# Long time diarhea issue with my Bengal



## Wildcatlover (Feb 5, 2005)

Hi there, this is my first post and I'm kind of desperate and don't know what to do. I currently have two Bengal cat's, one is a male of one and a half (which I'm having the problem with) and the other is about 9 months old and is a female, no problems whatsoever with her.

Here's the issue, for about 6 months now he's had constant diarhea. He goes to the bathroom multiple times a day, it seems more than the other cat does and he seems very uncomfortable when he goes to the bathroom. He will stand up as tall as he can over the litter box standing almost like a human as he is pooping. I sometimes hear him wheezing or trying to get ever last drop out, and then he is done he will walk kind of funny and sort of sit on all four of his legs and he looks very uncomfortable. I have looked at his hind region and see that area looks pretty raw from him licking it. 

Over the past few weeks is he has gone on my blanket on our bed, in my laundry basket and then last week he has gone twice in random spots on the plain carpet. Now we have tried to make sure his litter box is clean and we have 3 litter boxes in the house. I no longer trust him in our bedroom as we got a new bed and I don't want him peeing or pooping on it. We have kept him out of our bedroom for over a month now. This morning we opened our bedroom door for about five minutes to spend some time with him, my fiance took a shower and I was laying on the bed and then I heard him squatting and something coming out. He knew he was in trouble as he ran as soon as he did this out of the room. He had gone in my laundry basket. Now there is no smell in the laundry basket other than my clothes as I have washed it thoroughly. It just seems like he likes to go on something that's soft, like a rug, blanket, or clothes. I want him to get out of this habit and just use a regular litter box. He is good most of the time, as long as we don't let him in our room.

He used to be on Science Diet Kitten formula and then Adult formula. We noticed him starting to have diarhea after we switched the food to Science Diet Hairball formula for a long haired cat we had. After about 6-8 weeks of this we switched back to Science Diet regular adult formula and kept him on that for a good 2-3 months. The Diarhea never went away. We then took him to the vet and they ran all kinds of tests; on his stool, on his blood, everything. Nothing came back positive and the vet wasn't sure what the problem was. The vet said he was a little dehydrated but nothing major. We have even tried mixing in some cottage cheese with his food and this still did not help (The vet recommended trying this). He said try changing to another food like Iams. Well now that's what my two bengal cat's are on and the diarhea still isn't going away for him. I don't know what to do, I'm wondering if he might have a bug or a worm or something, but he has been double checked at the vet. I almost want to just go to a cheap food that might not be as rich as the Iams and Science Diet. He never had this problem when he was on kitten Scient Diet formula. So basically, I am at a point I don't know what to do. I don't want to have to keep my bedroom door shut forever. I give him as much attention as possible and everything else. 

Any ideas? Thanks for the long read.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Wildcatlover said:


> He never had this problem when he was on kitten Scient Diet formula.


sorry you've been having these problems. based on the above quote from your post I think you suspect it's diet related. if the vet can't find anything wrong, you're probably right. if I might suggest one more diet change, you might try Hill's Science Diet for Sensitive Stomachs. this isn't very good nutritionally, but if it settles down the diarrhea, then you can later switch to something better. food is often a cause of G-I problems in cats. higher-quality foods cause fewer digestive problems. look through the posts in the "Health and Nutrition" section, and you'll find a lot about cat foods. good luck.


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## limyer (Nov 19, 2004)

We have had a similar prob with one of our cats. We gave him a few doses of Bene bac that is beneficial intestinal bacteria. You can get is from petsmart. The vet actually has some bacteria that is more potent, but this might be a good starting place. Also we had another cat that had alot of urinary tract probs. We put everyone on flint river ranch cat food. It is supposedly very good food. My cats all love it. I dont really think it is any more expensive than science diet or iams. You can get a trial sample from them, but you do have to order over the internet. shipping is free. the web address is www.flintriver.com Good luck maybe this will help.


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## OsnobunnieO (Jun 28, 2004)

Your vet didn't give you any medication to try to stop the problem? Even if we can find nothing wrong (no worms, illness, etc) we'll usually try a week's worth of Flagyl or something similar to see if it helps.

I'm not all for just giving out medication without knowing the source of the problem... but after 6 months of diarrhea, its worth a shot.

I also agree that its most likely diet related. However, switching him to a "cheaper" brand that isn't as "rich" as Iams and Science diet won't help. Both of those brands are not a high quality diet and are full of fillers and meat by-products.

Look through this section and you'll find a ton of information about food. You may want to try just a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice until his stomach settles down. And to say that he's a LITTLE dehydrated after 6 months of diarrhea... I think he'd be a LOT dehydrated. 

Are you feeding only dry food? If so, make sure he's drinking water!! If you're not going to try the chicken and rice, you may want to try some canned food so he's getting as much water intake as possible. 

Definately look for a food without by-products, meat as the first ingredient (the more meat the better though) and doesn't contain corn. You can also look for "sensitive stomach" formulas, but some brands don't have them. 

How many times has he been to the vet in the past 6 months? Sometimes worms or bacterial problems don't show up on fecal tests. Make sure you stress that this has been a constant problem for 6 months and you want to make it better like NOW! Ask about digestive enzymes, medications, etc. You may also want to get him on some fluids, just for good measure.

Keep us updated!


