I'm struggling and hope someone out there has experienced this and can offer some advice.

Four weeks ago, I adopted a cat (1 year old ish) from the shelter. Since bringing her home she has had constant diarrhea. I'm not talking soft stools - I'm talking like passing water through her digestive system. It smells awful.

Yes, she's been to the vet - a lot. I have her on bland prescription food, probiotics and event tried vitality science from the internet. Nothing works. She's been dewormed.

She acts nice and energetic and wants OUT of the kennel she's in - but she doesn't even make it to the litter box when she has to go 2 feet.

The vet says keep trying probiotics but that this is "unusually stubborn". We are all frustrated.

I've also tried fasting her for two days, then starting over with no grain food.

HELP! She is so smelly and we want to love her but it's so hard when all we are doing is cleaning up after her all the time. Poor thing.

She is thin - was a 4 lb cat when we got her. Haven't weighed her recently.

Has your vet done a stool sample? Like I say to other people, get a second vets opinion.
I'm going to go through some of my books and see if I can give anything else. If your vet has not done a stool sample, demand they do one.

There's really not much I can say. I hope the vet did blood samples and stool samples. If all that could be done was done, and they don't know, go to another vet for a second opinion. I really wish you the best and wish I could help you more.

I don't know what the problem is, but a few comments. Given what you've tried, it does sound a bit stubborn, or maybe needs more time. Switching foods suddenly can cause diarrhea, but what you describe sounds a bit beyond that. The combination of switching foods and stress could be even worse. But four weeks straight of that just seems overboard. I'm glad you're trying to help and not ready to give up on her.

Trying the no-grain is a good idea, but I'd also try one protein source from an unusual meat. (i.e. rabbit or whatever.) You don't need a prescription diet and they generally aren't good quality. I wish vets would get off the prescription kick. You only need to look at the ingredients on a normal can of food, and you're capable of doing it all by yourself without the vet's help. (Doctors don't treat humans like this, but vets treat humans as though they're incapable of actually doing anything.)

The probiotics were also a good idea. Sigh.

One important note: don't fast a cat for a day or two! Cats in the wild who are eating properly for a cat should be able to handle that, but your average cat eating your average commercial cat food cannot. A sudden drop in food like that can cause liver disease. As a general rule, you don't want to let a cat go without food for more than like 24 hours. I know this is good for cleaning the system, but cats just can't fast that way, plus they don't really drink enough water naturally to do something like that correctly.

I agree to get a second opinion. You might seriously consider a holistic vet. I'm rather curious if a cat can have aloe -- a holistic vet may have an answer to that.

Dear korheu,

My sister's cat has the same problem. He's almost 7 years old and has never had a normal stool. We've tried so many things but we just can't figure out the problem. Like you said, it's liquid, no substance to it at all. The poor thing can barely make it to the litter box and ends up going all over the floor. Also, whenever/whatever he eats he's in the litter box about 3 minutes later. It's like it goes right through him. I'm at a complete loss. Have you figured out what is wrong with your cat?