My skinny little pumpkin

I have a little orange tabby names Pumpkin.  She is just a little over a year old.  We adopted her from a RESCUE group along with another orange tabby male (about same age named Fred).  We have had them in our home since December.  Pumpkin is lanky and very thin and getting thinner.  She was tested for FELV and FIV multiple times and all came back negative.  She was tested in December for baseline reading on complete blood workup.  Her stool was always loose.  They tested her stool for parasites, etc and always negative (tested twice).  They gave her antibiotics due to some slight indication of infection - this caused diarhia - which she definitely does not need.  We have given her Activia and now Probiotics but she still has diarhia.  Most recent blood work indicated all in normal range except HIGH platelet count, HIGH lymphocytes, and HIGH ALT(SGPT).  I read that the HIGH platelet count could be the result of inflammation of the digestive tract - hence the loose stool and now diarhia.  the HIGH ALT could be inflammatory bowell disease - prob the diarhia.  The HIGH lymphoctyes could be result of fear or sudden stress - which could be caused by Fred as he is extremely playful and is always wanting to play but she does not feel good.  Also, he playfully jumps on her and nips at her to play but she is getting so bony that I am sure that is painful.  She is on a good wet catfood - recommended by the vet and rarely eats dry food but is on Purina naturals also recommended by the vet.  I NEED HELP GETTING HER BETTER - she is so skinny and she did lose weight between the Dec visit/bloodwork and the recent one.  Ideas???

Hi and welcome to TCS. Sorry to hear that Pumpkin is not doing well. I am assuming that the blood work ruled out hyperthyroidism, which would be pretty rare in a cat that young anyway? If so, I would think it's a malabsorption issue, either from IBD or from EPI. While pancreatic insufficiency is fairly rare, it is something to consider. Does she have any other issues other than weight loss and diarrhea? Any vomiting?

what is her diet currently? If there is any dry food in her diet, I would cut that out entirely and try a very limited ingredient diet to rule out any food related inflammation. You could try a simple boiled chicken diet for a few days as well to see if the diarrhea goes away.

The other possible is something like giardia which seems to be very common these days. Or possibly clostridium. I think these need special tests as they are harder to detect.

The vet said she does not have hyperthyroidism. What is IBD?  Or EPI?  She mostly has had the soft stool that became diarhia when she got an antibiotic shot.  Relatively recently she has started throwing up some - but it is not consistent and not every time she eats.  She is very vocal and meows about every three or four hours because she is hungry.  She has been eating ProPlan wet food and even though dry food - Purina naturals is available  we never see her eating it.  Mostly Fred eats it and not that much either.  What is giardia or clostriduium?  I am sorry - I dont' know much about diseased animals.  I have had cats since I was a little girl and most of them live to be well over 15 years (one till 23).  Within the last three years we have lost four cats - two litermates to fatty liver disease, one of very old age, and one to cancer.  We are starting over with these two little sweethearts and while Fred is stocky and very healthy, Pumpkin is struggling.  We will try the chicken.

Another thought - if this is stress induced due to Fred's playful attacks, is there anything she can take that will help her to be less stressed?  All advice or direction is appreciated.

IBD is short for the Inflammatory Bowel Disease your vet mentioned. It does sound like this is most likely cause. This is a link to a really helpful resource on IBD in cats (http://ibdkitties.net/). Although IBD is difficult to diagnose, you can ask the vet to treat the symptoms. A very common medication for IBD is prednisolone. If she reacts well to it, then it is most likely IBD. Another important thing to address is diet. With IBD cats, something is causing the inflammation in the gut. With diet, the idea is to eliminate as many possible triggers for that inflammation. In general, you want to avoid all grains, starchy vegetables and fish as they are species-inappropriate ingredients anyway. It would also help to use a novel protein, something your cat has not had before, like venison, duck, lamb, etc. I would also recommend a good multi-strain probiotic, like this one.
EPI is short for Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency. It does require a special test to diagnose. The symptoms do seem to fit although it is more rare than IBD.

http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dv...ore-com/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/807422

Here is some information on giardia and clostridium. I'm not sure how likely these are, but they seem to be more common lately, and again, they are more difficult to diagnose.

http://www.cat-world.com.au/giardia-in-cats

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/digestive/c_ct_clostridial_enterotoxicosis#.UjssSnDnZjo

Stress is always a possible trigger for health issues in cats. You can try using a Feliway pheromone diffuser and/or trying calming essences like Bach's Rescue Remedy or Spirit Essences by Jackson Galaxy.