Symptoms of Diarrhea in a Cat With Antibiotics

There are a few cats that will experience diarrhea when placed on antibiotics. According to Dr. Ron Hines of the 2nd Chance website, this occurs because antibiotics kill the bad bacteria in the cat’s intestine, as well as the good bacteria. When the normal bacteria flora of the intestine is gone as a result of the antibiotics, diarrhea can occur. If your cat is on antibiotics, there are a few symptoms it might display if it has diarrhea.

  1. Loose Stool

    • Cats with antibiotic-induced diarrhea will have loose stool. The feces is often a pudding-like consistency. There is still a bit of form to it, but it is definitely not in the usual solid shapes. Often, diarrhea will also have a stronger than normal scent to it. Many owners will notice the loose stool when cleaning their cat’s litter box. This loose stool may or may not have bright, red blood mixed in, as well.

    Bloody Stool

    • Cats with diarrhea caused by antibiotics may also have blood in their stool. This blood can be caused by inflammation or irritation in the cat’s bowels, explains Dr. Bari Spielman of the Pet Place website. If the cat experiences chronic diarrhea on account of the antibiotics, the intestine could become irritated and bleed as a result of the persistent diarrhea. The blood is often bright red and mixed in with the diarrhea.

    Watery Stool

    • Cats on antibiotics can also experience watery diarrhea. Watery diarrhea has no form to it and is made almost entirely of liquid. It may have a few pieces of solid material in it, but it is primarily dark-colored liquid. Oftentimes, cats with watery stool will feel such an extreme urge to defecate that they cannot make it to the litter box in time and will have accidents of the floor. The watery stool could also have blood incorporated in it.