Chronic Loose Stools (Long)

going nova

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I'm sorry for this long post... but I am putting as much info as possible in hopes that someone can help me.

I have had Nova for nearly 4 months, and her stools were normal at first.
She was eating Purina Kitten Chow when I first got her, so I kept her on that.
Then, the vet gave me some Purina ProPlan for kittens.
I gave her that and finished it off, and her stools were still fine.

I put her back on Purina Kitten Chow.
Her stools got a little bit soft at some point.
In the past couple of weeks, they were softer than usual so I tried switching her to Iams because I thought that she had a problem with the food.
I did the mixing of the food to switch over... but the problem got worse.

I took her to the vet for a checkup, and had a fecal done.
The fecal came back fine, but they did give her an injection of something to firm up her stools. They also gave me a paste that was supposed to coat her stomach.

The fecal came back clear, and her stools did not get firm in spite of the medications.
In fact, she made sort of a mucousy red-tinged poo that looked worse than anything I had seen before.

I don't know what to do.

The vet suggested a light food, so I have switched her food again to Royal Canin Light.
She's still making liquidy cat pies, but she's only been eating the Royal Canin for a day.

She is eating well, drinking well, and is quite active.
However, she does seem to be kind of sick sometimes... red puffy eye lids and sneezing. (This comes and goes).

Also, I noticed that our tap water isn't quite clear... (it was yellowy, gross!), and I usually give her filtered tap water... so I've switched her over to bottled water.

She's taken lots of medicines since I first got her, and I wonder if this might have something to do with it? She's gotten all her vaccinations, her spay anesthesia, two types of antibiotics (for URI and for UTI), de-worming tablets, liquid vitamins, hairball remedy (for vomits), and the paste we were given for the soft stools.

I'm low on ideas, but here are the ones I have:

-She's got illness from drinking the dirty tap water, but would this show up on the fecal?
-Take another stool sample to the vet, preferably one with the mucousy substance if it happens again. Is it possible that she has something that just didn't show up, or that they didn't test for?
-Get a second opinion from a different vet

Please give me any advice you might have, or any ideas. I'm worried that she might be sick, and I am not giving her the treatment she needs. If only she could speak English to tell me what's wrong!

(A big thank you, if you made it all the way through this post.)
 

yosemite

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I say second opinion also. But also you mentioned all the medications she's been through lately so that might have a bearing on the situation as well.

Perhaps you might try adding a little canned pumpkin to her food (not the pie filling stuff just the plain pureed pumpkin which is usually in the canned vegetable section of our store). Add about a tablespoon to each meal. The pumpkin should help to firm up the stools.
 
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going nova

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I've switched her back to ProPlan, and her stools are normal.
The only problem is that I've been feeding her the kitten version, and she has gained weight.
At the end of this container, I will switch her to the adult version of the food and hope that her poops continue to be normal.

I still don't know what exactly caused her loose stools, but the problem seems to be resolved.
 

strange_wings

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Don't suddenly switch her between food formulas, she's already proven to have a touch digestive tract and that alone could set off loose stools. You need to transition her from the kitten formula to the adult.
 

mschauer

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Originally Posted by Going Nova

I've switched her back to ProPlan, and her stools are normal.
The only problem is that I've been feeding her the kitten version, and she has gained weight.
At the end of this container, I will switch her to the adult version of the food and hope that her poops continue to be normal.

I still don't know what exactly caused her loose stools, but the problem seems to be resolved.
Thanks for the update. I'm glad Nova is doing better. Did her stools improve immediately after switching back to Pro Plan? It doesn't make sense to me that a switch to that food would help unless she has a sensitivity to something in the other foods. Maybe the improvement is coincidental with the food switch?? Maybe her digestive system was out of whack from the meds and finally righted itself??

Hopefully she won't have any problem when you try to switch foods again. If the loose stools do return I would take a hard look at the difference in ingredients of the new food verses the old.

I hope everything remains good!
 
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going nova

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Originally Posted by mschauer

Thanks for the update. I'm glad Nova is doing better. Did her stools improve immediately after switching back to Pro Plan? It doesn't make sense to me that a switch to that food would help unless she has a sensitivity to something in the other foods. Maybe the improvement is coincidental with the food switch?? Maybe her digestive system was out of whack from the meds and finally righted itself??
When we switched the food, the stools took a couple of days to firm up to normal.
She hasn't taken any new medications, so maybe her body is back to normal.
The other change we have made is to give her filtered or bottled water.

She's been eating the ProPlan for a couple of months now, so I hope the improvement is for good. Her poops are definitely less stinky.
 

lele

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Here's what it sounds like and most vets do not know how to do the fecals to check for it nor have they ever diagnosed a cat with it. All "normal" fecals will come back negative. Tritrichomonas Foetus. All cats in your home will need a medication call Ronadizol for 14 days and all poop will be back to normal. See some links below.

http://www.fabcats.org/breeders/info...ichomonas.html

I spent nine months and lots of cash on fecals and parasite medications to finally get a positive test result with a different type of fecal exam that is not the normal straight forward exam. It sometimes has to be done several times as this is a hard to spot organism. You have to find a pharmacy that will compound too and the medication is about 40-50$$ per cat. Well worth it if it fixes the runny poo.

Hope this is helpful.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by lele

You have to find a pharmacy that will compound too and the medication is about 40-50$$ per cat.
lele - did you find a compounding pharmacy in your area? i'd be interested to know which one/where it was - i didn't know there was one anywhere close by!
 
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going nova

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

Don't suddenly switch her between food formulas, she's already proven to have a touch digestive tract and that alone could set off loose stools. You need to transition her from the kitten formula to the adult.
You're right. If I do switch her to a different formula, I will transition her. Poor thing, has taken several medicines and has had her food switched so many times. I wouldn't want to do anything that would make it worse. I wouldn't change her food at this point, except that she is getting a bit too big in the middle. (We do play with her to get her moving.)

Originally Posted by lele

Here's what it sounds like and most vets do not know how to do the fecals to check for it nor have they ever diagnosed a cat with it. All "normal" fecals will come back negative. Tritrichomonas Foetus. All cats in your home will need a medication call Ronadizol for 14 days and all poop will be back to normal. See some links below.

http://www.fabcats.org/breeders/info...ichomonas.html

I spent nine months and lots of cash on fecals and parasite medications to finally get a positive test result with a different type of fecal exam that is not the normal straight forward exam. It sometimes has to be done several times as this is a hard to spot organism. You have to find a pharmacy that will compound too and the medication is about 40-50$$ per cat. Well worth it if it fixes the runny poo.

Hope this is helpful.
Thank you for the info on Tritrichomonas Foetus. Her stools have been OK for a couple of months, so if this is something she had and wasn't treated for then maybe she is overcoming the infection on her own as the article says? In any case, it is good information that I may be able to use in the future (or someone else could use).

Thank you all for your suggestions
, I wouldn't have a clue without you- about transitioning foods, parasites, allergies, or canned pumpkin (I've got a can in the cupboard!).
 

meowers

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Don't forget about the impact that stress has on a cat. They can read our emotions pretty well, so try to stay calm and some Feliway wouldn't hurt.

I know how you feel, but it will get easier
 
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