Advice for kitten with almost constant diarrhea

Alfie2020

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Hello, Ive read quite a few posts here about cats with IBD, chronic diarrhea etc and have found them really helpful but just wanted to share my current experience in case someone can see something obvious in what I'm doing wrong.
I have an 11 month old kitten and since about June of this year he has had pretty awful diarrhea. The first time the vet found clostridium perfringens in his stool and gave me metronidazole which cleared it up. He went for his neutering and the diarrhea returned but i put it down to the surgery and meds he took for that. It didnt get better and he also started vomiting, I took him to a closer vet to me (my mistake!) And they couldnt find anything wrong....they told me repeatedly they had tested for clostridium perfringens but eventually they found out that they hadn't and a month after i had first brought him in, did a second fecal test and found CP... They gave him metronidazole suspension which was stressful to administer to him and eventually he started getting even worse. I had in parallel done a fecal test with PALS animal laboratory and when that came back it showed he had high levels of e-coli and clostridium perfringens. I took him back to the old vet who gave us an antibiotic for the e-coli and metronidazole tablets to replace the liquid. Almost straight away he started getting better! Finally some light :)
He finished his metronidazole on Saturday and now has gone back to full blown diarrhea. The vet has asked me to get the lab to run a fecal test again which I will do. Theyve also asked me to change his food to one containing hydrolyzed protein - which he pretty much refuses to eat. On the food front Im a bit confused because I havent changed it recently and when his diarrhea did clear up with the antibiotics it was the same food. Is that the antibiotic helping with whatever adverse reaction the food is causing or is focussing on the food detracting from whatever is actually going on in his little body? Im almost 90% sure when the fecal test comes back its going to be the CP again. I love him to buts and am sick with worry for him so just hoping someone can tell me something to give me some hope! I ordered some biogran so that I can give him some Saccharomyces Boulardii in his diet but just at a loss what to do. I have previously tried just giving him poached chicken, and have also tried poached fish. He eats it all but no improvement in his diarrhea, and he's definitely uncomfortable

Additionally, if anyone in London is aware of a vet that has a specialty focussing on this type of condition, really happy to get the name!
 
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Alfie2020

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Thanks so much, I really appreciate it. He's such a good little cat, it really breaks my heart that he isnt well and just feel a bit lost at this point. Will let you know how i get on :)
 

NabilBen

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Speedy Recovery. I had a bit of a similar problem and I tried Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Fibre Response and it went amazing. After fixing the diarrhea problem. I switched to the normal royal canin gastrointestinal dry because he has a sensitive tummy. No more diarrhea, no more vomitting...
 

NabilBen

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My cat is a big dry food lover so I don't have a problem and he's thriving on it to be honest as long as you provide water. I do give him wet occasionally because he's not a big fan of wet food. ( I feed him Royal Canin intense beauty wet)
 

fionasmom

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Help with these test results / Clostridium infection not going away?
Another Diarrhea Thread -- I have tried everything
London Vet Specialists
List of RCVS Specialists

Welcome to The Cat Site. I am sorry that you and your baby are having such difficult times. The first two threads discuss what members have done and tried regarding clostridium and the second two are specialists in England. For all I know, you have already seen those vets, but thought it might be worth a try. I am a huge believer in seeking out specialists once standard vets fails to solve a problem.
 

GustifursMom

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We had the exact same problem. Switch to a grain free chicken free diet. For us fish based protein worked.

For others I've heard venison, duck and rabbit are good too.

But the critical thing is grain free and chicken free.

You would be surprised that most cat, even the ones suggested by vets, is filled with grains and chicken. Cats are obligate carnivores, so they shouldn't be having grains. Most cats can tolerate it, but no cat thrives on it. And cats with irritable bowel simply can't have any at all.

With chicken cats are not evolved to process this specific type of poultry, but it's very cheap so we feed it to our cats.

Try Tiki cat wet food or Weruva wet food. Blue food also makes great Crunches treats that are grain free. There's lots and lots of options out there.

