Years ago I had a kitten with a similar problem. After multiple stool samples were tested (no worms no Giardia), the vet came to the conclusion that it was something called a Corona virus. This is why it did not respond to a short term dose of Flagyl. (Although Flagyl will not kill the virus, it does have an anti inflammitory effect that helps a lot.) Ask your vet and do a web search to check it out. I remember my vet telling me that Corona is a benign version of the lethal FIP which is usually supressed by anti-viral properties in a healthy mother's milk, and that given time (unless the virus mutates into FIP...unlikely) the cat's immune system will overcome the virus. This was the case with my little Princess who lived til the age of 13.

My new cat I adopted from the ASPCA (she's 8 yrs old)has loose bowels and has respeonded to flagyl...but every time I take her off it, she gets loose again. My vet said it may be Corona. But then I found the following web link that mentioned a bacteria that my vet had never heard of. I'll post it here and you can show the article to your vet if you want. My Vet said that if the loosies didn't go away after another 3 weeks of flagyl, she wants to send another stool sample to the lab and ask them about the bacteria (Tritrichomonas foetus1) mentioned in the article.

http://www.maddiesfund.org/organizations/shelter_ask_vet_diar.html

LF

Thanks LF for responding. Princess was a lucky cat, having you to take such good care of her.

I didn't know abt Corona or T. foetus. If the tests come out negative again, I'll ask the vet to check for those. I read up on it and got to know that respiratory tract infections, conjunctivitis are some symptoms of FIV.

Jas-purr is the runt of the litter, and we aren't sure if his mum had been vaccinated. Coco is a healthy kitten now. I forgot to mention that Jas-purr and Coco both had severe eye infections two weeks ago that were treated with antibiotic tablets and eye ointment. Some time after that, Max started sneezing and wheezing, and stayed at the hospital for 5 days for his antibio shots. Now he is back, and Simba and Nikita both have severe conjunctivitis, though the ointment seems to be taking care of it.

I'm hoping it's not Corona/FIV, but I now know what to ask the vet of stool tests return negative for intestinal parasites. Thanks again for your reply and the link.

Pranjal

How's Jas-purr today, Pranjal?

I'm a great supporter of probiotics in some form or other interspersed with antibiotics etc, or afterwards. If there are no problems with dairy, I like to give a helping of a good plain yoghurt large enough to ensure some gets past the acid stomach environment. I see a product called Protexin is named on a cat forum which I've just joined to see what our local owners are talking about.

Cheers
Rose

Thanks for thinking of us, Rose. Jas-purr's doing OK, no blood in stools anymore, a lil bit of mucus, but it's still loose. The tests came out negative again. I didn't get to speak to the vet today, though.

We're continuing with the yoghurt (he loves it!). Coco and Jas-purr were both given probiotic supplements during the second phase of their Giardia treatment. DH will bring some from the clinic tomorrow. I'll check out Protexin, though can't be sure if it's available here.

I'll check with the vet tomorrow to see what he thinks abt the possibility of Corona virus / T. foetus infection.

Pranjal

Thanks Rose once again for the info on Protexin, we checked with a different vet and she said to start him on it right away, and not to worry, it's most probably all those antibios his tiny lil body has been flooded with.

We got Protexin today. Hoping he responds.

Pranjal

Pranjal...where did you get the Protexin? Is it by prescription? I'm using a liquid probiotic for my cat (who is still on flagyl), but Protexin sounds better. I did a quick Google and everything seemed to come up for horses in the UK.

Hope you kitten's loosies get better soon with the new regimen.

L

Hi LF,

It was available at the vet's clinic. I don't think it would be prescription-only.

Try http://www.protexin.com/vet/, it gives info on Protexin for companion animals.

It might be available at your vet's too, or they could order it for you. I've never ordered meds online yet, but you could try this link I got when I Googled 'Protexin available USA' (dunno if it's for horses or cats/dogs, though)

Hope your kitty feels better soon. Keep us posted.

Pranjal

Here is a link that might be useful: Ordering Protexin online

Thanks for the info,Pranjal. I tried the main website but they don't seem to sell the vet products directly to consumers. I'll ask my vet the next time I go there.

Pranjal,

Since Jas has taken Flagyl, you might ask your vet if it could be pseudomembranous colitis - the blood and mucous in the stool are symptoms of this. Even though it has been a month (or more) since taking the Flagyl, this condition can appear.

I hope he is feeling better soon.

Hi Puc, sorry I couldn't reply earlier. I've been away from the 'puter for quite some time. Jas's stool consistency has improved, though it's not as solid as we'd like it to be. Haven't seen blood/mucus for some days, but it's happened intermittently over the past month, so I'm still checking it everyday.

Thanks for the suggestion about pseudomembranous colitis, will check with the vet when Jas-purr goes in for a check next week.

