Diarrhea And Elevated Bun And White Blood Cell Count

[sjt079]

Hello,
Julia-Grace, 1 year old female was adopted in June 2018. She was eating Friskies at the rescue. I kept her on Friskies for a week or so then slowly transitioned her to Nature's Balance chicken and salmon dry food. I added Purina Pro Ocean whitefish and tuna twice a day and supplemented with the dry Nature's Balance. She was fine and went for her first checkup with my vet. No symptoms at all but bloodwork showed elevated BUN and white blood cell count. Four days later she started loose stools then diarrhea. But she acted totally fine, good appetite, good energy and very playful. I called the vet and we put her on Metronidazole for a week. That cleared up the diarrhea and I continued the normal diet of Purina canned and NB dry. A few days after the Metro ended, she started back with diarrhea. So we did a second round of the Metro. This time I eliminated the canned and kept her only on NB dry. The diarrhea cleared up. Four days after the last dose of Metro, the loose stools then diarrhea started again. She has an appt tomorrow and we will redo the bloodwork. This cat was fine when I got her in mid-June, eating Friskies. So I put her back on Friskies yesterday. Has anyone had issues with Nature's Balance dry food? She will not eat their canned food. She will only eat the Purina Pro Plan fish flavored canned which I have eliminated for now. Her weight is fine..she may be a pound overweight actually. Her energy is fine. She acts totally fine, just has blowouts in the box now when she is not on the Metronidazole. When I first brought her home in June she had well formed large solid stools, almost human sized. That was when she was eating Friskies. Thanks!!

 

[duckpond]

I dont think she should have human sized poo. But of course you dont want diarrhea either. It could be something in the NB that bothers her system.

I would try feeding her wet food, one she has had good luck with, and a different dry. If the diarrhea continues that will be something the vet needs to address.

do keep us updated on her

 

[sjt079]

I dont think she should have human sized poo. But of course you dont want diarrhea either. It could be something in the NB that bothers her system.

I would try feeding her wet food, one she has had good luck with, and a different dry. If the diarrhea continues that will be something the vet needs to address.

do keep us updated on her

Thanks so much! So far the Purina Pro Plan Ocean Whitefish is the only wet food she will eat and I eliminated that thinking it was the problem....but evidently it wasn't since the problem persisted after eliminating it. Thanks again!

 

[duckpond]

If thats what she likes i would feed it to her. Then just try some different wet foods occasionally to see if she will eat a little variety? Purina has a lot of different flavors you can try. Best of luck!

 

[sjt079]

If thats what she likes i would feed it to her. Then just try some different wet foods occasionally to see if she will eat a little variety? Purina has a lot of different flavors you can try. Best of luck!

Thank you!

 

[sjt079]

Hi everyone,
Just an update. We did a third round of Metronidazole followed by a liquid suspension of Tylosin and she was put on Science Diet I/D. For 10 days of Tylosin she had firm poop. She is still on the Tylosin but days 11 through 13 (today) the poop is getting softer. She has been eating only the Science Diet I/D. Her last bloodwork was totally normal, so no elevation in BUN or WBC. The stool samples have come back normal.

So, totally normal bloodwork, Science Diet I/D and Tylosin, but now the stools are getting soft again after 10 days of being perfectly formed and firm.

Her appetite is fine, her energy is through the roof and she has actually gained a few ounces (right at 10lbs now). So everything about her is great, but the soft poop is starting again.

I asked about Corona Virus and the vet said she highly doubts it. But that may be the next step in testing.

Any other thoughts? Thanks!!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Hello,
Julia-Grace, 1 year old female was adopted in June 2018. ... Has anyone had issues with Nature's Balance dry food? ... Her weight is fine..she may be a pound overweight actually. Her energy is fine. She acts totally fine, just has blowouts in the box now when she is not on the Metronidazole. ...

It's been my experience that Nature's Balance dry is a food very laden with carbs. If you continue to use it, I'd watch her weight!

Maybe you can transition to more canned wet foods, and if you find the right one for your kitty, that might help with her diarrhea issues too. She's been on a lot of abx for many weeks now -- have you talked with your vet about easing up on those and maybe trying a few months of probiotics?

 

[molly92]

Large and/or loose stool is often caused by carbs, and all of the foods you've tried so far are heavy in carbs, except the proplan canned. Natural Balance usually has a lot peas, and Science Diet and Friskies are full of corn. I would stick to a canned food that doesn't have much added starch (dry foods need the starch to bind the kibble together but canned doesn't) and see if things start to clear up.

Intestinal parasites of some sort (bacterial or other microbes) might be contributing. These can be tricky to fully eradicate and test for sometimes because a lot of them seem to go dormant but cause occasional flare ups. They usually love carbs though, so reducing carbs can starve them out, which might be part of the reason why loose stool often resolves for dogs and cats on a high protein, low carb diet. A good probiotic can also help keep the intestinal microflora in balance.

 

[sjt079]

Thanks y'all!

