Second Round Of Metro And Not Helping Kitten, Please Help!!!

[swaters]

I have posted about our kittens problems and wanted to get some advice on the meds she is on.

Our kitten was placed on Metro and was doing well on her first round for the five days and then went back to runny poop. After a few days without, the doctor had a fecal done and she went back on it for 5 days. They found thousands of bacteria in her stomach and extended her time on it from 5 to 10 days. We are on day 9 and she isn't back to normal with regular poops. She had the extremely detailed poop sample taken and they checked her for numerous things and found she has tested negative for most things except the bacteria issue in her stomach.

Two days ago, our other kitten who had normal poops started back to bad poop again and now they are both on it. The vet said that she will need a blood test if she is not recovered by tomorrow with the poop.

Has anyone had this issue before? Has anyone had issues with the second round of metro not taking? I'm getting really worried has we have done numerous tests but are getting basic answers and then no results. Her poop has improved but its still super soft and mushy. I'm at my wits end because its been over a month and a half.

I really don't want to go to another vet and rack up more bills but IDK what to do. They are on venison diet and have been since the doctor said the diet isn't the problem. They are also on fortiflora.

I'm worried if we should keep going with the metro but I don't want her to get worse because our other kitten is now on meds and she is about to stop. IM LOSING MY MIND!!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
I know your vet said the diet isn't the issue, and perhaps the venison in and of itself isn't, however other ingredients in the food could be (assuming you're using a commercial brand). Manufacturers nowadays are notorious for changing their formulas, and even if you haven't bought a new batch lately, it could still be a problem.

If I were you, I would try a different approach and take a hard look at the food. Space these options out so that you can have a couple/3-4 days to see if there's any difference.

Try stopping the fortiflora.

Some vets (I'm not one) prescribe boiled unseasoned chicken and a little white rice for a couple of meals to try and re-set the stomach, that could be an option.

You could try a different brand that has venison and see if that makes a difference,

or you could try a different protein within the same brand as you're currently feeding.

Hang in there!!

 

[swaters]

We have tried boil chicken for two weeks, dry food, wet food, and we recently switched to this brand because it was high quality food with no chemicals or dyes. It’s instinct brand because we found that chicken was making them feel icky and they were starting to hate it. We have tried new food and bland diet and spanning them over time and the doctor said to stop messing with the food and keep to current.

We started putting in a table spoon of rabbit protein kibble the past two days to see if dry food would help. Nothing

 

[Furballsmom]

Gracious sakes, I'm so sorry this is happening!

 

[jcat]

Just what is it they have? Giardia? If so, it's not unusual to have to give more than two rounds of metronidazole or fenbendazole; often you have to give at least 3 or 4. If metro doesn't work, sometimes a switch will be made to fenbendazole, or vice versa.

Are you completely emptying and disinfecting the litter boxes at the end of each round, and washing all blankets, food bowls, etc., so they're not reinfecting themselves?

It's frustrating when it takes so long to clear up, but eventually that will happen.

 

[swaters]

Just what is it they have? Giardia? If so, it's not unusual to have to give more than two rounds of metronidazole or fenbendazole; often you have to give at least 3 or 4. If metro doesn't work, sometimes a switch will be made to fenbendazole, or vice versa.

Are you completely emptying and disinfecting the litter boxes at the end of each round, and washing all blankets, food bowls, etc., so they're not reinfecting themselves?

It's frustrating when it takes so long to clear up, but eventually that will happen.

So we are cleaning the litter box (not replacing litter) as often as we can when we get home from work and if we see them go we try to immediately remove it but we are not removing all the litter from the box. We haven't been cleaning their blankets because we didn't think that was such a problem with the blankets considering they are grooming each other anyways and if they are both on the medication, I feel like they are already ok for that part.

 

[swaters]

Just what is it they have? Giardia? If so, it's not unusual to have to give more than two rounds of metronidazole or fenbendazole; often you have to give at least 3 or 4. If metro doesn't work, sometimes a switch will be made to fenbendazole, or vice versa.

Are you completely emptying and disinfecting the litter boxes at the end of each round, and washing all blankets, food bowls, etc., so they're not reinfecting themselves?

It's frustrating when it takes so long to clear up, but eventually that will happen.

