Vet visit not so good, any advice please

[fitzy819]

Originally Posted by Carolina

Metronidazole is what she needs to be on.... ai ai ai...
Any good vet, when a cat gets there with a diarrhea of unknown causes, inflamed bowels, or Giradia, will put the cat on Metronidazole. It is an antibiotic that has antinflamatory properties on the gut, and will stop diarrhea. That is the most widely used antibiotics for diarrhea, colitis, giardia, and even TF.
It is beyond me why your vets have not put her on it. One after the other.

Is any of your previous vets open? Can you call any of them and ask for a prescription? I am serious, I would just call them at this point and ask for a 8 day prescription of metronidazole.

I have no clue why they haven't done this either GGGGAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! I'm just beyond frustrated right now. The food the vet gave her today is Hills Prescription Diet i/d Feline. I'm supposed to give her 1/2 a can each day, which also seems like not enough food compared to what she has been eating.

 

[fitzy819]

Originally Posted by Carolina

Metronidazole is what she needs to be on.... ai ai ai...
Any good vet, when a cat gets there with a diarrhea of unknown causes, inflamed bowels, or Giradia, will put the cat on Metronidazole. It is an antibiotic that has antinflamatory properties on the gut, and will stop diarrhea. That is the most widely used antibiotics for diarrhea, colitis, giardia, and even TF.
It is beyond me why your vets have not put her on it. One after the other.

Is any of your previous vets open? Can you call any of them and ask for a prescription? I am serious, I would just call them at this point and ask for a 8 day prescription of metronidazole.

On Monday morning I will call the first vet and tell them that I would really like something for her diarrhea, Metronidazole, since I cant get her in for a few days because of work and school. I don't know if they will give it to me but I will try. They have seen her more than the vet we went to today so I think I might have better luck with them.

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by Fitzy819

I have no clue why they haven't done this either GGGGAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! I'm just beyond frustrated right now. The food the vet gave her today is Hills Prescription Diet i/d Feline. I'm supposed to give her 1/2 a can each day, which also seems like not enough food compared to what she has been eating.

I don't know about that... I would just switch her to NB chicken and green pea, as we discussed before...

 

[marsch21]

That is the most widely used antibiotics for diarrhea, colitis, giardia, and even TF.

Metro is ineffective against TF. The only treatment that is effective is Ronidazole.

There are several labs that will do a PCR panel to find the source of the problem. The test costs the vet about $75.00. The IDEXX test number is 2627.
http://www.idexx.com/pubwebresources...hea-panels.pdf

In order to prevent a false negative the cat should not be given any meds for two weeks before the test.

We had TF in our cattery a year ago and we successfully treated it. We continue to test using the Biomed TF Pouch and (fingers crossed) have not had another positive result.

 

[fitzy819]

Originally Posted by Carolina

I don't know about that... I would just switch her to NB chicken and green pea, as we discussed before...

I don't know about it either, I looked it up and it says its for "Dietary indiscretion, food allergies, or lack of digestive enzymes can affect your cat's digestive health." I'm not a big fan of science diet really anyways. I have my wellness ready to exchange at petco for the natural balance so I will do that when I head out later.

 

[the_food_lady]

I hope I'm not out of line for encouraging someone to disregard a med their Vet has prescribed...........but I just looked up Primor tabs online (see link below) and it's so NOT the right type of antibiotic for diarrhea. It's a Sulpha antibiotic; used in the treatment of urinary tract infections and some soft tissue infections. One of the side effects is: diarrhea. So not an appropriate type of antibiotic for diarrhea, not at all. If it were me, I would so not bother trying to give it.

http://www.pet-supplies-review.com/primor.html

 

[carolina]

Originally Posted by the_food_lady

I hope I'm not out of line for encouraging someone to disregard a med their Vet has prescribed...........but I just looked up Primor tabs online (see link below) and it's so NOT the right type of antibiotic for diarrhea. It's a Sulpha antibiotic; used in the treatment of urinary tract infections and some soft tissue infections. One of the side effects is: diarrhea. So not an appropriate type of antibiotic for diarrhea, not at all. If it were me, I would so not bother trying to give it.

http://www.pet-supplies-review.com/primor.html

This kitty needs to be on metro...

 

[fitzy819]

Originally Posted by the_food_lady

I hope I'm not out of line for encouraging someone to disregard a med their Vet has prescribed...........but I just looked up Primor tabs online (see link below) and it's so NOT the right type of antibiotic for diarrhea. It's a Sulpha antibiotic; used in the treatment of urinary tract infections and some soft tissue infections. One of the side effects is: diarrhea. So not an appropriate type of antibiotic for diarrhea, not at all. If it were me, I would so not bother trying to give it.

http://www.pet-supplies-review.com/primor.html

I looked it up to when people were trying to help me figure out what the vet had given her. I don't really think thats what she needs either.

I'm not so sure about the food he gave her either.

 

[the_food_lady]

To add: in the link I gave with info on Primor, it specifically states that it's NOT FOR USE IN CATS (only in dogs). I would run far, far away from any so-called Vet who is clearly so freaking dense. I pray you can find a good Vet.

With all of this explosive diarrhea, I'd be getting concerned about possible dehydration and electrolyte imbalances, (sodium, potassium)etc.

 

[fitzy819]

Originally Posted by the_food_lady

To add: in the link I gave with info on Primor, it specifically states that it's NOT FOR USE IN CATS (only in dogs). I would run far, far away from any so-called Vet who is clearly so freaking dense. I pray you can find a good Vet.

With all of this explosive diarrhea, I'd be getting concerned about possible dehydration and electrolyte imbalances, (sodium, potassium)etc.

