Petey's tummy

Petey's had tummy troubles since I've had him (Dec.30 2010) He had a vet appt around Jan 25th and I brought up his tummy issues and his very smelly, runny poop. They had me bring a sample back for testing which came back negative...They told me I could bring him back in for another testing but the visit would be another $70ish for me and that was just too much for me at the time, having just spent $95 for the initial visit! I asked about a probiotic and they said I could give it a try. They gave me 4packets of FortiFlora and said to sprinkle 1/2 of a pack a day so that was a total of 8days. I saw little or almost no improvement! Is that enough days to see results?
He is a very active kitty who eat and drinks normally. He visits the restroom2-3 times a day, usually right after eating. While his poop is still mushy, it's not a lot. He drinks water regularly, maybe more than Neko.
Any suggestions? If another vet visit is in call, it will probably happen the first or second week of March when I get my tax return.
Thank you!

He could have giardia, which doesn't show up on a normal fecal test and makes the poop runny and smelly. Could be coccidia as well, with the same problem of not being tested for in a standard fecal.

We experienced the same with Calvin. He had smelly, soft poop and he ended up having medicines to treat worms, which did not help a whole lot. We later figured that it was food related and he doesnot do well on richer kibbles. Moving him to a totally wet diet saw dramatic improvement. You may want to figure out if this can be food related.
Hope this solves soon!

How old is Petey and where did he come from? Did he come from a place with many other cats and not the best hygiene?

Soft, smelly poop is not normal and you have to get to the bottom of it. As mentioned there could be a lot of causes from chronic illness to food issues. What does he eat? A fecal is a good test to catch some things but it doesn't catch everything. When they do a fecal they only test a small sample and your cat can have all sorts of stuff that just isn't present in that one little sample. I would recommend repeating the test. There are also two types of fecal tests, a floatation and another that I can't think of the name of but it's more in depth and can catch things a floatation can't. You may want to find out what test your vet did. The floatation test is the most common. I'd ask to have the other one done if it hasn't been done already.

It's odd that your vet requires another exam in order to do another fecal. Usually it's okay to just bring in a stool sample and have them run it. Maybe you could contact another vet to see if they are willing to do that without actually seeing the cat. That would save you some money.
As mentioned giardia is hard to see on a fecal test so that could be it. Mushy, smelly stool is a common symptom of giardia. Giardia is spread by drinking stale water. It can be tricky to treat but it is treatable even though it may take a while. There are special tests for giardia but I don't know how good they are.

Another strong possibility is diet. Some cats just have sensitive stomachs or has allergies. If nothing can be found wrong with Petey that is a strong possibility. Of course it doesn't cost you any extra to check and see if another diet would help. Natural Balance has a limited ingredient diet that can be good for cats with allergies or intolerance to some foods. Since it only has a few ingredients it's easier to pinpoint what is actually causing the problem. It's not the tasiest food so you may want to start with getting a small bag in case Petey refuses to eat it. There are many other foods you can try. I would also mix in some probiotics in his food. 8 days may not be enough to see results, especially if he doesn't tolerate his food so just because it didn't help before doesn't mean that it won't help now. If Petey is put on medication for his problem it's very important to use probiatics during the treatment, especially if he's getting an antibiotic like metronidazole which is a common treatment for diarrhea.
I'm a bit surprised that your vet didn't suggest any kind of treatment. It certainly wouldn't hurt to put him on 10 days of metronidazole to see if it works.

Anyway, to make a long story short , I would change his diet and put him back on probiotics (you can buy Fortiflora and other probiotics online) and if you see no changes after a couple of weeks or so take him back to the vet. It may also be a good idea to deworm him (with pyrantel pamoate) to be on the safe side. It doesn't hurt.

Good luck!

I wondered too if it was his diet? Petey came from the Frisco Humane Society at the age of 4months, previously on SD kitten which i continued to feed. I slowly transitioned to California Natural (chicken/brown rice) which is a limited ingredient food, grain intolerance? He gets slightly under 1/2c dry in the morning and 6oz of wet in the evening. For wet we alternate Before Grain and Natural Balance.
The second test offered was for me to bring him in the clinic for a different testing, maybe the one that's not the floatation? ( I want to add that this is an ONLY CAT clinic...if that matters?)
Can you recommend a probiotic used for humans and a dosage? Fortiflora on amazon for $20 and this is one i took note of reading someone else's post.

I also want to add that he was tested negative and dewormed during the month of Nov/Dec, according to his paperwork...
also want to add...Petey will eat ANYTHING foodwise
No blood/mucous, very active, gaining weight...

Originally Posted by silva_unt

I also want to add that he was tested negative and dewormed during the month of Nov/Dec, according to his paperwork...
also want to add...Petey will eat ANYTHING foodwise

No blood/mucous, very active, gaining weight...

