In need of help

I'm hoping someone here can give some guidance..I've racked my brains and am my wits end! I have a 10 year old cat who I've fed dry food for her whole life about three months ago she started have bloody stools so I took her to my vet who said she had giardia and gave me antibotics to give her.  After a week, they tested her stool and said that was clear but she was still having bloody stools. First they wanted to do a blood transfusion (very risky-didn't do) then they suggested a scope to see what was going on (put decided not too as they didn't want to caz internal bleeding) and finally resolved stating there was really nothing that could be done, just a matter of time. I figured I would try to make her comfortable. About a week later I noticed her licking a cement statute in my house (which the vet said they will do if they are missing nutrients).  Amazingly her bowel movements went back to normal so I decided to try & switch her food to give her more nutrients (giving her dry & wet).  About a month later, the bloody stools came back and she now itches & licks herself (almost like a nervous twitch).  Also when I moved into my fiances' house every once in awhile her front paws would swell. Now when she jumps down from things she babies her one front paw - I think perhaps she has arthritis.  Right now I am more concerned with what I should feed her.  You get lots of good information but no one says what brand of food or the levels that should be in the food.  Please help I want her to be comfortable but have the nutrition she needs.

Can you find another, and better vet? Suggesting a blood transfusion for a cat who has bloody stools sounds really strange to me. Did they do a blood test, or check her out in other ways (gums, eyes) to see if she might be anemic?

From what you have said - bloody stools, itchiness, swelling, it sounds like your cat has allergies. You could try a single novel protein cat food, both wet and dry, such as venison and field peas or duck and rice, that sort of thing. After she has been on the diet for some months, try introducing ingredients from her previous diet such as chicken, turkey, grains and see if she goes back to being itchy and having bloody stools.

Yes, she might have arthritis, or she might have jarred her foot by making a bad landing. You can add Cosequin to her food and that might help.
 

Thank u for ur advice, they did send her blood out and it came back low but they felt it was caz of her blood loss through the stools. I was thinking of trying the Blue Buffalo food (wet)...do u think that would be good.  Unfortunately I was giving her Science Diet and now am reading how bad it is and am hoping she is too far gone, she is eating normal but she was about 13 lbs three months ago but has now lost considerable weight.

From what I can gather online, Blue Buffallo for cats is based on chicken and turkey. In order to test for allergies, you want to use a food that is both grain free and has a novel protein. So, instead of grain, choose one with rice. Instead of chicken, turkey, fish or beef, choose one with venison, duck, lamb, rabbit. As with all new foods,  you need to introduce the new food slowly. In addition, you might want to add a little pumpkin to the wet food, about half-a-teaspoon is enough and they can barely taste such a small amount. Use pure canned pumpkin with no other ingredients, never pie filling. 

Was your cat on Metronidazole for the giardia, or something else? She could be put back on Metronidazole for a longer period because it calms the lining of the intestines and might reduce the inflammation and bleeding.
 

Will do...yes, it was - she won't take the pill form so ended up giving liquid. I still have some leftover (doesn't that medicine caz neurological issues though?)

What does the pumpkin do??

When I do switch over from the wet food (choice cuts, Whiska) to the new, do I mix them or just give small amounts of the new wet food...same with dry? Hope I am making sense...just unsure as she was on dry food only for 10 yrs and just started the wet, so want to do this right, don't want to mess her system up more.

I would check with your vet first to make sure he is okay with continuing the Metronidazole. Yes, it does have side effects, as do all drugs, and you will need to assess (with the help of your vet) if you believe it is worth the small risk. I don't like giving it but it's worked extremely well each time my vet has persuaded me to use it on my cats. Zazesh has been on it for several months with no obvious ill effects.

The pumpkin adds fibre to the diet which will help with the waste matter passing through the lower intestines more quickly and smoothly.

Yes, mix both wet and dry new foods with the old. In the case of your cat, I would take a week to make the switch, adding a little more of the new to the old each day.  She will have some diarrhoea, that's only natural, but if you have added pumpkin it will help with that problem. Yogurt, plain, is good for an upset system also and most cats like it - not the low fat, and definitely not the no fat, but they love the full fat plain version if you can find it.

Please keep us updated and good luck.
 

