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Tritrichomonas Foetus

4K views 25 replies 8 participants last post by  Mia1234567 
#1 ·
Hey everyone, I've decided to write this post hoping that it might help some new kitten owners avoid wasting time and money on trying to find out what is wrong with their kittens. I know there have been a few posts on the forum around this subject so I'll just share mine and Nikki's story.

Since Nikki came home, I have noticed diarrhoea so the next day we went straight to the vet to find out the cause. We were told there was nothing to worry, it might have been only the new environment causing it and he was given ProKolin and a vet diet. It didn't work... Next step, we have submitted a basic faecal sample (£120) which came back all negative. All this time, Nikki did not have any other symptoms apart from the diarrhea and the leaky bum, he was playful, energetic, always begging for food and attention so the vet said that they didn't know what was wrong with him but as long as he was fine we should not do any more investigations. That's when I have decided to change the vet as obviously there was something wrong with him, I knew it just didn't know what it was.

By the time we got to the second vet, I had already spent hours on the forum reading other people's stories and constantly hearing about TF so I decided to submit the sample directly to PALS. The vet was quite surprised that I have done it myself but said that in case the results came back positive, he was experienced treating TF.

3 days later, the results came back positive. The vet ordered 14 tablets of ronidazole and we started the treatment. I was a bit paranoid having read about all the side effects but I decided it was unfair for both me and Nikki to leave the TF untreated.

Nikki is a nightmare to pill so we had to hide the tablet in the food everyday. My partner was in charge of this mission. He would always wear gloves and put the tablet mixed with a bit of food on a disposable plate as the medicine is very toxic to humans. We have also been using a different litter tray than the usual one throughout the treatment. We would use disposable liners and everytime he went for a poo, we would throw everything straight to the bin outside and then disinfect the tray, add a new liner and fresh litter so that he couldn't reinfect himself. I also washed the floors with disinfectant several times throughout these 2 weeks and steam cleaned all the upholstery, including the cat tree.

Nikki's stool consistency improved within a few days and by the end of the course he was producing normal 'beautiful' stools. He did not have any side effects and he is as happy and an attention beggar like always.

I apologise for this long post, but if I am able to help just a few people out than my mission here is accomplished. If you have kittens with unexplainable diarrhea this is something worth testing as it will not come up on a basic faecal sample- there is a special PCR analysis.
 
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#4 ·
TF is far more common than people realise and frustratingly is not tested for in a normal fecal test, you have to request it specifically. I always tell people to test for it before anything else if there is diarrhoea which isn't responding, particularly if it really smells bad!

Interesting to hear about PALS, it's useful to know there is somewhere you can submit yourself rather than have to go through the vet.

@ktyvasilescu well done for you persistence and good outcome.
 
#5 ·
From my experience, I do not feel that vets are very experienced in treating this ( out of 5 vets I've seen, only one had experience treating for this parasite; he acted quite surprised I sent out the test myself and suggested this diagnostic :Woot, the rest of them were referring to the catinfo article-which I had learnt by heart at that stage or just simply did not take it into consideration hence telling me there was nothing wrong with the cat)

PALS were amazing, the test was only £57 and the results were back in 3 days. Hopefully I won't have to use them again but it's good to know they exist haha.
 
#7 ·
@Tigermoon I think it was 30mg as that's what is was written on the label and I have also been giving him Protexin Symbiotic DC . I'm suspecting this was less than he should've been given as he was 2.25kg at that time and now, 2 weeks after having finished the treatment I'm seeing some half normal half not so normal stools again... :eek::( So probably will repeat the test just in case.
 
#9 ·
It is a parasite which is causing chronic diarrhea and sometimes the kitten can be leaking diarrhea as well. TF does not affect their growth hence their still going to be playful, eating, gaining weight etc. Unfortunately, the diarrhea does not respond to anything else apart from an antibiotic name ronidazole.
 
#11 ·
Hey everyone, I've decided to write this post hoping that it might help some new kitten owners avoid wasting time and money on trying to find out what is wrong with their kittens. I know there have been a few posts on the forum around this subject so I'll just share mine and Nikki's story.

Since Nikki came home, I have noticed diarrhoea so the next day we went straight to the vet to find out the cause. We were told there was nothing to worry, it might have been only the new environment causing it and he was given ProKolin and a vet diet. It didn't work... Next step, we have submitted a basic faecal sample (£120) which came back all negative. All this time, Nikki did not have any other symptoms apart from the diarrhea and the leaky bum, he was playful, energetic, always begging for food and attention so the vet said that they didn't know what was wrong with him but as long as he was fine we should not do any more investigations. That's when I have decided to change the vet as obviously there was something wrong with him, I knew it just didn't know what it was.

By the time we got to the second vet, I had already spent hours on the forum reading other people's stories and constantly hearing about TF so I decided to submit the sample directly to PALS. The vet was quite surprised that I have done it myself but said that in case the results came back positive, he was experienced treating TF.

