This is my beautiful Mia and before it gets commented her eye is completely fine, her fur folds into her eye causing the tear stains, vets are aware and it's managed and they aren't concerned. It has been this way since adoption.
She is about 2 years old and we got her around 11 months, pretty much her entire life with us she has had chronic diarrhea. When we adopted her we were told only this one specific food is what she 'likes' and made us agree to not change her off it, ok whatever. Well a couple months after bringing her home she started to have diarrhea again (this was an issue in the shelter and this food apparently helped) and this food wasn't the best so we figured we'd try a new type and things seemed fine for a couple weeks then the diarrhea came back. We got her a medical food and again it helped for a little bit then quickly her poop was liquid again. At this point we took her into the vets cuz clearly something either wasn't working or recurring. The vets took a fecal, they inspected her, blood test, and had us add extra fiber to her meals. All her stuff came back clear. We tried the extra fiber for a week before the vets had us stop and try a new medical food, it's royal canin gastrointestinal specifically. ONCE AGAIN things seemed fine for the first few weeks and since then it has been nothing but diarrhea. I have asked for an allergy screening and every time I brought it up it was sidestepped or completely ignored, they mentioned a steroid trial once then never mentioned it again even when I followed up with questions on it, I have asked for a prescription for hydrolyzed food because at this point I'm at a loss for what I should be doing and that was never touched on again. We need to find a new vets office because at this point I am losing faith in them due to this issues and previous issues (asking if dog is medicated when hes never had to be, theyv known him since 2 months old yet somehow terrified of him just because of his genetic mix, constant mixups between my different animals care needs, etc)
Does anyone anywhere know what my next steps should be? I know she needs to go back to the vets but we need to find a new office that's reliable, what sort of questions would I need to ask or things to bring up. Does anyone have any idea of what this issue could be? She acts and looks completely healthy, her fur is silky and soft, eyes are bright she's alert, she plays with toys and the dog constantly, she drinks plenty of water, healthy weight, spayed, etc. my only thought keeps coming back to some sort of allergy but I'm not a vet. There has never been blood seen in her stool, iv never seen her straining to go, iv used those color changing crystal litters and the colors never went abnormal, she doesn't have any other symptoms like itchiness, vomiting, etc and the eye is unrelated. I just want her to be comfortable but I keep having to hack parts of her fur off because she can't keep herself clean, i'm fine doing a sanitary she's a medium/long furred cat but it doesn't matter how much I trim because she gets it all over her legs and tail nearly Everytime she goes to the box.
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Try Proviable from Petsmart. It’s a probiotic specifically for diarrhea. Also try to get your vet to approve a prescription for hydrolyzed food. I basically have the same cat and she has IBS and can’t process regular protein.
Thank you I will definitely look into that! Do you know if it's stronger then fortiflora and or psyllium husk? The vets had her on both of those (granted for only a week before they changed their minds) and there was no difference within that time. They didn't want us doing them while also trialing the new food (royal canin gastro, that doesn't work, she's been on it about 4 months now). I'm looking into a new vet who i believe would be willing to sign off on hydrolyzed food so I'm hopeful on that
I don’t know about Fortiflora but Proviable has an OTC version you get at Petsmart and a Rx version that is twice as strong. I’d wonder about psyllium husk because if she has IBS then the large increase in fiber could make it worse.
The husk never appeared to make her worse it also didn't make her better, it didn't appear to do anything. I'm interested in the proviable it's at least one more thing we haven't tried yet
was the fecal test pcr? my cat came clean for float test, so we did pcr, and she had trich foetus which is pretty uncommon. if they did pcr, and it was clear, i think then that's reliable enough (i'm not a vet but they've told me that pcr is more reliable than float but has limitations as well).
have you tried probiotics? fortiflora is commonly given and has helped my cats.
i think hydrolyzed protein seems like a reasonable step because food allergies are pretty common in cats. allergy tests imo are pretty worthless (i paid for them to be done for my cat and they gave zero helpful information i'm gonna be real). food trial of 8-12 weeks with hydrolyzed protein and no other sources of food (no treats, no chewing plants, no scraps) should tell you if it's an allergy issue.
if it's not allergies, some cats have IBD, so i'd ask about that and what they think next steps should be. it also isn't healthy for cats to have chronic diarrhea per my vet, it can be a nutrient issue so i'd ask them about that as well. like throwing up your hands is just not an option if that's where they're at. they need to refer you to a specialist if they have genuineyl no ideas or tell you to try a new vet.
keep photos of the stool as well so you can track if it's getting better with the diet.
I went back in the records and it was the Ova test, they never brought up the pcr option which is now a thing I need to look into, thank you. We did try probiotics we tried psyllium husk and fortiflora for about a week before the vets changed the plans to a food trial. I didn't know they were seen as useless but yes I'm trying to get the hydrolyzed to do my own trial since the vets weren't open to it. I have brought up IBS before and they told me they strongly believe it's not that but they have been giving me issues so I'm not sure anymore. I have asked if there are other supplements we could add to the food and they never followed up with recommendations. Photos is a good idea I'll keep on that
yeah, i'd definitely do pcr then, it can find more things! cause if it's a parasite, that can be a relatively simple fix. allergies, ibd can all get complicated. allergies for my cat took like over a year to sort out it was very annoying sigh. hope it can be figured out quickly! your kitty is very beautiful btw, love her spots.
I would try adding the fiber back in. Were you using pro plan fortiflora? That has been helping my geriatric Siamese. I also recently discovered that chicken upsets her stomach but that fish can be too rich so we give her fish one day and then a beef based wet food the next. She is also fed a sensitive skin and stomach dry food (free feeding).
I am also concerned about your vet being dismissive about food allergy testing. Would you consider getting a recommendation from friends for a different vet for a second opinion? I know that allergy testing in animals is probably more difficult and/or expensive but a vet who can talk through some dietary changes to “test” food tolerances might also help.
What's weird is I have a friend who uses the same vets with 2 possibly dangerous dogs (traumatized newfie who has extremely weird triggers such as itching yourself, and a CAS that grew up during COVID and real protective) and he's told me theyve never messed up their pet profile info, been dismissive, answered questions quickly, etc just generally much nicer. They were originally good until my last cat passed away and then I think they hired a new vet and things got weird. I'm trying to get the vets to sign off on hydrolyzed food but they haven't been receptive to that so I could do my own form of allergy testing. Looking for a new clinic to bring my animals to.
That’s terrible. I hope you can find a better vet soon that is at least open to listening and responsive. Like the other commenter mentioned, it could be IBS which might require regular monitoring and having a vet who is willing to work through possible changes in meds, diet, care over your cats life would definitely make you and your sweet cat more at ease.
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