persistent diarrhea in 7 month old cat after giardia, URI, anal gland issues

[Megan&Cleo]

I'm in desparate need of some advice because my vets seem to be guessing at this point and my heart is breaking watching my cat have persistent diarrhea for about 1 month now ranging from 5-7 on the fecal chart. Mostly 5-6 but occasionally very watery 7. Besides the diarrhea, she is active and playful. She is eating and drinking water.

Cleo is mostly indoor but occasionally I brought her out on a leash/walking around in my backpack.

History:
- End of July: I adopt Cleo from SPCA at 3.5 months old. Right before adoption they tell us she is being treated for diarrhea and this is normal in kittens, especially since she had been transported from another shelter 40 minutes away to decrease their load. We take her home and over the next few days, we notice that she is sneezing and has mucus in her eye so we treat her for a URI with bnp ointment and doxycycline.

- End of August: URI heals but Cleo starts scooting. We are told numerous times that this is weird for a kitten. We bring her to the vet and find her anal glands are full, so they are expressed.

- September: Cleo seems fine

- Early October: Cleo mysteriously starts scooting again however her stool is solid so it doesn't seem to be linked to diarrhea. We wonder if this is a behaviour but it continues so we take her to the vet.

- Oct 22: Cleo is given Drontal for potential worms. Pus comes out of anal glands so an infection is assumed and she is given an injection of Cefovecin. Fecal test comes back positive for Giardia! Cleo is given Fenbendazole and Metronidazole for 6 days. Right as we start her on these antibiotics her stool starts to deteriorate. The vets insist its the giardia and not the medicine.

- Nov 5th: We start Cleo on bland diet, Science hills i/d dry (for wet I was still giving her Instinct and Purina) becuase diarrhea isn't going away and give another fecal test. Fecal test now comes back negative for Giardia. I'm scared this is a false negative though.

- Nov 10th: Cleo has explosive watery diarrhea so I panick and call the vet and she says we should put Cleo on Metronidazole again. I'm hesitant of more antibiotics but desparate so I agree. She does Metronidazole for 6 days and her stool changes from level 7 to level 5-6 but it still very soft. At this time, we also switch over to fully wet and dry science hill i/d. I also try giving a little pumpkin but I'm not sure if it helps and I can only find large cans and worry about it going bad in the fridge.

Cleo's stool stays at level 5-6.

- Nov 17: Check in with vet. Anal glands are empty. They tell me that maybe she has diarrhea from overeating. She is 8.3 lbs but should be 7 lbs. I start feeding her for 7 pounds. Vets don't really help at all, they just say we can try yet again another diet e.g. science hills d/d for senstive stomachs but I'm very hesitant.

- Nov 18: Cleo experiences watery diarrhea again a few times (she is now a level 6-7). Vet suggests sucralfate for her stomach, so I'm about to start her on that. I almost cried seeing them charge my $60 for 3 days worth of this. I'm also starting her on Purina fortiflora probiotics.

On top of the money, I'm so emptionally exhausted and crying about it all the time. Please please help! If anyone has any insights, that would be great.

Should I try a different diet?
Should I try a different probiotic?
What should I do?
Do you think she just needs more time to heal or are my vets really missing something here?

 

[LTS3]

FortiFlora isn't a great probiotic so yes try a different brand. FortiFlora is really only good to get inappetant cats to eat because the taste is irresistible. You don't need a pet specific probiotic. A Human probiotic will work plus they are available with multiple strains of bacteria and higher CFU counts and undergo QA testing than pet products. Take a read through these:

Prebiotics & Probiotics for Cats: Healing Inflammation and gut dysbiosis

How to restore gut health, not just manage symptoms, in feline IBD

www.rawfeedingforibdcats.org

Probiotics Search - Human Grade and CFUs

I've been trying to find a good probiotic. All my research has results in some questions: Human probiotics - Have heard different stories on whether or not to give to a cat. Have heard that you shouldn't give them to a cat because some human strains could irritate them. Have also heard that you...

thecatsite.com

Adding S. boulardii can also help. The first link above has more info on using that and suggested brands to try.

A change in diet can also help but do it slowly to avoid adding to the diarrhea issues. Prescription food is pure expensive junk and doesn't need to be fed despite what vets say. For bland-ish commercial brands, try limited ingredient diets. Single novel protein brands such as Rawz are also good.

It wouldn't hurt to get another opinion from a different vet. Bring copies of your cat's medical records with you for the vet to review. Personally I wouldn't settle for a vet whose answer is and is just tossing out band aid treatments without getting to the bottom of what the issue is and treating it. Has blood work ever been done on your cat?

 

[Megan&Cleo]

FortiFlora isn't a great probiotic so yes try a different brand. FortiFlora is really only good to get inappetant cats to eat because the taste is irresistible. You don't need a pet specific probiotic. A Human probiotic will work plus they are available with multiple strains of bacteria and higher CFU counts and undergo QA testing than pet products. Take a read through these:

http://[URL]https://www.rawfeedingforibdcats.org/probiotics-for-cats---why-and-which-ones.html

[/URL]

http://[URL]https://thecatsite.com/threads/probiotics-search-human-grade-and-cfus.262587/

[/URL]


Adding S. boulardii can also help. The first link above has more info on using that and suggested brands to try.

A change in diet can also help but do it slowly to avoid adding to the diarrhea issues. Prescription food is pure expensive junk and doesn't need to be fed despite what vets say. For bland-ish commercial brands, try limited ingredient diets. Single novel protein brands such as Rawz are also good.

