Hello. This is going to be a long post with photos attached. The photos are graphic so just a heads up. I’m hoping to get some ideas on what could be happening with my kitten. She’s approximately 4 months old and I adopted her from a friend. She lived outside since birth with a stray cat colony.
Upon adopting her she had black tarry stool and shortly after this I brought her to the vet for her first wellness exam, vaccine and dewormer. The first dewormer she had was Nexguard Combo. Right after this her diarrhea got worse although sometimes the probiotic given to her would help it form up a bit. At this point her stool would be mostly soft, runny sometimes with blood and would have clusters of egg like/worm like fragments.
On her second appointment (approximately a month after) she had another dose of Nexguard Combo and the vet mentioned that if the diarrhea and blood persists, we should do a stool sample test. After this appointment nothing changed with her stool. Still the same and the main concern again was the presence of clusters of egg like/worm like fragments in the stool. I was told by the vet tech that the diarrhea and blood could be the parasites dying off and passing through her stool?
Shortly after that appoint her diarrhea became worse as well as the blood. I became really alarmed so I sent a sample of her stool the vet and they told me she had no parasites but she had a bacterial infection (they didn’t tell me what bacteria it was) but the prescribed me some metronidazole for 7 days. During this time her stool improved and I thought we finally solved the issue. But during the 5th day of metronidazole the blood in her stool came back and became soft and runny again. At this point I took photos of her stool and sent them to my vet. They were confident to tell me that she may have a parasitic infection, most likely tape worms. I asked how come they didn’t detect this in the fecal test and they told me that the sample they tested probably had no mature parasites at the time so it was negative. After this they prescribed her Milbemax oral tablet. Another dewormer to see if this one would work better. I gave her the first tablet of Milbemax on Dec 18 and the second one to be given on Jan 1. After the first dose of Milbemax she had even more egg like/worm like fragments in her stool so I thought this was a good sign that she was getting rid of them. She even puked on the third day but I personally didn’t notice any parasites in the puke because I panicked and immediately cleaned it.
She had her 3rd and final appointment on Dec 27 where I raised my concerns again regarding her stools. Vet prescribed her Safeguard 10% for 5 days and the second dose of milbemax to be given on Jan 5th instead of the 1st. She was also prescribed a stronger probiotic (the one in the tube). After this I’ve noticed a slight improvement in her stool with also the addition of pumpkin purée. However, it’s always been very inconsistent. Up to this day she would still have blood diarrhea and the egg like/worm like fragments in her stool have decreased but it’s more than likely to reinfect again I would say.
The vet isn’t too concerned about the blood though? He said it’s because she’s recovering from a parasitic infection and it’ll take a while for her to fully get better. He said as long as she’s energetic, eating well and growing that’s what is important. And through our all do this she has been perfectly fine aside from the diarrhea issues. I would also like to note that on her first appointment she tested negative for FIV and FeLV.
To close this off, I think I’m going to go ahead and do the more compressive fecal exam test next month to really get to the bottom of this. She’s been on 5-6 dewormers now and nothing has fully solved her issue. However my vet mentioned that he doesn’t think she needs this test. I assume he thinks she will clear up with the dewormers eventually? But I’m not confident in that.
*The pictures I’ve attached are some of the worst examples. I’m curious to know if anybody has seen anything like this before.
This is a more recent one:
and then this was also taken on the same day: (this is what I mean when I say it’s very inconsistent)
Upon adopting her she had black tarry stool and shortly after this I brought her to the vet for her first wellness exam, vaccine and dewormer. The first dewormer she had was Nexguard Combo. Right after this her diarrhea got worse although sometimes the probiotic given to her would help it form up a bit. At this point her stool would be mostly soft, runny sometimes with blood and would have clusters of egg like/worm like fragments.
On her second appointment (approximately a month after) she had another dose of Nexguard Combo and the vet mentioned that if the diarrhea and blood persists, we should do a stool sample test. After this appointment nothing changed with her stool. Still the same and the main concern again was the presence of clusters of egg like/worm like fragments in the stool. I was told by the vet tech that the diarrhea and blood could be the parasites dying off and passing through her stool?
Shortly after that appoint her diarrhea became worse as well as the blood. I became really alarmed so I sent a sample of her stool the vet and they told me she had no parasites but she had a bacterial infection (they didn’t tell me what bacteria it was) but the prescribed me some metronidazole for 7 days. During this time her stool improved and I thought we finally solved the issue. But during the 5th day of metronidazole the blood in her stool came back and became soft and runny again. At this point I took photos of her stool and sent them to my vet. They were confident to tell me that she may have a parasitic infection, most likely tape worms. I asked how come they didn’t detect this in the fecal test and they told me that the sample they tested probably had no mature parasites at the time so it was negative. After this they prescribed her Milbemax oral tablet. Another dewormer to see if this one would work better. I gave her the first tablet of Milbemax on Dec 18 and the second one to be given on Jan 1. After the first dose of Milbemax she had even more egg like/worm like fragments in her stool so I thought this was a good sign that she was getting rid of them. She even puked on the third day but I personally didn’t notice any parasites in the puke because I panicked and immediately cleaned it.
She had her 3rd and final appointment on Dec 27 where I raised my concerns again regarding her stools. Vet prescribed her Safeguard 10% for 5 days and the second dose of milbemax to be given on Jan 5th instead of the 1st. She was also prescribed a stronger probiotic (the one in the tube). After this I’ve noticed a slight improvement in her stool with also the addition of pumpkin purée. However, it’s always been very inconsistent. Up to this day she would still have blood diarrhea and the egg like/worm like fragments in her stool have decreased but it’s more than likely to reinfect again I would say.
The vet isn’t too concerned about the blood though? He said it’s because she’s recovering from a parasitic infection and it’ll take a while for her to fully get better. He said as long as she’s energetic, eating well and growing that’s what is important. And through our all do this she has been perfectly fine aside from the diarrhea issues. I would also like to note that on her first appointment she tested negative for FIV and FeLV.
To close this off, I think I’m going to go ahead and do the more compressive fecal exam test next month to really get to the bottom of this. She’s been on 5-6 dewormers now and nothing has fully solved her issue. However my vet mentioned that he doesn’t think she needs this test. I assume he thinks she will clear up with the dewormers eventually? But I’m not confident in that.
*The pictures I’ve attached are some of the worst examples. I’m curious to know if anybody has seen anything like this before.
This is a more recent one:
and then this was also taken on the same day: (this is what I mean when I say it’s very inconsistent)
