Hi All

I posted a week or so ago asking for advice about 3 of my coonies (2 from 1 litter, 1 from a separate breeder) having had diarrhoea for about 4 months.

2 came in with it from the breeder and the other one caught it from them - in hindsight, I should have quarantined but aforementioned breeder said they were just stressed from the move. I have had them at the vet and they have been on antibiotics, canakur, pro-kolin etc been wormed, been on a sensitive diet...just about everything you can think of. We had another coonie mixing with them for about 2 weeks before we took her away and she is fine and we have a couple of moggies who share the cat room with them and they are showing no symptoms whatsoever.

We have sent off fecal samples and the results came back tonight as all negative or normal. No signs of giardia (which I know isn't in every sample), campylobacter, salmonella, worms etc...all the standard tests and all flora are normal.

The vet is now talking about putting them onto a sensitive diet but I don't see how kittens from 2 different breeders can have the same intolerences.

The diarrhoea is very smelly, occasionally contains mucous, no blood, is a sort of greeny colour sometimes and varies between being very watery to being almost like a cowpat!

Sorry for waffling on but if anyone has any advice, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

FCL

well I'm no expert but when my little Taz had diarrhoea at 8 wks, I was advised to starve him for 12 hours (which nearly killed me!) then to only give him boiled chicken breast and/or rice for 24, then the vet put him onto Hills sensitive diet for a few days then he was slowly weaned back onto normal food and is fine.

Sorry I'm not much use...guess you've prob been through all that anyway?

Since you've ruled out any illness in your cats, I would think what your vet has suggested is a good idea. However, I would not use whatever 'sensitive' food he/she may suggest; rather I'd look into feeding a species-appropriate diet, i.e. raw.

The cat's digestive system is specially designed for meat. It doesn't handle grains or vegetables well, and cats don't need anything but meat and bones to get the nutrition they need. Adding grains/veg to their food will only strain their system and introduce a higher risk of digestive problems.

With that in mind, and knowing that the majority of cat foods out there
use grains/vegetables as the main ingredient, it's no wonder that more and more cats are getting problems.

You've probably seen the other threads on here about feeding raw - there's lots of good information there.

I've also found these websites to be very useful:

~ PRACTICAL GUIDE ~
Feline Future (I use this powder for my cat as he won't chew bones and I don't want the hassle of grinding them)
Feeding Your Cat** Know the Basi
Cat Nutrition.Org

Hope that helps

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Ask for a test for Tritrichomonas Foetus? normal faecal samples do not show it up as it dies quickly when out of the cat's body but it causes all the symptoms you describe particularly the mucous and is common in multicat pedigree households ............

well said would love to pick your brain sometime

Hi all

Thanks for the info - I did check with the vet and asked prior to sending the samples if they tested for Tritrichomonas Foetus, and he said they could test for that. Perhaps I should double check that it has been tested for as I will admit, the symptoms do match up pretty well.

I am definately going to look into changing diet as well as they have been unwell for quite a while now and I think something a little easier for them to digest will be beneficial.

I am also going to try panacur suspension for 7 days because I know that giardia cysts aren't shed with every stool so it may not have been present in the samples I sent off, even if the cats do have it.

Fingers crossed we can get to the bottom of it!

FCL

Hi FCL

A normal faecal sample will not conclusively show TF - a pinch sample should be taken from the rectum and immediately analysed to be sure of getting an accurate result.......

If this is negative then definitely diet may help - I have a girl with an iffy tum and we control it with diet. What concerns me and makes me think TF is that 2 came in with it - it is so prevalent in multicat pedigree households like breeding homes

Hope you manage to get to the root of whatever is causing the problem whatever it turns out to be!

EB

Hi FCL,sorry to hear about your cats tum issues,can't really add to whats already been said but good luck and let us know how you get on love

Thanks all for your response - I have already ordered the RC sensitivity control diet so will start them exclusively on that tomorrow, for at least 2 weeks.

I am guessing that if that makes a difference, then it really is just the early virus that they had has caused them digestive issues, rather than it being anything more serious.

As I said before, the cats themselves are healthy and happy and very heavy (well, they are Maine Coons!) and there has been no vomiting or lethargy at all.

I will certainly keep you all posted - I will call it 'My Diary of Diarrhoea'

Louise
X

Hi I have had good results with the RC sensitivity pouches, and they seem to be tasty too

I have read very recently that the TF test has to be done instantly, literally swab their bottoms and smear on a slide and look with a microscope [ sorry, just realised EB has said very much the same ]

Hope they are all better soon.