3 month old kitten, almost 2 months of non-stop diarrhea

[alyssamvs]

Hi. I'm new here and a new cat owner and I'm so frustrated and helpless and looking for some insight. My kitten, just over three months old, has had diarrhea since we adopted her from a shelter at 1.5 months. She has been dewormed, been on sulfa/trimetoprim antibiotics, probiotics, special gastro food, iron supplements for anemia, on toltrazuril for a positive coccidia sample, on fenbendazol for giardia, and on prednisolone for inflammation. All with no improvement (except for about 3 days during the 3 toltrazuril doses, in which she had her only solid stools since we had her, but this did not last). She is the only cat in our house.

Mood wise she is well and playful, has grown and put on weight (though not that much), and eats well. She has had 3 fecal analysis which were positive to coccidia but has had no improvement on either antibiotics or after the toltrazuril. I'm don't know what to do anymore, I don't know what else it could be and it is wearing me down, she has no litter box control and I'm having to clean her and the carpet daily, as well as keeping her confined to a single room at night. I'm changing her diet now to one that is chicken free just in case it could be allergies as I'm running out of things to try. My vet doesn't seem to know what's wrong either and just tells me to be patient.

Has any had experience with diarrhea in kittens taking over a month to resolve? Is this normal? The only thing I've read that seems like it could fit is T.foetus infection, unfortunately the medication for that, "ronidazole", seems impossible to find where I'm at and the vet hasn't detected it in the samples.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Welcome!!

I don't have experience with your kitty's issue but would your vet be willing to consult with a university medical veterinary department? Also, have you considered pet diapers?

From Lts3
Ask your vet to consult with other vets. Most vet schools offer a courtesy consult for vets. This vet hospital does too: Referral Services • MSPCA-Angell VIN.com is a popular vet only forum where vets from all over the world can discuss complicated cases and get advice on how to proceed with treatment.

 

[alyssamvs]

Hi! Welcome!!

I don't have experience with your kitty's issue but would your vet be willing to consult with a university medical veterinary department? Also, have you considered pet diapers?

From LTS3 LTS3
Ask your vet to consult with other vets. Most vet schools offer a courtesy consult for vets. This vet hospital does too: Referral Services • MSPCA-Angell VIN.com is a popular vet only forum where vets from all over the world can discuss complicated cases and get advice on how to proceed with treatment.

Thanks, I'll look into this!

 

[white shadow]

.
Hi alyssamvs and welcome to the forum !

[I'm sure your Veterinarian doesn't need to be given a list of referrals for their difficulty in diagnosing an issue with your kitty.]


First off, if my Vet shrugged their shoulders and told me to be patient..........well, I'd be looking for a competent cat-Vet. We know that, as with physicians, they're not all 'created equal'. Things can get complicated with cats and, when they do, it's an experienced, consummate and therefore competent feline Veterinarian that will be up to the task. If you'd like to pursue that, post back.

It can be a lengthy process to have chronic diarrhea resolve in kittens. (Just on the T-foetus, the most accurate test for that is called a PCR test - you might want to ask if that has been done.)

Now, from what you wrote, she is still testing positive for coccidia. There is a natural product that has been shown to be effective in eliminating coccidia. It's often called a probiotic, but it's actually a yeast. It's S boulardii.............

I'll give you an article written by a former member of this forum who is well known as a most informed individual in feline health issues. The article, on her own site, includes material that she has posted here. Pay close attention to the details starting about halfway down the page at the "Managing the Diarrhea" section: My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do ?.

Anytime that something is suggested here, we always add the recommendation that people consult with their Vet around its use.

That might be a starting point for you. For now, I have cats to feed!

Oh, almost forgot. There's a small surcharge required on this forum............in the form of pictures - and her name, too
.

 

[alyssamvs]

Thank you so much for your detailed response. I'm actually still waiting on the second round of fecal tests to confirm if coccidia was cleared or not. She never tested positive for giardia but her littermates had it so she was treated for that too. I was initially quite happy with my vet, which is a cat-only vet and seemed very thorough, but I live an hour away and lately our communication is not that fluid. I'm pretty sure a PCR test has not been done, so I will see to that, and comment on the other suggested probiotics.

