HELP! Prolonged diarrhea in 2 litters

[catpack]

I'll try to condense this as much as possible. But, as the title suggests, I am having problems with prolonged diarrhea in 2 litters of kittens.

Both groups of kittens are in quarantine (and always have been) and have never had contact with each other. (They came from completely different parts of the state.) They have resided in separate locations at all times.

Group #1 is three 16 week old males that were found as strays. I assumed dumped as they have always been very social. We have had them exactly 8 weeks and diarrhea had been ongoing for nearly that long.

Group #2 is three 12+ week olds, 2 boys, 1 girl that were feral born. (Caught in my neighbor's backyard.) I have had them for 4 weeks and diarrhea started 2 days later.

I have tried different diets with both. All were original put on Nature's Variety Instinct LID Turkey dry and Wellness Kitten canned.
Dry food was initially removed and then canned food changed to single ingredient and we have tried different proteins.

GROUP #1 is currently on Instinct LID canned Duck formula NOTE: 4 days after originally started on this diet POOP WAS NORMAL. Then 7 days later, diarrhea literally overnight. The morning was completely solid, night was completely soup.

Diarrhea last for 10 days and diarrhea cleared up. They again had normal stool for about a week and then diarrhea came back with avengance and has been chronic for the last 4+ weeks.

GROUP #2 is currently on Nature's Variety LID canned Turkey.

All kittens have been treated with Panacur and Group #1 has also been treated with Strongid.

Group #1 originally tested positive for Coccidia and treated with Albon. (This BEFORE coming into our care.)

Multiple fecals, including a PCR was done on both groups of kittens. Everything has come back NEGATIVE.

In regards to the PCR...one test was sent out for each group. A combined sample from each kitten in each group was sent out. The swab was taken from the kitten that presented with the worst diarrhea for each group.

Group #1 was treated with Metronidazole for 7 days without ANY affect.

In looking at records, I realized neither group had specifically been tested for Coccidia since coming into our care (though in-house direct/float were done on each individual kitten). I decided to treat both groups with Ponazuril.

Group #1 finished their first course 5 days ago and there has been zero improvement. (Diarrhea consistency is soup.)

Group #2 finished their second course 3 days ago and stool quality HAS improved, though is still not normal. (Firmer than peanut butter consistency vs. soup.)

Also, Group #1 has had good, steady weight gain and all weigh 4.75 to 5.5 lbs.

Group #2 has NOT had steady weight gain (actually LOST weight the first 2 weeks, despite supportive care), but HAVE gained some since the diarrhea is improving (and appetites are as well.) They all weight 3-3.5 lbs.

Probiotics were started, though I am about to switch them to one with more strains of bacteria. Considering Proviable, but all bacteria is fermented, so also looking at others. (No Jarrow, as I need it to be palatable enough to not affect appetite.)

ANY SUGGESTIONS??

I plan on doing another round of Ponazuril for all, especially group #2 as I have seen improvement.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

oh, the poor babies!

one of my girls, a few days shy of 1 year old now, has been having what the vet and i are (now) considering flare ups for the last 7 1/2 months since i adopted her. our next step is an ultrasound, scheduled for august 19th.

i started both girls with proviable, and switched them to Now Probiotic-10 from there on. i also have my 4 year old boy on the Now probiotic. it was one i chose based on a link to the IBD kitties websites that @missmimz had posted here at TCS. i bookmarked that link, but it seems the webpage has been updated and now does not include a partial list of probiotics. anyway, i chose Now Probiotic-10 partly because it does not contain maltodextrin, which if i remember correctly can sometimes cause a reaction (i wanna say, gastro upset...?). no problems here with the Now probiotic palatability. in fact, i've had one of my girls snatch up a bit of clumped together probiotic powder and eat it up like a treat. 

 

[catpack]

micknsnicks2mom , thanks for the probiotic suggestion! I'll definitely look into that.

Yes, this is very frustrating not being able to find *something* to give them relief! I thought about a possible IBD with the 3 boys and if another round of Ponazuril and a new probiotic don't help, we'll venture down that road. We'll definitely have to take a holistic approach to treating if that's the case as they all have chronic herpes and don't want to risk giving steroids (and especially with them being so young!)

