7 months old kitten digestive issues

[irinasak]

So we went for a short vacation and precious Harley gained another 0.4 pounds. He is now the heavier in my household, at 8.5 lbs. We are now in our last week of Entero-Chronic and probiotics, his stools are normal 90% of the time. The other 10% is when he steals my other cats' food, which means that, for now, he should stay on the gastro intestinal diet

We also had bloodwork done: kidneys, liver, etc. all in normal parameters.

However, there are some things not right:

MCV (mean corpuscular volume) 39.8 ( 41.3-52.6 normal)

MCHC (something about coagulation I think) 33 (27-32.8 normal)

basophils 0.2 (normal <1, but at 0.2 seems a bit too low)

neutrophils 2. 89 ( 3-13.4 normal)

The other stuff with -phils are normal but at the lower end.

His lymph nodes are still increased.

The vets said this is all a sign of poor immune system, and that he should start a long course of immunostimulants  after he finishes the E-C and probiotic.

Any thoughts on this? (he seems otherwise very happy and healthy)

 

[Sa'ida Maryam]

Hi to TCS
Reading the story of Harley and his health has been very informative. With the FHS feline herpes syndrome he will have bouts of inflammatory responses. The virus resides primarily in the nervous system. When the kittie is stressed the virus gets into motion and reeks havoc on other body systems. Gastro-intestinal, peripheral nervous system , lymph and other glandular tissue.to name a few. So this is to say ,treating symptoms will benefit your kittie. He got a really good home because you recognize cat behavior and illness. My kittie had loose stool and was cleared of all disease. Her symptoms started when she has a bad day, ie interruption in her daily routine. She tends to thrive in a moderately busy household with 2-3 days of rest and quiet. I am not suggesting this , just I noticed a difference in her GI intestinal system
When changes occur.

 

[irinasak]

Hi to TCS
Reading the story of Harley and his health has been very informative. With the FHS feline herpes syndrome he will have bouts of inflammatory responses. The virus resides primarily in the nervous system. When the kittie is stressed the virus gets into motion and reeks havoc on other body systems. Gastro-intestinal, peripheral nervous system , lymph and other glandular tissue.to name a few. So this is to say ,treating symptoms will benefit your kittie. He got a really good home because you recognize cat behavior and illness. My kittie had loose stool and was cleared of all disease. Her symptoms started when she has a bad day, ie interruption in her daily routine. She tends to thrive in a moderately busy household with 2-3 days of rest and quiet. I am not suggesting this , just I noticed a difference in her GI intestinal system
When changes occur.

Thank you for your reply.

My poor boy has never been healthy a day in his life, he lived on the streets until he was about three and a half months old (when I took him in), so I am worried about all these symptoms that add up.  I would like to do whatever I can to make him as comfortable as possible (I wrote in a previous thread that one of his eyes is damaged for good, the vets say he is not in pain and he can still see something with that eye, but he will never recover). He is wonderful with taking drugs so, as long as it is not affecting his liver, I have no problem with medicating him for as long as he needs.

I know that a stressful environment can flare up the virus, but, if anything, he is the most active cat in my household, the one who eats the most and purrs the most. And the most sociable and he is the least afraid of vets. You can easily read on him that he enjoys life.

I have two other cats - his sister, who lived in the same conditions and is in perfect health (seems like he drew the short straw health wise) but is still a bit feral, and I have another princess, momma's girl, anorexic and skittish who always has an "I am disappointed in you humans" kind of look on her face. But I am pretty sure that Harley is the one stressing them, and not the other way around (with constantly wanting to play and stealing their food).

 

[irinasak]

UPDATE: From what I can tell, digestive issues are sadly very popular among our cats, so I decided to update this thread. Also, I have noticed that people usually open threads when they have a problem, but most OPs do not provide the solution that worked for them.

In the first months after I adopted Harley I never saw a normal stool from him. Maybe it was the antibiotics, maybe his chaotic diet on the first 4 months of his life living on the street, maybe it was the junk I was feeding him, I don't know. The probiotics and the Enter Chronic did their work, but I think they would have been more effective if I had stopped the dry food.

My cats are fed now 70% wet food and 30% raw, and Harley has never been better. I am not saying that it is the diet alone, but he is such a pretty boy and his eyes look so good and his fur is so soft and his stools are perfect. He gets probiotics daily (human grade, acidophiluls and bifidus, I alternate between NOW and Natural Factors) and lysine (also human grade).

I am so sorry I have put him through so many vet visits and veterinary diets, when I could have fed him a better diet to begin with. I am NOT saying veterinary diets do not work, I am saying they did not work for Harley.

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• irinasak
• May 22, 2014

 

[cocheezie]

He's gorgeous. Love that belly. Glad that everything worked out for him (and you).