The odd thing is she was totally fine on the Friskie's the shelter was feeding her. It was when I transitioned her over to the Nature's Balance dry and Purina Pro Plan canned that the issues started. So, she's been on the Science Diet I/D dry (she refuses the canned) for about 3 weeks now because it's supposed to be very mild and not contain common allergens.

The Tylosin is an antibiotic but it is supposed to have probiotic properties as well to balance and reset the gut. I'm going to try the Purina Forti Flora again. She refused it initially.

The Metronidazole always gets her firm again but three days after the last dose she gets loose. So that's why we added the Tylosin after the last round of Metronidazole. The Tylosin has kept her firm until this week.

I almost regret even changing her from Friskie's because she had firm, fully formed poop twice a day on the Friskie's. But I thought "Oh no, I gotta get this baby off this fast food and on a healthy diet!"

The good news is the loose poop is more of an inconvenience for me as she feels fine and is a ball of furry, mischievous energy! Just hope and pray I can get her straightened out. Thanks again!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

It's hard because when a cat has diarrhea, esp. if caused by bacteria/parasite issues, the litter box needs even more diligence in the cleaning of it. The "bad guy bacteria" can really hang around for days/weeks or longer if just a superficial scoop and wipe of the litter box is done. Sometimes you have to do more of a deep clean of litter boxes, and more frequent changeovers of fresh litter, when kitties are having episodes of diarrhea. You want to prevent continual cycles of parasites/bacteria from being a constant. This also helps in not making the continued use of abx (antibiotics) be a futile effort.

 

[sjt079]

It's hard because when a cat has diarrhea, esp. if caused by bacteria/parasite issues, the litter box needs even more diligence in the cleaning of it. The "bad guy bacteria" can really hang around for days/weeks or longer if just a superficial scoop and wipe of the litter box is done. Sometimes you have to do more of a deep clean of litter boxes, and more frequent changeovers of fresh litter, when kitties are having episodes of diarrhea. You want to prevent continual cycles of parasites/bacteria from being a constant. This also helps in not making the continued use of abx (antibiotics) be a futile effort.

Thanks so much! She actually loves to watch us scoop her box. She gets excited and comes running to watch...hehehe! It gets scooped several times a day and I usually dump/sanitize every week but I may need to do it more frequently just in case. So far she is testing negative for everything that could be in the poop.

 

[kittyluv387]

If there is nothing medically wrong with her it could be that she just has food sensitivities. It's not uncommon so keep that in the back of your mind. When I adopted my first cat he also had diarrhea that went away on antibiotics but came back after they wore off. Turns out he can only eat raw. I tried a ton of canned and dry foods with no success. But with raw? Instant firm poop!

 

[sjt079]

If there is nothing medically wrong with her it could be that she just has food sensitivities. It's not uncommon so keep that in the back of your mind. When I adopted my first cat he also had diarrhea that went away on antibiotics but came back after they wore off. Turns out he can only eat raw. I tried a ton of canned and dry foods with no success. But with raw? Instant firm poop!

Thank you! That makes me feel better. She is totally fine medically as far as we know based on exam, bloodwork, appetite, weight, etc.

 

[molly92]

Funny that Science Diet I/D is supposed to be a low allergen food, because corn is a super common allergen!

Often the "stress" of changes triggers sets off problems with the gut-even good stress like getting adopted! And she's not necessarily stressed by the environment and food changes, but her gut might be and that's why things have gotten out of whack. Don't sweat it if she doesn't like the floriforta-it's not a hugely beneficial strain. There are lots of probiotics at pet stores that are better and tasteless.

 

[sjt079]

Funny that Science Diet I/D is supposed to be a low allergen food, because corn is a super common allergen!

Often the "stress" of changes triggers sets off problems with the gut-even good stress like getting adopted! And she's not necessarily stressed by the environment and food changes, but her gut might be and that's why things have gotten out of whack. Don't sweat it if she doesn't like the floriforta-it's not a hugely beneficial strain. There are lots of probiotics at pet stores that are better and tasteless.

Thank you! I'd love some recommendations on other probiotics. This is the first time I've dealt with kitty tummy issues.

 

[kittyluv387]

The S. Boulardii strain is considered an anti diarrheal. So i would look for probiotics containing that.

 

[molly92]

S. boulardii can actually cure intestinal bugs. I've never used it, but you can read more about it here:

thecatsite.com/threads/saccharomyces-boulardii-use-for-diarrhea-and-gi-disease-incl-ibd.283161/

For general maintenance, anything with lactobacillus acidophilusis a good place to start. Most petstore brands have at least that. Personally I use a human one- PB8 nutrition now, acidophilus and bifodobacterium. It's a good price and it works well for my cats. I keep it refrigerated, 1/2 a capsule for every meal, more if they're not feeling well. You can't really overdose.

 

[sjt079]

Just a quick update on Julia-Grace. She did a month of Tylosin suspension and we have kept her on Science Diet I/D and bottled water only. She is doing great. No tummy issues and she's been off the Tylosin now for a few weeks. Crossing my fingers! Thanks to everyone!