Ok, quick update...Friday I purchased Evangers dry cat food (pheasant/whitefish), as well as Ziwipeak canned cat food (venision). Over the weekend I have slowly introduced the dry (which she is eating) and give her alittle in her bowl when I leave for work in the morning and again before I go to bed. The canned cat food I also mixed very little with her other wet and to my surprise she liked it-I give her about one teaspoon of this first thing in the morning and when I come around 5ish and again before bed (I pretty much cut out the other wet now). Her bowel movements since Thursday nite (before I gave her the new food) went back to normal (which this has happened before) but now the itching has gotten worse..as of yesterday she has even gotten jumpy (noises that never bothered her seem to now) and the tail thumping has increased, she even jumps up and runs outta the room....if this is allegeries and IBS and I switched her food over, why has the itching progressed...I've read where cats can have hyperesthesia with these kinds of symptoms - she has two white nodules on her (vet said these are common and they don't seem to grow or bother her) - any advice...

Which Science Diet were you feeding?

Here are the ingredients in the Evangers pheasant and whitefish (before the list of supplements):

INGREDIENTS:
Pheasant, Whitefish, Sweet Potatoes, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Peas, Duck, Oatmeal, Millet, Potato Protein, Flaxseed Meal, Natural Flavor, Carrots, Celery, Beets, Parsley, Lettuce, Watercress, Spinach, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Dried Tomato Pomace, DL-Methionine, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Yucca Schidigera Extract, L-Lysine, Salt, Cranberries, Blueberries, Dried Apple Pomace,

What are the overlapping ingredients?

Was there any fish in her food previously? Much fish has higher levels of histamines, and many cats with allergies are allergic to fish.

Is there any reason you can't try feeding her just the wet food? She really doesn't need dry food.

LDG said:

Which Science Diet were you feeding?
Here are the ingredients in the Evangers pheasant and whitefish (before the list of supplements):
INGREDIENTS:
Pheasant, Whitefish, Sweet Potatoes, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Peas, Duck, Oatmeal, Millet, Potato Protein, Flaxseed Meal, Natural Flavor, Carrots, Celery, Beets, Parsley, Lettuce, Watercress, Spinach, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Dried Tomato Pomace, DL-Methionine, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Yucca Schidigera Extract, L-Lysine, Salt, Cranberries, Blueberries, Dried Apple Pomace,
What are the overlapping ingredients?
Was there any fish in her food previously? Much fish has higher levels of histamines, and many cats with allergies are allergic to fish.
Is there any reason you can't try feeding her just the wet food? She really doesn't need dry food.

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Agree with LDG, cut out the fish. Hopefully, the pet food store will let you take back the bag for a full refund.  Also, it takes about 6 weeks for the body to get rid of the irritants/allergens from previous food so you need to be patient.

And, we can only make suggestions, and never claim to be vets or have the best advice. You have to weigh up the suggestions alongside your knowledge of your cat, what your research has told you and then decide what is best.

Quick question: Did the vet test her thyroid levels?
 

Okay it sounds to me like she could have anything from an ulcer, to colitis to a protein allergy. I would switch to Nature's Variety and try one protein at a time, you've got to let this stuff get out of her system now unfortunately. Allergens can take up to 12 weeks to leave the system. Also, Flagyl (metronidazole) does have side effects but as someone said, everything does. And they don't effect every kitty. If the side effects are minor compared to what she is going through now, it's worth it. You need to weigh what's worse here. I would seek out a different vet but you may try one that has experience with food allergies because that's what it sounds like to me. I'm going to send you a few links that you can read about this very thing okay?

Shoots I forgot to mention that you may want to consider switching to a raw food diet but you still need to find out what protein is causing this. 

I appreciate everyone's advice & I understand they are only opinions and I have to do what I feel is best or consult my vet...I am considering taking her to another vet but I want to try to rule out these options first as I strongly believe it is a food allergy.

LDG - She was a stray (about 1yr old)-took her to vet, she was a healthy kittie but ate her food fast & would throw it up so I put her on SD sensitive stomach dry food. The vet said this was fine. 3 yrs ago I moved in with my fiance. Unfortunately the whole moving process affected her & she put on weight (lots) so I mixed her dry with SD Adult Light. Over the next 2 1/2 yrs her weight started to go back down gradually (honestly I was naive about the dry food & never researched as she was always fine) but then she started having bloody stools & this is where we are...during the period she was diagnosed by the vet with Giardia she wasn't eating the dry & someone suggested wet food to supplement her diet.  I tried Whiska choice cut & that is when fish was introduced to her diet but she wasn't showing any allegery signs & she liked it so I would give her 'meat' for a few days/then 'fish'. I also switched the dry to SD Natural Balance (which she did start eating the dry again) thinking it was a better dry food for her.  The stools clear up for a few weeks but come back for a few days & I noticed about a month ago the itching started but not as bad as the past two days.

