Diarrhea: is it related to Wellness or stray cat poop?

[LaurenThig]

Lily has been having some bouts with diarrhea since February. She'll be constipated for a day, then one hard chunk will pass, followed by diarrhea that lasts for 1-3 days. The first time it was three days, but the past couple times it cleared up much quicker. I hold back on her food for a day, then feed her white chicken and rice, then gradually mix her food back in. After that, she's fine.

The first time this happened was after I caught her eating stray cat poop in our backyard , so I was sure that's what it was. Our vet tested her for parasites and didn't find any, so she just gave Lily antibiotics and said that her system seemed like it was overloaded with bacteria. The second/third time it cleared on its own with the chicken and rice diet.

I'm not sure what's still going on that might be causing this. She still picks up and chews EVERYTHING in the backyard , so I'm pretty sure at some point she's gotten back into the cat poop. However, all this has somewhat coincided with switching her to adult Wellness so I'm wondering if that could have something to do with it. We feed Lily the regular Wellness (not the CORE). Should I consider switching? Also, could this be anything more serious that I need to ask the vet to run tests about?

Thanks in advance. You guys are great help! Oh, and any advice on getting rid of multiple stray cats?

[chachi]

Ive read of some problems with wellness recently they changed their formula so it could be that. Get an animal trap cage to catch the stray cats then take them to the pound.

[Nancy1999]

You might want to check out these two links:
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...welliness.html
Any Recent Problems With Wellness Dog Food?

[bchgirl]

Reggie had loose stools while on wellness. I had eliminated any other cause...switched foods...and it cleared right up.

[browniesmom622]

It's most likely wellness My cat & dogs were on it for a little while & they all got diarrhea.

[Nancy1999]

This was the next one we were going to try, we switched to Blue Wilderness, but he had problems with severe eye drainage. Guess I'll stay with my low rated food for a while.

[LaurenThig]

To the posters whose dogs had diarrhea from Wellness: was it sporadic like this has been? Lily does fine most of the time, it's just been these spells of diarrhea once a month or so. That's the only thing that makes me think it might not be her food- that it's not more of constant battle.

Thanks for the replies!

[bchgirl]

Originally Posted by LaurenThig

To the posters whose dogs had diarrhea from Wellness: was it sporadic like this has been? Lily does fine most of the time, it's just been these spells of diarrhea once a month or so. That's the only thing that makes me think it might not be her food- that it's not more of constant battle.

Thanks for the replies!

Well I guess you call Reggie's sporadic...but not sporadic if he was eating wellness. I'd feed a bland diet...the diarrhea went away...gradually add the wellness kibble...it was back.

The kitty poops aren't helping here either. Eating poop can cause more bacteria in their intestines and cause problems too.

[LaurenThig]

Originally Posted by bchgirl

Well I guess you call Reggie's sporadic...but not sporadic if he was eating wellness. I'd feed a bland diet...the diarrhea went away...gradually add the wellness kibble...it was back.

The kitty poops aren't helping here either. Eating poop can cause more bacteria in their intestines and cause problems too.

Thanks... I know that cat poo isn't helping. Problem is, by the time I notice she's found some, I can't get her to leave it alone- I guess it's like the most wonderful dessert ever. (ewwww....) There's just so many of these darn cats around our house!

I think my only solution is to totally restrict her backyard time to leash-only until I get this figured out. Poor Lily. She's going to be devastated.