9 Month Old Cat With Cryptosporidium - Please help!

[cliffchen]

We have a young 9 month old cat we found when she was 1 month old. When found she was skinny and small. Throughout the months she has always been considerably underweight (heaviest was 4.5 pounds) but was always playful and loving.

SYMPTOMS (Diarrhea, Vomiting, Lethargy, Weight Loss/Malabsorption)

- A little over a month ago we noticed she started becoming lethargic, only eating and sleeping with no interest in play anymore.

- Within a week after the lethargy she would begin vomiting with stool becoming soft like pudding texture. She would still have a large appetite but started losing weight.

- A week after the vomiting and soft stool she started having watery, sometimes explosive diarrhea. Which lead to some more weight loss.

- For the last two weeks she has continued to decline, often urinating or defecating out of the litterbox with a on and off again appetite. Shortly after eating she will loaf away and seem uncomfortable. She is currently about 3.1 pounds and seems very weak.

TREATMENTS AND TEST

- We brought her to the vet a few days after the first symptoms and were given anti-nausea pills for the vomiting. Her vomiting did stop but came back after. It was at this time she was snap tested for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus, both of which were negative.

- We went back to the vet about a week after the first visit and which is when they gave her a dewormer. We also brought in fecal sample to test for parasites which came back negative.

- After the negative parasites test the vets said to treat for Giardia and Coccidia using Fenbendazole and Albon, for about two weeks, despite the test being negative. We tried this for about a week and half to no improvement.

- The vet also suspected Tritrichomonas and we did a PCR fecal test for a variety of parasites. All of which came back negative EXCEPT Cryptosporidium which was positive. We have her on Azithromycin today.

- We have had blood test and GI panel done. The vet explained everything on the blood work that was off normal parameters was expected for a malnourished cat. The GI panel showed B12, Folate, TLI and Spec fPL as normal, ruling out pancreas issues.

- We've tried a raw diet with a novel rabbit protein, S Bourlardii and other probiotics in case of IBD but nothing seems to help. Food just passes through her but the raw stuff at least passes slower.

REQUESTS

Our last hope now is that is it the cryptosporidium and that she responds to the treatment. If not if we decided it would be best to put her down as she is weak and seems very uncomfortable. (Currently 3.1 pounds, which is down half a pound from last week). She is still eating and drinking but just keeps losing weight and keeps having diarrhea. She's still on anti nausea pills so vomiting has ceased.

1. Do you have any similar experiences with your cats and thoughts on what might be going on?
2. Do you have any experience with cryptosporidium and the efficacy of treatments? We are trying to find out how long to try the Azithromycin before ending her suffering but are targeting about 4 days if no improvement.

Link to all tests: Sesame Bloodwork

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. This is an older article but may help.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Cryptosporidium and Isospora in Cats - WSAVA2011 - VIN

www.vin.com

.

 

[silent meowlook]

Unfortunately, it sounds like your cat is very ill. At this point I would ask for a referral to a specialty practice. This has gone on way too long and it may be the only option. Specialty vets, you need one in internal medicine, have years more schooling and can often treat problems that other regular vets just don’t have the knowledge or experience to treat.

I am so sorry your kitty is so ill.

I do remember a cat treated with rinidazole I think. But it was a long time ago.

You might want to consider retesting for FELV/FIV. after a month or so.

 

[cliffchen]

Unfortunately, it sounds like your cat is very ill. At this point I would ask for a referral to a specialty practice. This has gone on way too long and it may be the only option. Specialty vets, you need one in internal medicine, have years more schooling and can often treat problems that other regular vets just don’t have the knowledge or experience to treat.

I am so sorry your kitty is so ill.

I do remember a cat treated with rinidazole I think. But it was a long time ago.

You might want to consider retesting for FELV/FIV. after a month or so.

We've snap tested for Felv and Fiv, both were negative.

 

[Kieka]

I would try a second vet for a different set of eyes. Twice, I've had situations where vet A is stumped and nothing is working only for vet B to try a completely different path and it works.

Have you gotten any imaging (ultrasound or xray)?

 

[signgirl]

We have a young 9 month old cat we found when she was 1 month old. When found she was skinny and small. Throughout the months she has always been considerably underweight (heaviest was 4.5 pounds) but was always playful and loving.

SYMPTOMS (Diarrhea, Vomiting, Lethargy, Weight Loss/Malabsorption)

- A little over a month ago we noticed she started becoming lethargic, only eating and sleeping with no interest in play anymore.

- Within a week after the lethargy she would begin vomiting with stool becoming soft like pudding texture. She would still have a large appetite but started losing weight.

- A week after the vomiting and soft stool she started having watery, sometimes explosive diarrhea. Which lead to some more weight loss.

