I need some help / suggestions on cat diarrhea

Hello,

Alright, here a little back story. My girlfriend has this cat that is special needs "Deaf" and quite troubled. He used to be a children's therapy cat because he has just the greatest mild warming personality i have ever seen in a cat. I met him when i started volunteering at a shelter and she ended up adopting him since he kept getting returned by the handful of people that have adopted him over the past 2 years.

I know quite a bit about cats and their mannerisms but this one gets me. He has had diarrhea for the past 10 months and nothing so far has helped him. We have changed his food to raw, grain free, sensitive stomach, limited ingredients, and basically anything of quality. Which has changed his personality a little, since he can't hear he doesn't realize his meow is just a scream at the top of his lungs which is a constant thing between 2-4am everyday. He used to bite his hair our a lot so we thought he was stressed out about something, calming collar and home made essential oil therapy candles have helped create a calming atmosphere which has helped immensely. I believe he gets separation anxiety from humans which cannot be controlled. Anyways, could not figure else what it can be, checked his poop too and no signs a visual parasites. Took him to the vet and now he has been on and off several medications for "Gastrointestinal" issues since the vet said that would most likely be it, made things worst and the vet actually suggested a few things, which included giving him up or putting him down, i let immediately left and would honestly question his cridentials... 

Are there any cheaper alternatives i can go about? I've been considering getting X-rays or other tests done to make sure its not cancerous, or kidney / liver disease. My funds for this are becoming less and less with all that we have been trying to do for him so I'm not sure if we could take him in for that.

Please help us,

What a pretty boy! Has he had a PCR panel done? The vet can do this and it can oftentimes pick up parasites that are missed under a simple slide examination as is usually done in the vets office. Under no circumstances would I put an otherwise healthy cat down for diarrhea and I agree with your decision to find another vet. Ask for the panel or if you cannot afford it, ask the vet about trying some simple things like a 5 day course of metronidazole (Flagyl) in the absence of coccidia or roundworms. Perhaps a round of Panacur as giardia is often undetectable. We had a cat wih chronic diarrhea and after being treated for coccidia, worms, and giardia, she atill had it. A five day round of Flagyl was enough to heal the inflammation in her intestines and the diarrhea settled down. Also add a tsp of plain purée pumpkin (plain canned pumpkin which is super cheap) to his regular canned food. Pumpkin does wonders to firm up diarrhea. My suggestion for the PCR panel is because it can detect parasites that are less common such as t foetus which often causes no symptoms other than chronic diarrhea and which can be treated wih appropriate medications. I cannot stress enough how helpful pumpkin can be...just make sure it's plain (not pumpkin pie filling wih spices added)

He has not had the PCR panel done, I will definitely look into that. I feel like he is just falling apart and nothing seems to help. The vet was the "Suggested" Vet that the shelter would go through, which now I'm wondering if its just because its very affordable but may be a less effective route. I had to put my one female cat on a roundworm treatment which helped her, she had softer stool but not liquid and was throwing up. Once she started doing that over a year ago i looked through her stuff and saw actual baby worms so that was a given. His however doesn't have anything that the human eye can see. I just miss him beautiful face too, he look thinner and kind of worn down since these pictures, poor kid. I appreciate the info and will see what my local vet thinks about it.

have you tried probiotics yet like benebac or fortiflora? you can mix those in their food with the pumpkin and you can use a tiny bit of immodium but you need to ask a vet for the dose. prozac would help with the seperation anxiety if OTC aids don't help (like feliway)..

Yes, he has been on benebac before but not fortiflora (I will look into that). He was on a prozac type medicine for a few weeks but it would make him pass out for like a full day and he looked like a zombie for a few days after, very frightening The one he is on now kind of helps (would have to check for the name), just makes him tired which seems to make him more ok with the fact that no one but the other cats are around. 

He could still have worms or some other parasite that is not visible to the naked eye. Not always will you see worms. And if he's uncomfortable with all this diarrhea I would suspect that could be contributing to his "anxiety" issues. It's all together possible that once he feels better his temperament will improve.

That was my first thought when it came to this but it took a little convincing on my girlfriends part. I explained that my female still had worms after a few treatments, and that she came from the same agency. Ive convinced her to let me buy this for her "Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets Fortiflora Probiotic Cat Supplement". The reviews sound promising to say the least. She doesn't really want to put him on a worm cycle without seeing a vet but she wants to go back to that vet that i mentioned earlier since its affordable, not happy about that. But if they can just run a fecal test and not screw that up ill be happy. Thanks again for the help.