3 days later, the results came back positive. The vet ordered 14 tablets of ronidazole and we started the treatment. I was a bit paranoid having read about all the side effects but I decided it was unfair for both me and Nikki to leave the TF untreated.

Nikki is a nightmare to pill so we had to hide the tablet in the food everyday. My partner was in charge of this mission. He would always wear gloves and put the tablet mixed with a bit of food on a disposable plate as the medicine is very toxic to humans. We have also been using a different litter tray than the usual one throughout the treatment. We would use disposable liners and everytime he went for a poo, we would throw everything straight to the bin outside and then disinfect the tray, add a new liner and fresh litter so that he couldn't reinfect himself. I also washed the floors with disinfectant several times throughout these 2 weeks and steam cleaned all the upholstery, including the cat tree.

Nikki's stool consistency improved within a few days and by the end of the course he was producing normal 'beautiful' stools. He did not have any side effects and he is as happy and an attention beggar like always.

I apologise for this long post, but if I am able to help just a few people out than my mission here is accomplished. If you have kittens with unexplainable diarrhea this is something worth testing as it will not come up on a basic faecal sample- there is a special PCR analysis.
Hello,
Thanks for your post! What food did you give your cat to eat? Did you change the diet through the process? What was the age of your cat? Dis you ever test Nikki's faeces again? Thanks
 
#12 ·
He came with Purizon dry but I changed that straight away to Catz Finefood, Feringa etc but didn't change the diet. I tested again after the first course of treatment as diarrhea came back after few weeks but the he had another course and was all good. He is now on raw and his stools are perfect no issues anymore.
 
#16 ·
To be fair, TF still isn't yet that widely considered for cats with chronic diarrhoea, and the test is not one that is routinely run, probably due to the cost as most owners won't go for it. As a result most vets have no idea how to treat it without looking it up, and the treatment is also quite expensive. A few years ago I paid £60 just for the TF test alone, which I had specifically requested.
PALS cuts out the middleman so that will make it cheaper.
 
#17 ·
I am now unsuccessfully discussing with my vet and I am ordering the test privatelly from PALS.
I am so angry for the time lost with this vet (Medivet) and the lack of proactive advice.
Why on earth should I be the one telling them what to test and them quoting more than double price!?!
I get your frustration. The 2 vets I spoke with had one only case each in 15 years+ of experience. My vet only advised to run this test as my cats are Bengal and it is said that this parasite is common on Bengals and Siamese... Unfortunately the truth is that is very common now among many cats, breed or not. I hope our cats will get better soon.
 
#19 ·
@Mia1234567 Please post any updates on treatment that you are getting.
It will be useful to hear.
I am expecting the containers to arrive tomorrow and then sending to the lab.
Definitely ! I'm waiting for my vet to come back next week but the one in charge atm is not recommending to do the Ronidazole course as he thinks that the parasite will go away on its own. One cat doesn't have diarrhoea because he eats raw meat (not sure why raw meat helps with diarrhoea in cats affected by t.foetus ) However the poop doesn't have the consistency of a cat who eats raw meat. It's very shiny, long and from time to time there is fresh blood and mucus. The other one eats digestive care hills food and her poop looks like a normal poop. From time to time her stools are a bit loose. I think when cats don't have diarrhoea, it is not recommended to do the Ronidazole course. Not sure why? Their poop is not normal though. Moreover they don't have a toilet routine and go to the toilet every day differently.
The vet also said that if we decide to treat the cats anyway, we will need to test my older cat to see if the parasite affected her as well and do a blood count complete test to check that they don't have any medical issues. I am not sure what to do here. I trust vets more than myself. Next week my vet will come back and I'll ask him what he thinks I should do too. I want to check them both with a complete blood count test even if we decide not to give them the medicine because I'm worried that over time they may develop problems like IBD, Pancreatitis, respiratory issues or nutrition deficiencies. I want to know if the risks to develop the above are higher than having side effects from Ronidazole and I will ask this to my vet next week. its very tricky because I read about the fact that Ronidazole could also be ineffective if the cat has a specific strain of T. Foetus for which Ronidazole doesn't work on.
 
#20 ·
#26 ·
@Mia1234567 How are you getting on? Any update? Have you started treatment?
Hello! We finished the 2 weeks treatment on the 26/11. The vet gave us around 23mg/kg of Ronidazole. With my male cat has been very easy as we put the medicines in the food and he ate everything, while my female cat could detect immediately the foreign object and left the food… therefore we had to administer the 2 pills every evening. It was a nightmare and she became so anxious that started overgroom herself a lot. It was so sad to force to take the pill everyday

Today it's been 1 month exactly since we finished the treatment and excepted once or twice they didn't have anymore blood or diarrhoea. We are not really sure if the Ronidazole treatment worked 100% as we didn't test their poop again.. but fingers crossed
 
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