Did the vet run a fecal test for giardia?

yes, it was negative :)

What's ID supposed to do? I think I had a cat on that in the past but my geriatric cats have had so many ailments I can't remember who ate what for what condition.

I have a cat with IBD who is doing well on Natural Balance. He may be the one who ate ID for a while - not sure. He started with Natural Balance Duck and Pea but he got sick of that after a while and switched to Chicken and Pea. Previously we had a lot of puking and the runs even with prednisolone. Now he's doing really well with very little prednisolone - and that he now takes more for skin rash problems.

Well, you know that the ingredients in I/D Hill's are not species-appropriate. Cats need MEAT!!
Ingredients:
"Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn..." I don't have to go any further! But I am not sure whether you are talking about dry or canned. The canned version is no better:
Ingredients: Water, Pork Liver, Egg Product, Corn Gluten Meal, Rice Flour, Pasta Product, Soybean Oil, Soybean Meal..,

Natural Balance (wet) would be MUCH better, and worth trying! and much cheaper!
Why did you stop Blue?

Also you may want to try Slippery Elm Bark to soothe the digestive tract. You can usually find it in most "health" stores.

Good luck, Anne-Marie

are you giving your kitty milk? some cats are lactose intolerant (I had one like this) and we didnt realise the milk we were giving her was the reason for her terrible diarrhea - this would only explain it though if someone is occasionally giving her a bowl of milk and it co-incides with the bouts of diarrhea

Coccidia is notoriously hard to spot in the fecal. I would do Marquis Paste or Baycox, just as a precaution.

Even if a fecal is negative, deworming is cheap, easy, and harmless. I always deworm pets with diarrhea even if no parasites are found. Coccidia is not hard to find in a fresh direct mount fecal, but you can't find them if the stool sample is brought from home. They take only a couple minutes to die and decay and then you can't find them. Giardia is the same way. Another possible parasite is T. foetus which requires specialized testing and extremely specialized treatment. I have yet to diagnose this particular infection. It causes large bowel diarrhea.

I would be worried about food intolerance or IBD and after deworming with fenbendazole and ponazuril, would move to a food trial. A food trial consists of feeding a novel protein and carbohydrate source EXCLUSIVELY for at least 8 weeks. NOVEL protein and carbohydrate means you check the label and make there is absolutely no ingredient in the food that your cat has ever eaten before, besides vitamins and minerals. A good start would be the Natural Balance foods as they have only 1 protein and 1 carbohydrate in each formula. The cat would bot be able to eat *anything* else for the 8 weeks of the food trial. If it is effective, then your cat should show improvement before the end of the food trial.

I personally would never feed my cat i/d long term. I use it for short term in recovery of GI tract from some sort of injury- severe upset, surgery, other things like that- but not forever.

Cats are carnivores and cannot digest grains or plant based proteins. So there is no reason to feed them in large quantities- it just gets pooped out, maybe as diarrhea.

I work for a vet and am myself a vet tech. We sell the science diet food at our clinic. I for one am a firm believer in this brand of pet food. I have personally seen it work miracles on cats and dogs with digestive issues, kidney and liver problems, Over weight, diabetic issues. I have yet to see an animal not respond to the purpose it was prescribed for. I have work there for 6 years so I have seen a lot of animals with all of these issues. I feed the light to my 4 little dogs and am amazed at how good they do on it. Give it a chance before you judge it, you my be surprised at the results.

Hello there.

I am writing you in case you can help me out. I have a 4.5-months Tai cat and I have been feeding her (skyblue is her name) with "canned i/d feline" since a month or so. I normally feed her with two or three spoon per day as a complementary food (she is being feeding with Dry Royal Canin as a regular meal).

I am not sure, but a local practitioner told me "i/d feline" can be excellent complementary food.

Your comments are very welcome and thanks in advanced.

Angel

My first ? would be Why are you feeding I/D To such a young cat? does this cat have digestive problems? has it had surgery? was it recommended by a VET?
You should be feeding a good Kitten food.
If you want to feed a wet food try a good quality wet kitten food.
If this kitten is a normal healthy feline with now issues like, vomiting, diarrhea, lack of appetite! Then there is no need for any other food but one made for kittens. They should continue to be feed kitten food until they are one year old.

Well, I think going completely grain-free is worth a shot; it's very likely to make your cat's diarrhea issues less severe. A good i/d alternative that I've heard of is the Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet Grain-Free Recipe which almost has no fillers and is quite affordable too.

Here's a good article that reviews other i/d cat food alternatives.

My kitten hasn't had a firm stool with bouts of diarrhea since we got him a month ago. Today is his 3rd day on the i/d diet and I'm already noticing a difference. I understand that cats should be just on meat, minimal ingredients. However, the fillers they place in I/D formula are pre and probiotic and fibers. I'm not planning to keep the cat on this long-term, but to regulate the stomach back to its normal digestive ways, it's worth doing periodically. I have to point out though, my cat is not a fan of the food. For the first day I had to mix it with his old stuff. Yesterday was the first day he exclusive ate the i/d, and today I've noticed the difference. I know it's expensive but testing cats for God knows other things which is most likely not to happen with indoor cats (unless you brought home a stray cat) it's much cheaper to go this route first.

Thank you to the previous post with the link to the alternatives... might be a good transition.

My cat switched to hills id canned about 4 weeks ago after having diarrhea for awhile. She was on grain free blue buff. Her stools have firmed up some but she goes right back into the box to poo a soft stool then seems to have cramps for a bit and pushes out a tiny turd. I'm thinking her go if imflamed still trying to recover or maybe switch to a hydrolized protien food. Or..her body doeant like canned food. I domt know how long to try her on this id food before switching again. I hate hurting her tummy

I know this is an old thread but I want to add that I am one that thought I'd never use Hill's. After more than a year of dealing with a senior Maine Coon who would have weekly bouts of vomit, followed by diarrhea, I was ready to try anything. I had already tried premium brands of canned and dry food but he'd continue to have the same issues. The only canned food he did ok on was Weruva Mideast (talipia/tuna) but he wouldn't eat it everyday.

He has had blood tests, x-rays, and stool tested.....all normal.

He has now been on the Dry I/D for 2 weeks+ and there hasn't been any vomiting or diarrhea. He sleeps better, no more yowling, and is just more relaxed.

I recently found this non-prescription food, Hill's Perfect Digestion, and started offering it as an alternate flavor (salmon) to the Chicken I/D. So far my Maine Coon is handling it as well as the I/D.

When buying the Perfect Digestion, I always make sure I'm getting the blend that has salmon, oats and rice. There's another blend that has Salmon and yellow peas, but I learned the hard way that anything with peas in it gives all my cats diarrhea.

My other 2 cats also enjoy the Perfect Digestion and often want it instead of their wet food.

BTW, I ignore the 'Adult 1-6' on the label.