Hi Pranjal...I've been going thru a similar situation with my 8yr old cat Odessa (see above). She had been on Flagyl for 6 weeks (as per vets instruction)and as of 2 weeks ago, I gradually started decreasing the dose. I also put her on a soil pased pro-biotic called Pet Flora (I wrote about it under another subject). All was going fine for about 12 days...then O had 2 major cow-pies in 24 hours. I took her into the vet again. I asked him about pseudomembranous colitis and/or Tritrichomonas foetus being the problem. He said the T.F. was more likely since she had ben a shelter cat, but since she had been completely off Flagyl for less then 10 days he said he had to wait another week to manually extract a sterile stool sample in order to make the diagnois. I think Odessa heard him say that (literally scared the s---out of her)because this morning I found a perfectly formed, non smelly poop in her box! I had asked the vet about the soil based pro-biotic and he said to keep her on it...it couldn't hurt and could only help. If Odessa keeps up the good work, I'm going to cancel the appointment I made for the stool extraction.
Do ask your vet about the possibly of Tritrichomonas foetus. I called the ASPCA and they told me that they don't test for it because it is not considered treatable.The bad news is that it is resistant to most anti-biotic treatment. The good news is that given time, it tends to resolve itself spontaneously. Google it and you will find a lot of good info...seems to fit Jas-purrs symptoms to a t. There is recently an antibiotic that seems to kill it off, but my vet said that that should only be given as a last resort as it has a possibility of being toxic.

Please keep me posted on Jas-purr.

Hi LF! Hope Odessa's doing good. Jas went to a different vet today, and the first thing the vet thought about, was T. foetus; tomorrow they'll test the stool sample and hopefully we'll be able to rid Jas of the problem.

I'm surprised that none of the other cats contracted it from Jas, and the vet said they're probably resistant to it. He also said if in fact T.foetus shows up in the sample, they'd have to order the antibio from outside the country. I forgot to discuss the possibility of it being toxic :( I'll have to talk to the doc tomorrow. This is turning a lil scary now but I have full faith in the vet and that helps a lot.

Thanks again, LF! Give Odessa (I love the name) a tummy rub for me :)

Pranjal

Hi Pranjal...sorry to hear that Jaspurr still has the poops. I think that what really turned the tide for Odessa was the canned pumpkin I began feeding her. Her BMs have been fine since, so we never had the stool extracted for the T-Foetus test. My vet did reiterate that even if she was positive for this bug, he wasn't sure if he would give her the anti-biotic (ronidizole?) that kills it since he said that aside from the diarhea and the possiblity of dyhydration, it is not a life threatening problem and tends to resolve with time. But Odessa is an older cat, not a kitten.

I think that I will start another thread called "in praise of Libby's canned pumpkin". Have you tried it with Jas? I am still giving O that soil based pro-biotic called Pet Flora (although the guy from Vitality Science who makes the product told me that it would not have an effect on T-Foetus)that I started giving her when she was on Flagyl along with a slippery elm supplement that is supposed to have an anti-inflammatory effect in the intestines. But I think it is the pumpkin that is doing the job of keeping things down there comming out normal, so if you are not giving Jas pumpkin, ask your vet about that as well.
Please post the results of Jaspurr's test...I'm curious.

Lisa

Oh Lisa, I think there's some 'felipathy' going on LOL. I waited patiently (5AM to 11AM) for Jas to present us with the all-important stuff; the rascal produced the most perfectly formed stool LOL I never thought I'd call something like this 'beautiful', but I did, this morning! I'm sure Odessa's sending some thoughts his way :)

I called the vet to check if he wanted me to bring the sample in anyway, or wait until I get a runny one. **Sigh** the vet's busy, so will wait for his call.

In the meantime, I'd like to know all about Libby's canned pumpkin; I'd like to try that after checking with the vet.

Cheers!
Pranjal

I swear cats can sense when an issue is about to drive their people to the verge of doing something drastic (like a trip to the vet). My late cat Max had the opposite problem: chronic constipation. He hadn't gone in over a week. I was on the phone with the vet making an appointment to take him in for an enema when I smelled something 'organic' comming from his litterbox room. Sure enough! No need for an enema (that time)! But I digress.

I'm going to start another thread about the pumpkin although I think it has been discussed on this board before. But as you go through you paces with Jaspurr, one other suggestion is to keep a "poop diary". This will really help you keep track of things. I use the simplest Windows text accessory "Notepad" program. If you bring up a blank Notepad, and type in .LOG you will automatically get the date and time of your entry everytime you open it up. I started doing that with Max and have found it very helpful with Odessa as well. It sounds like an obsessive thing to do, but it really helps in giving info to the vet especially if you are giving your cat some kind of med or dietary treatment.

From what I've read, TFoetus does tend to spontaneously resolve although it might take a while, but it would be good to know if that is what is causing Jas' problem because he's a kitten. The reason I chose not to go forward with testing for Odessa is that for some reason, my vet said he would need to manually extract the stool as opposed to me just bringing in something from the litterbox...and I didn't want to subject her to that once the diarhea stopped.

Maybe Jas will duplicate his latest effort tomorrow!

Lisa