My cat has diarrhea, licks her anus, and has kittens. What can I do?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | unspayed
Hiya, our cat Carmen has diarrhoea, everywhere she sits she leaves a little bit there and we are cleaning up after her. She is licking her anus very often. She has 4 kittens that are 6 weeks old now and they seem normal. We are wondering what is best do for her and them. We rescued her from the street so we are sure she has never been to the vet before. We imagine she has worms etc. We have an appointment with the vet in 4 days but what can we do in the mean time to help her?
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on December 31st, 2017
How lovely of you to rescue Carmen from the streets! I would suspect that it is likely she has worms given she was a stray, and I would see if your local pet store has deworming medications such as Panacur. That is very effective in treated worms, and you will need to treat the kittens for worms as well. If Carmen has them, her kittens will have them as well. It is safe to treat them for worms at six weeks of age. I would still keep the vet appointment for her as she will need a thorough check up even if you find deworming medications in the pet store. She could have tapeworms, which cannot be treated with medications you find OTC. That's because tapeworms require praziquantel to treat, and that's a prescription medication. In addition, you can feed her a bland diet to see if that helps with her diarrhea. Give her a bland diet of boiled white meat chicken (no bones) in small amounts several times a day for a couple of days. Then slowly add back in her normal diet. Good luck, I hope this helps and happy new year!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on October 10th, 2017
Hello, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I am sorry that Tina is unwell. Please do not use any of the OTC antidiarrheals, as some may be toxic to cats, & it is very difficult to dose a human medication in such a small kitten. Your kitten probably has intestinal parasites-worms, anyway. Pick up an OTC wormer, available at any pet store. The most common one is Pyrantal pamoate. You can give Tina 1 ml per 10 pounds of body weight. This does not have to be exact. You may also find a wormer with praziquantal & this would be OK to use, too. Repeat the wormer in 2 weeks. If this does not help the diarrhea, take a sample of her poop to the vet to see if she has coccidia or giardia. I would put her back on a good kitten food, canned or dry, & you can continue the yogurt as well. Just make sure it does not have any artificial sugars in it. If she just does not seem to be responding, please have her checked out by your veterinarian. She may need to be on antibiotics. Hope Tina is well soon. Take care.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
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