Both cats have diarrhea at same time and vet diagnoses IBD in one

Ok. Both my cats started having diarrhea about the same time last week. Tried pumpkin and plain yogurt with a little improvement in my Po, but none in my Seffie.

I took them both to the vet this morning. I was only able to collect a fresh stool sample from Po cat, but not Seffie. They did a blood test for Seffie, but Po was freaking out and they couldn't find a vein, so no blood test for Po.

Vet said Po's stool sample came back clean, but Seffie's blood test came back with "some indications that she may have inflammatory bowel disease and allergies."

Ok...but what about Po?

Vet gave them both the same dosages for Flagyl (pill) and Endosorb (liquid).

I got worried sick about Seffie, but...wait a minute...why did they both get sick at the same time?! Inflammatory bowel disease can't time itself like that, can it?

I told the vet about finding only a few roach parts last week while cleaning, which means the cats shared a nasty little insect. I read that they can carry coccidia and/or giardia.

Should I really worry? Can a blood test be definitive about signs for inflammatory bowel disease? I know she said "indications," but sheesh! Am I freaking out too early?! 

Yeah, if they were fine before on the diet you feed them, developed diarrhea suddenly and at the same time, I don't know that THIS problem is IBD. That does sound like a bit of a stretch. I'm not familiar with Endosorb... are you giving further doses of either at home? I mean - these weren't just a one time thing, right? :dk: Metro is used to treat giardia, though apparently many strains have become resistant, and many vets are now prescribing panacur instead (just an FYI think, in case the problem doesn't clear up on the metro). Another FYI, giardia and coccidia can be difficult to detect in feces - it depends on finding cysts that were shed, and when cats have diarrhea, there's often not many of the cysts to find in the stool, even if they're present in the GI system.

Now... finding the inflammation markers in the bloodwork, however, would be a sign that there's an issue brewing.

How old are your kitties, and what are you feeding them? Because cats do best on a high protein, low carb diet. Carbs can cause inflammation, so before a problem DOES develop, you may want to consider feeding a diet that would help prevent IBD (which is the same diet a cat with IBD would eat). http://www.ibdkitties.net

Well, I was instructed to change their diet back in at thestart of December after both of them had a urinary tract infection, one right after the other. I had them on blue buffalo wet and nature's recipe dry food, but was told to try purina special diet dry and also switched to friskies special diet wet food. Seffie is 6 and Po is 5.

I'm supposed to give Endosorb until the stools return to normal and the Flagyl twice daily for five (now four) days.

I mean, if I hadn't mentioned that both cats seem to be sneezing a little more right now, I think this vet would have started Seffie on steroids right then and there. She said we should wait until this illness clears up to start Seffie on a course of them. I really don't want to resign my cat to a life of steroid dependency!!!

Seffie's always puked/had hairballs every now and then...maybe bouts with constipation, though...those things I mentioned and the vet decided on the blood test to check them.

Depending on what kind of urinary infection it was, changing foods may not help. The thing they need the most is more Water, so dry really is not preferable.
:nod:

As for the IBD, I agree it's not a disease that can really just start up at the same time.. Unless it was the food that triggered it. I would look into switching to something else.

They really don't eat a lot of dry food; I put a small amount in a forage ball during the day and a small amount out in a bowl at night so they don't forage me awake.

Even the vet didn't think the food was the problem because we'd switched about a whole month before this came on. 

I'm going to call the vet today to ask some questions about how long the Endosorb takes to work on diarrhea and how long the metronidazole/flagyl takes to work. I'll also ask about why she didn't get fresh stool from Po (she only tested my hour-old sample) and didn't bother to get a stool sample from Seffie at all. 
 

Yesterday was their first day of medication (both flagyl and endosorb)...Po still had a mushy puddle of poop this morning. Is it too soon to expect results?

P.S. I'm pretty positive they both ate off of the same roach last week; I only found a leg and some flakes of outer skeleton, but no body. Also, couldn't the inflammation she saw in Seffie's blood be caused by a parasite?

signorinasirena said:

Also, couldn't the inflammation she saw in Seffie's blood be caused by a parasite?

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I really don't know. :dk: That's another something to ask the vet. :nod:

I'm not familiar with endosorb, but metro would take a few days to work for sure. With giardia, it can take a week or more to help.

signorinasirena said:

They really don't eat a lot of dry food; I put a small amount in a forage ball during the day and a small amount out in a bowl at night so they don't forage me awake.

Click to expand...

Oh okay, yea, if the only dry they are getting is a little during the day and a little at night, that's probably not related. I still would move away from the urinary diet though because the ingredients are usually yucky. X__X

Sorry to drag up this old thread, but I think my new holistic vet (thanks, LDG, for the suggestion to try holisitic!) finally figured out what was wrong with my 2 girls, and I really wanted to share in the hopes that someone else will be helped. 

One word: Bartonella. 

Aka Cat Scratch Fever

They both started having diarrhea, got itchy, repeated respiratory infections, urinary infections...etc. All in the span of 4 months. 

The holistic vet took a lot of time and sat with me to get timelines for the illnesses/problems with each cat and ran a panel of tests for each, and ordered x-rays for my Po cat, who consistently got the respiratory infections worse and longer than my other cat, Seffie. While waiting on some of the results to come back, he gave them a good pre- & probiotic (Gentle Digest) and a holistic tincture to help ease the inflammation of the digestive systems (which he had seen on x-rays for one cat and that the other non-holistic vet had noticed in blood tests for the other). It really helped and, when the results came back, both cats were "strong positives" for Bartonella. 

Here's an information PDF on Bartonella from National Veterinary Laboratory - the place that ran the tests for Bartonella on my cats (and most cats): http://www.natvetlab.com/PDF/newsletters/Vol-2-No-3.pdf

Look at the middle column on the first page at all the different diseases that can be caused by Bartonella! 

Here's what my Seffie has: Gingivitis, URI, dermatitis, chronic diarrhea/IBD
Here's what Po has: chronic diarrhea/IBD, URI, dermatitis, heart murmur 

...also, Po's x-ray revealed that she has some tiny bladder stones, which would explain the 2 bouts with UTIs that she's had; Seffie's had one UTI, but I'm betting she has a similar issue. I know it doesn't say UTI/stones on that info sheet, but UTIs and stones are sometimes a symptom of an underlying problem, such as chronic inflammation - which is commonly caused by Bartonella. (We're going back to my awesome vet in a few weeks to see what type of stone and what sort of treatment, but that's another story!   )

So...to conclude, when in doubt with the symptoms, test for Bartonella! They're not that expensive and they help rule out or discover the cause of an underlying problem. Granted, about 40%+ of cats have some form of Bartonella or have had it and their bodies have created antibodies for it so they test positive, the vet lab has a scale of severity for positive results. BOTH of my girls came back with a "VERY STRONG POSITIVE!" rating. The scale is 1-4, with 4 being the worst; my girls were both 4+. 

...I just wanted people to know. It's a common disease, but not a lot of vets test for it. 

I'm SO glad you found the new (holistic) vet and that things went so well with this person! So often we suggest to people to get a second opinion - and it's situations like this that reinforce that. :lol3:

I'm really glad you're finally getting at the bottom of the problems! ...and just goes to show, it can really be worth it to keep pushing, to advocate for our kitties. Too many vets, I think, are willing to just say "IBD," without doing enough tests to rule out other physical causes. Of course... it never really did make sense that both kitties, unrelated, developed IBD at the exact same time.

the treatment will resolve the problems they've been having!