Chronic Diarrhea - Advice wanted!!

Hi. If anyone can offer any advice, I'd be tremendously grateful. I've been dealing with vets for a few weeks, but I'm hoping maybe I can find something new or some kind of "home remedy" that could be helpful. I'm going to give a lot of background to try to give you as clear a picture as possible.

My cat, B, is a female, age 9, spayed, not a purebreed. I've had her since age 1 1/2. She's been an entirely indoor cat all of this time. She's been mostly healthy overall. About 2-3 months ago, she began having diarrhea. First, just loose, then it became looser and looser. I had not changed food and there were no major changes in our lives or in my home. No changes. She was behaving normally other than the diarrhea, and eating normally. Then, maybe 3 weeks ago, she started to decline slightly. I went to the vet. They did blood tests and tested her stool. No problems noted. They gave me prescription food, the I/D variety. I gave that to her, but it didn't seem to make any difference. Maybe a week or so later, I went back to the vet. They gave me metronidazole liquid. I gave it to her, after a few days, no change. Still diarrhea. But her behavior overall was still normal. (Stay with me - sorry for the long story!!)

Last week, Wed. or Thurs., the diarrhea worsened and there was a decent amount of blood in it. THAT had never happened before. Also, my cat seemed that she was not able to control when or where she "went." It would come out, anywhere. Of course, stool always smells, but this smelled REALLY bad. I was very worried - back to the vet. Also, she was lethargic and not eating at that time. The vet weighed her, and  I was even more seriously SCARED to learn that she weighed only 5.7 lbs. She is a normal, regular-sized cat. Her regular weight is probably about 9-10 lbs. More tests - another blood test.. They hydrated her, which seemed to help. They recommended that I follow up with a specialist.

The next day, I went to the specialist. This was July 3, so obviously, I knew the only access I would have to a vet's office on July 4 would be the emergency vet office (open 24 hours and also where the specialist is). There was no way I was going to wait 2 whole days before having my cat tested further, so when I went to the emergency vet and they reviewed my regular vet's report, they admitted her. They did a bunch of tests: an ultrasound, a B12 something, and another test to see if the intestine was producing some kind of enzyme. Her WBC is high, so they know something is definitely up, but these methods produced NO definite diagnosis. I couldn't believe it. I brought her home the night of July 4. She was doing much better, in some ways. She had a great appetite, and she even took her medications! Now, we are doing metronidazole (again), Zanequin and Tylisol powder. It has been about 5-6 full days that she's been on these meds. The diarrhea is possibly less frequent, but it is still there.

Last discussion with the vet: the next step would be an intestinal biopsy to see if there is some type of cancer. It will be very expensive, of course. I'm not sure what to do, although I want my cat to be BETTER, no matter what. If they do this biopsy and can't control the diarrhea anyway, I will be very upset. 

I am asking if anyone has experienced anything similar, or have you had a cat that had an intestinal biopsy? 

PLEASE share any and all advice you can. Also, if your cat had diarrhea and you found a particular food very helpful, let me know. 

Thank you!!!!! 

Oh my....your poor kitty!     I'm so sorry you're going through this. It seems like you really covered a lot of ground up until this point, so kudos to you for that. Okay, so I have questions....

• What were the results of the ultrasound? They didn't see anything unusual?
• Was the special enzyme test the one for pancreatitis?
• So her liver enzymes are all okay?
• When you brought her home on the night of July 4, you said she was doing better and had a great appetite. Was something given to her while at the emergency vet / specialist? Can you possibly pinpoint why she may have felt better at that time?
• What food were you feeding when this all started? Is this the same food she's had all her life? Have you checked for recalls or researched similar complaints with the food?

My cat Sebastian has a pretty complicated case of chronic pancreatitis and IBD that we've been dealing with for the past two years. Since a lot of vets like to try to pinpoint potential food allergies as the cause of these issues, they put him on Royal Canin Selected Protein PR (pea and rabbit) canned food as a "novel" protein. He did well on this for a long time. I've since moved on to Nature's Variety Rabbit Formula canned food as part of a rotation.

You could try a bland diet for several days - plain cooked meat or meat baby food - and see how she does. It may not make a difference if she's got something more serious going on.

We were offered the option of a biopsy, but I declined. I hope your kitty doesn't have cancer.

I've not personally had this issue with my cats,but I do agree that trying bland diet for a few days, possibly up to a week, might be helpful to see if it changes anything.  Don't do it for too long as it's not nutritionally complete, but it will at least give her intestinal tract a break, and possibly even let us know that it is food related.

I am going to refer you to this thread, which explains how to make a really good bland food, complete with some Slippery Elm Bark and probiotics to help.  This thread assumes the cat has parasites, but you can just ignore that part of it..(unless....is it possible she has T-Foetus?  I know she is an indoors only cat, but I've read that some indoor cats apparently can get this, and it's very difficult to diagnose.  Most Vets never check!)    http://www.thecatsite.com/t/253036/help-explosive-poop#post_3291827.  And also, if you don't have the Aloe Juice referenced, don't worry about using any....you can do some or all or what is reference.  Any bit helps. 

Hi. Thank you for your response! I've been trying to write down everything they tell me over the phone or in person. Let me see here.

• What were the results of the ultrasound? They didn't see anything  unusual?

