Just taken a poo sample to vets

[Mark]

The problem is, I'm pretty sure that she is allergic/intolerant to milk proteins. She even vomits after drinking cat milk - obviously she isn't allowed it.

I will look into Lacto-b etc.

She is a challenging girl 

[Desley (booktigger)]

It wouldnt do her any harm to give her some Mark, especially if you are giong to keep her on it despite runny poos -  even if it is just natural yoghurt (Sainsbury's Basic Natural is good, not all naturals state probiotic but theirs does and it is only 44p).

[Mark]

She isn't on PBs - I will see how she goes (no pun  ) todays was formed but soft - only to be expected with radical change of diet I suppose. I couldn't afford to change her over gradually. She seems to be holding out for her fish felix, but I have to be strong. She gave in and ate her Bozita tonight. She will also get some chicken later 

[Fire Fox]

My knowledge on food intolerance v. true allergy is limited, but IIRC either can irritate or damage the lining of the gut so her digestion may take time to settle. Human elimination diets they are time consuming - one food for several days (e.g. just potatoes  ) then add one more and repeat. Is Alice on probiotics at present?

[Mark]

I may have spoken too soon as there was a liquid poo in the tray last night -
no awful smell/blood/mucous though  - so far today, no poos so we shall see. She usually waits until we are eating 

She wouldn't eat it this morning - I assume she is bored with the same flavour. I remembered I had a pack of Whiskas supermeat - also grain free, so I opened a tuna one - the only flavour she likes, and she ate some. Hopefully, the other Bozita flavours will be delivered soon. I got an email saying they were shipped today. I am guessing they will try to deliver when I am out on Tuesday or Wednesday 

[Desley (booktigger)]

That is really good news Mark, wish mine had been the same on Bozita!!

[clarenmax]

Pleased to report that Alice has produced a long, perfectly formed and dare I say it, almost pleasant-smelling log  - her poos are usually foul. I am beginning to think it is some kind of food intolerance - I wish I had tried other grain-free foods before. I had tried RC & Arden grange but she wouldn't touch them. She is still loving Bozita and yet again, she even ate it straight from the fridge this morning. Now she is on proper food, instead of throwing 1/2 cans of Whiskas out, I am transferring into a tupperware and it is all being eaten. One carton is lasting her the best part of 2 days along with a few grain-free biscuits + fish & chicken, so it isn't expensive - if anything, where none is wasted, it works out cheaper than Whiskas etc.

Anyway, at least the tests will eliminate any other issues.

Another thing is she is now sleeping a lot better so we are wondering if she is feeling more comfortable - I hope so 

This all sounds really positive 

[Feline Costumier]

Bless her, obviously exhausted from being poorly and then got most distressed when she woke up to be confronted with Dennis snoring on the sofa

I have a friend with a very elderly cat who she regularly has to poke just to make sure she's still with us She likes to howl in the middle of the night too

[Mark]

She has slept most of the day. Even this morning, she was sound asleep and I had to stroke her to wake her up to make sure she was OK. Apparently she was howling in the night. OH fell asleep on the sofa - I never bother waking him up as he gets grumpy  - anyway, OH is miffed that when she howls, she will only quieten down for me 

[Feline Costumier]

This definitely sounds like positive progress Seems she knew all along what was bad for her tummy and that's why she was so reluctant to eat much of it.

[Mark]

Pleased to report that Alice has produced a long, perfectly formed and dare I say it, almost pleasant-smelling log  - her poos are usually foul. I am beginning to think it is some kind of food intolerance - I wish I had tried other grain-free foods before. I had tried RC & Arden grange but she wouldn't touch them. She is still loving Bozita and yet again, she even ate it straight from the fridge this morning. Now she is on proper food, instead of throwing 1/2 cans of Whiskas out, I am transferring into a tupperware and it is all being eaten. One carton is lasting her the best part of 2 days along with a few grain-free biscuits + fish & chicken, so it isn't expensive - if anything, where none is wasted, it works out cheaper than Whiskas etc.

Anyway, at least the tests will eliminate any other issues.

Another thing is she is now sleeping a lot better so we are wondering if she is feeling more comfortable - I hope so 

[Mark]

Well she is on a complete grain-free diet. Bozita wet and a tiny amount of grain-free dry (potatoes for carbs) + red salmon & chicken. As she had complete elimination yesterday, we are waiting with bated breath (and pegged nose) for her next deposit. 