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This sounds EXACTLY like what we've been going through with Calvin. We are currently trying California Natural because it has limited ingredients, but you seem to have already done that. Perhaps grain-free dry? The way I figured out that it was the dry was by stopping it altogether and feeding only wet to Calvin and things cleared up. That may be something you can try. Then if you see that the dry food is the issue, you can experiment with various brands and see what suits you. He, too, had 2 fecal analyses with all negatives and 1 course of metro and 1 course of panacur.

I wanted to avoid grain free DRY as I've read that can lead to UTI?? not 100% though...I do know that Welness Core was way to rich for Neko when she was a kitten. I had problems with ther as a kitten too, but she was much easier to treat. She DID have worms which we treated and she did do better on a limited ingredient food. We eventually switced to Nature's Variety Prairie and she loves all flavors. I figured if i change Petey's diet it would be to go all wet! I think i'm giong to try that next along with the probiotic. Is grain in wet the same as in the dry? Do I need to go with grain free wet all the way? Neko on the other hand would not be happy if i took her dry away! She is so use to eating her dry in the morning and wet in the evening! I ran out of dry food yesterday and tried serving them wet food this evening... Neko would only eat half a 3oz and was on strike before I left the house this morning. I felt so bad leaving her without more to eat! I'll be getting her dry this evening along with 6oz cans of wet for Petey...
Calvin&I, did you every try the probiotic? If so, which one?


Thanks

If you want, I can meet you somewhere and give you some DiaGel... It has been a MIRACLE for Bugsy, pretty much taking care of his diarrhea that he had for 4 months, when nothing else worked! It worked wonders for Bluerexandbear too... As you know, I am in Dallas... It is costly, $12 each, But I will be happy to give you 2 of them - it is all you will need if it works PM me

Originally Posted by silva_unt

I wanted to avoid grain free DRY as I've read that can lead to UTI?? not 100% though...I do know that Welness Core was way to rich for Neko when she was a kitten. I had problems with ther as a kitten too, but she was much easier to treat. She DID have worms which we treated and she did do better on a limited ingredient food. We eventually switced to Nature's Variety Prairie and she loves all flavors. I figured if i change Petey's diet it would be to go all wet! I think i'm giong to try that next along with the probiotic. Is grain in wet the same as in the dry? Do I need to go with grain free wet all the way? Neko on the other hand would not be happy if i took her dry away! She is so use to eating her dry in the morning and wet in the evening! I ran out of dry food yesterday and tried serving them wet food this evening... Neko would only eat half a 3oz and was on strike before I left the house this morning. I felt so bad leaving her without more to eat! I'll be getting her dry this evening along with 6oz cans of wet for Petey...
Calvin&I, did you every try the probiotic? If so, which one?


Thanks

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I do not give strictly grain free wet to my kitties. But the only "grain" they get is rice (not brewer's rice). I have heard about the UTI issue (or is it blockage?) but not too sure. Calvin did not tolerate any grain free dry food so far, so if California Natural is something he tolerates, it will not be grainfree. Plus they only get between 1/8 and 1/4 cup dry. As for wet food, I have wellness grain frees, Fancy Feast fish and shrimp (I think grain free), a couple of merrick's (grain free) and a Trader Joe's (has rice) in circulation. I am very new at this and still learning but I know there are many, and Sharky especially, who know a lot about nutrition. 1 once read in some thread that someone said that feeding the worst of the wets is better than the best of the dry kibbles. I would avoid any wets with wheat gluten, corn, soy, brewer's rice and by products (meals are fine, as far as I understand).
We did give Calvin fortiflora but that did not help at all.

I, too, have heard about UTI and grain-free and am worried about that. But I finally found a food that Pipsqueak can have normal hard poops on, and that is Wellness Core. I feed all my cats about 3/4 quarters wet (varieties, Wellness, Fancy Feast Fish/Shrimp, Evo, Solid Gold) and 1/4 quarter of the Wellness Core Dry. All of my cats have very normal poops and I have never found a cat food before that worked this well in the poop department.

I just know that it is not normal to have stinky, soft poops and you have to find out what diet works for your cat. I bet with your kitty, it is diet related.

IT IS DIET RELATED!!!! WOOO...but knocking on wood that I'm not speaking too soon...
As I mentioned on an earlier post, I ran out of dry so... night before last they had their normal wet food serving for dinner. Yesterday morning they had wet food instead of their normal dry and then that evening was their normal serving of wet. So three wet meals in a row, no dry since mon morning and he had normal stool yesterday evening!!!!!!! Was that too soon to tell? or coincidence?

It sounds like you're onto something! I'd keep feeding canned only and eliminate the dry and see what happens over the next several days. Then, you could try reintroducing the dry and see if you get the runny poops.

He had good formed stools last night too Glad I can stop worrying and saved some money in the process! He now eats 6oz in the morning and 6oz in the evening...yet he demands for more!! I'm starting to notice a tummy yet he's so active!! Possibly even more hyper now that his tummy is feeling better