Since my previous cat was a senior with CKD and other issues, I always invested in relevant tests whenever anything bad or strange happened with her, to keep an eye on her various risk factors. Often the tests would come up with the same conclusions that me and the vet had come to prior to testing, but it was worth the investment for the few times that the tests brought up surprises and enabled us to treat unexpected problems early.
But now I have a 7-month old kitten and I'm struggling to decide just how paranoid I should be about testing. Jonesy is neutered, UTD on shots, and has been dewormed (two rounds, prior to my adoption of him). He is indoor-only and the only other cat he sometimes interacts with is the one who lives in the basement suite below us; a healthy 2-year-old male who is also neutered and UTD on shots. We've established that Jonesy has a fish allergy (fish causes his ears to fill with nasty wax, makes his eyes and nose run, makes him lose hair on his chin/neck, gives him diarrhea, and in moderate quantities makes him vomit extensively) but he also has various other food sensitivities that we are working on identifying. The non-fish trigger foods generally just give him smelly farts and diarrhea (but he doesn't poop any more frequently than usual), although with a couple things there has been a bit of blood and mucus with the diarrhea. So far we know for sure that wheat, duck, beef, dairy, and brocolli are culprits, and are looking at gums, agar, barley, and flavor additives as other possible problem ingredients.
But recently Jonesy has started having diarrhea even on the Instinct Limited Ingredient turkey kibble and cans that he previously had no issues with whatsoever. We have stopped experimenting with other foods for a couple weeks to try and settle his system, but the diarrhea persists. There's no blood or mucus, and he's only pooping once a day or every 2 days so he's not losing excessive amounts of fluids, and other than the diarrhea he is healthy, full of energy, and gaining weight at a healthy pace.
The vet is not concerned about running tests because of his young age and general good health, but will of course run any tests I ask for if I want to. If this were my old cat I'd be ordering a complete blood panel and x-rays, or even an ultrasound. But with Jonesy I'm not sure. I have the funds for such testing, but that money is also for emergencies so I don't want to waste it on something unnecessary and then leave myself stuck if an emergency does arise. The vet has suggested that Jonesy might have built a cumulative intolerance to the Instinct foods and thinks we should keep trying novel proteins to find a couple to rotate between to avoid cumulative reactions. With our previous experiments, we waited for him to have healthy poop for at least a few days in a row before trying anything new, but now that the diarrhea is constant it would be hard to judge how a new food is affecting him over a gradual transition period.
Would it be worthwhile to test for underlying conditions, or should I just keep experimenting with food as the vet suggests? Would any specific tests be particularly informative in this case?
But now I have a 7-month old kitten and I'm struggling to decide just how paranoid I should be about testing. Jonesy is neutered, UTD on shots, and has been dewormed (two rounds, prior to my adoption of him). He is indoor-only and the only other cat he sometimes interacts with is the one who lives in the basement suite below us; a healthy 2-year-old male who is also neutered and UTD on shots. We've established that Jonesy has a fish allergy (fish causes his ears to fill with nasty wax, makes his eyes and nose run, makes him lose hair on his chin/neck, gives him diarrhea, and in moderate quantities makes him vomit extensively) but he also has various other food sensitivities that we are working on identifying. The non-fish trigger foods generally just give him smelly farts and diarrhea (but he doesn't poop any more frequently than usual), although with a couple things there has been a bit of blood and mucus with the diarrhea. So far we know for sure that wheat, duck, beef, dairy, and brocolli are culprits, and are looking at gums, agar, barley, and flavor additives as other possible problem ingredients.
But recently Jonesy has started having diarrhea even on the Instinct Limited Ingredient turkey kibble and cans that he previously had no issues with whatsoever. We have stopped experimenting with other foods for a couple weeks to try and settle his system, but the diarrhea persists. There's no blood or mucus, and he's only pooping once a day or every 2 days so he's not losing excessive amounts of fluids, and other than the diarrhea he is healthy, full of energy, and gaining weight at a healthy pace.
The vet is not concerned about running tests because of his young age and general good health, but will of course run any tests I ask for if I want to. If this were my old cat I'd be ordering a complete blood panel and x-rays, or even an ultrasound. But with Jonesy I'm not sure. I have the funds for such testing, but that money is also for emergencies so I don't want to waste it on something unnecessary and then leave myself stuck if an emergency does arise. The vet has suggested that Jonesy might have built a cumulative intolerance to the Instinct foods and thinks we should keep trying novel proteins to find a couple to rotate between to avoid cumulative reactions. With our previous experiments, we waited for him to have healthy poop for at least a few days in a row before trying anything new, but now that the diarrhea is constant it would be hard to judge how a new food is affecting him over a gradual transition period.
Would it be worthwhile to test for underlying conditions, or should I just keep experimenting with food as the vet suggests? Would any specific tests be particularly informative in this case?
