Persistent diarrhoea in cat

[chaps89]

Frank is 10 months old now and always been fit and well.
3 weeks ago his eyes looked a little odd, vet checked them and said not to be concerned and the eyes themselves are fine, but to watch out for diarrhoea or vomiting as could be haws syndrome (which usually resolves itself but if they do develop gastric issues they should be treated seperately) Later that night the diarrhoea started, and unfortunately he's not had solid poop since.
He's had a stool sample, broad/full panel of bloods and felv and fiv(?) tests done and all clear. We've tried antibiotics that are supposedly good for tummies and probiotics as well as sensitive tummy food, he's also had IV fluids. Nothing has made a difference.
He's had times where he's been very quiet in himself but now for the most part he's fine.
Vet is now suggesting a referral to RVC specialist.
Is there anything else we can do that we've not already thought of? It just seems weird we're not finding anything and he seems otherwise fine.
To top it off Stanley has been on AB's for his skin and has joined in on the disturbing messes in the litter trays too, as if one wasn't bad enough!

 

[Renvers]

Those symptoms are the same as my cat, all tests showed nothing untoward and was subdued but still normal in himself. After some investigations vets suspect food allergies at the moment. Has the vet considered that option? He got quite ill and anaemic but has started a special diet and poo is slowly getting firmer, is putting weight on slowly and fingers crossed they have found the cause.

Hope your cats get better soon.

 

[1523679]

My Oriental had similar issues, from the age of 6 months onwards.

We had the full vet work-up, then the cat spent 2 weeks at a specialist vet hospital for analysis. They failed to find a diagnosis.

At 18 months old, the vet recommended PTS on the grounds that the condition was unmanageable and too unhygienic in the home.

We changed vets, and spent the next 2 years trying every conceivable food and drug option. I became an expert at spot-cleaning carpets. We ended up with weekly steroid & vitamin injections, 6-weekly vet checkups and a diet of Hills z/d, Royal Canin Gastro and boiled white fish.

She was never completely “right”, but it was manageable and she had a good quality of life. My carpets were dreadful.

She was finally PTS at the age of 9 with renal problems - vet said this was a known issue with long-term steroid use.

So, maybe it’ll pass; maybe it’s something that can be diagnosed and treated, or maybe you’ll be in for a long haul of specialist feeds and cleaning carpets. I hope your cat is ok & gets better x

 

[Meowy Catkin]

What a worry. I really hope that you get a diagnosis that's easy to treat soon.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

My cat just has this. We could not find anything wrong. Test results all clear/normal. Gave him probiotics from the vet for a few weeks and he's been fine since. So odd.

 

[AmyMay]

When they ran bloods did they check for cancer?

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

What food is he on? There's an urgent Recall of Applawse, Ava and Sainsburys dry...

Hope I'm wrong but Several of what you say sounds like AC who had suspected FIP, however his bloods showed he was aneamic, the vet also described him as "pale". AC has always had on off diarrhoea, but I'd managed to stabilise that for a few months, by being SO strict with what he ate eg measure food, NO tit bits etc. I also put him on Royal Canin gastrointestinal which seemed to help.

However a few weeks ago the diarrhoea came back with a vengeance, even putting him on cooked white fish and at times his gastro biscuits didn't help. He was also very slow to eat when previously he was a gannet, eating everything (especially sponge). He went for bloods which showed he was anaemic and his tummy fluidy. He was booked in for an ultra sound but went downhill on the Sunday, barely eating, he the pee'd in an empty cardboard box, which despite his diarrhoea he'd never missed the tray (bar when I accidentally locked him in the bathroom one evening!!!) I was then awoken at 2am to the sound of liquid diarrhoea on the carpet ? which to me equalled loss of dignity and it was time. Coupled by AC then having bloody diarrhoea later that night and him just not wanting to eat, Coupled with the suspected diagnosis...

I'm not saying it is and I really hope jts not as he's a sweetie, but it may be worth booking an ultrasound if his tummy feels swollen, though like I say if his bloods are OK, I may just be pessimistic

If you search for "AC has suspected FIP" I did a thread about it, along with some pictures which show his eye. He also dropped weight, so looks "poor" in the photos

Weirdly with AC, I had the feeling for a couple of months he wouldn't be the longest lived. It was weird. He was also not playful for the last few months

 

[chaps89]

Thanks everyone.
Numbers, I feel your pain, when he pooped on my OH lap it was a new low He makes it to the tray but sometimes seems to lose control before he's in, as we find it around the tray, all down him and therefore all over the sofa or the bed etc. Other times he's clean and has no issues. Well done on finding a balance that worked well for your cat, that gives me hope.

