New Cat With Stomach Issues

[NewKitty18]

We adopted a four month old kitten nearly two weeks ago. We noticed immediately that she had terrible gas and soft stool. Fortunately she was good about using the litter box. We assumed she was having trouble with the food changes and tried to wait it out. A week later it was no better so we had a stool sample tested when we brought her in for her well visit.

The sample came up positive for coccidia, so we started her and our resident cat on sulfadimethoxine (Albon). Since then her stool has gone from soft to occasionally liquid. She's eating lots of wet food and seems fine, so I'm not concerned about dehydration, but she is making a horrific mess when she uses the litter. It ends up on the floor, walls, etc. Super gross. We are disinfecting one or both bathrooms at least once a day.

I know it takes a while for coccidia to resolve entirely (we have ten days of meds), but the cats are now on their fourth day of treatment and we've seen no improvement. Is that normal? Our vet said we'd see improvement in a day or two. Should we be looking for other causes, or do we just need to give it another few days?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Being it's the weekend, you've probably not had a chance to talk with your vet again?
Would they suggest adding a little plain pumpkin?

 

[NewKitty18]

Also, I just did some research. Should we be using marquis paste instead? It looks like the kitten had a preventative dose in the shelter, but I guess it wasn’t enough to get rid of the infection.

 

[NewKitty18]

Hi!
Being it's the weekend, you've probably not had a chance to talk with your vet again?
Would they suggest adding a little plain pumpkin?

That’s an interesting suggestion! I could try it. I’m going to call the vet tomorrow to touch base, but you’re right that they’re closed today.

 

[Furballsmom]

Is there anyone there at the shelter today who could give you some information about the marquis paste? - I'm unfamiliar with it...

 

[Margret]

Is there anyone there at the shelter today who could give you some information about the marquis paste? - I'm unfamiliar with it...

Me, too, so I did a Google search on it. It seems to be a paste designed for horses who have Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis. The active ingredient is something called Ponazuril. I found this website, which makes me feel rather leery of the stuff: Ponazuril used on cats - Cats - MedHelp

Margret

 

[NewKitty18]

Well, she’s been on the Albon now for over a week and we’ve seen no improvement. We’re still having to clean cat poop off an entire bathroom once a day. She’s also started going outside her litter box occasionally. We thought it was an accident at first but she’s now pooped twice on the same sofa while we’re sitting there. Last night she climbed onto our bed while we were sleeping and peed extensively on the cover.

What do we do?? Could this be something other than coccidia causing her issues? Food allergy? Something else that wouldn’t show up in a stool sample?

 

[Furballsmom]

Did you have a chance to add some plain pumpkin? 1/4 teaspoon a couple times a day.
Have you changed food brands to another canned food? Try fancy feast, but first try some 50:50 boiled unseasoned chicken and rice for a couple of meals, see if that helps your baby's system to "re-set". Vets will often prescribe this for upset tummies.

You may need to contain her to one room with pee pads and litter boxes, and maybe try a different litter in one or two boxes. If you don't have one, try an enzymatic cleaner.

Maybe talk with a different vet?

 

[Jem]

I wonder if with the diarrhea (all that bacteria), if she may have developed a UTI? With a UTI, cats will avoid the litter box because they think it's the box causing them the discomfort. I say this because she has now started to pee out of the box as well.

 

[NewKitty18]

Thanks for the responses. No, we hadn't tried the pumpkin. Our vet suggested we put her back on an earlier med she'd suggested to alleviate the diarrhea before the stool sample came back and we switched to albon. Spoiler alert: it didn't make a difference.

We actually did take her to a new vet today who seemed to take the issue more seriously. They're running another stool test, including a PCR. Should get the basic results back tomorrow, but PCR will take longer. She seemed inclined to think coccidia wasn't the issue at this point, but went ahead and prescribed the Marquis paste, which apparently they use frequently in cats.

We're also going to be trying her on a special GI food to help her get through this, but the vet didn't think this was a food allergy. Symptoms were too specific and too extreme. She thinks the BM on the sofa was just a pure loss of control, and the pee on the bed was probably in response to the state she had left her litter box in. To her it seemed "full," so she looked for another place to go.

We are going to be keeping the cats separate until we have a better idea of what's going on. I think we may also temporarily switch the kitten to a different litter box that's easier for her to access, as well as a clay litter instead of World's Best, since I think clay may do a better job clumping and keep her litter seeming cleaner to her.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[NewKitty18]

Tests came back negative for everything except coronavirus. Vet mentioned the possibility of FIP, but thinks it’s unlikely since she’s otherwise so healthy.

We’ve seen maybe slight improvement, but not much. Vet wants us to continue the food trial for another few days and add a probiotic. If that doesn’t do the trick we will trial some other food options.

The last kitten we adopted right before this one had FIP and we had to have him euthanized. Really, really don’t want to deal with that again.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[NewKitty18]

This is a very delayed update, but I wanted to let you know that the kitten (now over six months old) is doing a lot better. It took quite a bit of time and patience, but her stomach issues are much more under control than they were. At this point we think she may have some food sensitivities, so I'm going to head over to the nutrition board and start a new post there.

 

[Furballsmom]

Thanks so much for the update!