Diarrhea and poop issues in 9.5-month old kitten

[trishia42]

TL/DR: Kitten always had loose stools; fecal test came back negative in September, tried different food/probiotics, started getting diarrhea this week - not sure where to go next.

My 9.5-month old female kitten Chloë has always had poop issues since we got her at the end of July; they were pretty loose and very foul-smelling for the first couple of months. We ran a standard fecal test in September which came back negative for giardia and no ova/parasites seen. The vet had advised us then to maybe try different foods in case it was a sensitivity, and maybe try probiotics, and see if she would grow out of it as she became closer to a year old. We slowly switched to Tiki Cat food (from Royal Canin dry) - she only wants to eat dry food and turns up her nose at any type of wet food so she gets the high protein chicken/egg Tiki Cat. It seemed to be slowly getting better since October - she would often have a harder poop followed by softer but still somewhat formed poop.

We tried Fortiflora which didn't seem to help and then about a month ago we started with 1/2 caplet of Proviable daily which seemed to help things a bit. We went to 1 caplet every two days for a few days to see if we could progressively increase the dose, and then she had diarrhea on Monday evening so we stopped the Proviable in case we had overdone it but she has still been having diarrhea at least once a day since then (she usually poops twice a day). This morning we thought it was getting better but then tonight it was just gas and straight liquid coming out of her little butt...

I'm planning on calling the vet but I'm not really sure what I should be asking or trying next? Should we be running a full fecal PCR panel? I feel that if she had something, her brother would also have it given they share everything? She was also seen by the vet just before Christmas for an unrelated issue, at which time she also had an abdominal x-ray that was clear.

Allergies are also mentioned a lot but she has been on this Tiki cat for a few months now and it's just recently that things got worse, so I'm not sure the chicken/food is the issue? Still, should I try a different dry food like Hill's Perfect Digestion, Royal Canin's Digestive Care, Wellness Core Digestive Health, or ask the vet for prescription Hill's Biome or Royal Canin's hydrolyzed protein dry food?

I guess apart some bug or an insensitivity, the other one would be IBS but we were told it was less common in young kittens so I would prefer to start by investigating other things first. She's acting fully normal apart that; very playful, eats well and doesn't have any signs of dehydration (skin test, gum test) but she does drink a lot of water daily (always has), so that's probably helpful. We also had cat grass around for the last couple of weeks which I have taken away for now. Both kittens are indoors cats and are spayed/neutered.

Thanks for reading!

 

[stephanietx]

Ask for the diarrhea PCR test and the GI Panel. Those tests are more detailed than the standard fecal and will give more in-depth information. A B12 shot may help and you need something for the diarrhea, like Metronidazole. Fortiflora is not a very good probiotic. You might try saccharomyces boulardii (Jarrow makes one with MOS, very good quality) or Nexabiotic might work. We actually use Culturelle (the human one) with good success on our diarrhea prone kitty.

You might also ask for the pancreatitis test (it's part of the GI Panel, but can also be tested separately in-house). It is possible for IBD to start very early in life. My kitty was 8 months old when he had his first flare up. We have had the best results with feeding him Royal Canin Gastrointestinal (wet and dry, rx food) and Instinct Venison. Rabbit is usually recommended, but rabbit makes the diarrhea worse for my kitty. The hydrolyzed food also made my kitty's diarrhea worse.

Some other probiotics to try are Adored Beast's Gut Soothe and Healthy Gut. You could also try adding slippery elm bark syrup to wet food to help with soothing the tummy and firming up poops. I know some owners who sprinkle Diggin' Up pumpkin powder on wet food and it helps firm up poops.

For gas, you can give her baby gas drops (Simethicone/Mylicon). Make sure there's no dyes, no flavorings, no saccharine. I would start with the lowest dose (0.03ml) once a day.

 

[trishia42]

Thank you for the reply and the input. I'm aware Fortiflora is not a great probiotic, which is why we started using Proviable which is much better and readily available her in Canada. I honestly thought it was helping until this week (and perhaps it is, and it's just a mix of other things). I have heard of S. Boulardii as well but haven't yet tried that.

My concern with the fecal PCR test is that it's most likely going to come back negative because we feel otherwise her brother would have symptoms of the same thing? They share the same litter box (we have two, but they only want to use the one) and are very bonded so always together. Seems like it would cost close to $350-400 here, so we only want to spend that kind of money if it would be worth it and since her brother was fine, we were kind of thinking it probably wasn't something like that?

She did have bloodwork done in late September that came back normal - looking at the IDEXX website, it looks like the additional tests the GI panels provide over the standard Chem25/SDMA/CBC are for B12, folate, T4, fPL, and sometimes TLI so perhaps we can inquire about running only one of the smaller GI panels. I feel that it would not be unlikely for her B12/folate to be low though since we know she has GI issues - pancreatitis would be unlikely given the other lack of symptoms and how long her poop issues have been ongoing.

I do wonder if perhaps we shouldn't look to something like an ultrasound instead to obtain more information - I'm aware that's not super-cheap either, but my worry is that we'll spend close to $1000 on diagnostics that may not provide a good picture, and then still having to go that way after all.

 

[stephanietx]

Since she's had some testing, ask the vet to test specifically for B12 deficiency and fPL, which is the pancreatitis test. It's possible that she could've picked up something that her littermate did not, but you may be good holding off on the PCR test.

Visibiome Vet is another good probiotic, if it's available where you live. (I'm not sure if you're in the US) Like all probiotics, start with a small amount.

Try the slippery elm bark syrup. It may make a difference.

 

[trishia42]

Thank you again - we have an appointment on Tuesday and I feel in a better position now to ask for certain things. I think we will go for the fecal PCR, if only to be sure. Her brother had what everyone thought was gastroenterititis over the holidays but now I'm questioning everything. Depending how long that might take, we might also test the blood for those additional things (B12, pancreas, etc.) on Tuesday or wait for the results of the fecal - as long as we get something prescribed that can at least appease the symptoms for now.

We've started some of the Biome and Perfect Digestion food for now (the vet let us get some Biome over the phone); she thankfully has no other symptoms now and it certainly isn't slowing her down. I love them so very much but it's been SO exhausting since we adopted them in July.