- For the last two weeks she has continued to decline, often urinating or defecating out of the litterbox with a on and off again appetite. Shortly after eating she will loaf away and seem uncomfortable. She is currently about 3.1 pounds and seems very weak.

TREATMENTS AND TEST

- We brought her to the vet a few days after the first symptoms and were given anti-nausea pills for the vomiting. Her vomiting did stop but came back after. It was at this time she was snap tested for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus, both of which were negative.

- We went back to the vet about a week after the first visit and which is when they gave her a dewormer. We also brought in fecal sample to test for parasites which came back negative.

- After the negative parasites test the vets said to treat for Giardia and Coccidia using Fenbendazole and Albon, for about two weeks, despite the test being negative. We tried this for about a week and half to no improvement.

- The vet also suspected Tritrichomonas and we did a PCR fecal test for a variety of parasites. All of which came back negative EXCEPT Cryptosporidium which was positive. We have her on Azithromycin today.

- We have had blood test and GI panel done. The vet explained everything on the blood work that was off normal parameters was expected for a malnourished cat. The GI panel showed B12, Folate, TLI and Spec fPL as normal, ruling out pancreas issues.

- We've tried a raw diet with a novel rabbit protein, S Bourlardii and other probiotics in case of IBD but nothing seems to help. Food just passes through her but the raw stuff at least passes slower.

REQUESTS

Our last hope now is that is it the cryptosporidium and that she responds to the treatment. If not if we decided it would be best to put her down as she is weak and seems very uncomfortable. (Currently 3.1 pounds, which is down half a pound from last week). She is still eating and drinking but just keeps losing weight and keeps having diarrhea. She's still on anti nausea pills so vomiting has ceased.

1. Do you have any similar experiences with your cats and thoughts on what might be going on?
2. Do you have any experience with cryptosporidium and the efficacy of treatments? We are trying to find out how long to try the Azithromycin before ending her suffering but are targeting about 4 days if no improvement.

Link to all tests: Sesame Bloodwork

I adopted a cat about a year ago from a humane society. He came home with soft serve ice cream like bowel movements that were yellow and very smelly. I had a fecal PCR ran on him and he was post for Cryptosporidium Felis. We've been fighting with meds off and on since September 2023. It's been so frustrating. It's my understanding that it can be difficult to cure. We've done 3 weeks of Tylosin, 3 weeks of Azithromycin, and are now doing Tylosin again - for an undetermined amount of time. He's been on Tylosin twice daily for six weeks now, as well as Hills GI Biome food, and FortiFlora Probiotics.

I'm sorry your cat is dealing with this too. Crypto can make them feel so awful. It can take 4-6 weeks of meds to see results. I hope you will give your cat a chance to recover. It can take a long time.

Cryptosporidium is the absolute worst. There is so little information out there.

 

[signgirl]

I adopted a cat about a year ago from a humane society. He came home with soft serve ice cream like bowel movements that were yellow and very smelly. I had a fecal PCR ran on him and he was post for Cryptosporidium Felis. We've been fighting with meds off and on since September 2023. It's been so frustrating. It's my understanding that it can be difficult to cure. We've done 3 weeks of Tylosin, 3 weeks of Azithromycin, and are now doing Tylosin again - for an undetermined amount of time. He's been on Tylosin twice daily for six weeks now, as well as Hills GI Biome food, and FortiFlora Probiotics.

I'm sorry your cat is dealing with this too. Crypto can make them feel so awful. It can take 4-6 weeks of meds to see results. I hope you will give your cat a chance to recover. It can take a long time.

Cryptosporidium is the absolute worst. There is so little information out there.

I highly the Hills GI Biome food. It's pricey but worth it! It def helped firm up my cats stool.

 

[signgirl]

I know this is yuck - but people need to know what they are looking at. This is Cryptosporidium poo. Most cats present with very yellow, watery, mucousy, and sometimes blood bowel movements. My cat never had blazing diarrhea...more like soft serve ice cream like bowel movements

Spoiler: poo shot

 

[white shadow]

.
Hi cliffchen and a warm welcome to the forum !

Please pass the article* that @silentmeowlook provided you in post #2 to your Veterinarian, and ask for a referral to an Internal Medicine Specialist.

[* This article is actually a presentation/address given to a global Veterinary convention by this renowned Veterinary Specialist]

You've mentioned only one drug being used, Azithromycin.....that article mentions two others, tylosin and nitazoxanide. Silent meowlook spoke of another possibility (from memory), rinidazole. The article confirms that no one drug has been shown consistently effective.

