FIV+ kitty has chronic diarrhea & feline miliary dermatitis

He's has very, very runny BM since I brought him in last week..not sure how long it's been going on since he lived outside.. It's sometimes very runny but thick at the same time with mucus in it.

He has also since months before I brought him inside had patches of skin in which were covered with shinny red scabs that he obsessively licks. These are on his mid-lower back and lower back to the tail area. I've diagnosed him with having   feline miliary dermatitis as the pictures and symptoms fit.

Especially the one below is exactly what it looks like.


I also noticed upon giving him both 100% chicken wet food and 100% chicken freeze dried treats he promptly vomited. I'm thinking he has a food allergy here? Yet the entire time he was outside I fed him Meow mix (Yes I know how bad that is, but I can't afford to feed the strays the same as my indoor cats) which has chicken by product meal listed as the 3rd ingredient. I'm in the process right now trying to ween  him of the meow mix and get him fully on Blue Buffalo wilderness..along with adding in wet foods..not sure if that's a good idea with the diarrhea?

I'm not sure what to do here for either one of these issues..

The change in foods could be the cause for the loose stools. Rapidly changing dry foods often can cause issues. Almost every cat I rescued and started feeding better food to started out with loose stools at first, but resolved itself once they got used to the new food. Maybe a probiotic would help him during the transition. Going grain free is most definitely a good thing.

Has he been vet checked? He most probably also has worms.

This sounds so much like our Chumley when we first rescued him. We worked with our traditional vets for six months trying to resolve his diarrhea and itching / overgrooming. He mowed his abdomen and forelegs clean.

I highly recommend seeing if there is a holistic vet trained in Chinese Medicine that you can get to. You can search here: http://www.ahvma.org. My experience is that when it comes to malfunctioning immune systems, Chinese Medicine is superior, as Western Medicine is great at treating individual problems, but not whole systems.

Chumley was diagnosed with an "extreme spleen Qi deficiency," and an "extreme Yin deficiency." It doesn't translate into English LOL. He was treated with Chinese herbs. His diarrhea / soft stools resolved inside of four days; the herbs for the Yin deficiency made it clear inside of a week or so the were going to work for his "allergies."

Chum can now eat anything, and his stool is normal, and his coat is thick and full.

The first thing the vet had me do was start him on slippery elm bark powder, George's aloe vera juice, and a human acidophilus+bifidus supplement. Knowing whatbI do now, I recommend using a probiotic called Nexabiotic 20 strain. I'd start with 1/2 capsule am and pm, and I'd give him the slippery elm and George's aloe vera twice a day. I describe how to use them in this post:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/262749/chronic-diarrhea-and-peeing-pooping-outside-the-box#post_3388222

I know he threw up the chicken, but try poaching chicken breast, shredding it, and feeding him that with the plain broth from the poaching, some in each serving. Feed him more frequent smaller meals, like one or 1.5 ounces of chicken and the broth 4-5 times a day (any idea how much he weighs?)

And if that doesn't resolve the diarrhea, you can purchase Consolidate Qi by Kan Herb. It's a tincture that "tightens the weave." Start by adding one drop to each meal. If that's not enough, increase it to two drops. Then three drops at two of the meals. As I recall, we needed 3 drops twice a day for Chumley. I kept him on this for several months as his body healed and sorted his "energy balance" out.

If you can't find a holistic vet trained in Chinese Meds, let us know, and I'll provide further ideas.

:heart2:

...just had to add that Katluver4Life is right. I know you took Grayci to the vet, but don't know what happened once the FIV was identified. Was his stool ever checked for worms? Sent out to check for giardia or other nasties?

Whenever we rescue, we don't spend the $180 on having the PCR test done. We just assume they have the normal parasites (fleas, ticks, round worm, tapeworm) and treat for those with Frontline, droncit, and panacur or strongidT or something. If they still have diarrhea, we then treat with metronadizole, just in case it is giardia or something.

But if he didn't have flea dirt or ticks, you could just use Revolution instead of Frontline and a tablet of droncit (if those things weren't already done).