Kitten - Blood Work For Litter Box and Soft Stool Issues

tkaner

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I have a six month old kitten I adopeted from a shelter, and she has soft stool and tends to cycle through litter box urination avoidance issues. Seh has been to the vet and has had diarrhea tests and panels (both) She has also had the urinolysis and culture. The vet thinks blood work is not necessary on the gorunds that a kitten shold not have positive results for things normally only showing up in boood work.

What do you folks think?
 

stephanietx

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Has she been tested for worms, giardia, t. foetus? What are you feeding her? It could be too rich for her system.
 
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tkaner

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She has had fecal analysis and a diarrhea panel. Wopld that have detected those things? She is on Hills I/D. Foetus is a new one to me. There is no more liquid or very soft stool. It isis still soft, but does not stick to the litter scoop.
 

ldg

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Unfortunately, a fecal won't necessarily turn up parasties, especially if they're protozoan (giardia, coccidia, toxoplasmosis, t. foetus, others). With rescue kitties, it's just best to assume they have something.

Here's info on t. foetus: http://www.fabcats.org/breeders/info...ichomonas.html

Even a cat with something as "obvious" as round worm won't necessarily have a fecal sample test positive. One of our recently rescued kitties threw up a round worm. We took in a fecal, and it tested negative. But we knew he had them!

Basically it's best just to treat them and not worry about "negative" fecals if there's an issue with unresolved diarrhea/soft stools. Unfortunately t. foetus is generally resistant to the standard treatments (which include Panacur (fenbendazole) or Flagyl (metronadizole)).

Of course, it could be a food sensitivity. Some cats have a problem with various proteins or grains. When our kitty's diarrhea didn't resolve after he'd been properly treated for parasites over several months, we switched him to an anti-allergan diet of the Hill's z/d. It's not meant for kittens, which would be a concern.... but that's something to discuss with your vet. It uses a hydrolyzed chicken protein, so even if chicken is a problem, it shouldn't trigger a reaction.

Something simple to try is fasting your kitty for 24 hours, then feeding her just plain boiled chicken and rice for a few days. If her stool firms up, you know it's a food sensitivity and not a parasite. If it doesn't - then you're where you are right now, because the problem could be the chicken, the rice, or a parasite.

But we treated for parasites with Profender (tropical) every three weeks (three times), and three courses of treatment with metro. Then we fasted him, put him on chicken and rice - and as our kitty's problem was diarrhea, we were really pleased to see soft stools after just a few days.

As to the blood work.... we do it annually anyway. We think it's good to have the baseline measurement with which to compare in the future... You won't find the reason for soft stool in blood work (usually). But it's a good way to stay on top of your cat's overall health.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by tkaner

She has had fecal analysis and a diarrhea panel. Wopld that have detected those things? She is on Hills I/D. Foetus is a new one to me. There is no more liquid or very soft stool. It isis still soft, but does not stick to the litter scoop.
Just to point this out http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...25&postcount=6

You need to read.
And yes, I just got your PM, I'd just repeat what is being told you again here.

But to be clear. Cookie is old enough to have blood work. If you can spay them, they can have blood work. In fact a cat should have blood work before spaying and any other procedures requiring anesthesia.

Blood work may tell you if she's fighting an infection (white blood cell count), or has other issues (sometimes inflammation from IBD will effect results). Again, get her kidney function checked. Her poops shouldn't smell so rotten, and neither should be be peeing like that.
Though - I have one on Hills C/D who gets stinky poops from it. But no where near rotten smelling.

Do you have copies of the paper work from the diarrhea panel? If not, get them and paper work from her other labs Monday. Find out details of the type of urinalysis done - was it just a cath collection or was it drawn with a needle?
Right now we all have to just guess at what all was done and this information may help people know what to suggest next.

Re: the home cooked meal suggestion... That may not be a bad idea but I suggest you try using a meat she doesn't usually get. Something other than chicken in case chicken is the problem. Maybe use beef.
 
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tkaner

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Would a diarrhea panel show more?
 
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