Bad poops & unproductive wheezing?

[mactabby]

About a month ago, I adopted a three month old kitten. He had diarrhea, very bad, from the first day I brought him home. Tested negative for parasites, and the vet suspected something bacterial but is now not as sure/changed her tune a bit, but is still not sure what's exactly causing that. He's been on two different medications to help with the loose stool and fix up the balance of stuff in his gut. Now he's been off that for the better part of a week and only then did he start actually improving.

When he came to the rescue I got him through, he had to be treated for a respiratory infection. I was told he responded well, and when I took him itno the vet a week after getting him for the diarrhea, they said the couple sneezes he has a day are probably just the remnants of that leaving his system. I think he still maybe sneezes a bit more than some other cats I know, but he's also my first cat so I wouldn't totally know personally (i'd say a couple times a day, but no more than like 5). 

What I have also noticed over the past couple weeks is that he'll hack/wheeze like he should be about to have a hairball, and nothing will come up. When I hear him making the wheezing noises, I'll usually pick him up and gently carry him somewhere less bad for him to have a hairball (i.e. not the bed, couch, or the small amount of carpeting), and often carry him near his litterbox, where he'll maybe have another wheeze or so, and then go back to normal like "god mom what was that all about?" 

What should my level of worry be for both of these issues? Vet is going to do a PCR test in case his diarrhea slides back and gets worse and doesn't continue on an uptick. Is the ghost hairball thing something to mention to them, as well? Could the two potentially be related, or is the diarrhea probably a gut thing and his wheezing potentially that respiratory issue lurking? 

 

[fodder]

Hi. Have you considered that the wheezing may be caused by asthma at all? One of my cats has asthma and it's similar to how you describe it. Have a look at this video, this is how it looks


One other thing. Do you let your cat drink milk at all? human grade milk will give your cat diarrhea quite badly as they are lactose intolerant.

 

[mactabby]

It does actually kind of sound like that, but not quiiiite. It's more like this: 


  or a little bit like this


And nope! He doesn't get any human food or drink at all (except water out of my glasses of course). He was on Nutro kitten food, and it was worse when he was on that but after switching him to Blue Buffalo's kitten food even his messier poops are a bit less messy. 

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I was thinking asthma as well when you were describing what was going on.  And, BTW, sneezing even once a day is not really normal, unless he's (being a kitten), getting into dusty things, like behind furniture where it's hard to dust, that sort of thing

.  Now, it could be allergies causing both the sneezing AND some sort of coughing/wheezing/hacking thing.  I know when my allergies act up, my throw itches like crazy, and my sinuses drain, which causes coughing, so could be related IF it's allergies..

AS to the diarrhea, if he was on antibiotics for the URI, those certainly could have brought on the diarrhea.  One of my guys had a dental, and afterwards went on antibiotics for just two days before he started developing soft stools.  (this all the while continuing with his daily PRObiotics).  We immediately took off the antibiotics, and his soft stools continued for weeks

.  He just happened to be that small percentage of cats who reacted badly to that antibiotic.  So...  Could be your furbaby is one of those cats too

  But getting the PCR test is absolutely the right way to go, because you never know what kind of stubborn parasite might be lurking that doesn't show up in a normal fecal float.  this way you will know for sure.

 

[mactabby]

 
I was thinking asthma as well when you were describing what was going on.  And, BTW, sneezing even once a day is not really normal, unless he's (being a kitten), getting into dusty things, like behind furniture where it's hard to dust, that sort of thing

.  Now, it could be allergies causing both the sneezing AND some sort of coughing/wheezing/hacking thing.  I know when my allergies act up, my throw itches like crazy, and my sinuses drain, which causes coughing, so could be related IF it's allergies..

AS to the diarrhea, if he was on antibiotics for the URI, those certainly could have brought on the diarrhea.  One of my guys had a dental, and afterwards went on antibiotics for just two days before he started developing soft stools.  (this all the while continuing with his daily PRObiotics).  We immediately took off the antibiotics, and his soft stools continued for weeks

.  He just happened to be that small percentage of cats who reacted badly to that antibiotic.  So...  Could be your furbaby is one of those cats too

  But getting the PCR test is absolutely the right way to go, because you never know what kind of stubborn parasite might be lurking that doesn't show up in a normal fecal float.  this way you will know for sure.