Someone had mentioned that to me also and Im def keeping my eye out for signs of dehydration. She drinks water often and normally gets wet food mixed with water which she eats all of. She will have somewhat normal stools about 70% of the time and then these random bouts of diarrhea around the house the rest of the time. Its not extremely runny, more just like a big gooey pile. For a while I thought it was just nerves because it would happen so sporadically and I thought that if it was a medical issue she would have it all of the time, but one of the things with TF is that it can be random and chronic.

 

[darlili]

I so hope you can get a diagnosis soon and a treatment that works - it can be tough with these intermittant illnesses, but thank goodness Piper has you in her corner.

Don't give up yet. My boy had intermittent issues of pooing outside the box and my vet for a bit thought it was behavioral. We did try a course of Tylan powder, an antibiotic, and I reduced his wet food a bit (he's on Hills CD - most times you'd want to increase the wet to dry ratio, but Dante likes the kibble more and seems to do better, poo wise, on the dry). Thank goodness, he hasn't had an accident in over three months, but I know how worried you can get.

 

[fitzy819]

Ok, just got back from exchanging what wellness I had for the natural balance limited ingredient diet. When I explained some of the issues to the food person at the store she suggested a vet that the store takes all of their pets to (at Petco they have some cats and small animals) and said that they really liked them and that they are pretty good on prices. Here is where they suggested http://colonyvet.com/index.php The place seems pretty good but I have had some pretty crummy luck with finding a vet here so any opinions? I also told the lady at the store the spca that we got her from and she said that there could be a high chance that she has some kind of parasite.

I also decided on the way home I would stop by Petsmart, where she was adopted from when the spca was there, and see if anyone from the spca we got her from was there. The lady I was looking for wasn't there but there was another lady from another spca there so I asked her a few questions. She talked like she was friends or at least knew the lady who runs the spca we got her from and said that she didn't think they had any kind of random diarrhea running rampant there but that she did know that they had several cats with corn allergies. Uuuuhhh, that would have been nice to know when we got her. She had been eating Wellness core canned food but for her dry I had been trying to switch her very slowly from Nutro to Core. Her Nutro that she has been eating has the second ingredient listed as CORN!!! I'm reallllllllyyyyy keeping my fingers crossed that all of this is a corn allergy!!!! That would be so easy to fix!

They lady from the other spca also said that she gives her cats acidophilus from the health food store when they have tummy issues. I think its just another probiotic suppliment basically. Does anyone know anything about this?

 

[carolina]

Yeah, it can be food allergy, grains can be a factor, so corn can be a problem, the same way that fish, soy also can be...
Wellness core is a great food, however some cats do not do well with it. In a cat with a sensitive tummy like yours, it would not be my choice of food... Plus, if your cat has food allergies, I would try to eliminate the most sources as possible, so IMO NB is the best choice for that, right now...
I hope you got it?

Probiotics are good... I use Bene-Bac, proper for animals, I buy it online, here.
I do hope it is allergies too... That would make things much easier... Even IBD... But IMO, even so, her bowels are so inflamed, she should be put on a course of metronidazole.... It will do her some major good.

 

[fitzy819]

Originally Posted by Carolina

Yeah, it can be food allergy, grains can be a factor, so corn can be a problem, the same way that fish, soy also can be...
Wellness core is a great food, however some cats do not do well with it. In a cat with a sensitive tummy like yours, it would not be my choice of food... Plus, if your cat has food allergies, I would try to eliminate the most sources as possible, so IMO NB is the best choice for that, right now...
I hope you got it?

Probiotics are good... I use Bene-Bac, proper for animals, I buy it online, here.
I do hope it is allergies too... That would make things much easier... Even IBD... But IMO, even so, her bowels are so inflamed, she should be put on a course of metronidazole.... It will do her some major good.

Yep, I got her the food you mentioned earlier, the Natural Balance chicken & green pea limited ingredient diet. Petco was so nice and they said that I could even bring back the opened bag of wellness for a store credit if this food worked out.

I still want to bring her in to a vet also. I think I will call the place they suggested and see if they seem any better than the last two places. Their website says they have been in business almost 50 years so that seems like a positive thing. Whatever is wrong with her, I'm sure her poor tummy is so torn up right now.

 

[jennyr]

What a terrible time you are having - I do hope you find a solution. To put my bit in, when Wellington and his brother Napoleon (RB) were dumped on my doorstep as starving dirty kittens, they had dreadful diarrhea and tested positive for several parasites. My vet put them on Metro, but it took three courses to clear it all completely. So don't be discouraged it it doesn't work immediately after you get hold of it.

 

[at129]

Just wanted to add, if you're looking for a new vet and unsure where to turn, there are online resources to help you. Some sites like Yahoo! will have the option of rating businesses and services (although in some areas you'll find that there are simply no ratings for anything).

I just did a quick search and found a site called vetratingz.com that allows you to search within a certain radius of your zip code, and will give you a list of vets that people have commented on. Obviously these aren't professional reviews and ratings, but I usually feel that when a lot of people take the time to make a good write-up online, it gives me a good idea of the loyalty that their regular patients feel for them.

Here's the search results that I got for your area (I used zip code 23666): http://www.vetratingz.com/searchResu...3666&radius=10 I didn't see a listing for the vet clinic you mentioned above, but there is at least one listed here with tons of positive feedback and very specific comments about the services provided.

Again, there are other sites you can look into; this was just the first one I came across. I too had a lot of trouble finding a really good vet, and it's very frustrating - but veterinary medicine simply isn't regulated in the same way that human medicine is, so in many cases, we end up having to take chances and go through a few "misses" before we find a hit.

Good luck to you and Piper!

 

[stephanietx]

Sounds like you've gotten some good advise and are on the road to solving the problem and finding a good vet for you and your kitty.