Our other cat is on hypoallergenic/hydralised single source of protein food for suspected skin allergies (he was a stray and arrived with us with manky skin) so the vet has suggested we put him on it too. Fingers crossed it might help?!

I don't think the bloods were specific for things like cancer but she said every single marker (cell counts, liver, kidney etc etc) all came back totally normal - there was one on the borderline of the upper limit, which was phosphorous something I think but she said it was still in limits and not enough to give them anything further to go off.
I suppose the specialist would look into things like cancer etc further if they felt it fitted?

No weight loss and he's eating like a ganet. He was originally on Lilys kitchen kitten wet food and has since been on vet provided sensitive diet or hypoallergenic food, I'd already double checked the food recall list but thankyou anyway. I think the referral is primarily to ultrasound him but will also query FIP. I remember seeing your post, sorry you last AC.

'Helping' me work




Playtime

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

Oh he's a sweetie, those ears! Really hope you can get a "simple" diagnosis such as a food allergy.

Love the photos of him in his bed

How does his tummy feel? That was another reason for AC suspected FIP.

Interestingly, when AC eye went weird in December, I took him about it and the vet wondered if he'd developed FIV prior to being vaccinated for it. AC was from dubious "breeding" and house environment so it did make sense, and of course with the lower immune system it causes, made him less able to fight the mutation that makes the feline coronavirus into fip.

Like I say it's weird but I always felt AC wasn't the healthiest

 

[Ownedby4horses]

Sorry, nothing helpful to add, Just to say I really hope he’s feeling much better soon. x

 

[chaps89]

He was tested (negative) for FIV if that makes any difference to FIP?

It's his inner eyelid isn't closing properly - he had the stain drops put in his eyes to check for scratches and ulcers etc and they were all clear thank goodness.

According to the vet his tummy feels full of liquid and gas, which without meaning to be too disgusting, ties in with what we are seeing/smelling!

He came from a very good breeder, and Stanley (the stray who adopted us) was FIV/FELV tested and fully vaccinated before Frank arrived.
They're both house cats although they have a good sized catio they both enjoy going in too.

He seems fit and well in all other ways and I adore him so I really have everything crossed it's nothing serious.

RVC will do well from us next week, Tuesday Stanley goes for his skin and Wednesday Frank goes for his tummy. I had hoped I might get a break from the vet bills when the horse was pts but seems the cats are just picking up the mantle instead ?

 

[suestowford]

I had a cat once who had diarrhoea, pretty much constantly. For the first 3 months we had her there was stinky gas also, then just the runs all the time. She had skin trouble too. We had all sorts of tests done but nothing really showed up as a cause.
Then all of a sudden she started doing solid poos, after 6 & a bit years of the runs. She did revert a few times when stressed (when we had builders here for a few days the stress of that nearly did for her). Whenever this happened we would buy a load of chicken and boil it, and feed her on that for a few days to dry it all up a bit.
She was the most sickly cat I've ever had, and no-one was more surprised than I was when she made it to over 16 years of age.

 

[chaps89]

I quite hope this doesn’t go on for that long, it can’t be nice for him. I’m glad yours recovered in the end.

We have a referral to the internal medicine specialists at RVC next week, fingers crossed.

 

[wren123]

Good luck with the RVC. I found them excellent albeit for a dog with a different chronic problem, but I thought we'd done everything we could at the vet's but they were far more thorough and talked everything through.

My mum had a cat with chronic diarrhoea, I used to take the cat to the vet as my mum was quite frail. She had loads of tests, all clear, special diet from the vet. In the end she found the Royal canin and hills science diet for sensitive stomachs were the best and she had no problems with these. When my mum died a friend had the cat and she feeds this and still has no problems.

 

[Shady]

I quite hope this doesn’t go on for that long, it can’t be nice for him. I’m glad yours recovered in the end.

We have a referral to the internal medicine specialists at RVC next week, fingers crossed.

Chaps I missed this and now have too many questions regarding it all but two main ones
Can you think back regarding his diet and when the poo problem started. Was it sudden or gradual because i'm struggling with the vets initial response and tests considering Frank is an indoor cat apart from a patio, and came from an excellent breeder. Cats like yours and mine are very often more finely balanced in terms of their digestion and can't tolerate a bad pouch of food or too much change. It can literally upset their systems to the point where you are stuck in a loop. Has Frank been given gastro anti infectious tablets and something like Kaopectate to settle things? also and it's a long shot, has he been tested for Giardia? It's unlikely but iv'e been caught out by this one and nobody was more surprised than me when the constant semi liquid poos turned out to be of parasitic origin. Frank does go outside so it's worth considering and crossing off the list. ( I think Stanley would probably have the same problem if it is Giardia , but still...)
How is he in himself now Chaps? Anything else you can tell me that might help so I can run it past my old breeder friend as well .
With the Siamese and Orientals the third eyelid will always come up when they are feeling unwell.
Give the cats a hug from me and i'm sorry I missed this post before. . xxx

 

[wren123]

Interesting @Shady as my mum's cat with the diarrhoea was a British shorthair kept indoors with a large catio. She was tested for giardia fairly early on so I would hope chap's cat has been.

