Diahorrea/mucus/possible Ibd - And Not Much Help From The Vet!

[catladyuk]

Hi Guys,

Any thoughts on my ten year old somali cat's bowel issues would be really appreciated!

For 6 weeks I've been aware of her having nasty bowel movements - it started out with completely liquid stool containing lots of mucus and some blood.

The vet gave her pro-kolin stool firmer, which firmed things up until she stopped it, at which point things became loose again.

We then did a stool test, which showed up as normal. (She had also been wormed just before I started noticing the stool issues, so the problem shouldn't be due to parasites.)

She is acting fully normal, lively, happy, good appetite etc.

I've had her inside under poop-watch for six weeks, and she now seems to have a routine of going just once approx every 3 days, at which point the stool starts out firm and normal ish and then finishes as stinky and soft with mucus and a small amount of blood. She often gets it on her fur and has to lick it off which I imagine isn't ideal.

The vet has no real advice at this point, and says that unless she's visibly unwell, not to worry about it. He says it could be IBD but this would have to be diagnosed via biopsy under anaesthetic, and wouldn't suggest it as she seems normal otherwise. (I also have a fear about anaesthetic and ops so would avoid that if at all possible).

I don't feel great about this do nothing approach, in case it's something insidious which is being ignored. It can't be normal to have regular diahorrea with mucus and blood.

She is on a diet of half cat food, half raw (good quality cat food like applaws and nature's menu) and raw chicken / nature's menu raw chunks. Both my cats have been eating this diet for 7 years without any problems. They were completely raw for 5 years but for the last couple I've given them cat food in the morning.

Has anyone encountered anything similar to this condition or know much about IBD?

Thanks.

 

[Tagrendy]

Hi, sorry not professional opinion here but I would suggest removing raw meat from the diet, it 's easy to catch parasites from raw meat even if she's already wormed. To me it sounds like she has injury if there is blood and mucus. I would feed her pureed canned food for cats instead of solid food for a while and see if that makes a difference. Also might be worth going to another vet?

Best regards, T.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! At first I was wondering if it was a reaction to the wormer medicine but....six weeks later? I'm not a vet, but would you consider parcooking the raw food to eliminate the surface bacteria or stopping with the raw for a while as was mentioned? If that makes no change, then stopping with the cat food? In other words trying to eliminate factors one thing at a time, to try and pin down what's going on - it sounds as though her digestive system is better but that there's still something she either has in her system or is eating that's causing troubles. Hang in there!! Let us know what happens, sending good thoughts your way!

 

[catladyuk]

Thanks for your replies! Both my cats eat exactly the same food and the other one is completely normal stool-wise, so I did think it was odd that she could have contracted something from the food that he hadn't - also nothing bacteria or parasite wise showed up in her stool test. I did cut out raw for a couple of weeks, then after that I tried switching cat foods, and still nothing seemed to change, other than the stool went from fully loose to partially. It really is mysterious and I'm not sure what to feed her now! I asked the vet if I should be changing her diet and he said not at this stage. I've got another course of stool firmer/probiotics for her just to aid things, but longer term I'm still not sure what to do.

 

[Furballsmom]

There, see you're way ahead of me I'd go with what the vet says, maybe stick with the food that seemed to correspond to firming up? and hopefully the products you have help. In my personal opinion maybe avoid that wormer med for her in the future. Hang in there and best of luck!!

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh and I was going to mention, there are pet wipes but who knows the chemical ingredients in those even if they say they're pet safe, but what about just a damp paper towel to wipe her bum and help her out a little bit to try and avoid her ingesting that when she cleans herself?

 

[foxxycat]

What about canned plain pumpkin? Sometimes that helps firm up the poop. Some cats hate it. Some love it. See if kitty will lick it off your finger or a spoon. If they don't like it you can mix a bit into canned food or put some on finger and smear it onto roof of mouth-only need 1/2 teaspoon to a 1 teaspoon a day to help with poop issues. It helps both runny and constipation poo.

