severe diarrhea and meds arent helping...

Hey there, I am wondering if anyone can offer some advise or maybe share a similar experience to a very frustrated, lost and confused cat owner.

My cat is 12 years old and for the past 3 months has had severe diarrhea, to the point where she has no control of where her body lets it go.
When it first began I took her to the vet, and he thought she might have a lower bowel infection.
Without administering any tests prescribed METRONIDAZOLE for 2 weeks.
During this 2 weeks her condition showed little improvement.
Followed up with the vet-and he recommended that perhaps it was a food allergy.
We tried 2 different food choices. So, now she is on duck food-which i guess is produced for cats with food allergies. no improvement. so he put her back on a higher dosage of METRONIDAZOLE for a month.
There was some improvement for a while--but towards the end of the bottle (which was this week) her condition seemed to worsen, as now she has started vomiting.
Followed up yet again with the vet who finally recommends blood work and a new medication (CLAVAMOX) and some plain yogurt as this medicine depletes certain vitamins (?).
She has been on the new meds for a couple days now. The tests they administered came back normal and i am still waiting for a Thyroid result. (The new meds arent working either, btw)
During all of this she has maintained very normal activity and shows no sign of illness or weight loss)

So-I guess my question is what the h*ck is wrong with my cat, and why does my vet have no idea?!
When i initially went in, he said this was a common thing amongst older cats. Yet everything he has suggested is failing.

Any ideas? insight? anything.....would be appreciated.

oo well I don't have a lot of advice, we are not vets on here so I don't know how much help we can all be but wait it out on the current meds. Clavamox is what you are giving your cat now right? A couple days might not show a lot of results. I don't know that the Clavamox will actually stop the diarrhea I think it just helps fight whatever the sickness is which is causing the diarrhea.

I was going to suggest plain yogurt too or plain, canned pumpkin but it was already tried. Just be sure to give only about a tablespoon or two.

I don't know what else to say, except good luck and I hope all goes well and you can figure it out.

In the meantime ask your Vet about just simply adding fiber such as Metamusil or Psyllium to the wet food.

When you mentioned blood test I assume they did a senior panel. "Early in the diagnostic process it is a good idea to check a complete blood count (CBC) and chemistry panel to try to be sure that some problem like kidney disease or liver disease is not contributing to the diarrhea. For cats over nine or ten years of age it is a good idea to check a total thyroxine (T4) value, as well. Hyperthyroidism can cause persistent diarrhea in some instances."

No where you mention whether or nor a fecal examinations for parasites was done - if not - it should.

You mention a one protein one source of carb diet is not working - have you tried Hill's w/d (tm) diet. This is a low fat, moderate fiber diet and it will sometimes work to resolve chronic diarrhea. When this works it usually works quickly.

Hope this helps a little. All the best to your baby!

My beloved Christopher (rb) had this same issue and NOTHING cleared it up. Finally did blood work - highest T4 my vet had ever seen...and he was quite the plump fellow with no othe signs of hyperthyroidism. Began him on tapazole...no more diarrhea ever again.

best wishes to you that you have an answer from the blood work that was done.

I second the hyperthyroid possibility. Spot would have occasional flares of diarrhea. They were most persistant when he was taking antibiotics for other problems--Clavamox was the worst for his system. Do you know if they ran just a T4 test or both T4 and Free T4? Please let us know what the result is when you get it. Be aware that the normal range they give on those tests is for younger kitties. In seniors, you want the T4 to be in the middle of the range or lower.