Hello there,
My name is Dakota and I'm new to this website. This past December, I adopted (through CraigsList) a kitten for my girlfriend for Christmas. We live together so we both are the caretakers of this young feline, which we named "Charlie." The owners which we adopted him from explained that he was 10 weeks old, and that he was a stray whom her daughter picked up on her way home from school one day. The family decided they could not keep the kitten, and that's where Kelly and I come into play. We took him to the vet the same week we adopted him. Upon our first visit, the vet explained to us right away that we have an extremely unusual kitten and that Charlie was NOT 10 weeks old, but 6 MONTHS old and only weighing in at 2.3 lbs! We had him tested for parasites, worms, ear mites, and feline leukemia in which he was healthy all the way around. However, the poor kitten has had a digestive problem, and struggles to hold nutrients ever since we have gotten him. Therefore, we've been chasing him around most of the time wiping his bum from the chronic diarrhea he is having. We had him on a high fibre diet from Purina (dry food) and Max Cat (wet food), but his diarrhea seemed to get more liquidier and liquidier as he ate that diet. So today we've switched him over to Innova EVO Turkey & Chicken (both wet and dry) and he seems to really like them. Charlie is yet to be diagnosed, though we expect to start running tests this week. We have a family-friend who is a vet that I've been on and off the phone with as well as our local vet we use. Both are on similar pages as to what Charlie's malnutrition and digestive problems could possibly be from. 1) Being Giardia & Titrichomonas 2) Being Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (which would most likely follow along with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and possibly Diabetes Mellitus. Upon all the countless hours of research I've been doing, he has symptoms that could indicate one or the other, though Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) seems to best mirror his symptoms.
His symptoms I've noted include:
- Chronic Diarrhea
- Loose stool (was yellow in color and cow-pie like, though it's been getting liquidier and more brown lately) Appears to be NO blood in stool.
- Pertruded/irritated rectum
- Some vomitting (earlier stages)
- Messy/greasy fur around anus
- Constant hunger
- Weight loss
- Abnormal weight/malnourishment
- Foul smelling poop/foul farts
- Rather chronic meowing
If anyone has any experience with a similar issue, or can give me any insight on what to do that'd be so amazing. We're pretty scared and nervous for his health, considering his abnormal case for weight/size and disorders he seems to be having.
I'll make it a note that we feed him 3 times a day now (wet food) and keep his dry food out for him to snack on if he's hungry between meals (we're college students that work and aren't home 24/7). With his 3 meals of wet food, we've been putting a 1/2 packet of Fortiflora mixed in. Oh, and BOTH wet and dry foods are Innova EVO Turkey & Chicken.
Thank you so much for your time!
- Dakota
My name is Dakota and I'm new to this website. This past December, I adopted (through CraigsList) a kitten for my girlfriend for Christmas. We live together so we both are the caretakers of this young feline, which we named "Charlie." The owners which we adopted him from explained that he was 10 weeks old, and that he was a stray whom her daughter picked up on her way home from school one day. The family decided they could not keep the kitten, and that's where Kelly and I come into play. We took him to the vet the same week we adopted him. Upon our first visit, the vet explained to us right away that we have an extremely unusual kitten and that Charlie was NOT 10 weeks old, but 6 MONTHS old and only weighing in at 2.3 lbs! We had him tested for parasites, worms, ear mites, and feline leukemia in which he was healthy all the way around. However, the poor kitten has had a digestive problem, and struggles to hold nutrients ever since we have gotten him. Therefore, we've been chasing him around most of the time wiping his bum from the chronic diarrhea he is having. We had him on a high fibre diet from Purina (dry food) and Max Cat (wet food), but his diarrhea seemed to get more liquidier and liquidier as he ate that diet. So today we've switched him over to Innova EVO Turkey & Chicken (both wet and dry) and he seems to really like them. Charlie is yet to be diagnosed, though we expect to start running tests this week. We have a family-friend who is a vet that I've been on and off the phone with as well as our local vet we use. Both are on similar pages as to what Charlie's malnutrition and digestive problems could possibly be from. 1) Being Giardia & Titrichomonas 2) Being Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (which would most likely follow along with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and possibly Diabetes Mellitus. Upon all the countless hours of research I've been doing, he has symptoms that could indicate one or the other, though Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) seems to best mirror his symptoms.
His symptoms I've noted include:
- Chronic Diarrhea
- Loose stool (was yellow in color and cow-pie like, though it's been getting liquidier and more brown lately) Appears to be NO blood in stool.
- Pertruded/irritated rectum
- Some vomitting (earlier stages)
- Messy/greasy fur around anus
- Constant hunger
- Weight loss
- Abnormal weight/malnourishment
- Foul smelling poop/foul farts
- Rather chronic meowing
If anyone has any experience with a similar issue, or can give me any insight on what to do that'd be so amazing. We're pretty scared and nervous for his health, considering his abnormal case for weight/size and disorders he seems to be having.
I'll make it a note that we feed him 3 times a day now (wet food) and keep his dry food out for him to snack on if he's hungry between meals (we're college students that work and aren't home 24/7). With his 3 meals of wet food, we've been putting a 1/2 packet of Fortiflora mixed in. Oh, and BOTH wet and dry foods are Innova EVO Turkey & Chicken.
Thank you so much for your time!
- Dakota
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