Kitty with stinky poo

I have a Bengal.  She's my third.  I lost my first two last year and I was a breeder so I had the Mama and her daughter.  They both died of cancer within 9 mos of each other - Mama only being 15 1/2 and daughter not quite 14.  In between the passing of my girls I bought a 17 week old female Bengal who was eating Royal Canin Adult Siamese brand dry food and raw chicken thighs.  A former Bengal breeder myself, I do not believe in feeding these cats raw food.  And I as shocked that she was being fed Adult Siamese dry food as a 17 week old kitten.  Her poop smell was (and still is) absolutely hideous.  She also has gas on occasion but don't we all!

In any case, I had her poop tested for Giardia because that's what it smelled like, and she had it.  I gave her two rounds of Flagyl and it did nothing. I have since changed her food to the Wellness Original mixed with the Indoor cat formula, to no avail.  This poop is absolutely horrendous smelling.

I'm not working and the vet is so expensive but, I feel strongly that something is wrong and I want to get it fixed.  Does anyone have any suggestions on another food, or should I have her poop tested again or have her wormed or what?  I'm at a loss.  I'm out of work and living with my parents and their big dog, so she only has two (rather large) rooms to run in.  Both of which stink to high heaven after she poops.  Please help before I suffocate because you know she mostly poops at night!

Any and all suggestions are welcome!  Thank you so much.

Hi there,

I'm so sorry for your recent loss. For your first two to pass on so early in life is so tragic to hear.

I've no real experience with Bengals, but I've heard that Bengal's stools are naturallly smellier than other types of felines, for some reason. Is your girl's stools soft or diarrhea like or normal "logs"? If it's soft/diarrhea, it may be worth looking into doing further tests with your vet.

I've had a PCR diarrhea panel done after dropping off stool samples (came out clean twice), tested for Giardia (results were negative), and administered probiotics and digestive enzymes in his food with no results. I had to resort to adding fiber like canned pumpkin or slippery elm bark to control his diarrhea, but it was becoming tiresome and only masked his symptoms. I realized I had to find the underlying cause, no matter what, despite the fact my cat was acting fine otherwise--running around, playing, eating and drinking as normal. Finally, I did the diarrhea panel, and was found he had two types of bugs in his system, one a protozoa, the other bacterial. The PCR diarrhea panel is not an inexpensive test, however. I think it cost me about $200 or so, I can't recall. After administering the right antibiotics, my cat's stools returned to normal, thank goodness.

If finances are a current issue, I'd suggest to look up CareCredit. They offer no interest fees, unlike a typical credit card. Here is the link:

http://www.carecredit.com/

Best wishes to you and your kitty; please keep us updated, and hang in there!  

Bengalmama58 said:

 
I have a Bengal.  She's my third.  I lost my first two last year and I was a breeder so I had the Mama and her daughter.  They both died of cancer within 9 mos of each other - Mama only being 15 1/2 and daughter not quite 14.  In between the passing of my girls I bought a 17 week old female Bengal who was eating Royal Canin Adult Siamese brand dry food and raw chicken thighs.  A former Bengal breeder myself, I do not believe in feeding these cats raw food.  And I as shocked that she was being fed Adult Siamese dry food as a 17 week old kitten.  Her poop smell was (and still is) absolutely hideous.  She also has gas on occasion but don't we all!

In any case, I had her poop tested for Giardia because that's what it smelled like, and she had it.  I gave her two rounds of Flagyl and it did nothing. I have since changed her food to the Wellness Original mixed with the Indoor cat formula, to no avail.  This poop is absolutely horrendous smelling.

I'm not working and the vet is so expensive but, I feel strongly that something is wrong and I want to get it fixed.  Does anyone have any suggestions on another food, or should I have her poop tested again or have her wormed or what?  I'm at a loss.  I'm out of work and living with my parents and their big dog, so she only has two (rather large) rooms to run in.  Both of which stink to high heaven after she poops.  Please help before I suffocate because you know she mostly poops at night!

Any and all suggestions are welcome!  Thank you so much.

Click to expand...

Two rounds of Flagyl is not sufficient.  Normal protocol is usually around 7+ days, but many strains of Giardia are now resistant to Flagyl so a lot of vets are using a 7 day protocol of Panacur (Fenbendazole)

See this article: http://www.showcatsonline.com/x/giardia-how-to-eliminate-it.shtml