It could partially be because of dust! He likes hanging out underneath my couch with his toys and batting them around under there, and sometimes he'll wander underneath my tub, which is also probably dusty. Asthma could definitely be it, though upon researching a bit more about the sneezing, he does have (and the vet also noticed) discharge from his eyes that he's not always the best about cleaning. It's usually kinda greenish eye crusties. 

I hadn't even thought of antibiotics messing anything up! That timeline would've made sense, since he finished the antibiotics just a couple of weeks before I adopted him (like, around 2) and it's been about a month and they're starting to solidify a bit more. 

Does the PCR test just show ahh, T. Foetus or would it show generally any parasites that are rockin up in there? 

 

[fodder]

The second vid you posted there also looks like asthma. Not sure about the other one though. I guess you would have to ask your vet to be sure. If it is asthma though you should know that it's fairly easy to manage. My cat was getting a low dose steroid shot for it at first but that's not the best for them long term. Iv managed to get her on to an inhaler now. At first she hated it but they soon learn that it's for the best. 

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

 It could partially be because of dust! He likes hanging out underneath my couch with his toys and batting them around under there, and sometimes he'll wander underneath my tub, which is also probably dusty. Asthma could definitely be it, though upon researching a bit more about the sneezing, he does have (and the vet also noticed) discharge from his eyes that he's not always the best about cleaning. It's usually kinda greenish eye crusties. 

I hadn't even thought of antibiotics messing anything up! That timeline would've made sense, since he finished the antibiotics just a couple of weeks before I adopted him (like, around 2) and it's been about a month and they're starting to solidify a bit more. 

Does the PCR test just show ahh, T. Foetus or would it show generally any parasites that are rockin up in there? 

Now that you have mentioned EYE issues, I'm wondering if your little one might have Feline Herpes.  OR if he's still got a lingering URI?  He shouldn't be having greenish eye crusties, normally.  If Herpes, you could try giving him L-Lysine - 250 mg twice a day as the norm.  500mg twice a day during a flare-up.   They  have a PCR test for respiratory issues

As to exactly what the diarrhea PCR test will test for, I found THIS from Zoologix's website: 

• Feline enteric coronavirus
• Feline panleukopenia virus / Canine parvovirus
• Campylobacter screen
• Clostridium difficile
• Cryptosporidium screen
• Giardia screen
• Salmonella screen
• Toxoplasma gondii
• Tritrichomonas    (T-Foetus)

 

[mactabby]

Yeah, I'll definitely be bringing all of it up to the vet when I call back in on Monday. This is such a weird blend of frustrating and worrying -- that his adoption place gave him the health a-okay to be adopted even if he still had all this going on, AND that the vet shrugged off the sneezing/eye discharge if it could be something else like feline herpes, but I also just want my kid healthy...

The eye crusties at least aren't super bright green, but they definitely look like, well, boogers. His third eyelid is also just showing a tiny bit, but I've noticed that the entire time I've had him and kind of assumed it was just when he was sleepy/just waking up, since it's worse at that moment and shrinks inward a bit. But, he has also been snoring more the past couple of days. 

Thankfully, the past couple poops he's had have been pretty normal again, which makes me think/hope it may have been whatever antibiotics he'd been on like mrsgreenjeens suggested, but hopefully the PCR test figures out what's up...

 

[pipperoo]

I went through something nearly identical when I adopted Pip from a shelter.  All the kittens were kept together in a kitten room (It was heavenly to visit) but goodness knows what kinds of bugs they were passing back and forth.

I adopted Pip when she was 12 weeks old.  She was quite sneezy and had eye crusts, then she developed diarrhea.  she also did that weird hacking/breathing things several times.

We did the PCR panel and she had Clostridium Perfringens.  Needed two courses of antibiotics to clear it up.  I also dosed her with a probiotic called S. Boulaardi - even hospitals use it quite a bit now dealing with c. difficile outbreaks (c. perfringens is a cousin!).  She's all better now.

The sneezing and eyes were feline herpes - very common.  For this, I dosed her with l-lysine and continue to this day because her nose runs and she gets the occassional crusty eye.

She seems to have grown out of the hacking.  I thought it was asthma, maybe even hairballs, but nothing ever got coughed up and I haven't heard or seen that low crouch hack in about a year.

You and your vet can come up with a good game plan on how to tackle each issue.  I hope, like mine, that they are all fairly easy fixes.

Good luck - your kitten is lucky to have found such a caring home.