illness at all, but because of nerves. In this case, the main thing is to correctly assess the situation.

Of course, treating a cat for diarrhea at home, taking care and proper nutrition is not always the way out of any current situation. In some cases, medical intervention is required and, as a rule, the first step is taking medications. Moreover, some “human” medicines also deserve consideration.

List of medications (tablets) for diarrhea in cats

We have prepared for you a list of the most popular medications for diarrhea in cats with comments on each to make it easier for you to navigate. Let’s make a reservation right away that these are the most popular folk remedies, and we do not recommend all of them for use. Moreover, if your pet’s diarrhea comes with complications, then the best option would be to first show it to the doctor, and only then feed it with pills. So, what should you give your cat for diarrhea?

Furazolidone

The drug has a broad antimicrobial effect. Bacteria do not develop resistance to it well, which only adds to the benefits of this drug.

Indications for use:

• Hepatitis;
• Enteritis;
• Coccidiosis;
• Balantidiasis;
• Salmonellosis;
• Colibacillosis and others.

The treatment regimen depends on a number of factors and is most often individual in nature. The course of therapy is developed by the therapist and only after the cat has passed all the necessary tests indicating the cause of diarrhea. The drug is taken as follows: the daily dose of the medicine should be mixed with food into three parts and fed to the pet each part every four hours.

Enterofuril

The drug is good because it treats infectious diarrhea in cats. And due to the fact that it reduces the risk of developing a bacterial infection, it can also be used for viral diarrhea. It is best to purchase Enterofuril in the form of a suspension for children. This will make it easier to give it to the cat, and the drug will be better absorbed.

Phthalazole

This is an antimicrobial drug. It works well in the treatment of salmonellosis and dysentery. It is also prescribed for gastroenteritis and colitis caused by strains of Escherichia coli. This is a reliable assistant for a veterinarian - an old, proven remedy used for various gastrointestinal disorders in cats. Fthalazol should be given to cats for diarrhea as follows: crush ¼ of the tablet, mix with water and give the animal something to drink through a syringe. There may be some small crystals of powder left in the water - this is normal. It is worth knowing that it is not advisable to give the drug to pets with kidney and liver diseases, as well as during pregnancy.

Levomycetin

The drug shows a significant effect in the fight against gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms, such as spirochetes, rickettsia and other large viruses.

Attention! Levomycetin does not cause side effects only if the instructions for use are strictly followed. If you ignore this fact, the following side effects occur when treating diarrhea in cats:

• Inflammation of the oral mucosa;
• Liver damage;
• Skin rashes;
• Intestinal flatulence;
• Hyperemia;
• Dermatitis;
• Diarrhea.

It is also worth considering the cat’s individual tolerance to the drug and it is better not to give it to pregnant animals, pets with fungal diseases, kidney and liver diseases.

Activated carbon and smecta

Enterosorbents, which include activated carbon, help remove toxins from the gastrointestinal tract. It is given to cats if the diarrhea does not last long. In other cases, drug treatment methods are used.

Giving a cat Smecta for diarrhea is useful, but caution should be exercised.

It is impossible to get poisoned, but you should give medicine to your pet only during diarrhea, otherwise it can cause constipation.

Indeed, many “human” drugs can be used to one degree or another to treat a pet. But it is still undesirable to use them independently, without the advice of a veterinarian. And it is best to use drugs for animals to treat diarrhea. Also, under certain conditions, you can turn to non-traditional (folk) methods of treatment. But a specialist, of course, is more reliable.

Cat food for diarrhea

At the moment when it is noticed that the cat has started to have diarrhea, you can not feed it for a day at all. In this case, the animal must be given water in unlimited quantities. Also, if you have diarrhea, you should exclude any dairy products and foods containing large amounts of carbohydrates and starch from your pet’s diet. After a day, you can start feeding the animal a little. But it is worth considering that the portion of food should be at least half the standard amount of food. Your pet's diet should include only easily digestible, low-fat foods.

If your cat has diarrhea, you need to feed it several times a day. If she is prescribed medication at this time, this is an additional opportunity to give the drug to the animal along with food. Recommended products include:

• Boiled rice;
• Boiled chicken meat;
• Boiled egg yolk.

If before this the cat has always been fed ready-made food, then it is better to buy it special canned food for animals that will not irritate the digestive tract. It is possible to return the usual food to the animal’s diet only after the pet has fully recovered.

Still have questions? You can ask them to our site's in-house veterinarian in the comment box below, who will respond to them as soon as possible.

Feeding a cat during diarrhea

For the first day after the onset of diarrhea, as already noted, the cat is kept on a starvation diet so that the gastrointestinal tract returns to normal. Water is given to drink in unlimited quantities.

Feeding a cat during the period of diarrhea implies strict adherence to the daily routine. After the diet, the cat is fed small portions of easily digestible food at the same time. The volume of portions is gradually increased, monitoring feces and the condition of the animal.

Important! Completely exclude any fatty foods from your diet. Otherwise, such a diet will provoke a new attack of intestinal upset.

What can be included in your pet's diet:

• rice boiled in water, buckwheat;
• boiled chicken breast;
• low-fat chicken, meat broth;
• boiled egg yolk;
• low-fat by-products after heat treatment.

As soon as the stool returns to normal, supplement your pet’s diet with fermented milk products (plain yogurt, skim milk, kefir, fermented baked milk, whey).

When preparing food, soak the drying in warm water or broth for the first time. It is best to give canned food, wet food or products enriched with probiotics and enzymes to improve digestion.