 

[Shady]

Interesting @Shady as my mum's cat with the diarrhoea was a British shorthair kept indoors with a large catio. She was tested for giardia fairly early on so I would hope chap's cat has been.

I would too but sometimes the focus is 'elsewhere' and it can be overlooked. Sometimes for logical reasons.
I was looking at a digestive problem relating to food or water as it's quite common in the finer breeds, especially when they are young and I just didn't consider Giardia as the kittens came from a supposedly good breeder and in all the years i've had cats , both indoor and out, i'd never had it in the house. It was only when a friend mentioned it was more common in France that I tested and both kittens had it. Nothing except for the poo indicated that anything was wrong. Energy, coat, breath, general condition all looked spot on .

 

[soloequestrian]

Not the same circumstances but my Bengal came from SSPCA having been almost starved to death before they got him. His tummy was awful for the first few months I had him and I tried loads of different foods. Royal Canin Gastrointestinal (both wet and dry) finally sorted him out. I see someone mentioned this food earlier too so it might be worth a try while investigations are ongoing.

 

[chaps89]

Thought I would come and update.
The vets visit was unfortunately inconclusive, nothing shown on bloods or faecal sample or ultrasound.
Next step would be endoscopy and possible biopsies but that is quite invasive.
So for now we have a different food and a 5 day course of panacur wormer and have to report back in 2 weeks. So far his tummy is worse not better.
He did have a change in food before this all started but we changed it very very gradually and he’d been on it about a week before his upset tummy started. The vets are aware of this.
I’m tempted if there’s no improvement to put him back on his original food just incase it helps, though I’ll obviously run that by the vets first.
He is super bright in himself, playful, cuddly (he’s taken to snuggling under the duvet with me overnight) and in all other ways seems fine, so I hope we can get to the bottom of it one way or another.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I hope you find the answer soon.

 

[Shady]

Damn I'm so sorry Chaps.
I really feel i'm missing something here, although I accept that posters above have had similar problems .
The choice of panacur is probably to eliminate Giardia just in case . Officially it's for all the usual parasites, but unofficially ( as it's only licensed for use in dogs for Giardia) it's what vets prescribe, or the antibiotic metronidazole. You might have to do another course later.
Not sure obviously what food you have been given but I would possibly finish the panacur and if nothing changes , either go back to Franks original food when he wasn't having any problems or start giving a single source of protein like white fish OR chicken, nothing else, and I would boil the water. Also check that there is nothing poisonous plant wise anywhere inside or out. Get rid of any diffusers and really think about anything that changed just before he got diarrhea.
Do hope Frank improves Chaps. Thinking of you both xxxxxx

ETA.If it's a parasitic problem you should see an improvement quickly. Poos should start to semi form, starting from the front.

 

[Shady]

Damn I'm so sorry Chaps.
I really feel i'm missing something here, although I accept that posters above have had similar problems .
The choice of panacur is probably to eliminate Giardia just in case . Officially it's for all the usual parasites, but unofficially ( as it's only licensed for use in dogs for Giardia) it's what vets prescribe, or the antibiotic metronidazole. You might have to do another course later.
Not sure obviously what food you have been given but I would possibly finish the panacur and if nothing changes , either go back to Franks original food when he wasn't having any problems or start giving a single source of protein like white fish OR chicken, nothing else, and I would boil the water. Also check that there is nothing poisonous plant wise anywhere inside or out. Get rid of any diffusers and really think about anything that changed just before he got diarrhea.
Do hope Frank improves Chaps. Thinking of you both xxxxxx

ETA.If it's a parasitic problem you should see an improvement quickly. Poos should start to semi form, starting from the front.

ETA a while later as I was thinking about Frank whilst working and have now stopped for a cuppa He's a little dude and I want him to be well again ( or at least be digestively happy)
These are just my thoughts so please anybody reading feel free to critic, ignore or comment .
I overlooked that his poos are worse when I replied. There has been another food change .Also , sometimes diarrhea can get a little worse with panacur before it starts working/ if it is indeed Giardia at all. . I would still stay on the food unless you are really worried concerning the poo quality. IE liquid watery poo, stop the food.
Also ,and again I am pondering. As I said above, Panacur is normally given for 5+ days for giardia and then repeated 2 weeks later ( or thereabouts i have forgotten exactly how long in between it is), otherwise you'd normally just give a standard tablet or pipette for roundworm , tape etc. So a test should have been done and if negative i'm not sure why the panacur is being given , but it is, so there is a question of Giardia and the vet wants to rule it out. That's good, except if Frank has it then so does Stanley and he should also be given the same and a strict clean up performed every day. Dirt box emptied and bleached, bowls cleaned with boiling water and all surfaces sprayed with a bleach mix or Leucillin , bedding washed, cats too if possible. Iv'e been through this myself and if not done properly it doesn't go.
I would question the vet on this Chaps .xx

