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My cat has diarrhea.It happened before and my vet recomended Kaopectate. I forgot how much I can give him. Could you help?
Optional Information: Type of Animal: cat Gender: Male Age: 12 Name of Cat: Cesar Already Tried: Igave him right now only dry food.
Aloha! You're speaking with Dr. Michael SalkinKaopectate hasn't been terribly successful for treating diarrhea in cats at the recommended dose of 1-2ml/kg every 2-6 hours. It does coat the gut well, however, and so acts as a "bandage" should ulceration of the mucus m,embrane be present. You might consider trying the over the counter loperamide (Imodium) at a dose of 0.1mg/kg every 12 hours. Please note than an occasional cat will become agitated after receiving loperamide. Do you have a feeling for what might have brought Cesar's diarrhea on?
I'm not sure. I give him recently different kind of food. He also eat grass from our backyard, but he did it before and nothing happened.
A change in diet is a very common cause of gastrointestinal upset in our dogs and cats. The bacterial flora of the gut becomes quite stabile after eating the same food for some time. A new food, then, alters an established state in the gut and diarrhea is often the result. This is classified as a simple diarrhea that should remiss as the new kind of food establishes another but different stabile flora in the gut. Eating nondigestable greens is of evolutionary benefit - it often causes vomiting which cleanses the stomach of nondigestable ingesta and infectious organisms. Diarrhea is not commonly seen after eating grass. I'll allow 72 hours to pass before asking to see a pet for diarrhea. Simple diarrheas should remiss within that time - particularly with the help of the gastrointestinal narcotic loperamide as mentioned above. Please continue our conversation if you wish.
Experience: UC Davis graduate veterinarian with 41 years of experience
Thank you for your kind accept. I appreciate it. I'll check back with you in a few days for an update.
May I have an update on Cesar, please?
Hi Dr. Salkin,
I'm sorry for the late reply, thank you for following up. Cesar is doing better - the diarrhea went away, both yesterday and today all was normal in that department. The only concern is that for the past three days he has thrown up clear fluid, early in the morning, sometimes mixed with a bit of fur, once it was a bit greenish, like the Imodium fluid. Maybe the imodium irritated his stomach?
I should have mentioned that at the end of June, our older cat, Maya, passed away. Cesar was never without Maya for all the 12 years that we have had him. I'm not sure if that could contribute to the above symptoms in any way.
I don't believe that Maya's passing should be causing Cesar's distress at this late date. Yes, please stop the Imodium. It can cause too quiet of an intestinal tract (decrease motility to the point of constipation) and Cesar's vomiting may be the result. A simple approach to his vomiting, then, would be a lubricating laxative such as a hairball remedy. It won't cause diarrhea but will facilitate the passage of ingesta through his gut. Stopping the Imodium should normalize Cesar quickly in any event. If vomiting persisted I would want to hear from you again. If Cesar continues to eat well it's not likely that he's seriously ill.