I'm still doing the change to a no-chicken diet, just in case it might prove helpful.

Here's a picture of Zelda

 

[Lulu&Finn]

When we adopted Lulu from the shelter she had diarrhea for a while. The vet eventually did a prescription food and a probiotic paste. A few months later she had an issue again and went back on the probiotic and the prescription food.
I hope your baby gets better soon.

 

[Furballsmom]

So glad that member white shadow was able to help you to feel better

As I mentioned above, a Pet Diaper might be something to consider until things get resolved.

Sending you good vibes and I'm keeping my fingers crossed

 

[alyssamvs]

So glad that member white shadow was able to help you to feel better

As I mentioned above, a Pet diaper might be something to consider until things get resolved.

I made an attempt at this initially, now I think it would be more difficult to put it on and clean her than it is to clean the carpet when there are spills or accidents. She does NOT like to be cleaned - I can barely even manage to clip her claws!

 

[Furballsmom]

Maybe some unscented puppy pee pads could help - there are disposable ones as well as washable ones.

 

[cataholic07]

Unfortunately antibiotics can do a major issue to the tummy as well. I would give s.boulardii daily to help with that to get her tummy back to normal. I believe nutrience has a care line for sensitive stomachs that's all life stages It's salmon which is interesting. Are you feeding dry or wet or both?

 

[LTS3]

Saccharomyces boulardii may be helpful. It's a yeast that kind of works the same way a probiotics. See these for more info:

Prebiotics & Probiotics for Cats: Healing Inflammation and gut dysbiosis

How to restore gut health, not just manage symptoms, in feline IBD

www.rawfeedingforibdcats.org

My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

Don't panic! Just as with people, healthy cats can suffer an “upset stomach” from time-to-time. We may not know the cause, and it doesn’t necessarily mean a trip to the vet is in order. After...

www.foodfurlife.com

It wouldn't hurt to try probiotics again. When you were giving it before, were you giving it at the same time as the antibiotics or separately? Probiotics work best if given about 2 hours before or after antibiotics. What brand of probiotics were you using before? FortiFlora is what vets often recommend but it's not the best. You can use Human probiotics that have multiple strains of bacteria and a higher CFU count that most pet probiotics.

Give the chicken-free diet at least 13 weeks or so before you change it. I suggest sticking with just one protein for the food trial. Say start with rabbit and stick with that instead of feeding rabbit one day, seafood another, etc. Chicken is often sneaky in food. For example, generic "meat by product" may contain chicken.

 

[alyssamvs]

UPDATE:
Thank you all for your responses. I wanted to provide a small update in case this si helpful for anyone.
Zelda cleared the coccidia in her latest fecal test, and no other parasites were detected, however a bacterial imbalance, anemia, low white blood cell counts, and malabsorption were still present.

The vets ordered I give her prednisolone for 20 more days, with doses tapering every five days, as well as Metronidazole (Flagyl) for 10 days, twice a day. Additionally, 15 days with a probiotic/prebiotic supplement, and s. boulardii, which I added to the vets recommendation and have been mixing 1 capsule every 2 days with her food .

She has just finished with the metro, and she seems to be doing much better. For the last three days of so I've noticed no soft stools and we're down to only about one "accident" a week. Her anus also seems less inflamed, and she's eating a lot more. (Duck-based hypoallergenic kibble, which I mix with turkey-based 98% protein commercial raw cat food. She's crazy about the raw food, however, when I give her only the raw her stools seem to be worse than when mixed with kibble. Also due to cost going all-raw or all-wet is currently not feasible for me.

I'm still worried that once I stop the metronidazole or the prednisolone she'll relapse, but I guess I'll have to wait and see. She has not gained much weight, she's at 2.8 pounds (she's 3.5 to 4 months old), and her hair is still a bit thin, but getting softer and she doesn't seem as thin. In about a month or so, if she continues to improve, I'll give a bit of her old chicken-based food to see how she does and if that's still an issue. She's currently on adult food, as I haven't been able to find kitten food without chicken.

 

[Furballsmom]

Thank you for a great update!!