Please try it and tell us how it goes!
 

GustifursMom

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Sorry I meant to say most cat food even the ones suggested by vets, missed the word food.
 

Lazy Orange House Cat

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Are you giving B12 shots? If not, talk to your veterinarian about it, as my own veterinarian says that cats with diarrhea like that should be given B12 injections. My little guy eats Royal Canin Spayed/Neutered Kitten, which is very high fibre, very low fat, and easily digestible. He had diarrhea like that for four years before he was finally diagnosed with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and we were able to begin treating him properly. Until that point, no matter what he ate, it would come back out looking pretty much the same as it went in. Even his KMR came out looking like cottage cheese! We tried bovine colostrom, rice pablum, pumpkin, FortiFlora, and several other probiotics, many different foods, and it finally came down to a different veterinarian seeing him and knowing what this was. Now he's six pounds of fury, when we couldn't get him to crack four pounds for the longest time. I'm sorry you're going through this with your little one, but persevere with it. You'll get it!
 
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Alfie2020

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Thank you all so much for your replies! After nearly 2 months of continuous diarrhea, I am so relieved to say that this little monster is finally doing normal poops. I have him on the RC gastrointestinal dry and wet, and the select probiotic paste. I'm hoping if I keep him on this food for a bit it will let his stomach and everything recover and then hopefully I can start giving him a little variety in his food. I'll be careful to go very slowly! Thank you all for the links and advice, it really drove me to tears of frustration before I messaged the board as I was so worried he would never get better. Thank you again :)
 
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Alfie2020

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Help with these test results / Clostridium infection not going away?
Another Diarrhea Thread -- I have tried everything
London Vet Specialists
List of RCVS Specialists

Welcome to The Cat Site. I am sorry that you and your baby are having such difficult times. The first two threads discuss what members have done and tried regarding clostridium and the second two are specialists in England. For all I know, you have already seen those vets, but thought it might be worth a try. I am a huge believer in seeking out specialists once standard vets fails to solve a problem.
Thank you, now his diarrhea has subsided but I have a specialist appointment for him at the RALF which I still intend to go to as I'm keen to figure out what has caused it. Thank you for the links :)
 
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Alfie2020

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Are you giving B12 shots? If not, talk to your veterinarian about it, as my own veterinarian says that cats with diarrhea like that should be given B12 injections. My little guy eats Royal Canin Spayed/Neutered Kitten, which is very high fibre, very low fat, and easily digestible. He had diarrhea like that for four years before he was finally diagnosed with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and we were able to begin treating him properly. Until that point, no matter what he ate, it would come back out looking pretty much the same as it went in. Even his KMR came out looking like cottage cheese! We tried bovine colostrom, rice pablum, pumpkin, FortiFlora, and several other probiotics, many different foods, and it finally came down to a different veterinarian seeing him and knowing what this was. Now he's six pounds of fury, when we couldn't get him to crack four pounds for the longest time. I'm sorry you're going through this with your little one, but persevere with it. You'll get it!
I was giving him vitamin B12 supplements, and it definitely helped his energy levels etc. Am glad to hear you managed to resolve your kitties issues. So difficult when they are unwell!
 
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Alfie2020

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Hi all, so Alfie ended up with semi soft toilet for ever since my last message and finally....now he's okay. L Lazy Orange House Cat It did indeed end up being a vitamin B12 deficiency!!! but the first vet told me to give him the B12 supplements for a month. In February we got referred to a specialist animal hospital and they lost his blood test, so the test was repeated in July and on the basis of the results I was advised he had a b12 deficiency and to give him Cobalaplex B12 supplements for a minimum of 3 months....and he's now 98% fine!! He has the odd soft toilet but maybe once a month and he's now able to eat normal food without throwing up!!!

Thank you all for your advice, I was really besides myself last October and now I have a significantly healthier cat. He's put on a whole kilo since August and is so much better :)
 
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