I know this is going to sound gross but the quality/ smell/ colour/ quantity/ of poo can tell you so much and I noted that giardia poo was very dark and often had mucous bits in it. It also smelt horrid. Cats looked and acted absolutely fine. xx

 

[chaps89]

Based on your reply shady I’m reply quite hoping it’s not giardia, it sounds tricky to get rid of.
We’ve had the vet report through, it mentions a tritrichomanas (spelling!) pcr test, which subsequently came back negative.
Frank had had 2 wormers already (his routine one 10 days before all this began then an additional one once it all started to be on the safe side) and a course of metronidazole (again, spelling!) antibiotics too.
There’s absolutely no mention of giardia in the report nor has it been suggested in any of our conversations either.
The vet basically found nothing, blood work was good, faecal sample negative.
So we’ve done another diet switch and he’s now on royal canin hypoallergenic dry food. It actually pains me to feed RC but there we go!
He was on a single source of protein/hrydralysed food source diet anyway because of Stanley’s skin but it hadn’t seemed to make any difference.
He also became exceptionally difficult to work, day 1 was ok, 2 and 3 he was cautious then 4 and 5 it was near enough impossible, he was really quite distressed, it was horrible.

However, all the above said, there has been progress.
I would have rather not found out by him pooping on my pillow (a mistake whilst he was excited I think/hope!) but beggars can’t be choosers I suppose! His poo is a more normal colour now and had some consistency to it over the weekend.
Hard to tell if that is a result of the worming or diet change, we have to report into the vet later this week and have to continue with the food for another 4-6 weeks before we gradually introduce anything else. But fingers crossed it is hopefully going in the right direction.

If, and I hope I’m not getting too ahead of myself here, we are allowed to move both cats to regular food (allergy friendly diet hasn’t made any change to Stanley with only a week of the trial left) can anyone suggest any good food brands please?
Cost isn’t really a consideration thankfully, though it would be nice if it didn’t break the bank.
I find natures menu tends to be too rich for them and they were unbothered by Blink. We’d found Lily’s kitchen to be a nice happy medium with a roughly 55% meat content but they won’t eat the adult version. I’m loathed to try whiskas, felix etc.

Wow, that was long, sorry!

 

[DirectorFury]

Re: food, I can’t recommend Acana enough. My boy cat has similar issues to yours (scratching until he has huge bald patches/is bleeding, liquid incredibly smelly poos with blood and mucus) on every other food we’ve tried. Our vet investigations also found nothing of note, he was worse on all the foods they recommended, and Acana was something I tried in complete desperation. It’s only the Wild Prarie flavour that he can tolerate though. He also does well on the Pets at Home freeflow frozen chicken mince but I was concerned that he wasn’t getting the right nutrients, hence the change to actual made-for-cats food .

 

[wren123]

Honestly @chaps89 the hills science or royal canine did the trick for mums cat, only when she tried something different did the diarrhoea come back. She tried stuff the vet sold, more expensive stuff, the runny poos came back.

I’m confused about the panacur too, mums vet mentioned giardia and they either had it or not there wasn’t an element of doubt.

i used to take my mums cats to the vet as she stopped driving hence knowing all the detail!!

 

[Shady]

I missed this in between pm's Chaps. sorry!
Very interesting to see that Frank was given metronidazole . Along with being the choice for gut bacteria etc and gut inflammation, it would or should have cleared any protozoal infection.
So a bit of an odd one to then prescribe Panacur
Obviously something has changed for the better, be it the panacur, food or whatever started the whole thing . Looking at the ingredients in the RC it's mostly rice, soya /veg protein with chicken liver for meat content . Fairly bland and inoffensive, so if it works I would leave Frank on it and then top up later with something like Cosmo single source chicken ( if you can get it ...zooplus maybe) or something equally as simple as you are already giving dried food which should be balanced enough for daily needs. Personally I would avoid adding fish mixes at this point if his stomach is happy. Frozen chicken mix is a good idea . Tiny bit to start though. I give mine fresh or frozen beef mince because I can't get chicken here and they love it, especially the Grems I wouldn't recommend it to you for Frank though until later down the line. Sometimes cats do better on it than chicken or turkey and sometimes not !
I am just very pleased that Frank is a lot better. I have a massive soft spot for him. xxxx