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Hi all,
I adopted a lovely kitten 2 months ago, and about 2 weeks after his arrival he started having soft stool with some blood, and he also had a lot of gas. We tested him for parasites and it came back positive for coronavirus. We changed his food twice before settling on a Hydrolysed kibble by Purina Pro Plan. He's been eating nothing but this kibble for 20 days now (no additional probiotics, no medication), his stool has regained form and he only goes once a day (rarely twice), he's not passing gas at all anymore (that we see!), but there's often a little blood still.
We had an ultrasound done that shows inflammation:
Some segments of the jejunum are visible with a slight increase in thickness, the ileum and cecum with a moderate increase in parietal thickness. Images may be related to an inflammatory process – enteritis associated with typhlitis.
Sonographic images visualized in colon segments suggest reactive lymphoid follicles, images may be related to inflammatory injuries. Descending colon with mild to moderate increase in parietal thickness – colitis. (Translated from Portuguese)
His original vet, who's more of a generalist (and whom I really like) thinks it's highly unlikely this has anything to do with FIP, and is leaning towards a food allergy (which is why he's on hydrolized kibble now). The gastro specialist is concerned - although she did say she doesn't think it's FIP, she's afraid of giving him medication because anything for the inflammation would be immunosuppressant, which could trigger FIP. She recommends doing an endoscopy. She told me about a case she had in which the treatment for IBD ended up "triggering" FIP (this isn't the wording she used, of course).
I was initially convinced of doing the endoscopy, but now I'm under the impression it wouldn't give us a FIP diagnosis anyway, and it would certainly stress him. My mom is driving me insane saying we should try a different food, again (novel protein this time), but I'm afraid of switching and irritating his intestines more. If I keep him on the Hydrolized kibble, and if it's indeed a food allergy, how long should I expect this persistent blood to stop appearing? Is it risky not to do the endoscopy?
Some more context: he's a purebred Maine Coon and the runt of the litter. Resisted kibble longer than his siblings did, wanted to stay on mom's milk for a couple weeks more (I think, based on what the breeder told me), and that's around the time his growing slowed. She did blood tests on him, a heart echography, something on the liver, and everything came back normal. He was 1kg by the time his biggest brother was 2kg. I adopted him at 5 months old and he was 2,7kg, he's now 7,5 months old and 4,7kg. His breeder told me he barely ate kibble, he was more dependant on wet food, which was Royal Canin Kitten. I gave him N&D Kitten (with grains) when he arrived, he ate it, and a couple of weeks later the symptoms started. He didn't have diarrhea at all in the beginning (I thought moving to a different home would cause it, but it only started weeks after). We then switched his food to Royal Canin Gastrointestinal, which didn't help, then Pro Plan Gastrointestinal and finally the Hydrolized one. He's never had anything else - nothing on his skin, no vomiting, normal behavior (playful, sleepy, cuddly, with occasional zoomies).
I adopted a lovely kitten 2 months ago, and about 2 weeks after his arrival he started having soft stool with some blood, and he also had a lot of gas. We tested him for parasites and it came back positive for coronavirus. We changed his food twice before settling on a Hydrolysed kibble by Purina Pro Plan. He's been eating nothing but this kibble for 20 days now (no additional probiotics, no medication), his stool has regained form and he only goes once a day (rarely twice), he's not passing gas at all anymore (that we see!), but there's often a little blood still.
We had an ultrasound done that shows inflammation:
Some segments of the jejunum are visible with a slight increase in thickness, the ileum and cecum with a moderate increase in parietal thickness. Images may be related to an inflammatory process – enteritis associated with typhlitis.
Sonographic images visualized in colon segments suggest reactive lymphoid follicles, images may be related to inflammatory injuries. Descending colon with mild to moderate increase in parietal thickness – colitis. (Translated from Portuguese)
His original vet, who's more of a generalist (and whom I really like) thinks it's highly unlikely this has anything to do with FIP, and is leaning towards a food allergy (which is why he's on hydrolized kibble now). The gastro specialist is concerned - although she did say she doesn't think it's FIP, she's afraid of giving him medication because anything for the inflammation would be immunosuppressant, which could trigger FIP. She recommends doing an endoscopy. She told me about a case she had in which the treatment for IBD ended up "triggering" FIP (this isn't the wording she used, of course).
I was initially convinced of doing the endoscopy, but now I'm under the impression it wouldn't give us a FIP diagnosis anyway, and it would certainly stress him. My mom is driving me insane saying we should try a different food, again (novel protein this time), but I'm afraid of switching and irritating his intestines more. If I keep him on the Hydrolized kibble, and if it's indeed a food allergy, how long should I expect this persistent blood to stop appearing? Is it risky not to do the endoscopy?
Some more context: he's a purebred Maine Coon and the runt of the litter. Resisted kibble longer than his siblings did, wanted to stay on mom's milk for a couple weeks more (I think, based on what the breeder told me), and that's around the time his growing slowed. She did blood tests on him, a heart echography, something on the liver, and everything came back normal. He was 1kg by the time his biggest brother was 2kg. I adopted him at 5 months old and he was 2,7kg, he's now 7,5 months old and 4,7kg. His breeder told me he barely ate kibble, he was more dependant on wet food, which was Royal Canin Kitten. I gave him N&D Kitten (with grains) when he arrived, he ate it, and a couple of weeks later the symptoms started. He didn't have diarrhea at all in the beginning (I thought moving to a different home would cause it, but it only started weeks after). We then switched his food to Royal Canin Gastrointestinal, which didn't help, then Pro Plan Gastrointestinal and finally the Hydrolized one. He's never had anything else - nothing on his skin, no vomiting, normal behavior (playful, sleepy, cuddly, with occasional zoomies).
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