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Dr. Joey
Dr. Joey, Board Certified
Category: Cat
Satisfied Customers: 7379
Experience:  20 yrs in practice, specialist canine/feline medicine
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My cat keeps getting really bad (watery) diarrhea, He's been

Customer Question

My cat keeps getting really bad (watery) diarrhea
JA: I'll do all I can to help. When did the diarrhea start? Could the cat have eaten anything unusual?
Customer: He's been getting it every so often for a while now, but it was never frequent enough to be a major cause for concern. Recently, he's been getting it more and more often. He used to be on sheba cat food, but then we switched it to gourmet, and now he's eating katkin food.
JA: And what's the cat's name and age?
Customer: Smudge, and he's around 11 years old
JA: Is there anything else the Vet should know?
Customer: Asides from this, he's healthy and has had no major changes in his behaviour. He's still eating, drinking, playing, grooming himself, etc.
Submitted: 5 days ago.
Category: Cat
Dr. Joey
Expert:  Dr. Joey replied 5 days ago.

Hello I am Dr. Joey. Thanks for asking your question and trusting me to help you and your pet today. I am a licensed veterinarian with over 20 years of experience.

I'm sure you are so worried about this!!

As a note, Just Answer will automatically offer you a phone call - that is not from me and is not always helpful - nor I am not always able to take a phone call - so please don't accept without checking in via text first.

To start, have you visited his vet about this yet? If so, what testing was done (for example, generally I would screen with lab work to look for hyperthyroidism or liver issues, and I would do a stool check to assess the bacteria in the gut as well as parasites, and a radiograph/xray would be useful to make sure there is not something he swallowed)?

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Expert:  Dr. Joey replied 5 days ago.

Diarrhea of this nature is nonspecific for any one particular problem. It could be due to anything from an endocrine disease like hyperthyroidism to organ issue (pancreatitis, kidney or liver), inflammatory bowel disease, parasitism, or cancer.

It requires some testing be done to figure out what is going on. I do recommend changing to a slightly higher quality food if possible. I actually find that focusing in on what protein you are feeding can be super helpful. My go to protein for chronic diarrhea is turkey. You can home cook some ground turkey or regular to feed and find a canned or freeze dried raw food that offers this protein.

Thank you for visiting JustAnswer. I am at a point I need to know if you have any further questions in order to get you the best recommendation for your pet’s care. Please let me know if you need me to clarify anything or if you have any additional questions-I am happy to help!

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