It wouldn't hurt to get another opinion from a different vet. Bring copies of your cat's medical records with you for the vet to review. Personally I wouldn't settle for a vet whose answer is and is just tossing out band aid treatments without getting to the bottom of what the issue is and treating it. Has blood work ever been done on your cat?

Thank you for the reply!

Sad to hear that FortiFlora isn't great since it was also so expensive but I can easily switched. I ordered some S. boulardii since there seems to be a lot of good success here on the forum about it.

My cat has never had blood work. What does blood work usually tell us for cats?

Yeah, I'm seriously thinking about going to a different clinic. This was the only close clinic near me taking new clients so I had to go there. I felt very upset when their best answer is 1. my cat is 1.3 lbs too heavy or 2. lets try yet again another diet

 

[LTS3]

Keep the FortiFlora. You never know when you might need a teeny sprinkle to get your cat to try a new food or is just being picky about food.

Blood work gives all sorts of blood values such as red blood cell count, blood glucose level, kidney values, etc. There is a normal range for each value. A too low or too high level indicates something is off. The vet will be able to tell from the values what an off number may indicate. Example, a really high white blood cell count may indicate an infection and the vet will prescribe antibiotics. Here's some info:

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952036

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&catId=154648&id=4952533

 

[LMSCats]

How’s it going with your kitty? We are having the same issues. We have done 2 courses of Fenbendazole with Fortiflora but she still was testing positive for Giardia so on Friday we started Metronidazole. She’s had very loose stools since Sunday morning. The vet had us add Proviable yesterday but her poop hasn’t changed at all. I hope your kitty is doing better!

 

[stephanietx]

Are you feeding her wet food? Try saccharomyces boullardi to help stop diarrhea. She could be having a reaction to what she's eating.

 

[Megan&Cleo]

Are you feeding her wet food? Try saccharomyces boullardi to help stop diarrhea. She could be having a reaction to what she's eating.

I am giving her science hill I/d wet. Her stool is improving but now she is scooting again so I’m worried the giardia is back

 

[Megan&Cleo]

How’s it going with your kitty? We are having the same issues. We have done 2 courses of Fenbendazole with Fortiflora but she still was testing positive for Giardia so on Friday we started Metronidazole. She’s had very loose stools since Sunday morning. The vet had us add Proviable yesterday but her poop hasn’t changed at all. I hope your kitty is doing better!

Im sorry to hear about your kitty. I understand the stress. Metronidazole really messed up Cleo’s tummy. It has taken about 2 weeks off it plus probiotics for her stool to get better.

its been a roller coaster. Since starting the sucralfate on Saturday, her stool have finally improved a bit so now it’s half solid half wet. It was wet for about a month.
BUT she has started scooting again. This is the main reason we brought her to the vet. She didn’t have diarrhea but she was scooting so we were worried. Then once she started medicine for giardia and an anal gland inflection, she started getting diarrhea.
Her last fecal sample a few weeks ago came back negative for giardia but I’m so scared the giardia is back and it was a false negative

my vets really want me to try allergy food but I’m hesitant.

I just don’t understand why the scooting is coming back. I did start s bouraldii last night but I don’t think that is leading to the scooting.

 

[Megan&Cleo]

Update for those who find this post later and are interested.

Cleo has ongoing scooting and soft stools from Nov 23 until now (Dec. 15th).

~Nov 27th: Cleo eats about 12 8-inch strings but I don't realize this until Dec 15th when I investigate her stool ((((

Dec 1: I notice Cleo isn’t eating as much as normal. I talk to the vet and she recommends treating cleo again with Fenbendazole. We also are going to transition her a hypoallergenic diet to see if that helps since her stool hasn’t been 100% perfect for a long time.

Dec 2: Starting Fenbendazole again.
Still scooted in between. Finished Fenbensazole and scooting continued.

Dec 9th, 2021: Went to the vet. Anal glands are empty but Cleo is still scooting. We are starting prednisolone for anti-inflammatory effects. Vet thinks this might help but no gaurantee. We also did blood work and all her levels came back normal.

Dec 11th: Saw Cleo scooting in the morning. She doesn’t like the purina HA and won’t really eat it. Also scooted again at 6:10 pm right after going pee. Could there be a bladder related problem? Again, she licked the area and then scooted at 6:27 pm.
Got some venison hills d/d food and I’m slowly transitioning. She seems to like the venison better than HA.

Dec 12th: Saw her go pee at 7:30, scooted at 8pm
Switched to 50/50 paper litter and her old litter. Potential allergy to litter? I'm worried she might eat the paper litter...

Dec. 13th. Didn’t see scooting but I was at work a lot.
Tried the at-home urine test. Her results were fairly normal but her protein level seemed a bit high.

My vet thinks it’s unlikely she has a bladder issue but I might do urinalysis.

"She's a bit young for a bladder infection, but it's not impossible. It would be an unusual presentation without urinary signs. And she did have pus discharge in her anal gland. So it would also be unusual to have that and a urinary tract infection. At 7 months it would be VERY unlikely for her to have a true urinary tract infection, meaning caused by bacteria. What's more common in a young female cat would be feline inflammatory cystitis which she's not really showing signs of and is not treated with antibiotics."

Dec. 14th: Scooted at 7:45 pm then started licking it and crying. Out of no where. Went pee 10 min after.

Dec. 15th: Found two strings in her stool. I think she ate 13 strings total. They are gold christmas ornament holder strings. I dont know how many more are in her.

The saga continues.
Scooting occured before eating the foreign objects so now I just have multiple problems.