QUESTION

I have had my British shorthair since he was a kitten, unfortunately he was sold to us with a permanent allergy to almost every food type without the breeder telling us. He went to the vet many many times and lastly had a blood test done to confirm this. I went through every kind of cat food including the vets prescribed diet and none of them would work. He constantly had diarrhoea. I finally discovered that he was not allergic to pilchards, and could feed him Hilife Pilchards food. As he grew we taught him to go outside to the toilet (as when he does get diarrhoea the smell is terrible in the house) and everything was going well. But recently he has started going to the toilet on the carpet when he comes in. If I put his bed in there he uses that as a toilet too. I don't know how to stop him really. He has been using the outdoors as his toilet for a long time, why should he suddenly change? I don't want to put a litter tray in the kitchen again as it smells and is really unpleasant. Talia

ANSWER

Dear Talia
Are you sure the cat has dietary allergies? To have started at such a young age would make me almost certain that it is not food that is causing the diarrhoea or not a particular allergy.

Food allergies in animals are mostly induced which means you become exposed to the food for a period of time and develop an intolerance to the food. True dietary allergies that are present at birth are restricted mainly to dairy products. Causes of chronic diarrhoea in cats are often associated with having had infections in their early development especially with Coronavirus and also with Giardia and Salmonella. This can lead to problems of intolerance developing in the bowel and inflammatory bowel disease developing.

The first thing I would be doing at this stage is to have a faecal sample send to a recognised laboratory and have a full analysis done. This should cost in the region of £50.00 but could give a definite answer in some cases. In the case of a negative result I would be placing the cat on four weeks of Stomorgyl tablets which should eliminate the smell and then starting on probiotics in the last week and continuing on with them for a further 2-3 weeks beyond.

Using probiotics that go in the water is better than using natural live yoghurt in case their is a dairy product intolerance. The diet that would be required should be then either high fibre or very low fibre depending on the cat and this is where it can become difficut. I would generally place these cats on a diet called Hills W/d which is formulated for weight control and diabetes management. The high-fibre diet helps with normal gut motility and can solve many of the problems. Otherwise you would look at a very low-fibre diet if this did not work.

If the faecal tests indicate that there is a lack of enzymes from the pancreas then you may need to supplement with pancreatic enzymes to aid digestion. If nothing shows at all then a diagnosis can be obtained in most cases by intestinal biopsy but this is a procedure that carries significantly higher risk levels. In my experience there is normally always a reason for the diarrhoea it is just finding the correct one.

The toileting problem may also be aided tremendously by installation of a feliway diffuser which plugs into an electric socket a releases a pheromone that creates an environment of calm and relaxation and will often prevent unwarranted behaviour.

Paul Wilson