I forgot to address your question! Sorry, they do not have giardia, they have a severe amount of bacteria in their stomachs. They have been through tons of exams and tests and have not seen anything more than that ATM. Just thousands of bacteria in their tummies

 

[stephanietx]

I have a cat who cannot tolerate an all grain-free diet. This started when he was about 8 months old. (He is now 8 year old) It results in diarrhea. We recently had him to the vet for a prednisolone shot for his asthma, and that also set him off. What we have found that works is to put him on Rx food, wet and dry. He gets Science Diet i/d (canned) and Royal Canin Gastrointestinal HE (dry). He gets Proviable (probiotic) 2x a day in his wet food and we've also added another probiotic called saccharomyces boullardi, 1/3 - 1/4 capsule 2x daily. He also gets about 1 teaspoon of plain canned pumpkin 2x a day. All of this is added to his wet food mixed with a touch of water. We also had to put him on Metro for about 4 days. Now he's off the metro and on all rx food. In a couple of weeks, we'll start reintroducing his regular food to see if his poops stay firm. Maybe you can ask your vet for some Rx food to try for a couple of weeks to get your kitty's gastro tract calmed down.

You mentioned that they found all kinds of bacteria in an initial check. You might ask the vet to do a PCR diarrhea panel just to rule out some less common parasites not checked in the regular fecal test done in the vet's office.

 

[swaters]

I have a cat who cannot tolerate an all grain-free diet. This started when he was about 8 months old. (He is now 8 year old) It results in diarrhea. We recently had him to the vet for a prednisolone shot for his asthma, and that also set him off. What we have found that works is to put him on Rx food, wet and dry. He gets Science Diet i/d (canned) and Royal Canin Gastrointestinal HE (dry). He gets Proviable (probiotic) 2x a day in his wet food and we've also added another probiotic called saccharomyces boullardi, 1/3 - 1/4 capsule 2x daily. He also gets about 1 teaspoon of plain canned pumpkin 2x a day. All of this is added to his wet food mixed with a touch of water. We also had to put him on Metro for about 4 days. Now he's off the metro and on all rx food. In a couple of weeks, we'll start reintroducing his regular food to see if his poops stay firm. Maybe you can ask your vet for some Rx food to try for a couple of weeks to get your kitty's gastro tract calmed down.

You mentioned that they found all kinds of bacteria in an initial check. You might ask the vet to do a PCR diarrhea panel just to rule out some less common parasites not checked in the regular fecal test done in the vet's office.

They did do a panel and she was negative for almost everything but a few things that he said because she is so young, false positives for these things are pretty common and we need to wait til she is at least a few months older to check on them later on and they are not of current concern or would be the cause. The next step would be a blood test if things don't improve.

We have tried the RX diet I/D wet food when this first started and it did not help. We have also tried
- Whole Hearted Wet and even dry food
- Bland Diet (Rice and Chicken) + With and Without sweatpotato and pumpkin. They have the pumpkin unfortunately but we found the baby food was actually making their poop worse!
- RX I/D food

Currently on
Venison from Instincts which both cats love more than life itself so we wanted to stick with that because we figured if they are going through runny poops, this is super moist, has a lot of clean and natural ingredients, plus it has pumpkin and they dont seem phased by it at all. If it wasn't so expensive I would be buying it by the gallons! So we decided even though its expensive, they love it and we want to make sure they are both putting on weight.

We are currently cleaning the whole house with clorox wipes and making sure we are keeping everything as clean as possible.

I wiped down the sides of the litter box and placed mostly fresh litter inside but I did not remove the current litter as I was actually told not to do this as your not really supposed to replace all the litter at once. (not sure why but that's just what I heard/was told from a few people). They also have a litter box furniture piece which I wiped down completely including the opening and outside with the sanitizing wipes to make sure that they have as many clean areas as possible. My husband and I are doing a general cleaning of the house and we are going to wash their blankets and beds. Cleaning the floors, vacuuming the coach, etc. Making sure we get a nice clean going on.

Update:
Both kittens had soft BUT shaped logs. This happened last time they were on the medication and our little babies have 6 more days of the medication (last time she was on good poops for 2 days before being pulled off after a 5 day dosage, she is now on day 9 of a 15 day dosage so it took longer to get results but we are hoping keeping her on longer will help) and he will be done on the same day as her and we are hoping that with them getting normal poops together, we can keep up the cleaning for the next few days while the infection is still being worked on (while we have off work for the weekend) and we have just ordered some probiotics from amazon called "Pet Ultimates Probiotics for Cats - 20 Species - Stops Diarrhea & Vomiting, Cuts Litterbox Smell" and based off the reviews we saw online, this seems to be a wonderful and effective way to help combat the negative bacteria in their stomachs and it has been very effective for kittens and diarrhea so that should be arriving in the mail tomorrow while we are at a wedding so we plan on feeding them the new probiotic on Sunday when we are out of the fortiflora officially. Hopefully it will come in before the wedding since the location is an hour away so we can prep their food with the probiotic before we go and my parents come over to feed them. Im feeling more positive since they have longer time for the medication and I feel like we have found a more effective probiotic that seems to work well for cats with similar issues. Will keep everyone updated!!!

 

[Furballsmom]