For wet poo cleaning on back of legs-I use a wash clothe in hot water=get them to sit on the cloth-and let teh wetness help penetrate the soil and slowly wipe it off-some cats get whiny and growly-maybe someone can help you distract to continue to clean the backend. also have vet do a hygiene clipping back there-the butt and legs to stop cling ons.

Some people have good luck with coconut oil on wet washclothe-it also helps pull the soils off the fur=and if the cat licks it-it won't hurt her. I would not use chemical wipes for pets-they tend to lick things and it may not be helping the loose poop issues.

also cats can handle raw diet much better than humans can, I wouldn't make too many abrupt changes to the diet otherwise you won't know if that's causing the runny yucks. Some cats have a reaction to the commercial foods-maybe a 50/50 diet of raw/commercial if one must change. Also some cats have shown to have issues with chicken-but that's way out of my realm of experience.

I would try the canned pumpkin to firm up the poop and a novel protein to see if that's what this is but again it has to be a slow 7 to 14 day transition to change diet...sorry I wish it was easier.

The vet can also try a regiment of pred=but we still won't know what's causing the problems...sorry I wish I had better answers for you.

 

[catladyuk]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Good ideas there - I will definitely try the wet towel and hygiene trim, I hadn't thought of that. Also pumpkin might be good to try, I think I've heard that before. She is on the stool firmer/probiotics at the moment so once that's finished I'll have a better idea of the natural condition and possibly will try isolating foods again - it is hard to know what is best to feed as she seems similar whatever she eats. The worm med she had was a spot on - do you think that could cause inflammation in her digestive system? I feel like that's what it is - inflammation, hence the mucus and streaks of blood. I just wish I know the root cause.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! You know your cat best, plus often times our "gut instinct" knows more than we think. Hang in there!!

 

[catladyuk]

Hi all,

Unfortunately she's still having problems and I'm at a loss about what to do. The vet says it is colitis and not to do anything while she still seems healthy otherwise. She seems fine in herself still and has a normal appetite. For a long time she was passing a stool only every few days and when she did it was hard to start with and liquid by the end of the stool. A few days ago she did a huge hard dry looking stool which was 'twisted' looking and was soft and stinky at the end. Yesterday she had a diahorrea with blood, mucus and a pellet of impacted looking fur. Today two small bouts of diahorrea, the first containing a large ball/plug of mucus. Today I gave her a bit of katalax in case she had a furball (there was a bit of foamy vomit by the litterbox, which usually means that) and I also gave her some goat's milk kefir, which I give my other cat all the time as he loves it (he has good stools), and I've read it can be good for bowel flora and also inflammation. So I have no idea whether the katalax or kefir are good or bad and whether they will help with the increased diahorrea of today or have made it worse. (I have also been putting canned pumpkin in her food, and it doesn't seen to have firmed things up at all.) I'm really worried about this as it can't be good for her to have this as an ongoing situation. So I've ordered some royal canin sensitivity food which I read good things about, and also various forms of probiotic. Nothing showed up in her stool test but I'm still wondering about something like giardia, so I don't know whether to give her some panacur (she had drontal two months ago). The confusion about the underlying cause it's what's the most worrying, as from what I've read the cause could be anything from food sensitivity or parasites or intestinal blockage, to IBD or cancer. Any thoughts/ideas appreciated!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi - did you have a chance to tell your vet about the bloody poop with the hair pellet? Also, does the vet know about the pumpkin - it seems I read in another thread discussion that the vet in that particular situation suggested to stop the pumpkin so I was just wondering/thinking out loud...
I'm agreeing with another poster above, if you can, would you consider changing vets?

Have you had a chance to try a change to kitten food, where the carb/protein ratio is different than adult canned cat food? Also, a food to try might be Merrick Backcountry rabbit, if you haven't already.

The thing of it is, I missed this 'til I read through your first post again - she was an inside/outside cat until this started where you began keeping her inside? If she was allowed outside, there's no telling what she might have come in contact with, ingested, or even drank. Obviously still worth finding a food that agrees with her system if that's even possible, but I'm really starting to think that a different vet might provide you with a different (--better, hopefully) perspective.

