Savannah Cat Chat - THE Place for Savannah Cat Talk

Welcome to the Savannah Cat Chat Forum! Our forum has been in existence since 2012 and is the only one of its kind. We were here, serving the savannah cat community before Facebook and Instagram! Register for a free account today to become a member! Please use an email program other than Hotmail, since Hotmail accounts are blacklisted by many servers and ISP's. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site in some of the forums by adding your own topics and posts. But in order to take advantage of the full features, such as a private inbox as well as connect with other members ad access some of the larger topics, a donation of $2.99/mo or $25/yr is requested. This will allow us to continue running this forum!

Upset stomachs and runny stools

Per Lausund

Moderator
Staff member
Seeing as there is a lot of discussion about loose stools and antibiotics and probiotics and such things, I´ll try to describe what I recommend as the first things to do with a simple case of runny stools/upset stomach.
NOTE: If your cat is feverish or weak or dehydrated, always consult your vet!
!. The feline intestinal tract is short, and because of this does not have a good bacterial buffer. It gets unbalanced easily, and the first sign is a runny tummy. This makes the cat lose nutrients, fluid and is often caused or followed by an inflammation that damages surface cells (epithelium) in the intestines (enteritis).
2: Give the intestinal epithelium time to regrow. This means rest for 36 hours: No food, free access to water. No milk, no treats, nada! Nothing that forces the intestines to work digesting stuff. 36 hours is not so bad, with an enteritis not much gets absorbed from the intestines anyway. It will not kill your cat.
3. After it´s dried up (36 hrs) start with small amount of wet food (chicken and rice) and probiotics (I use yoghurt or "kefir"), several small meals are much better than a large one. Continue this through first day of feeding. Remember water.
4. After 36 hrs, revert to kibble or normal food, but gently and in small amounts at a time.
5. continue this mix on next day, and gradually add (over a few days) the feed you want to use.

If stools are not A LOT better, contact your vet. Usually, they are!

Remember, anything unwanted happens, call your vet.
 

Trish Allearz

Moderator
Okay, Per, so I'm going to be the brat.

They say NEVER to fast a cat- that cats should eat every 24 hours or else you run the risk of fatty liver disease.

Is this ONLY in obese cats that you need to worry about LPD that fast? So in a regular cat, fasting won't harm them?
 

Per Lausund

Moderator
Staff member
A cat with a ruined digestion will in practice be starving, and the point of this exercise is to give the intestinal epithelium/lining a chance to catch up and regain function. I have never seen a cat take harm from this procedure, but it has fixed quite a few problems. Without recourse to antibiotics.
Cats go without food for extended periods outdoors, and it is not ideal, bur they do regain what they lose. If they go too long, they may be (wrongly) diagnosed as having pancreatitis (as when having something stuck in the intestinal tract preventing passage).
So, "brat", who is "they"?
 

Trish Allearz

Moderator
A cat with a ruined digestion will in practice be starving, and the point of this exercise is to give the intestinal epithelium/lining a chance to catch up and regain function. I have never seen a cat take harm from this procedure, but it has fixed quite a few problems. Without recourse to antibiotics.
Cats go without food for extended periods outdoors, and it is not ideal, bur they do regain what they lose. If they go too long, they may be (wrongly) diagnosed as having pancreatitis (as when having something stuck in the intestinal tract preventing passage).
So, "brat", who is "they"?

Everyone I've ever known who is a cat person :) Seriously- I've heard it for years and years.

For example- when we have a dog who refuses to eat, we say- oh well, you'll eat when you are hungry. With cats- we don't. We tend to ensure they eat whether they want to or not.

This vet says a cat can only go 'a few days at most' without eating- well, so does that mean at 24 hours, we're okay? At 48, we're okay? But at 72- it's an emergency?

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/12/13/feline-hepatic-lipidosis.aspx

(And I'm not arguing- you're the vet! But I'm trying to wrap my mind around Fatty Liver Disease- maybe it only is a real concern with the obese kitties? We did lose a Selkirk to it, but he was very very big and then went off his feed for less then 48 hours).
 

ambiente18

Site Supporter
Yes I have problems with the stomach too and your advice is very relevant. I want to tell you about my cat my male Ambiente (F5) ...At the beginning everything was fine and he ate canned food and raw diet, and the stool was normal, then it was even worse and worse and I together with your veterinarian changed the food at the moment , changed the brand of canned food and the contents of canned food with chicken for meat... a month later, my cat became to have a good stool I also make him starve - 1 day, and when he starts to eat worse...I don't know how to say, but he (my Ambiente) and I understand the need to starve (sorry for my bad English)
 

Per Lausund

Moderator
Staff member
Everyone I've ever known who is a cat person :) Seriously- I've heard it for years and years.

For example- when we have a dog who refuses to eat, we say- oh well, you'll eat when you are hungry. With cats- we don't. We tend to ensure they eat whether they want to or not.

This vet says a cat can only go 'a few days at most' without eating- well, so does that mean at 24 hours, we're okay? At 48, we're okay? But at 72- it's an emergency?

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/12/13/feline-hepatic-lipidosis.aspx

(And I'm not arguing- you're the vet! But I'm trying to wrap my mind around Fatty Liver Disease- maybe it only is a real concern with the obese kitties? We did lose a Selkirk to it, but he was very very big and then went off his feed for less then 48 hours).
She's talking about a very important issue primarily concerning overweight cats, and one of the reasons cats with intestinal blockage appear to have pancreatitis. Cats handle protein very well, fat fairly well and sugars badly. They are only slowly able to mobilise fat for energy from fat-cells, and can only do so efficiently when eating (almost) normally. Very much like humans (only worse), as we need glucose to process fat into energy: sugar-free diets leave you smelling nail-polish remover due to build-up of acetone. This is not healthy, and a cat has smaller reserves. But the cause of the problem is not a 36-hour starvation, but a long time of overindulging in calories.
Cutting out food for the time it takes to renew the intestinal epithelium actually has the potential to reduce starvation time by enabling the digestion and absorbtion of nutrients.
Low fat, high protein low sugar but remember essential fatty acids!
 
Top