I agree with you both, I believe the whitefish could be the culprit...the wet food has green lipped mussels in it but from research this appears to be ok for cats...

WhollyCat - honestly I don't recall if they tested her thyroid levels (it was about 3 months ago) I will check into this though.

I am going to cut the dry out & stick with the Ziwipeak canned & see if her symptoms improve. Right now I am giving her about 3 teaspoons a day (she licks the plate clean but still seems hungry) how much canned & how many times a day??

Ziwipeak has a feeding calculator on their website so you could use that.  It's under Pet Center.
 

Just checking in...took my girl off the dry & have been giving her the canned (Venison by ZiwiPeak) and the itching has reduced considerably-not gone but better! Over the weekend she has actually slept through the night with me (which she couldn't lay in bed with me for more than an hour without itching/licking or being jumpy). She even rolls over and lets me rub her belly so I am very happy right now. Her stools have been normal but she can go a month before that acts up..so have to wait & see on that issue.  Hopefully this is the start of my baby living out a comfortable life but will keep you updated as you never know....

That is FANTASTIC!!!   So glad to hear this! You're obviously on the right track here and so happy to hear she's doing better. It'll get even better with time, it can take up to 12 weeks for the allergens to leave the body completely. 

finnlacey said:

That is FANTASTIC!!!   So glad to hear this! You're obviously on the right track here and so happy to hear she's doing better. It'll get even better with time, it can take up to 12 weeks for the allergens to leave the body completely. 

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Aw, that is GREAT news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope she keeps feeling better and better, and that normal stools are all she'll ever know now. :bigthumb: :rub:

I'm glad to here she is stabilizing. I just want to add that I have a cat who has had Feline Hyperesthesia for most of her life so I know what your going through. Ziwipeak is a great food for allergens (with the lamb and venison formulas). One thing to keep in mind is to follow the feeding guideline as closely as you can. We put our hyperesthesic cat on it once (who was also over weight) and didn't follow the feeding guidelines because it seemed like too much food for an overweight cat and she ended up getting fatty liver (which can be lethal if not diagnosed quickly), so if it calls for over 2 cans a day, I would feed exactly that. With ours I think it called for 2.5 cans and before that she would eat 1.75 of her prescription diet so for that reason I fed her 1.5-1.75 cans which was a STUPID mistake on my part. Also if you get her off the dry, I will guarantee that she will start shedding the pounds, its a slow process, but its do-able!

Our cat also developed the white small bumps on her skin, which I believe was caused by her food sensitivity, since she would scratch them all the time in between her FHS attacks. One thing I've come to realize is that when their back's twitch like they do, its a nervous system response. So when I was researching it, I came across Omega-3 supplements which are great for reducing inflammation, and maintenance of the nervous system and heart, which is why I advocate for them so heavily. I have been giving my FHS cat omega 3's for about 2.5 months now and it has significantly reduced her bouts of FHS and her coat looks amazing! Unfortunately today many cat foods don't contain the right amounts of Omega 6:3 ratio and largely contain too much omega 6 which actually results in more inflammation.

So if your able to find a Omega-3 supplement (cat or human-but check dosage with your vet) once she's completely stabilized on her Ziwipeak, I think it would do wonders for your cat. Also the Ziwipeak may have some Omega-3's in the food already from the Green-Lipped Mussels so you may not need to supplement as often.

Also I found keeping a journal on what she's eating to be extremely helpful. That way you can look back and compare all the foods that have caused her FHS attacks and try and find a common ingredient.

All the best!!

Hi there...so its been over two months now and I am glad to report that my baby girl is still with me and we have had no more bloody stools!  She loved the ZiWiPeak cat food but I I took her off it as I found something in one of the cans of wet food that was disgusting..she is now eating Cowboy Cookout (Merricks) and though she leaves the potato bits in her bowl, she does eat it.  I still give her the Freedom Grain-Free (Blue Buffalo) and her itching seems to have subsided.

She is doing much better but I don't think she ever will be 100% back to her old self as being sick took a toll on her...I am just grateful that she greets me in the morning and when I come home from work - so everyday is a blessing until she is ready to go on her own terms & not by these manufacturers who produce poor quality cat food and keep their consumers in the dark!!!!  The only advice I can give to any pet owner is to RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH & know what your buying before you feed it to your pet!!! Thank you everyone on here for your help & support, it means alot!

Amen to that! Great news, I'm so happy!