Kitten with persistent diarrhoea

[alannastone19]

Hello!

My kitty Jiji is 4 months old, after adopting him we were alternating 2 different types of food just to give him some variety and to try to get him used to different tastes, however this resulted in runny poo with occasional fresh blood at the end. We decided to wait thinking maybe he would get used to it but after a week the situation was the same. So I called the vet who suggested us to feed him chicken and rice for 48h until the stool got normal and then feed him just one type of food. Unfortunately after 1 meal of chicken and rice our kitty started having very loose stool and vomit and the morning after showed signs of hunger but refused to eat the chicken and rice again. He also had a pout of diarrhoea that was just mucus. I took him to the vet who said she wasn't worried as he had a normal playful behaviour, she just prescribed the Royal Canin Gastrointestinal food for kitten and the probiotics Prokolin. She also told me to do another course of Panacur to exclude the possibility it could be worms. After a week of this diet, probiotics and dewormer he finally had a healthy solid poo, however the morning after started again with loose stool and blood at the end. The vets just told us to keep going with the same treatment and to collect some samples for 3 days. I have to go to the vet to bring samples this afternoon but it's the 4th time in a row that he has runny stool with blood and I'm wondering if there's anything else we can do, like maybe changing the probiotics, but they just told me to keep using Prokolin as they cannot recommend different priobiotics.
Has anyone gone through the same thing? The vets on the phone mentioned it could be IBD.

 

[Box of Rain]

If it were I, and disclaimer I‘m not a veterinarian, I would be consideringthe possibility of an allergy to chicken.

Chicken, unfortunatly, is a common allergen. All the alternates tried thus far contain chicken.

Bill

 

[FeebysOwner]

Pretty young to already have IBD, although I guess it is not impossible. Does sound like it could be a chicken allergy, but if so, I wonder why the healthy stool came about only to go back to being problematic. Perhaps the fecal samples will shed some light, or indicate that another dose of Panacur, or another parasitic, is required.

A lot of folks on this site use S. boulardii as the probiotic of choice, particularly when it comes to diarrhea. You can buy it OTC. I believe the brands I see most often are Jarrow or Now.
The benefits of using S. Boulardii for cats– FullBucket Health

 

[alannastone19]

Thank you for your replies. I was actually thinking more of an allergy to rice! As he never showed problems with chicken before.. he is very sensitive every time we change the diet. I dropped the samples today, hopefully next week we’ll have the results.
I was thinking about getting Nexabiotic, that contains S. Boulardii. I’m just worried every time I introduce him to something new.

 

[stephanietx]

Was he having this issue before you rescued him? Can you get the same food he was eating previously?

In the meantime, try adding in saccharomyces boulardii to his wet food. It helps firm up stools. I would do 1/8-1/4 capsule twice a day.

 

[alannastone19]

Thank you for your replies. I was actually thinking more of an allergy to rice! As he never showed problems with chicken before.. he is very sensitive every time we change the diet. I dropped the samples today, hopefully next week we’ll have the results.
I was thinking about getting Nexabiotic, that contains S. Boulardii. I’m just worried every time I introduce him to something new.

When we adopted him, his previous family was feeding him Whiskas. Then we wanted to change to something better and so I gave him HiLife, which is a brand of natural food in the UK. At the beginning he got runny poo cause he wasn’t used to it but then settled. Then we introduced the tuna version of the same brand and he got runny poo again. So I guess every time we change food he’s unsettled, but just when we gave him the chicken and rice he got liquid diarrhoea and vomit. Hence why I think it’s the rice. Also before we would give him treats with 100% dried chicken and wouldn’t have any bad effect.

 

[fionasmom]

I use Nexabiotic and am very happy with it as it resolved diarrhea in a very elderly cat with ongoing health issues. However, I do have to add that some do not like the added ingredients, one of which is "low moisture rice dextrin" and I don't know if that would cause a problem if there is a rice allergy.

 

[alannastone19]

Hello! I just wanted to give you an update. In the end I decided not to give him any probiotics, waiting for the stool results. The vet did a scan of the stool for parasites and bacteria but found nothing. In the meantime Jiji’s poop has got better, but it starts solid and ends soft and still fresh blood in the soft part. So the vet suggested we just keep going with the Gastrointestinal food for 2 weeks and suggested Fortiflora as probiotic. If in 2 weeks theres still blood we have to take him back. I think then they will do some blood test to check for intolerances?
My boyfriend is really unhappy with this vet as he thinks they just care about making money and waste our time.
I’m not really sure what to think anymore.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I don't have much to offer but will tell you that Forti Flora is probably one of the weakest probiotics out there. It is great to use as a flavor enhancer though! Whatever happened to the Prokolin?

Frequent and abrupt changes in food, especially dry, can cause loose stools and blood, so keeping the kitten on just one food for at least a couple of months might be the best approach.

If the fecal testing wasn't a full fecal PCR, there might have been something missed. The PCR test looks for parasites not included in the standard fecal testing, as well as various bacterial AND viral issues.

 

[alannastone19]

Prokolin I tried for two weeks and didn’t do much.. also a syringe lasts only 3 days and it was very expensive. Maybe that’s why they suggested Fortiflora?
I really wanted to try the S Boulardii but in the UK I just found it in the Nexabiotic, I’m just scared he won’t tolerate it cause of the rice protein. But even the Royal Canin Gastro food I saw has rice inside so could it be why it hasn’t resolved?
But I will still keep him in this diet for now.
As far as my invoice says, they did a basic faecal screening (SARC) plus Giardia.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Is this not an s. boulardii product that you can buy?
Jarrow Saccharomyces Boulardii + MOS (5 Billion per Capsule, 90 Vegan Capsules) : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

I believe the dosage is as follows: one-half of a 250mg capsule (5 billion CFU) given twice daily. Treatment for kittens is half of the adult dose. It can be given with food; it does not have to be.

 

[tabbytom]

Has anyone gone through the same thing?

My boy who is 7 years old, recently had a bad bout of diarrhea. He goes to the litterbox 7 - 11 times a day. I got him to take the S. Boulardii and after around 5 days, his poop started forming and he purged less.

Chronic diarrhea takes time to heal and it could be allergy to food or they have eaten something which they should not have done so. Or they are infected by a parasite and thus it is Giardia infection.

My boy is not out of the woods yet but it is much much better than the beginning. Now he go poop at his regular intervals instead of several times a day of mushy poop and now the poop is formed but soft and sometimes he does paste and soft formed poop as I have reduced the amount of the probiotics.

Here's an article for you to read :- My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

 

[tabbytom]

Is this not an s. boulardii product that you can buy?
Jarrow Saccharomyces Boulardii + MOS (5 Billion per Capsule, 90 Vegan Capsules) : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

I believe the dosage is as follows: one-half of a 250mg capsule (5 billion CFU) given twice daily. Treatment for kittens is half of the adult dose. It can be given with food; it does not have to be.

This is the one my boy is taking now.