I told the vet, then the vet told me

poppy0109

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I took Poppy to the vet yesterday. He's 15 weeks and weighs 4.02 pounds, up 1.02 pounds from Feb. 21st.

I told the vet that when Poppy poops he makes straining noises, like it's hard for him to go and it looks like he's straining a bit. He does go, about twice a day. It's not completely solid but it's not completely diarrhea either. She suggested I stop feeding him wet food (right now it's a mixture of Friskies and Meow Mix Wholesome Goodness) for a week and get him on one dry food (right now I'm mixing Evo and Purina Pro Plan, I want to go all Evo). Then see how he goes and what it looks like and then take a sample in and they'll test it. It could be the food or it could be something else. She said not worms but an infection or virus...actually I forgot what she said...all I remember is she said "not worms".

I don't want to take him off of wet though. He's getting use to me feeding it to him twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening). I don't want him to get upset with me that all of a sudden I'm not feeding him wet food anymore.

Why can't they just test the poop without me taking him off of wet food?
 

laureen227

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seems like they could at least test it, besides giving food 'advice'.
maybe try a probiotic - i've had good results w/bene-bac. couldn't hurt him, anyway - might help! was he a stray kitten? did he have anything he took antibiotics for?
 

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I told my vet that other people had told me that giving 3 units of humilin N to my cats when she was just diagnosed with diabetes was too much. I also told my vet that I was going to learn to test the blood glucose myself. The vet told me that 3 units was safe and that I shouldn't test at home cause my cat would hate me and the results would be inaccurate. Unsure of what to do I compromised and gave my cat 2 units
Thankfully
3 days after this conversation it was past midnight when my cat started twitching and was having a hypo attack. After putting karo on her gums and up her anus, I drove her to emergency at speeds reaching 90 miles an hour. Part of the time I was losing her and was trying to give mouth to mouth while driving. Somehow after 3 days and much money spent, she made it. I will never blindly
follow advice again
It is my opinion that the system needs water and dry food dehydrates. If your cat is straining to go, it would not make sense to me to switch from a wet food to a hard food
'I' put 1/8 a teaspoon of acidoupholous in the food usually for soft stools. It can be done for hard stools too. Some people I have heard use mineral oil or another type of oil added to the canned food for hard stools. Do your research before making this switch
http://www.catinfo.org/
 
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poppy0109

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Originally Posted by laureen227

seems like they could at least test it, besides giving food 'advice'.
maybe try a probiotic - i've had good results w/bene-bac. couldn't hurt him, anyway - might help! was he a stray kitten? did he have anything he took antibiotics for?
Yes, he was a stray and someone took him to that vet at 7 weeks. They tested him and he was negative for everything. He did have a cold when I adopted him at 9 weeks and they gave me antibiotics.

I will look into that bene-bac. Thanks
 
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poppy0109

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Originally Posted by optionken

It is my opinion that the system needs water and dry food dehydrates. If your cat is straining to go, it would not make sense to me to switch from a wet food to a hard food
'I' put 1/8 a teaspoon of acidoupholous in the food usually for soft stools. It can be done for hard stools too. Some people I have heard use mineral oil or another type of oil added to the canned food for hard stools. Do your research before making this switch
http://www.catinfo.org/
I guess the vet wants his stools to be harder...but what's the benefit of that?

I will also look into the acidoupholous and mineral oil...and do my research. Thanks
 

the_food_lady

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It doesn't seem that your cat needs any mineral oil at this point, that's for sure, because the stools presently aren't firm/solid. To give that now your kitten would likely get the runs!

Is there another Vet in your area? If it was me, I'd see another Vet and I'd take a fresh stool sample in with me.

So if someone had him before you, and he was a stray, and he was apparently 'tested for everything' and was 'negative for everything', how do you know all this for sure? I mean, did the other person who previously had him take him to your current Vet and current Vet knows for CERTAIN that kitty was "tested for everything", particularly worms? If this was just something someone "told you" and there's no proof (not saying they're lying but....), I might just want to know all this, definitively, myself.

Also if kitty was a stray, are you certain kitty was properly dewormed? Many people use over the counter deworming meds; which are completely ineffective/useless. A stray should always be dewormed -- so do you know for a fact that this kitten's stool was tested for parasites/worms and then dewormed with the proper meds?
 