 

[catladyuk]

Hmm I might stop the pumpkin then, esp. as it doesn't seem to be helping. The Merrick sounds really good but doesn't look like you can get it here in the UK. Also I'm not sure if you have this system in the US, but here it isn't easy to switch vets - same as docs and dentist - once you're registered with somewhere you can't go elsewhere unless you completely leave and re-register. There isn't another vet anywhere near where I live (small village) and neither of my cats travel at all well so I really wouldn't want to subject them to a 45 minute car ride to go elsewhere. Not very easy! To be fair from what I've read, there doesn't seem to be many more ways of clear diagnosis other than an operation/scan/biopsy and I am very reluctant indeed to subject her to that, especially as she seems fine in herself. I just wish I could find the answer to help her not have such a nasty time in the litterbox. Really hoping the special food will help her system. She does go outside (before I started keeping her in) so I guess she could have ingested something - which is why I worry about some kind of rare parasite, even though nothing showed in the stool test. (I'm not sure if I should worm her again or not, I don't want to give her too many drugs). She is very long haired (somali) so she does get furballs, so again I wonder if she had a major fur impaction or something, which is why I've tried katalax. All very confusing.

 

[cat princesses]

HI There!
I'm sorry you are dealing with this. When I first adopted my cat she had very soft poops with fresh red blood and some mucus. It took me quite awhile to treat and cure. My best tips are to possibly try a different vet. Second, I have had really good success with gerber baby food turkey and a probiotic called S. boullardi. I use the nutria cology brand but any would do. I take a small spoon full of the baby food and warm that for 5 seconds in the microwave and then dump in 1 full capsule of the s. boullardi and mix thoroughly and feed to her on the spoon. I had to do this 2x per day morning and evening for months to get her poops firmed up. I also highly recommend B12 injections. YOu will need a script from your vet and then you can order online. The vet tech can show you how to draw it up in an insulin syringe and how to inject - if you google b12 injection for cat with loose stool you will find articles on how beneficial this is. I also really like the Tiki Cat aloha friends wet food because it has pumpkin mixed in already. My cat refused to eat the regular pumpkin nor would she eat it if I tried to mix into her food but somehow she likes the Tiki cat. I feed raw as well but I feed the Rad Cat raw - you might want to try that. I would NEVER ever microwave raw food - that's a huge no no, I saw someone else suggest that and would strongly advise against that.
I wouldn't rush to thinking this is IBD or colitis just yet.....I'd try these other things first and remember, it takes time! It could also be a food allergy. You might want to just try feeding only 1 protein and stick with that so say if you go with the raw food only, just feed the turkey and only that and see if that makes a difference.
Poopy bums are not fun to clean - I use the wet paper towel method as well and usually just have a few wads that are really wet and sometimes you even have to cut the dirty fur because it's too messy to get clean. These are my best tips - my cat has had firm poops for over a year now and I still give her the s. boullardi but now it's only 1x per day.

 

[alzycat]

Hi there! My kitty has either IBD or small cell lymphoma (didn't do the biopsy), she was diagnosed a couple months ago so I have a little bit of experience in the gastrointestinal issues area.

Has your vet suggested an ultrasound? This is not invasive and most cats don't find it too stressful, and it's a good way of indicating if there is something more serious going on. My cat had diarrhea for months with no other symptoms, and all of her tests came back normal. It wasn't until months had passed of trying to figure out what was wrong that her symptoms worsened and she stopped eating and started vomiting- at this point we did the ultrasound and found that she had thickening of her intestines, which is characteristic of either IBD or lymphoma.

If this is financially feasible for you then I would consider it, just to be safe and rule out any serious conditions. My cat had only diarrhea for months and I didn't think it was anything serious- it wasn't until much later that the symptoms abruptly worsened and we had to make more drastic decisions. It's always better to catch these things earlier rather than later.

Then again, it has only been 9 weeks since you've noticed these symptoms- so I definitely do not intend to scare you into thinking it's something serious! It's just a non-invasive option if you would like to explore it.

