Severe Poo Problem

[Courtney]

1. 
   I need advice ASAP. My 5 1/2 month old F2 ( Male Snow) Savannah has had pretty severe diarrhea for a few months now. We had him half and half on Wellness Core dry food for kittens & Wellness Core wet food for kittens. He had mostly mushy stools and then blood on the anus. Vet said the dry food was backing him up most likely so we went all wet food. No more blood but nasty, wet mucusy stools that smell hidious. We have him on high quality wet food. We thought it was the Core food so we switched to Instinct Limited Diet wet food. The wet food has no dairy, grain, chicken or other potential irritants. I thought that might eliminate what was causing the issue. We are on day 3 and his poo is like a water hose, sputtering all over the litter box and pouring out followed by a string of mucus. He tested negative for parasites. He plays and sleeps and acts normal. No lethargy. He chows down on the food. We also bought a dry food from that same Instinct line but I am unsure if I should give it to him. Idk what else to do. It's scaring me that nothing seems to help. The vet says he is healthy with no parasites (stool sample) The probiotic powder the vet gave us doesn't seem to help much. What should we do? See a different vet? I'm worried that all of this diarrhea will hurt his intestines or something.....

 

[admin]

Has he had a PCR diarrhea panel? And sounds like he needs to be tested for tri trich...also have you contacted the breeder?

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[Trish Allearz]

He is NOT healthy-- this is why you brought him to the vet in the first place.

I'd take him to another test and tell them-- you want to do a PCR panel. In the meantime, tell them you would like to start him on meds for giardia as you await the PCR results. Giardia meds aren't going to harm him and might nip it in the bud if it's not tritrich.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

The trouble is, there are still some vets out there that don't see the PCR Diarrhea Panel as the tool it is...if they haven't been keeping up with their continuing education they may not even know the option exists. Additionally some find that most owners don't want to pay for it...so they stop suggesting it.

The stool sample that they do a fecal float to look for parasites is very hit and miss. It's old technology and really you have to be lucky to spot anything.

If I were you, I'd get that PCR test off to the lab, then I would start your kitten on a bland diet... boiled chicken and rice is what my vet has always recommended and it works. It can take some days for their little system to settle. Additionally, Proviable paste can be helpful here, it has probiotic bacteria in it but also kaolin and pectin to help firm the stools and soothe the intestinal tract... so a temporary fix while you work out what is going on here.

And I agree with Trish, Fenbendazole (panacur) for Giardia is a very mild medication so no harm in giving him that while you wait on the PCR results.

You need to act quickly, months of inflammation of his gastrointestinal tract can lead to development of IBD hence lifelong issues.

 

[Patti]

This sounds like tritrichimonas to me. What kind of stool sample did the vet get? I'm guessing it wasn't a diarrhea PCR, which is what you really need. In reality you can test just for the tritrich, or tritrich and giardia (which would be my second guess) as that would be less expensive, but if they come back negative you're back to testing for everything else.

In the meantime, as the others have said, fenbendazole is a very safe and inexpensive medication that treats giardia and other things. Albon is also very safe and inexpensive and can treat coccidiosis (which would be my third guess), however neither of these will do any good if it is not what your kitty has. One thing that might help you get to the bottom of this faster if you already haven't done so, call your breeder and ask them if they have treated for any GI infections in their cats or kittens recently. If they have, ask them what cleared it up and start with that.

 

[Courtney]

Thanks for all the replies! The breeder hasn't ha any issues with any of her Savannah's, Jungle Bobs or Bengals, and has them randomly tested for Tri-Trich. Now that we have him on Instinct Limited Diet Duck his stools are pretty normal. I got a stool sample with no litter in it and put it in the fridge the night before his appointment. They are running a full diarrhea panel to find out if there is an issue. We should get the results back soon. Ramsay says thanks for all the concern you all show for him!

 

[Sue]

First thing that came to mind was Tritrichomonus Foetus. I posted a picture of cowpie stool under the T F thread, along with a lot of info on TF. Sue