long term Diarrhea/no solution yet

Have they done a stool sample and sent it out>?

Have they tested for Tritrichomonas foetus?

http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/docs/personnel/gookin_jody.html

http://www.highgait.com/page/page/3485008.htm

Also, have you ruled out food allergies?

Hi,

I've been in a similar situation as you.

I've been in a situation with cats who refuse to gain weight, no matter how much you feed them, and one who was at deaths door with compulsive diarrhea that no amount of antibiotics or anti diarrhea medicine could cure.

After a medical scare with the sickest one at the time, the vet gave me ROYAL CANIN - Baby Cat to feed her, watered down with some warm water and mixed.

Within a week, her diarrhea stopped, and she gained weight rapidly. I then started my other cats on it, and their health improved dramatically, with the boys having massive growth spurts, and the girls gaining a bit more weight.

My point is, some cats have food digestion problems. I think this might be the case here, and as well as following your vets advice, get him/her onto the best diet you can manage - I prefer Royal Canin (it saved my cats life) but Hills Scientific Diet works as well - that one helps your cat gain weight as well as being less allergenic than the crap they put into store brought stuff.

Even now, if I try her on anything other than the Optimum I feed her, she'll look sickly and her stools soften way too much. So sometimes diet really does count. Be aware, Optimum is something you could use to continue on (easier to find) but Royal Canin Baby Cat / Kitten is what you should start with to "recover" or Hills Scientific. Ask what your vet recommends.

What were the cats being fed before they came to you? What was your 6 year old cat eating?

I'll share Bishop's background with you and it may shed some light on your situation. Bishop has had diarrhea / loose stinky stools for as long as I can remember. He is now 12 years old. I was one of those people that was kind of naive and following everything my vet said to me. I wish I knew back then what I know now then my kitty would not have had to go through so much discomfort. The first thing the vet did was put Bishop on medication. It would work for a bit but then it would always return. So he woud try another medication. He also did many tests. Everything always came back negative. The vet put him on Medi-cal hypoallergenic and when this stopped working he put him on Royal Canin Sensitivity. These two foods were work for a while but his diarrhea always returned. My vets answer to all my cats problems was that he had a sensitive stomach. Never discussing Irritable bowel or allergies. Never mentioning that some cats are allergic to grains, fillers, certain meats, and all the non species appropriate ingredients in commercial pet food, etc. I never questioned him because I thought he knew what was best for my kitty. Bishop's problems never went away on these foods or with all the medications pumped into him.

In August of 2008 I started researching commercial pet food and cat nutrition. And I heard from numerous people and research that cats are obligate carnivores and some cats stomachs CAN NOT handle all of the grains and fillers in comercial / prescribed pet food. As I was contemplating switching my cats to a grain free diet I came across raw feeding. After much research I decided to give it a try. If there was a possibilty for it to help calm Bishop's stomach and rid him of diarrhea I was going to give it a try. After a month and a half of switching Bishop from canned food to raw his diarrhea was completely cleared up. In the last 8 months that Bishop has been on a raw diet and also a grain free canned food diet his diarrhea HAS NOT returned. His poops DO NOT stink either. It is so amazing. I finally found two vets that really care about my cats well being and has now diagnosed Bishop with IBD - irritable bowel / allergies / sensitivities. I am now in the process of trying a process of elimination diet to find out what irritates Bishop's stomach.

After doing research on this issue I believe that some cats get messed up from vaccines and over medicating - just my personal opinion.

One thing I would look at is what you are feeding. If anything try and go grain free, fillers free and look for more than one meat in the first 4 ingredients. If you are willing to try homecooked or feed raw that would be great. But these require much research before jumping in. If you would like some guidance on where to start - please ask

http://www.catinfo.org/

Hi. My cat Teddy had very loose stool - some going off litter box. I took him off dry food totally and he is back to normal after almost a year. I tried the best dry food - Pea/Duck and nothing has worked accept taking him off dry. He is really annoying because he wants to eat a lot, but it is worth it not having the hugh mess in the litter box and him feeling better.

Our cat is around 9 years old and has been infected with FIV probably from birth. His health was good for many years until about a year ago when he started bad diarrhea. This disappeared during the Summer months but reappeared during the Autumn and still continues. The Initial Vetinary diagnosis suggested intestinal problems related to diet, but a change to Royal Canin "Digestive Comfort" produced no reduction. Nor did antibiotic treatment, supplementary pancreatic enzymes, or probiotic yoghurt. He simply has no control over his bowels and stools also have a certain amount of blood in them. Although he has a good appetite and drinks freely as he is losing bodily fluids, he is clearly unwell and the vet has little enthusiasm for treating him. I suspect an intestinal tumour, but there is no sign of swelling and he continues eating. Any advice would be welcome, and I have taken note of owners who switch to a pure meat diet for cats who have cereal allergies.

Find another vet. This cat's FIV status, the blood, and that this cycles like it might suggest that it is likely immune related. He maybe have IBD. But you'll need a vet who knows about it to be of any help.

Thanks for the suggestion. We just started the cat on boiled chicken - no dry food- and it may be that there's already some improvement. We'll see!

I second this, Pipsqueak was treated for this as a kitten and had two rounds of Ronidazole Took care of the prob.

Why did the vet prescribe all these meds without positive diagnosis? Do not stop the Ronidazole just in case. My cat was confirmed to have Tritrichomonas and is on Ronidazole right now. His diarrhea stopped after a couple of days. He is also on a special diet (Royal Canin digestive dry and Hill's Presciption Diet I/D canned). The vet should NEVER prescribe Ronizadole without confirming the cat has Trich.

FYI - the original thread was June 2009....
Now DavidP153 has another issue and I do not see him mentioning Ronidazole...

OK thanks. I haven't been on here in a few years and searched for similar problems and found this thread.