QUESTION

I am getting a cat from the RSPCA and he suffers from diarreoha. I've tried him all sorts of food and the only one that seams to work is Eukanuba intestinal but this is becomeing rather expensive. He has been on treatment for it but no luck there. He is fine within himself eating and drinking ok very lively. Louise

ANSWER

Dear Louise
Young cats with chronic diarrhoea are a big problem a lot of them tend to be due to infections originally and then end up with damage within the intestines that reduce the ability of the cat to digest the food. Also a lot tend to be associated with food allergies or specific intolerances. The Eukanuba intestinal diet when calculated daily will work out probably cheaper to feed than cans of cat food and the savings on vets bills will also make it much better. Look at how long the food lasts for before making judgements and then compare to the cost of feeding pouches etc from the supermarket. You may be suprised as to which is cheapest.

The use of probiotics is also very helpful in cats with diarrhoea as they can correct imbalances in the intestinal bacterial load. Antibiotics often do nothing to help with most cats but some do have problems with something called Campylobacter jejuni which can be a cause of chronic diarrhoea in cats and is also potentially going to infect people as well.

The antibiotic of choice for this is tylosin which was withdrawn from the UK market a few years ago so the next best is probably ronaxan (doxycycline). The treatment with a course of panacur wormer over an extended period would also eliminate the possibility of having Giardia which is a protozoa that causes chronic diarrhoea. Sending faeces away to an outside laboratory can sometimes give an answer but is often expensive and unrewarding. I hope this gives some hope. He won't be in pain with this just an inconvenience to you and probably not nice for him as cats are generally very clean animals.

Paul Wilson