What’s wrong with my cats?

[13raynerl]

My cats are both 6 months old and about 3 days ago one of them woke up in the night with diarrhoea and was sick - this happened a few times in the space of a few hours. He then went to sleep and woke up fine, eating and playing but still some diarrhoea. A couple days later the other cat has now started to do the same (sickness and diarrhoea). But both are absolutely fine in themselves, eating, drinking, playing and going to the toilet normally. I think it’s just worms but does anyone have any other idea or any recommendations on worming stuff?

 

[Norachan]

Are they the same cats you mention in this thread?

Blood in cats poo

You said:

it looks like the blood was due to colitis but also her and her brother appear to have a parasite (can’t remember the name) that essentially lays dormant and then flares up, hence the diarrhoea, which they then pass on to eachother

What did the vet give you to treat the parasites with? If cats have a sever parasite infestation it can take several rounds of treatment for this to clear up completely.

I suggest you contact your vet and tell them the problem is back again

 

[FeebysOwner]

. It is always good to know what kind of parasite the vet thinks your cats had, what they were treated with, and if a recurrence is a probability. Some parasites can even live outside the body and re-infect the cats again. Some of them require disinfecting all items/areas that the cats are exposed to.

Your vet ought to be able to advise of any cleaning steps that might be needed, and how many follow-up parasitic treatments, if any, might be necessary. And the vet really should be testing for the type of parasite that they think is involved to ensure the treatment is an appropriate one. Once you know what parasite it is, you can always research the internet for more information too.

 

[13raynerl]

Hi all,
apologies for the delay in response, it has been a busy week! So we gave them a worming tablet early last week and some probiotics to try help. This seems to help for about half a day before swiftly getting worse again. They started eating less and still had the diarrhoea and 1 was sick again thursday so we took them to the vets. She said they seemed fine, did all the usual checks and recommended another dose of worming treatment which treats everything and more probiotics. This was Thursday and they still have the diarrhoea and now the male isn’t eating at all since yesterday morning (apart from a squirty treat) and she is also eating much much less. Should we give it more time (last worming dose was given yesterday) or is it worth taking them back in today. He was sick yesterday but the vet did say if no improvement we will send some poo off for testing to find out if there is a parasite. Thanks for your help!

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. I think you need to have them seen again. They might want to run some bloodwork or take an X-ray roses if there could be an obstruction.

Do you have any plants in your house? Are the cats indoor only? Do you use essential oils or natural cleaners? Do the cats have access to hair ties? What do you feed them?

 

[13raynerl]

that’s what I’m thinking - she said she couldn’t feed any sort of blockage or obstruction but might be worth a shot. We only have fake plants which they don’t touch, they’ve never been outside, we don’t use any oils or plug in things as we know they can be dangerous or any natural cleaners, they do but only supervised and 1 of them doesn’t play with them anyway and we feed them both wet and dry. They get 2 wet sachets a day and access to dry food all day.

 

[13raynerl]

Thought someone might find an update useful - Ace has continued to have diarrhoea, has lost 60 grams in 24 hours and now hasn’t eaten in 60 hours. He licked a treat earlier and immediately threw up green bile so I took him to the emergency vet. They took blood tests and gave him another anti sickness injection, they’ve also sent his stool sample off and given him antibiotics to hope he’ll eat. We’ll receive the results of the blood test Friday and the stool sample early next week hopefully so will update then. Still hasn’t eaten but fingers crossed!

 

[fionasmom]

Has your other cat improved? Ace is approaching 3 days without eating. Is your vet addressing this?

 

[13raynerl]

Yeah she’s a lot better actually - she’s had the zoomies today, no sickness and eating lots more. She does still have diarrhoea but not as bad as previously. And yes this is what we went to the vet about today - the anti sickness injection and antibiotics are what we are addressing this with as the injection worked previously and the antibiotics can have the affect of also helping with the lack of eating. If no improvement by Friday we will be going back and likely placing him on a drip.

 

[silent meowlook]

Have they done an ultrasound or an X-ray? Vomiting and diarrhea in a cat, one of the first things that comes to mind is an obstruction.

 

[13raynerl]

No they haven’t - we did think this but they have felt around and said there’s nothing in there and the fact it’s both of them it’s likely infectious. The vet also said that obstruction is likely to be constipation as opposed to the diarrhoea. Thoughts?

 

[silent meowlook]

In extreme obstruction, they develop diarrhea and leak around the obstruction. But with both cats having it and one cat responding so well, it could very well be viral.

 

[13raynerl]

Yeah that’s the only problem, both have it and as you say, Peach is a lot better than before whereas he is getting a lot worse so very confusing. Fingers crossed the tests come back as soon as possible and give us some answers!

 

[fionasmom]

In extreme obstruction, they develop diarrhea and leak around the obstruction. But with both cats having it and one cat responding so well, it could very well be viral.

I agree with this as it is somewhat unlikely that they have different problems...but not strictly impossible. I have seen weird coincidental things in the animal world. It still concerns me that one cat is doing so poorly while one recovers.

 

[Fergusboy]

Has your vet mentioned coccidia as a possible cause of their diarrhea? It should show up on their fecal test if they haved it. It's very common, especially in kittens. It causes diarrhea, really smelly gas & poop. Coccidia has to be treated with a few days of a very specific antibiotic. It's not a worm, it's a protozoa and dewormers will not kill it.

 

[13raynerl]

They haven’t mentioned that no but as you say, this should be picked up on the fecal sample anyway. Amazingly Ace is now eating! Not sure if the antibiotics are helping as he didn’t start eating until yesterday afternoon and the anti nausea injection works within an hour so likely not that. Still waiting on results of blood test which we should get today/tomorrow and the fecal sample which should come back early next week so will keep updating once received. Fingers crossed he continues eating!

 

[di and bob]

I would start them both on DMG, a supplement to build up their immune systems. I have given it for almost 4 years now, a dose every morning mixed in a small amount of Delectable Lickables in the stew flavors, and it has helped, I believe. They used to come down with sickness every few months or so. They all have leukemia, and one was within 'days' of dying, the vet said. of course, I keep them strictly inside now too. I pray your little ones continue to improve!

 

[13raynerl]

Interesting - thank you for the recommendation I will definitely look into it as ours also seem to be poorly every few months! Does anyone have any recommendations of food to feed them that is good for them but also not too pricey? I’ve been looking at the lilys kitchen pate but not sure what’s the healthiest?

 

[13raynerl]

Hi all thought I would log back on and update. So since my last update they are now absolutely fine. Neither have been sick since I last took Ace to the vet, they both have normal poos and are absolutely wafting all of their food which is brilliant. Their blood test and stool sample came back completely fine which just baffles us even more! The vet said it’s likely that they either somehow ate the same thing at the same time which didn’t sit well with them or it is a much more rare parasite that couldn’t be picked up on the basic stool sample but as they are fine now it’s not worth spending the extra time and money testing. But good news and hopefully this doesn’t happen again! Thanks all for your help

 

[silent meowlook]

I am so glad to see this!!!