 

[missmimz]

Good info about both diet for IBD and probiotics

http://www.rawfeedingforibdcats.org/meds--supplements.html

 

[catpack]

M missmimz , thank you for the link!

I have considered a raw diet for both groups and, while not the purest form, have introduced some Stella & Chewy's freeze-dried raw (I use this with a personal cats, so have it on hand). I have tried to refrain from a raw diet as we hope to adopt all these babies out. It's hard enough to get people to feed a dry/canned mixed diet and know the battle ahead if they do in fact need the raw. (About 1/3 of our rescue requires canned-only diets and most people back out once they realize that we are actually serious in the diet requirements for these cats...). But, we'll do whatever is needed to alleviate the diarrhea!

In doing a quick read, B12 injections would certainly be something I could easily do for them and hadn't thought of (have used in the past.)

 

[missmimz]

@missmimz, thank you for the link!

I have considered a raw diet for both groups and, while not the purest form, have introduced some Stella & Chewy's freeze-dried raw (I use this with a personal cats, so have it on hand). I have tried to refrain from a raw diet as we hope to adopt all these babies out. It's hard enough to get people to feed a dry/canned mixed diet and know the battle ahead if they do in fact need the raw. (About 1/3 of our rescue requires canned-only diets and most people back out once they realize that we are actually serious in the diet requirements for these cats...). But, we'll do whatever is needed to alleviate the diarrhea!

In doing a quick read, B12 injections would certainly be something I could easily do for them and hadn't thought of (have used in the past.)

You might want to join the FB group too, they are really helpful and even if you don't feed raw they're always open to helping other members no matter what they're feeding. S&C is def a good start in terms of raw feeding. Kittens have really sensitive digestive systems so lots of things can give them the runs. I had 7 kittens at once (i ended up keeping them which is why i have 10 cats now lol) but i started them on probiotics really young because they had tummy issues. I just mixed it in their food AM and PM, but it's important to use a good quality human grade one, the pet ones really don't work. 

 

[mybabies59]

Boiled chicken and rice, and pumpkin does the trick for the runs. Mine was at a cat hotel while we were on a cruise, and hes on a very good high quality food, and high protein being a savannah. He got sad after a few days missing us and wouldnt eat so they gave him fancy feast, as they will always eat that. Worse crap around. He got diarrhea so I used that and he quickly got better. It wont hurt anyway

 

[catpack]

Boiled chicken and rice, and pumpkin does the trick for the runs. Mine was at a cat hotel while we were on a cruise, and hes on a very good high quality food, and high protein being a savannah. He got sad after a few days missing us and wouldnt eat so they gave him fancy feast, as they will always eat that. Worse crap around. He got diarrhea so I used that and he quickly got better. It wont hurt anyway

Yes, we used a boiled chicken-only diet for a Bengal we have in the rescue. He had Clostrdium Perfringens and, even after treatment had diarrhea. The chicken-only diet cleared everything up after 4 days. We were able to eventually get him on Instinct LID canned and Stella & Chewy's freeze-dried as a snack. He's one that can never have dry.

With that said, we are going to try a boiled chicken diet and see if there is any improvement. It certainly can't hurt anything. (I know they can only eat this for a few days, so no worries there!)

 

[StefanZ]

Medical aside, when having much diarrhea, what is necessary is to compensate for the loss of salts and electrolytes, and also fluids.  Its easiest and best done by pedialyte. Either a bough; best is flavorless pedialyte for babies, or a home-made.

It shall contain glucose sugar and different salts.

The easiest way is to  to use honey as source for glucose sugar, and mineral water as source for salts (you see on the label if it contains lotsa of different salts).

Say, a  10grammes of honey into a 33ml mineral water bottle - you can also add some plain boiled water to dilute the salts a little..

 

[missmimz]

Def don't give any rice, rice is inappropriate for cats they can't and don't need grains. 

 

[catpack]

Thanks everyone! StefanZ , while we have taken their electrolytes into consideration, I do think I will supplement more Pedialyte to them.

M missmimz , yes, we will stick with our plan of doing meat only.

 

[mybabies59]

yea of course it wont hurt, so its worth a try for sure.