Food Allergies?

[Susanna72]

My cat has had diarrhea on and off for a few months. Over the past few weeks, it's become constant, so I took him to the vet. She thinks he has a food allergy. She put him on Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets HA Hydrolyzed Dry Cat Food and prescribed Pro Pectalin Gel until stool becomes solid. Cerenia for nausea as needed because he had thrown up undigested food several times. It's been a week and his diarrhea is worse than ever. He likes his new food, so he's eating that (I slowly switched over). My vet is on vacation but she has backup on call. I just thought I'd ask here before I call them. I'm curious if any of you have seen these symptoms. It's mainly diarrhea and occasionally throwing up undigested food. He eats and drinks just fine. Doesn't seem lethargic. If anything, he's more cuddly than normal. He has CH, but this hasn't been an issue in the past. Just thought I'd mention it.

 

[verna davies]

Have a look at s boulardii for the diarrhoea, one capsule split over two meals each day for 4/5 days should help. You could also ask your vet about metronidazole.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Did your Vet run any tests? Do a physical exam? Do a fecal? These symptoms could be signs of food sensitivities, IBD, or some sort of parasite to mention a few. The S. Boulardi might help, depending on exactly what the issue is, but I'd definitely let the Vet Practice know that the issue has gotten worse, not better and see what they recommend next.

 

[Astragal14]

These symptoms sound like it could be one of several things (isn't that always the case?) and we've had experience with a few of them.

Has your vet tested a stool sample? We had intermittent diarrhea in our house that turned out to be giardia. It took several stool samples before any parasites were found. You also described regurgitation (vomiting undigested food); we didn't have that but we had vomiting that followed straining during diarrhea.

Did your cat's diarrhea get worse once you added the HA? One of my cats has IBD and we did a diet trial that included the same dry food, Purina HA. Your vet may want to see how your cat does for a while once solely eating the HA, but these are my questions: if he's worse with hydrolyzed protein, does this indicate a problem with ingredients other than protein (assuming acute causes have been ruled out, like bacteria/parasites, etc)? If this is a possibility, would a different food be more appropriate, like a GI food? We tried Purina HA (no change), Hill's G/I Biome (got worse) and Hill's W/D (much improvement). And ask about a different probiotic, one that includes V verna davies recommendation of s boulardii.

 

[Susanna72]

Hi everyone. Thanks for your responses! This is what my vet sent to me after the first round of tests. They did blood, urine and fecal.

Hi. I just wanted to let you know that Olivers bloodwork is all normal, other than his eosinophils are a little elevated- those are a white blood cell that can be increased with allergic things or parasites- so it would fit with IBD. No parasites in his feces, there was a little bit of an increased protein in his urine but there were also a few calcium oxalate crystals, so that may have elevated the protein, that could be diet related, so the HA food also protects against urine crystals so that may help decrease that. Id say recheck his urine in a couple of months.

 

[Susanna72]

Have a look at s boulardii for the diarrhoea, one capsule split over two meals each day for 4/5 days should help. You could also ask your vet about metronidazole.

The vet filling in while my vet is on vacation prescribed metronidazole, so I hope it works. We are on day 2. I have a feeling we're going to have to try a new food, too. This Purina Hydrolysis stuff doesn't seem to be helping.

 

[verna davies]

Metronidazole should work in a few days. How many days of meds did the vet give you? Cats are often allergic to chicken, try removing it from the diet to see if it helps.

 

[Susanna72]

Metronidazole should work in a few days. How many days of meds did the vet give you? Cats are often allergic to chicken, try removing it from the diet to see if it helps.

He gave me 7 days. 60mg twice a day. One refill. He's on the Purina Hydrolysis food, which I guess is flavorless. I stopped giving him treats, too. It's sad. I hope we can figure this out.

 

[verna davies]

Hopefully you will see an improvement in the next day or so. Trying to find which food is causing the problem can take a while but you may be lucky and hit on it straight away. Keep a diary of what he eats and the way his stools are, you might find a pattern.