Deworming

Over the weekend I started noticing pools of diarrhea with blood around the house, some in the litter box and some out. I took a sample to my vet this morning because I don't know which cat (or cats) is/are responsible. I think that there are at least two of them doing it. I caught Yoshi and one of the kittens while they were "going" in the box and moved them aside to look at the poo, and both of them had runny poo with a little blood. Some of the pools I found had quite a bit of blood. I checked Max and his poo was kind of soft, but no blood.
Well, when I took in the sample I didn't see the vet because I didn't have an appointment, but the vet tech said that it's difficult to do a fecal test on runny poo and that I should deworm them. I have had roundworm problems before with the cats, so maybe I didn't get all of the worms killed the last time. I went ahead and bought 8 doses of dewormer. I had to guess at my cats' weights when I was at the vet so they could give me the proper dosages.
When I got home I weighed them all just before I gave them the dewormer (Strongid T) and fortunately I was correct on almost all the weights. Max weighs about 2 pounds more than I thought and I guess that's close enough. But Yoshi weighs 20 lbs! The last time he was in at that vet's was for a rabies shot in February and they had his weight down as 13. He's gained 7 lbs! I don't feed them a lot. I don't even free-feed anymore Each has his/her own bowl and I give each one about 1/2 cup dry food per day and a little spoonful of canned food at night.
So anyway, Yoshi got a dose for a 13 lb cat instead of a 20 lb cat. Also, I'm kind of concerned because one of the cats puked after taking the medicine and one of them refused to let me give it to her. I had to mix it into some food and hope that she'll eat it. She's in a separate room, so she's the only one who can get to that food. She probably won't eat it, though. I've tried this before with her and she won't eat food with medicine in it, and she absolutely won't let me put it down her throat. So, I'm worried that those 3 cats didn't get properly dewormed.
I'm going to repeat the deworming in a couple of weeks and possibly a third time a couple of weeks after that. The last time some of the cats had worms, they didn't have bloody diarrhea. They had runny, stinky poo and were vomiting. At that time, two of them acted really ill, but this time all of my cats act healthy and are eating normally. I hope I stop seeing those piles of bloody poo.
I wondered if anyone had any ideas, suggestions, or comments??

As rescuers of ferals, we've had our share of problems with worms.

The only time we had a problem with runny, bloody diarrhea was with Shelly, and it ended up being diagnosed as "colonitis" and sensitivity to the food. So we changed the food we leave out for them to free feed, and that solved the problem. However, if it's more than one cat, I doubt that's it.

But our kitties have had their share of round worm, tape worm, and even lung worm (very rare) - none of these caused bloody diarrhea.

But could it be a problem with the food?

If you free feed, I'd consider buying whatever you're feeding them from a different store, dump all the food that's out, and put the fresh stuff down for them. Or contacting the manufacturer to see if there have been other reported problems.

I'd also contact a different vet place for a second opinion. If it's not worms, I see no point in giving them StrongidT!!!

Laurie

When I thought it was just Yoshi, I thought he must have a colon problem, but then I noticed it with a kitten, too. It is weird, because even when several of them had roundworms a couple of months back, there was no blood. They had really liquid and verrrrry smelly diarrhea! They also acted sick. It's weird that all my cats seem to feel fine, but they're passing this bloody stuff.
Well, I'm about to go home, so I'll see what kind of mess greets me. I might end up isolating them in the bathroom with their own litter box one by one until I can figure out exactly which ones have the problem. Then take those specific ones to the vet. I did isolate Max yesterday and he didn't have bloody poo. It was a little soft, but not really abnormal.

Originally Posted by LDG

But could it be a problem with the food?

If you free feed, I'd consider buying whatever you're feeding them from a different store, dump all the food that's out, and put the fresh stuff down for them.

Or contacting the manufacturer to see if there have been other reported problems.
Laurie

Click to expand...

BTW, I have been trying to figure out a good food for all of them. Each one seems to have special needs:

Niki- senior cat, needs to be on low ash diet (FUS)
Yoshi- senior cat, is becoming grossly overweight and gets bad tooth tartar AND tends to have upset stomach a lot (chronic puker)
Josie- young adult, is beginning to get chubby and she has a heart murmur
Max, Belle, Punky, Cyndi- four growing kittens
Rags- young adult, seems not to have any special needs at this time

There are diets for FUS, tartar control, hairball control, sensitive stomach, senior, adult, kitten, indoor, low activity, weight loss, prescription diets for heart problems, urinary problems, tooth problems, etc. But how do you choose when all of your cats need different formulas?
I've considered going the raw food route because that seems to be the most natural and hopefully will be the right diet for all of them.

BTW, I just found out that Mars Petcare US has voluntarily recalled a bunch of food. They manufacture under a number of brands, including Pedigree.

I don't know if you feed any of their brands, but the description of the symptoms fit your kitties'.

I really would get another vet opinion.

http://www.petplace.com/cats/mars-pe...ailynewsletter



Laurie

Well, that's scary. I checked the list of brands. I had been feeding some Special Kitty for urinary tract health to the cats a while ago. There were some Special Kitty foods on the recall list, but not the one for urinary tract health. I think it's OK. Today there was only one little spot of bloody poo on the floor and all of the cats still seem fine. I'll have to see how things look tomorrow.
Right now they are eating Purina One Urinary formula. I made a gradual switch to the new food, mixing them until I switched them to Purina One. I didn't like the look of Special Kitty. It looked very "unnatural." I think the Purina One will work for now. It's possible that the switch upset some of them, but I was careful not to make it sudden.
Rags had eaten all of the food that I mixed the dewormer with, so she got her dose.