18 year old cat - diarrea.....losing weight

Question
Misty is getting old.....eats well....stools soft, diarrhea at times.....had blood work not hyper thyroid, or diabetes,
he is getting weak

any suggestions on

Answer
Jeanne,

Misty needs to see the vet again and have them get to the bottom of her health issue. There are many things that can cause diarrea from parasites to infections. The vet needs to get to the bottom of this quickly as her age means that her health will deteriorate rapidly if the cause is not found. If you recently switched foods it could be that. If you feed milk to your cat you should be aware that many cats are lactose intolerant after the age of three months and it could be as simple as overindulging her like for dairy. If you want to offer dairy the way to offer it is in what you offer. If you offer small pieces of old cheddar many cats enjoy the taste and as an added bonus if the chunks are big enough to chew on the enzymes in the teeth will help to eat away tartar and plaque. Another good dairy product to offer is plain unsweetened yogurt with active bacterial cultures, this will help to rebalance the good bacteria in the gut that are lost with diarrea and can sometimes stabilise the situation if fed daily. It will be better for Misty if you avoid giving her greasy or fatty table scraps, if your kitty gets table scraps things like chopped or minced turkey or chicken breast are not bad for your cat and offer good nutrition and good absorption, just make sure that you don't feed raw meat. In a perfect world raw meat is the ideal kitty diet, especially in terms of the types of prey a cat would naturally hunt and successfully kill, meaning anything from mice and chipmunks to rabbits and a mother cat of mine once brought home the neighbor's rooster and fed it to her kittens. If Misty has been healthy up until now and there are no abnormalities showing up on the blood work that would be taken for a preanesthetic profile you may choose to have your vet look at doing imaging such as x-ray and ultrasound to make sure that there are no suspicious swellings or masses in Misty's abdomen. If you can't find any problems with imaging or blood then you should look at things like diet, you can try switching to a limited ingredient formula cat food that is grain free and uses a different protein source, such as duck, venison, and other wild game that are not commonly used in pet food, they can be a bit pricier, but if a food sensitivity is at the root of her problem you should start to see improvements in a reasonable amount of time...Hopefully it is nothing serious and Misty has several good years left to spend with you...In fact my vet recently told me about seeing a 25 year old cat that was still in good health...I hope that this gets figured out and you guys can go back to being happy and healthy together. If you have any further questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me again. If you are so inclined, please feel free to send pictures and updates just so that I can see how Misty progresses, Good luck!