I think they said the intestinal wall did NOT appear thick. They said they did not see a tumor. I think those were the main things they told me. 

• Was the special enzyme test the one for pancreatitis?  I'm not sure - it was the B12 test, and I was incorrect in what I wrote yesterday. They actually got those results back TODAY and told me the intestine is NOT absorbing something it should be absorbing. That is pretty significant, I think. I did not know about that before today.  
• So her liver enzymes are all okay? YES, I am pretty sure they said the liver and kidneys are both fine. The problem seems to be related to the intestines. 
• When you brought her home on the night of July 4, you said she was doing better and had a great appetite. Was something given to her while at the emergency vet / specialist? Can you possibly pinpoint why she may have felt better at that time? They had her on IV antibiotics and fluids. I'm not sure if it is the same meds they sent me home with (metronidazole and zanequin). She has been fairly good since then. She IS eating. She is a bit less active than usual, but she isn't a super active cat to begin with. Her activity is pretty normal - she isn't sleeping MORE than usual. 
• What food were you feeding when this all started? Is this the same food she's had all her life? Have you checked for recalls or researched similar complaints with the food? , Yes, I've stuck with the same food. Meow Mix cans and/or fancy feast cans. My 2 cats like certain varities best - the gravy ones. I vary the flavors a little bit, but mostly chicken or turkey, and they do love fish. I know fish isn't always good for them, so I wonder if that could be part of the problem. I tried one formula with chicken and rice, since rice can be binding. I am still using some combination of these foods. She rarely eats dry, but I do have dry available, too - the IAMS sensitive stomach. 

Thank you again for your advice! I hope to God it isn't cancer... but the Dr. seems confident that endoscopy will pinpoint the issue. I'm not wild about it, and I am less wild about the more invasive surgical biopsy. I'm waiting a few more days and then I will decide. I don't want to put her through any unnecessary,painful and/or uncomfortable procedures.I honestly just want to be as close to 100% sure endosopy will tell us EVERYTHING, and that it would be a smart choice to go through with it. thank you again!! I hope you and your kitties have a great day. 

Okay, no thickening and no tumor is good. It sounds like perhaps her cobalamin (B12) levels are low. Does that sound correct from your notes? So what we have to go with right now is chronic diarrhea and low cobalamin (maybe), which could be possible indicators of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or lymphoma (cancer), and my guess is this is your vet's thought as well, hence the biopsy.

I'll be honest, within the past couple of month, I seemed to be reading more and more reports of Fancy Feast causing digestive upset (vomiting and/or diarrhea). I'm not a fan of Meow Mix either. Just a few weeks ago, my Caesar got awful diarrhea from Fancy Feast when he didn't have an issue with it before (in rotation with other canned foods). Maybe it's nothing....or maybe something's going on.     Is B a fussy eater? If I was in your situation, I'd probably try the homemade bland diet or a higher quality "limited ingredient" canned food.

Let us know what you decide!

Hey Jen,

I am new to a lot of what you are going through. If you would like, just read my very long post about Artie. 

I am now in the process of weaning him off some of his meds. He was placed on a novel protein diet. He has done great up until the past week end. 

You can pm me or respond on here if you would like. 

Artie has been diagnosed with IBD. He has constipation... He is 11 yrs old. 

I know how you feel because I have felt the same and are still having issues this past week. 

People here are very helpful.

There are a couple schools of thoughts on treating IBD. One is to stick with one novel protein. When they become allergic to that one, switch to another.  

They say IBD is caused by an allergy to food or products in food.

Another newer thought is to rotate food, to keep them from getting allergic to it. Supplement with holistic type of things: probiotics, slippery elm bark--in addition to medications. 

This is what I have found out since May. 

There is a website called IBDKitties. And it is on facebook also. 

 luck with all of this..my head is spinning right now.

GoHolistic said:

I'll be honest, within the past couple of month, I seemed to be reading more and more reports of Fancy Feast causing digestive upset (vomiting and/or diarrhea). I'm not a fan of Meow Mix either. Just a few weeks ago, my Caesar got awful diarrhea from Fancy Feast when he didn't have an issue with it before (in rotation with other canned foods). Maybe it's nothing....or maybe something's going on.  

  Is B a fussy eater? If I was in your situation, I'd probably try the homemade bland diet or a higher quality "limited ingredient" canned food.

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I second GoHolistic's recommendation of trying other foods. The Fancy Feast gravy foods and Meow Mix are loaded with wheat gluten, which can cause problems. It can be tough to identify the source of a food sensitivity but going grain-free would be my first step since that's pretty easy. If that doesn't help, I'd look at getting away from the chicken and turkey, too.

Our previous cat had (sporadically, over the years) symptoms similar to B's (it started with very occasional bloody stools) and was never properly diagnosed. Just taking her off foods with grains (she also loved Fancy Feast gravy foods) and fish helped reduce her diarrhea and vomiting significantly in her last months. This can all be very individual, but Weruva foods seemed to work particularly well for her. Brooksie lived to be at least 17, despite her probable IBD and all sorts of other diseases, but I wish I'd known ten years ago what I knew now about cat food and nutrition.

Artiemom said:

There is a website called IBDKitties. And it is on facebook also.

Click to expand...

I also heartily recommend the IBDKitties site, which was very helpful for us, too.

Just ask if you want food recommendations!