# Metronidazole for diarrhea?



## hal1 (Jul 16, 2011)

Toby's much better, good appetite and all seems well.

The doctor put him on Metronidazole (flagyl) for a week due to his diarrhea but did no fecal exam, as his previous one showed no problems.

Does a week of Metronidazole seem like a standard, innocuous (love that word) treatment without a specific diagnosis?


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## Shenanigans (Jul 23, 2011)

I can't answer your question with 100% certainty, but... My vet put Apollo on Metronidazole for awhile for his diarrhea. His fecal exam was clean as were his blood tests. Sadly, the day he was finished with the meds (and the FortiFlora) his diarrhea came back. But, while he was on it, it worked wonderfully, obviously. We're still struggling with his diarrhea, and the vet did a PRC test yesterday and I'm waiting to hear about the results.

Now he's on Prednisolone for awhile. I'm completely unclear as to what's wrong with him, but since he came off all his meds for the first round, he's been pretty much himself. No loss in appetite and no pure liquid diarrhea. He's a little weird on this new stuff though. 

Good luck and I hope your little guy feels better soon!


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Yes...Flagyl is the "go to" med for unexplained diarrhea. If the cat is not in distress, they'll often prescribe a course of it before going on to more expensive (and/or invasive) tests, because it will resolve the issue more often than not.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Metronidazole is also used to treat giardia, which is a common cause of diarrhea in cats. Giardia is a protozoal parasite that often doesn't show up in fecal exams, so vets often treat for it even when its presence hasn't been confirmed.

Laurie


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## hal1 (Jul 16, 2011)

Thanks all. Since I'm mostly new to this it's nice to see my vet seems to follow standard protocol


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