 

[catladyuk]

Hi guys thanks for your responses. Cat princesses those are some great ideas, thanks. I hadn't heard about the B12, I'll look it up. The food and probiotics ideas also sound good. I'm going to trial her on royal canin sensitive food next as I've read it has stopped these symptoms in other cases when no other food would. I would eventually like to to get her back onto raw (I agree, never microwave!!) but in the short term I just want to get her system to be less inflamed. The probiotic route sounds good and I have ordered a few different types - I'll check if they contain s. boullardi and if not perhaps source some of that.

Alzycat I'm really sorry to hear about your cat. How is she now, and how do you treat her? I will check with our vet about ultrasound - although I think they said she still has to have a general anaesthetic to have a scan, which I'm worried to put her through, especially as she seems happy in herself and is eating well etc. It's tricky because as you say I don't want to leave it until it becomes serious, but equally I don't want to put her through a procedure involving anaesthetic unless it's essential - I really worry about that! It's worrying either way really.

 

[artiemom]

Hey, so sorry to hear about your kitty. I know the feelings well.

I am going to jump in, if ok with everyone.

You have gotten such good advice here... just my 2 cents:

To me, This sounds like either a food allergy or possible IBD..

Can you try to stay with one food protein for a while? And probiotics can sometimes help. I use Proviable, which I get from Chewy.com there are so many of them around.

I would stay away from chicken.. I know. not all cats have allergies to chicken or fish, but chicken seems to be very common.

This is a good start. Try it and see what happens.
You can keep you Vet into the loop. He should be.. he should also be able to guide you along.

I would discuss with your Vet, about getting an x-ray and an ultrasound. You cat may need a slight sedation for that, but not general anesthesia. It can be a bit pricey, and should really be done by a professional--- a Vet who is trained to do ultrasounds.. not just a normal, every day vet.
Subtle things can be missed, or over diagnosed.

You may even want to consider taking your cat to a specialist for treatment. An Internal Medicine Vet is the one to go to. Regular Vets really do not seem to fully understand the treatment plans for cats who have IBD or IBS or food allergies.

Stick to one food, one brand, one protein.. for a while.. and one which does not have many additives.. Yes, now is the time you have to begin reading food labels---sigh..

See what happens; try to stay away from chicken. Just my thoughts.. hopefully, they are helpful.

Wishing you luck... ((hugs))

Remember, one step at a time..

 

[LTS3]

Columbine might be able to suggest food options in the UK and probiotics / supplements to use. Zooplus.uk is a popular online web site to buy pet supplies from in the UK.

There's good info here on IBD, if that is what your cat has:

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Raw Feeding for IBD Cats

Both web sites recommend a raw or home cooked diet but commercially available canned foods can be fed. Novel proteins are usually helpful as many IBD cats have a food allergy to common proteins such as chicken.

 

[Columbine]

I'm so sorry you're going through all this with your girl.

For food/elimination diet I strongly recommend Catz Finefood Purrr from www.zooplus.co.uk It's a limited ingredient, single protein, novel protein food designed for kitties with digestive issues. The only downside is you can't get all the flavours singly. Integra Protect is a European veterinary diet range with fewer ingredients and better meat than the RC or Hill types (imo anyway) so that's worth investigating too. There are other single protein foods on Zooplus too. Have a browse and see what seems like the best fit.

Good luck, and keep us updated. We'll help if we can

 

[cifelliac]

I have lots of experience with this through the shelter I volunteered at, so here is what we did that generally helped:

Whenever any cat starts having loose stools you should stop giving any wet food. Wet food generally leads to looser stools.

I did see you tried pumpkin puree and it didn't help. Pumpkin puree can both be used for constipation and loose stool.

Some people already suggested trying Probiotics, as well as doing a food elimination diet/limited ingredient diet for food allergy or IBD.

We had great success at using a natural product called BM Tone Up Gold, I'm not sure if there is an equivalent for you in the UK to try.

Hope some of it helps your kitty

 

[artiemom]

I think I have to disagree with cifelliac regarding the dry food.. unless it is novel protein.. Dry food is notorious for having many added junk to it..

Wet food is much better for cats.