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## Wildcatlover (Feb 5, 2005)

Thanks for all the replies. If I do switch him to a different food, how long do you think it would take before I start noticing a difference? I don't want to wait 8-12 more weeks just to find out a new diet change isn't working. Also, do you guys consider Iams or Science diet a not-so-very-good food? He is definately drinking water and loves to have fresh water daily. I have done the trick lately where you pinch their skin and see how quickly it goes back to normal shape and it seems pretty good. I don't know if it's exactly diarhhea he has, it's pretty consistant stool that doesn't seem to have water around it, but it's still very juicy and sometimes explosive. I have not tried any of these medications yet.

Do you guys have any idea why he will sometimes choose not to go in his litter though? He's a very smart cat and I know he knows better. We have been trying to clean his litter atleast every other day and he has two litter boxes.


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## Wildcatlover (Feb 5, 2005)

Ok one more question. I've been sifting through some of the posts in this forum and noticed that people seem to think wet food is better than dry? I honestly had NO idea! I was under the impression all along that dry was actually better for a cat and it helped keep their teeth clean. That's really interesting... is there a brand of wet food you guys might recommend I could start converting my cat's over to that might help the one with the diarhhea problem?

Thanks!


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## KittyGal (Sep 23, 2004)

Wildcatlover, I have a similar problem with my cat that you have with yours. Mine was perfectly "normal" till we brought in two kittens this past summer. Ever since then, he's got the runs. He's been to the vet numerous time with the same diagnosis....nothing's wrong. The only thing they found was gas in his stomach. The vet blamed it on "stress." Which is fine, considering I also have a large dog running around too. 
The one thing I did do is change their brand of food. They all had been eating ProPlan (which is not very good). I've changed them over to California Natural. It seems to have helped, but not totally. It's only been about 1.5 months since the switch. So, I'm waiting it out. The vet said it could be food allergies, which is why I switched to CN. It's a very simple food with basic ingredients. I didn't want to try and special allergy diets just yet.
Now, in regards to wet food. Wet food is definetly better for cats, but with some cats it can make the diaherrea worse (as with mine). He loves it, but I limit the quantity of it. Maybe once every other day. I feed Authority (Petsmart) and Nutro Natural. They are not picky and like all kinds. You might want to try something that is natural with no preservatives or by-products. These things can cause problems with kitties who have sensitive stomachs. Hope this helps.


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## BoscosMum (Apr 29, 2004)

Poor Cat! 
I bet by now he is associating pain with litterbox.
I would scoop it twice daily and not once every other day....
once every other day is not enough! 
If there is stinky poo in there...he is refusing to use it. 
Try scooping everyday and see if it improves.


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Unfortunately, you HAVE to wait 8-12 weeks to find out if the diet switch is working. You may want to eliminate all treats as well. Science diet is not a good food, neither are the prescription formulas just incase your vet recommends one. They also have a "sensitive stomach formula" but a bag of corn products and fillers, is a bag of corn products and fillers no matter how you mix up the ingredients or relabel the packaging. 

You may want to try California Natural, it's forumlated with simple ingredients and is often helpful in cats/dogs with allergies or sensitive stomachs. We gave it to our Rottie for a few years and it helped a lot. 

www.naturapet.com

I'd be concerned about getting to the reason behind this problem rather than short term or alternate fixes. Good luck! Oh, and in my experience, I've had no problems with canned food causing diarrhea or making it worse in cats or dogs. I think in most cases that is a myth or many people may not have given the animal time to get used to the change from dry to wet before making the determination. Any rapid change in diet can cause digestive upsets.


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## momto4 (Jan 24, 2005)

*long term diarhea*

I have been having the same problems with my 9 month old Russian Blue. She has been on 4 different antibotics plus steroids and still runny poop. She is now off all meds, on a better diet, Wellness from Mother Hubbard. Twice daily she gets a dose of slippery elm and some acidophilus purchased from the health food store. Go to the posting of chronic diarhea in the health and nutrition and you'll find more info on it. Also for that butt, vaseline, and it won't hurt her if she licks it. I just started this treatment Saturday, the vet and I agreed to try it and I was told give it at least 2-3 weeks. Good Luck!


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## BoscosMum (Apr 29, 2004)

acidophilus

I have heard about this for diahrrea many times.


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## Bengal Cat (Aug 17, 2004)

I have 2 Bengals also. Both at one time or another have had problems with diarrhea. I did some limited research, other forums and so-forth, and it seems that Bengals can have very sensitive digestive systems and are not only affected by types of food but quantity of food per feeding. 

Everything Ive found from reading and personal experience is anecdotal but what Ive done is change to a high quality canned food and also split their feedings into 2 parts. 

I basically feed them 1/2 5.5oz can each 3 times a day. But each feeding has 2 parts. I feed 1/4 can each then let that digest for approximately and hour then feed them the other 1/4 can. I do that 3 times a day for the 3 feedings. This method really seems to have worked. Ive triied to go back to feeding entire 1/2 can per cat per feeding, but when I do the male ends up with diarhea agian. So until something changes I'm going to stick with this routine. HTH


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## hyper_dermic (May 19, 2004)

Sorry to hear about your bengal cat...

As for good cat foods, i usually feed my kitties wellness and felidae canned, along wiht wellness, felidae or chicken soup dry.
(mostly canned, about 3 times a day)
My bengal is almost 1 year old now, and he has had no problems with this diet, except for an allergy to trout. he sure eats alot tho.... and snacks alot too... 

i usually just place a big order every few months from petfooddirect.

[hyp]


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