Desperate : kitten food : parasites and inflamed gut

CUGal

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Hey everyone. Thank you so much for all your advice! I have been combing through the information on this site for months now trying to help my now 5 month old kitten. I’m overwhelmed and near tears because nothing we seem to do helps and we’ve gone to two different vets and still end up back at square one.

Currently, I need help finding a good wet and dry food for him because he needs to eat something that is not raw. Please don’t include anything about how raw is better. I’m doing the best I can and am at my wits end and trying to work with my vet.

here’s the story so maybe it will help. We got Kanani when he was 6 weeks old from a vet in town. Right away I knew something was up but it was two weeks later when we found out he had giardia. So, the vet treated him with panacur and metronitizole. We changed out the litter after every poop. Second fecal sample was positive so we went through round two. This is where the cleaning and disinfecting ramped up! I felt like the vet was giving up on him so we went for a second opinion. We did the super expensive fecal test and found out he has giardia and cryptospiridium...so round three of metronitizole and azithromycin for the crypto. Well, things started to look good but then in the last three days the runny diarrhea started again.

I have been feeding him Instinct wet and dry food and applaws wet food. The vet said to feed him something that wasn’t raw and suggested Royal Canin or a Purina type that is hypoallergenic. If I’ve learned anything from this site it’s that those two brands are not good. And we’ve tried RC before and it wasn’t good for him. she said to not feed him raw because of the possible bacterias and how that can inflame the gut so it can’t rid itself of the parasites. So now I’m at a loss. Any suggestions on a wet and dry food that’s not raw and is gentle on inflamed intestines?

I’m also giving him slippery elm and nexabiotic probiotics.

we also disinfect and clean everything every day. Clean the litter boxes, wipe his butt, bathe him...I’m so tired. We’ve been fighting these parasites for almost 5 months.

next week I’m starting the protocol from the LittleBigCat site using digestive enzymes. Just waiting for the enzymes to arrive. I don’t know what else to do and I could really use help choosing a cat food at this point. I have a couple cans of Wellness Core pate but couldn’t tell if it was raw too.

thanks everyone! I’m sorry if this info could have been found somewhere else on the site, I just got overwhelmed.
 

LTS3

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Try the Rawz brand. It comes in both canned and dry and contains few junk fillers so it's easy on most sensitive tummies. 100% Rendered Free Cat Food | RAWZ

Other possible LID type foods to try:

BLUE Basics® Limited Ingredient Cat Food | Blue Buffalo
Limited Ingredient Diet - Grain Free Cat | Merrick Pet Care
Cat Food - Limited Ingredient Diet - Kohapet
Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet | Instinct Pet Food
Grain Free Wet Recipes - NutriSource Pet Foods (not exactly an LID food but some of the canned are novel protein)

All canned / pouched / tinned / tray foods are cooked products so the Wellness pate food you have is fine to feed. None of the Applaws wet foods are complete diets so limit that brand to occasional treats or as toppers on the dry or Instinct canned.

Ask the vet to consult with another vet, ideally at a veterinary school or large veterinary hospital or the vet only web site VIN.com Most do courtesy consults.
 
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She's a witch

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I’d add probiotics to his food, including s.boulardi with MOS (Jarrow brand). That thing does wonders with diarrhea. Start small and increase if needed.
 
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CUGal

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Try the Rawz brand. It comes in both canned and dry and contains few junk fillers so it's easy on most sensitive tummies. 100% Rendered Free Cat Food | RAWZ

Other possible LID type foods to try:

BLUE Basics® Limited Ingredient Cat Food | Blue Buffalo
Limited Ingredient Diet - Grain Free Cat | Merrick Pet Care
Cat Food - Limited Ingredient Diet - Kohapet
Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet | Instinct Pet Food
Grain Free Wet Recipes - NutriSource Pet Foods (not exactly an LID food but some of the canned are novel protein)

All canned / pouched / tinned / tray foods are cooked products so the Wellness pate food you have is fine to feed. None of the Applaws wet foods are complete diets so limit that brand to occasional treats or as toppers on the dry or Instinct canned.

Ask the vet to consult with another vet, ideally at a veterinary school or large veterinary hospital or the vet only web site VIN.com Most do courtesy consults.
Thank you for your response. Why does this have to be so complicated? My vet is still pushing Royal Canin. I don’t understand why. I assumed applaws was not complete, but he sure loves it!! I’ve been feeding it along with the other. My vet also said that all Instinct foods are raw. So again, I’m left confused.

In researching the different LID foods, I can’t find any for kittens, so can my kitten eat the “adult” version?

thanks
 

mrsgreenjeens

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And don't be afraid to use the canned Rawz food. It is NOT raw food. It's just a name. As LTS3 said if it's in a can (or tin depending on where you're from) it's cooked.

I know that Nexabiotic already has S. Boulardi as one of the ingredients, but I was also going to suggest possibly giving it straight, rather than as part of another probiotic.
 

maggie101

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I second rawz for my cat with a sensitive tummy. She also likes Instinct original pate
In the catfooddb.com rawz is listed so you can see the ingredients.
 
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CUGal

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And don't be afraid to use the canned Rawz food. It is NOT raw food. It's just a name. As LTS3 said if it's in a can (or tin depending on where you're from) it's cooked.

I know that Nexabiotic already has S. Boulardi as one of the ingredients, but I was also going to suggest possibly giving it straight, rather than as part of another probiotic.
Thanks. I’m frustrated because I knew about S Boulardii MOS but in the end had too much info in my head and forgot the original source. I got some for him and gave him his first dose. Hopefully, it will help. And thanks for the info about the canned food. I’m still scratching my head from what my vet said.
 
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