We have a beautiful, sweet, feisty Torti named Zuul with a severe case of Coccidia (and related constant, leaky diarrhea and minor anal prolapse). She has been leaking poo all over herself, our house and us since a few days after we got her home. It has been a month of non-stop sickness and non-stop poo now. She is about 4 months old (22 weeks) and missing out on all the adorable kitten nonsense we want for her.
Our other rescue kitten Tomo, (Nakatomi "Tomo" Mergatroid Ferguson) is doing well and helps keep her company but we are seriously at our wit's end.
We can't cuddle, sleep with her or play with her normally and all of our interactions with her involve us trying to get a towel under her before she covers us in more poo. We both now have outfits we wear when we want to let her snuggle us that basically are full body suits (hoodies and pants) that we clean after each time. Our house is in complete disarray and though we scrub and mop and carpet clean daily we can't ever seem to keep up or feel like the house is really clean.
She screams like she is being killed when we try to even clean her heels off with a dry tissue (much less the sound she makes when we have to hold her anus in to train the muscle). She is sick to death of being held down and cleaned but there is no other way to do it. We use a rinseless shampoo to reduce her discomfort but at this point I think she is more mad than she is in pain from us washing her. If we don't wash her at least once a day, usually a lot more, her poo becomes caked all over her and is even worse.
We do 3-5 loads of laundry a day and start and end every single day by cleaning up really stinky poo puddles. She has been to the vet more times than we can recall, we have no idea what the total we have spent is and while our vet is really good and specializes in cats only, we can't get any idea from them how long this may go on. We are starting to wonder if she will ever get better and if not, how we will adjust.
We would love to hear about other people's experiences with severe coccidia and related infections and how long it took for your kitty to stop leaking and have normal stool. We just want to know that some other kitties out there went through this or something like it and made it out OK. We aren't really looking for medical/treatment advice per se but feel free to respond with any you may want to share. She is still purring and cuddling and eating and drinking and does not seem to be in any danger so we (mostly) aren't scared she will die from this.
Please help give us some hope or at least some idea of what other kittens have gone through on their way to recovery. (To make matters worse, I just lost my 18 year old kitty to kidney disease in early October and my other 18 year old last year. I was completely unprepared for this level of medical need so soon from a new kitten)
Pictures of Tomo (grey tabby) and Zuul (Torti) - pictures from the first few days they were home when she wasn't doing as badly and hadn't had her prolapse yet.
Treatments so far... (ALL treatments directed by vet and well researched by vet and us)
21 day run of Albon
5 days Metronidazole
2 treatments of Ponzuril (3 days each, 5 days between runs)
Rx Clay at a high dose (3-4 scoops twice daily)
Probiotics twice daily
Additional vitamins (powder, twice daily)
Prescription wet and dry food for digestion (Currently Intestinal EN, will be moving to a hypoallergenic formula per the vet)
Broad spectrum antibiotic to deal with a secondary infection of unknown origin
Purse String surgery to correct prolapse (Stitch in on 12/7, Out on 12/14)
Pain medication after surgery (last dose is tomorrow unless vet gives us more)
Twice daily ointment and "pushing" to help continue to heal prolapse
Soft cone worn unless under direct supervision to keep her from licking and further inflaming her anus and surrounding areas.
Blood tests, fecal float tests and insanely detailed fecal tests that I don't even know the name of but cost a ton
Our other rescue kitten Tomo, (Nakatomi "Tomo" Mergatroid Ferguson) is doing well and helps keep her company but we are seriously at our wit's end.
We can't cuddle, sleep with her or play with her normally and all of our interactions with her involve us trying to get a towel under her before she covers us in more poo. We both now have outfits we wear when we want to let her snuggle us that basically are full body suits (hoodies and pants) that we clean after each time. Our house is in complete disarray and though we scrub and mop and carpet clean daily we can't ever seem to keep up or feel like the house is really clean.
She screams like she is being killed when we try to even clean her heels off with a dry tissue (much less the sound she makes when we have to hold her anus in to train the muscle). She is sick to death of being held down and cleaned but there is no other way to do it. We use a rinseless shampoo to reduce her discomfort but at this point I think she is more mad than she is in pain from us washing her. If we don't wash her at least once a day, usually a lot more, her poo becomes caked all over her and is even worse.
We do 3-5 loads of laundry a day and start and end every single day by cleaning up really stinky poo puddles. She has been to the vet more times than we can recall, we have no idea what the total we have spent is and while our vet is really good and specializes in cats only, we can't get any idea from them how long this may go on. We are starting to wonder if she will ever get better and if not, how we will adjust.
We would love to hear about other people's experiences with severe coccidia and related infections and how long it took for your kitty to stop leaking and have normal stool. We just want to know that some other kitties out there went through this or something like it and made it out OK. We aren't really looking for medical/treatment advice per se but feel free to respond with any you may want to share. She is still purring and cuddling and eating and drinking and does not seem to be in any danger so we (mostly) aren't scared she will die from this.
Please help give us some hope or at least some idea of what other kittens have gone through on their way to recovery. (To make matters worse, I just lost my 18 year old kitty to kidney disease in early October and my other 18 year old last year. I was completely unprepared for this level of medical need so soon from a new kitten)
Pictures of Tomo (grey tabby) and Zuul (Torti) - pictures from the first few days they were home when she wasn't doing as badly and hadn't had her prolapse yet.
Treatments so far... (ALL treatments directed by vet and well researched by vet and us)
21 day run of Albon
5 days Metronidazole
2 treatments of Ponzuril (3 days each, 5 days between runs)
Rx Clay at a high dose (3-4 scoops twice daily)
Probiotics twice daily
Additional vitamins (powder, twice daily)
Prescription wet and dry food for digestion (Currently Intestinal EN, will be moving to a hypoallergenic formula per the vet)
Broad spectrum antibiotic to deal with a secondary infection of unknown origin
Purse String surgery to correct prolapse (Stitch in on 12/7, Out on 12/14)
Pain medication after surgery (last dose is tomorrow unless vet gives us more)
Twice daily ointment and "pushing" to help continue to heal prolapse
Soft cone worn unless under direct supervision to keep her from licking and further inflaming her anus and surrounding areas.
Blood tests, fecal float tests and insanely detailed fecal tests that I don't even know the name of but cost a ton