Judging from your writing skills in presenting your cat's situation, I think you will be able to benefit from a section of the article that was presented.....so, I'll draw you to a couple of paragraphs from the middle of it: (I have added emphasis for you)

Over 100 compounds have been used to attempt to treat Cryptosporidium spp. infections in mammals and no compound is consistently effective. In cats, Cryptosporidium spp. associated diarrhea sometimes resolves after administration of tylosin (10–15 mg/kg, PO, q12hr), azithromycin (10 mg/kg, PO, daily), or nitazoxanide (10–25 mg/kg, PO, q12–24 hr). Tylosin and nitazoxanide are GI irritants. If the cat is responding to the first 7 days of therapy and toxicity has not been noted, I continue treatment for 1 week past clinical resolution of diarrhea. Some cats with Cryptosporidium spp. infection with or without Giardia coinfection have required several weeks of treatment prior to resolution of diarrhea.​

​

In some cats with diarrhea and Cryptosporidium spp. in feces, the addition of fiber or probiotics to the diet and retreating may result in resolution of illness. Lastly, some of the cats with apparently resistant cryptosporidiosis have underlying diseases (i.e., inflammatory bowel disease, Giardia spp., Tritrichomonas foetus, etc.) and so the diagnostic workup should be continued if therapeutic failures occur. No drug treatment has been shown to consistently eliminate Cryptosporidium spp. infections. Thus, the primary goal for the treatment of cats cryptosporidiosis is to eliminate diarrhea.​

You will need a well-experienced (minimum ten years in practice) and consummate Veterinarian as your partner in this. If that doesn't describe your current Vet, I'd suggest looking for one. The best starting point is a cat-only practice - if you don't know of one, this site can help....under "Practice Type" select "Feline Only". Again, you'll want a consummate and well-experienced Vet.....the owners of these practices usually match those criteria.

This is already lengthy and detailed, so I'll hit 'pause' for now.......should that have read p-a-w-s?

Speaking of which.............could you share a picture of this little Princess ?
.

 

[signgirl]

We have a young 9 month old cat we found when she was 1 month old. When found she was skinny and small. Throughout the months she has always been considerably underweight (heaviest was 4.5 pounds) but was always playful and loving.

SYMPTOMS (Diarrhea, Vomiting, Lethargy, Weight Loss/Malabsorption)

- A little over a month ago we noticed she started becoming lethargic, only eating and sleeping with no interest in play anymore.

- Within a week after the lethargy she would begin vomiting with stool becoming soft like pudding texture. She would still have a large appetite but started losing weight.

- A week after the vomiting and soft stool she started having watery, sometimes explosive diarrhea. Which lead to some more weight loss.

- For the last two weeks she has continued to decline, often urinating or defecating out of the litterbox with a on and off again appetite. Shortly after eating she will loaf away and seem uncomfortable. She is currently about 3.1 pounds and seems very weak.

TREATMENTS AND TEST

- We brought her to the vet a few days after the first symptoms and were given anti-nausea pills for the vomiting. Her vomiting did stop but came back after. It was at this time she was snap tested for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus, both of which were negative.

- We went back to the vet about a week after the first visit and which is when they gave her a dewormer. We also brought in fecal sample to test for parasites which came back negative.

- After the negative parasites test the vets said to treat for Giardia and Coccidia using Fenbendazole and Albon, for about two weeks, despite the test being negative. We tried this for about a week and half to no improvement.

- The vet also suspected Tritrichomonas and we did a PCR fecal test for a variety of parasites. All of which came back negative EXCEPT Cryptosporidium which was positive. We have her on Azithromycin today.

- We have had blood test and GI panel done. The vet explained everything on the blood work that was off normal parameters was expected for a malnourished cat. The GI panel showed B12, Folate, TLI and Spec fPL as normal, ruling out pancreas issues.

- We've tried a raw diet with a novel rabbit protein, S Bourlardii and other probiotics in case of IBD but nothing seems to help. Food just passes through her but the raw stuff at least passes slower.

REQUESTS

Our last hope now is that is it the cryptosporidium and that she responds to the treatment. If not if we decided it would be best to put her down as she is weak and seems very uncomfortable. (Currently 3.1 pounds, which is down half a pound from last week). She is still eating and drinking but just keeps losing weight and keeps having diarrhea. She's still on anti nausea pills so vomiting has ceased.

1. Do you have any similar experiences with your cats and thoughts on what might be going on?
2. Do you have any experience with cryptosporidium and the efficacy of treatments? We are trying to find out how long to try the Azithromycin before ending her suffering but are targeting about 4 days if no improvement.

Link to all tests: Sesame Bloodwork

Also, as a side note. Azithromycin actually made my cats poo worse for a while shortly after starting it. Tylosin did the same thing. I had to titrate up slowly (over a couple days) to minimize side effects.