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Just to look at it from a different angle, is it possible that perhaps he feels the need to go (kinda like diarrhea urge), but there's nothing there? EVO is a very rich food and it might be too rich for his little system at this point in time. Perhaps that's making his stool soft so he feels like he needs to go, but everything's already come out.

I know you can add plain canned pumpkin and/or plain yogurt to help with stool issues.
 

the_food_lady

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Originally Posted by stephanietx

Just to look at it from a different angle, is it possible that perhaps he feels the need to go (kinda like diarrhea urge), but there's nothing there? EVO is a very rich food and it might be too rich for his little system at this point in time. Perhaps that's making his stool soft so he feels like he needs to go, but everything's already come out.

I know you can add plain canned pumpkin and/or plain yogurt to help with stool issues.
True enough about it being rich. It is a food that's much higher in fat, maybe protein too, because it's much lower in carbs. People with diabetic cats often give EVO dry because it's very low carb; can't say i've ever heard it being given to kittens, Stephanie you raise a good point. But maybe such a drastic change of going completely off the canned for a week and onto dry isn't really necessary; maybe just stopped the EVO canned for a week and feeding the other less rich canned food for that week?
 
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poppy0109

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Originally Posted by the_food_lady

It doesn't seem that your cat needs any mineral oil at this point, that's for sure, because the stools presently aren't firm/solid. To give that now your kitten would likely get the runs!

Is there another Vet in your area? If it was me, I'd see another Vet and I'd take a fresh stool sample in with me.

So if someone had him before you, and he was a stray, and he was apparently 'tested for everything' and was 'negative for everything', how do you know all this for sure? I mean, did the other person who previously had him take him to your current Vet and current Vet knows for CERTAIN that kitty was "tested for everything", particularly worms? If this was just something someone "told you" and there's no proof (not saying they're lying but....), I might just want to know all this, definitively, myself.

Also if kitty was a stray, are you certain kitty was properly dewormed? Many people use over the counter deworming meds; which are completely ineffective/useless. A stray should always be dewormed -- so do you know for a fact that this kitten's stool was tested for parasites/worms and then dewormed with the proper meds?
I'm thinking of going back to my vet that I took Monti to. I like them more anyways. I will call them this week.

When the person that found Poppy (and his two sisters) took him to that vet, the vet tested him and when I adopted him they gave me all the paperwork. When I took him for his shots last month I took in a stool sample and it came back negative.
 
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poppy0109

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Originally Posted by stephanietx

Just to look at it from a different angle, is it possible that perhaps he feels the need to go (kinda like diarrhea urge), but there's nothing there? EVO is a very rich food and it might be too rich for his little system at this point in time. Perhaps that's making his stool soft so he feels like he needs to go, but everything's already come out.

I know you can add plain canned pumpkin and/or plain yogurt to help with stool issues.
When I first started mixing in the dry Evo with the Purina Pro Plan, I mixed too much and there was a big diarrhea mess.
So I cut back and have slowly been changing it, where now he's up to 1/4 cup of the Evo and 1/2 cup of the Purina Pro Plan. Maybe it is too rich for him. I will stop giving him the dry Evo and see how that goes.

I originally chose the dry Evo because it was the lowest carb food I could find. Maybe I should wait until he gets older and try another healthy dry food, like B.G. Before Grain or Wellness.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions
 

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I had two bottle fed orphans and one of them had issues with diarrhea. It seemed he had a sensitive digestive system from the start. I had to watch him when I got them off the milk replacement for diarrhea. What worked for him at that age was the Royal Canin Baby Cat 34. When he was 6 months old I very, very slowly switched to brands like orijen and Taste of the Wild. I now have him on California Natural Chicken and Rice mixed with some Taste of the Wild. I think the simple ingredient list in Cal. Nat is helpful. I also think the grain from the rice may slow down the digestive system so that the stools are better formed. In other words he can absorb what he needs. My thoughts.

Dry is only a portion of his diet. Canned food two times a day with dry for snacking. (Canned Authority, Wellness, PetGuard, Blue, and Nutro rotated)

I was told by pediatricians long ago that the digestive system of a baby does not fully develop until about 6 months old. Maybe this has some pertinence in the feline system and the EVO may just be too much at this stage. Many posts have made similar comments re EVO.
 
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