Hi all,
I'm looking for a bit of advice as I am nearly my wits end with the two kittens I have rescued as they have both been poorly with diarrhoea since around 20th January. I have already taken them to the vet and below is a bit more of the history of what has been tried so far. Apologies for the long post!
Toffee and Cookie are both rescue kittens from an animal shelter in London. They are not related but were put together as a pair. Toffee was thrown out with someones rubbish (honestly some people!) and rescued by the bin men. Cookie was abandoned and found by the shelter. We are not 100% sure of their ages but we think Cookie is around 4.5months maybe 5 and Toffee is around 4 maybe 4.5 months. Toffee had cat flu when we got her and so could not have her vaccinations. Cookie had her first jab and then also came down with cat flu and so needed a complete restart. Essentially neither one has been vaccinated yet and as no vaccinations neither has been spayed. They are now both over their cat flu. Other than the runs they are both very active, affectionate and playful kittens. They will jump and run around and play fight (including kicking each other in the tummy) and they are eating the kitten food. Both are not dehydrated although they are unsurprisingly drinking a lot.
We brought the kittens home on 28th December and fed them a combination of Royal Canin Kitten and one pouch each of Whiskas. This was split and given in two meals (am and pm). They were fine eating this and both had normal poop.
The diarrhoea started around the 20th /21st Jan. A few days previously both kittens had chewed on a Dragon Tree plant which was in the lounge. We had just moved house before we got the kittens and had not gotten rid of the plant yet. Unfortunately they managed to get into the room where the plant was. As I know it is a toxic plant, I was naturally very concerned and took them to the vets. To be on the safe side the vet took bloods and was able to rule out any potential damage done by the plant in relation to kidneys and liver. So at least we know that their kidneys and liver are fine. The vet thought it likely that any diarrhoea would be temporary and likely to have been caused by the plant and recommended a bland diet of boiled fish for 5 days.
White fish was purchased and the kittens were very happy with their new diet. They were on this diet for around 7-10 days but the diarrhoea did not go away. I spoke to the locum vet and he advised that the royal canin be phased back in as they were not going to be getting sufficient nutrients on just the fish. By the 6th February the diarrhoea had still not gone away. Back to the vets for a prescription of Metronidazole twice daily for 5 days as it was felt that this was now unlikely to be related to the plant.
The Metronidazole did the trick as within 2 days both had normal looking poo (hurrah!) However once they had finished the course the diarrhoea came back. Spoke to the vet, told to wait a few days before bringing in a stool sample for further tests. Sample brought in and kittens to be put on Royal Canin Sensitivity Control to rule out any food intolerance.
We tried the new food for 5 days but sadly Cookie and Toffee did not appear to like the new food and both went down to eating at most 30g a day (Royal Canin recommend that kittens have 90g of the stuff), plus it had made no difference to the poo, still very runny and cow pat like. I was worried that there were not eathing so spoke to the vet who confirmed that it would be fine to phase back to the kitten food as at least then they were eating.
Tests came back and the only bug showing up in their system was crytosporidium – no coccidia no giardia. Told to get some additional litter trays so that those not being used could be soaked in either either Ammonia or Hydrogen Peroxide to try and kill the bug. New antibiotics given (not got the name of those to hand right now) for two weeks. We are now 7 days in and there has been no improvement in their poo. The Vet has today suggested that we finish the course of antibiotics and keep soaking the litter trays. I should also now phase them back into the Sensitivity Control diet so we can rule out any issues with food.
My concern is that I have already tried Sensitivity Control and boiled fish and neither helped. Swapping to Sensitivity Control now doesn't seem like it will do anything other than result in the kittens no longer eating. The vet says that it can take 2 weeks for their guts to settle down and that 5 days was not long enough to get a result (clearly he has changed his mind from what he had said earlier)
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what else I can try, or have any similar experience? I'm starting to be quite concerned as this can not be good for their development plus I feel like I am running out of things we can try to get them back to normal!
Sorry for such a long post!
in advance for any suggestions/encouragement that this has happened before but will all work out etc!
