Mysterious diarrhea still recurring 6 months after dental surgery

My cat, Scully, is a spayed, 5-year old domestic shorthair. Indoor only. We rescued her 2 years ago when she was approximately 3 years old. 

For the 1.5 years we had her, Scully never had any digestive issues. She was on a limited Natural Balance diet, mostly duck & pea, because our other cat has a sensitive tummy and it was convenient to feed them the same thing. Scully never had diarrhea that first 1.5 years.

Scully did, however, have bad teeth, including a chipped fang, so about 6 months ago we took her in for major dental surgery. She did great with the surgery and anesthesia - she was eating again right away, and didn't seem to be in too much pain.  All her dental issues are resolved.

However, the very next day after the surgery, she started having explosive, watery diarrhea. Our vets said it was probably from the antibiotic she was on, (ZydaClin - Clindamycin hydrochloride) and said we should stop giving it to her. We did, and there was no change. Our main vet prescribed FortiFlora and Metronidazole "to get her back on track," and she responded to it immediately. Within a day, her stools firmed up, and we were feeling much better. We finished the treatment, and then.... the diarrhea came back.  The vet recommended trying the same treatment again for a longer period of time, and we did - same thing happened. She improved while she was on the medication, stopped the medication, and the diarrhea came back. We tried Tylan next to see if it would clear it up for good. She hates the taste of that one, but she again responded well, and again the diarrhea returned as soon as she went off of it.

It has now been 6 months since the surgery. She has not had a single solid stool when she was off of the medication - the day after she goes off medication, her stool will be soft, and 2 days later it will be liquid. She is still on a limited diet that can't really get more limited.

The other thing that is new since the dental surgery: frequent, large hairballs. These continue even when she is on medication, which make us uneasy with that as a long-term solution. Just to throw another complication in the mix.

Her appetite is good.

This whole situation has us really concerned, but we have had countless trips to the vet, and we can't keep pouring money into it. Do we just force-feed her meds for the rest of her life? We just want her to be healthy again.

Any advice or insights would help. Thanks.

I am hoping you have had a basic fecal sample done? If so, have you had a fecal culture sent out to see if she contracted one of the more difficult to diagnose parasites/Protozoans?

How is she with a probiotic alone? Have you looked into a probiotic other thanFortiflora?

As much as I know you don't want to, have you tried a different brand of food with her? Blue Buffalo and Nature's Variety Instinct both make limited ingredient diets. I use the latter.

Is she on dry food, wet or both? If not already on, have you tried her on a canned food only diet?

Update: okay, strangely enough, I think all she was waiting for was me to post on a forum about it!      We have not put her back on the Tylan or any meds, but shortly after I posted, her next stool was slightly less runny, and over the last 3 days, she has returned to passing normal, solid stools! Perhaps her body just needed a bit of time to adjust to being medication-free--I have no idea. 

CatPack, thanks for your response. If the diarrhea returns, I will speak to the vet about a fecal sample first thing. I am wondering why my vet didn't recommend it earlier. Perhaps it was because Scully was responding so quickly to the medication, or perhaps it was an attempt to save us money. I will gently ask the next time we see her.

My cat is having the same issue currently after dental surgery ! It’s making me crazy! How’s your cat since ? Anymore problems ?

We are having similiar issues with our boy who is 7. Dec 18th had most of his teeth removed and has had diarrhea every since. like above, couple rounds of antibiotics, did the stool lab check, came out clean. very minor additions to his food, basically on the same wet and dry food as he has been on for years.

Said next they would want an ultrasound. we are already at $4k in vet bills over 2 months and this seems crazy. they recommended the vet canned food diets, which we really don't want to do as he is VERY picky with what he will eat.

S SFWolf13 Welcome to TCS! I'm glad you joined the site but sorry your boy is having similar problems with teeth extraction followed by diarrhea. Just out of curiosity, have you asked the vet why they want an ultrasound? If so, what was their explanation?

It would be in your best interest to post a new thread in the Cat Health forum in order to get more replies since this is a very old thread, i.e. 2015. Best of luck, please keep us posted on your cat.