Prescription Diet and Mushy Poop

Hello. I am new here. Looking for anyone who can shed some light or has a similar issue. I have a 1 year old male Ragdoll. We are having potty issues. When we first got him from the breeder, I noticed his poop was soft, stinky and had some blood (light colored blood) and mucus. Took him to the vet and they put him on flagyl. I would say it took care of the problem (but still mushy stinky poop), but around 4 months later the blood/mucus poop came back. They put him on it again and about a week after he was done, his mushy blood/mucus poops started again. Not to sound gross, but because he is a large cat (and since we've brought him home as a kitten), he can't seem to clean his behind. So I am having to clean it for him because there is mush left on his potty hole). He has had a complete fecal test and the corona virus and something abbreviated "Perf alpha toxin gene" did come back positive (everything else was negative). Our regular vet didn't seem too concern, but did recommend a prescription diet (Hills RD or ID if RD didn't work). To boot, this cat is a picky eater and seems to only want kibbles. I then decided to seek out a feline specialist and she didn't seem to concern about his fecal tests and doesn't believe the corona virus is contributing to the potty issue. She put him on metronidazole and yesterday his poop was so much better that I didn't have to wipe his behind. She also recommended a limited protein prescription diet because she thinks he may be allergic to the chicken protein. So he is now transitioning to the Royal Caine Rabbit kibble. He is not too happy, but in all honesty he is just so darn picky. At one point he was playing with a rabbit kibble! I have even offered wet food and he turns his nose and walks away or tries to bury it. I know wet is better and I provide both (even the junky wet food), but he is just not having it. On the other had, my older adopted cat (Ruby) is enjoying all his rejected food and eats it all up if left out! The Ragdoll (Maxx) is also on a daily probiotic. I know that for now, the feline specialist wants him to stay on the rabbit prescription diet to see how he does. It's been frustrating because this is the first time I've ever owned a breeded cat. All my other cats have been "mutts", sort of speak and have never had issues at such a young age. I've even thought about making my own home made food, but the feline specialist mentioned the possibility of salmonella and Maxx not getting the proper diet nutrition, especially with his digestive issues. Any advise or encouragement will be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post, but we've been dealing with this for 10 months. I also have 2 drinking fountains in my home to encourage drinking, which he does. I also know that since he does have the corona virus, I need to keep my eye out for FIP for both cats at this point. [emoji]128513[/emoji]

You can remove the concerns that your vet has about contamination and being incomplete.  The safest route as far as salmonella goes is to cook the meat though many do successfully feed raw.  We have a forum that explains how to do it http://www.thecatsite.com/f/64/cat-nutrition   There are stickies at the top as well as the threads themselves which has info on how to make the diet nutritionally complete.

I still think there is a possibility that this is some type of parasite or bacterial overload issue.  I say that because it has been an ongoing issue that did improve with medication for a parasite only to return, also it is something that started in a small kitten that almost always means parasite.  Did your vets only do the in house fecal test?  There is a PCR test that has to be sent out.  It actually looks for the DNA markers of parasites that the float test doesn't find, it also will find bacterial overload conditions.

A home cooked or raw diet can certainly be fed as long as you use a proper recipie This is the link to the Raw and Home Cooked forum: http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-amp-home-cooked-cat-food The AVMA discourages raw and home cooked feeding because many owners simply do not know how to make a complete balanced diet and the pet ends up with some health issue because of nutritional deficiencies and of concerns with bacteria.

This sticky has info on how to make a complete home cooked diet and what supplements to use: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources Using a pre-mix such as UStew or EZComplete is the easiest way. You just cook the meat without oil and seasonings, add in the measured pre-mix and some water, stir to combine, and then portion out into servng size portions.

You don't need the approval of any vet in order to feed your cat a raw or home cooked diet. If a pediatrician says that you need feed your child junk and snack foods, would you 100% agree wth the pediatrican even though you well know those types of foods will most likely cause health issues? Most likely not. A medical degree of any kind doesn't mean that the advice and recommendation given is always correct or accurate and sometimes isn't in the patient's best interest.

Denice....Yes, our first vet did the "diarrhea RealPCR Panel (Comp)-Feline which I took the results of that to the feline specialist. I think I will look into making his own food if this food trail thing doesn't work.