She loves the Bozita so much, I may just stop the dry altogether - that way, she will get no carbs.

I hope she sticks with it as I ordered a 64 carton bulk deal tonight.

[Fire Fox]

The following needs a health warning for being personal opinion with no scientific backing .... 

To me the word 'rich' means high in meat protein and saturated fat: substances which humans can struggle to process in excess. By contrast felines are obligate carnivores, the only reason I can see for problems digesting is an allergy or sensitivity. To me sensitivity means you don't have the right enzymes to digest a given macronutrient.  Switching cats between high fat/ protein/ carb diets has the risk of sensitivity as the digestive enzymes are completely different. The only way you can confirm the problem is grains, pork or whatever else is a complete elimination diet and food diary.

[Mark]

If it is her first time eating it and she hasn't had it mixed with anything else, it is more likely to go straight through her as it is quite rich.

Will have to keep an eye. The only other grain-free food I have in is Whiskas supermeat and Cosmo-thai chicken & salmon - I opened one this morning and neither Kylie nor Alice was interested in it. Alice went back for a 2nd sniff but declined to try it 

[Mark]

I opened a crayfish german bozita today Mark and it was exactly like your photo!

Thanks Helen  - At least I know I didn't have a dodgy one - the last thing she needs right now  . I wish I knew which other flavours were like that, although I wonder about the pork. I remember reading something about not giving cats pork due to the size of the fat molecules - although that doesn't make sense as food is broken down  - even my old vet said no pork for cats 

[Tiggy's Mum]

I opened a crayfish german bozita today Mark and it was exactly like your photo!

[Desley (booktigger)]

If it is her first time eating it and she hasn't had it mixed with anything else, it is more likely to go straight through her as it is quite rich.

[Mark]

I hope the Bozita doesn't go through Alice, as it is all she has eaten in the last 24hrs. I wish I had more than one flavour, as she isn't eating the grain-free dry now. She loves the Bozita so much, she even ate it straight from the fridge this morning. She is a really slow eater but keeps going back for more. She is doing the full lip-licking and face wash after a few mouthfuls 

Alice's sample is definitely going to the lab. It does seem a lot. I am expecting it to be negative but at least we can rule it out. I will see how she goes on a cereal-free diet as well. I wish I could be some more Bozita quickly as I just have 5 more boxes of the same flavour.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I had a discussion with my vet over this with Buster. T Foetus is very hard to test for, they have always had to send theirs to the lab, but have tried to find it themselves, the problem is it dies very quickly. I had two options with Buster, the normal fecal sample was over a 3 day period, the fecal occult blood sample needed a red meat free diet for 5 days and then a sample taking. I decided to go with giving him a 5 day course of ab's (Baytril) and he is fine now, although I had to keep up with the natural yoghurt for a while - do you give Alice any probiotics? I would try eliminating all dry food for a while, that seems to be Busters trigger, and I can tell when he has pinched Zi's biscuits by his poo. None of mine can tolerate Bozita, I got them some earlier in the year and it went straight through all 3 of them.

[Mark]

You say it can't be 'nothing' but in the same breath there's nothing to say it's anything serious either, she might just have picked up a little bug from somewhere 

In a warped way, I wish it would turn out to be t.foetus and that we can get rid of it once & for all - rather than some vague thing that makes her pass blood & mucous on a weekly basis - this was the worst I have seen. Maybe it was the Purina One senior she has been eating since the weekend?

I have just remembered that she had thrown up lots of clear foam on her bed as well. I gave her a clean one and she is back in the same bed - for some odd reason, she loves this "bed in a bed"  - it is far too small but she prefers it to her big heated bed.

[Tiggy's Mum]

Some pics I took this afternoon...

I read the last post on 'recent posts' so you can't see the pics until you go to the actual thread. Was very worried what they were going to be of! 

You say it can't be 'nothing' but in the same breath there's nothing to say it's anything serious either, she might just have picked up a little bug from somewhere 

[Mark]

Some pics I took this afternoon - she seems more comfortable now, but given the amount of blood & mucous, it can't be nothing - she seemed really uncomfortable in the morning and her pupils were dilated.

[Mark]

I was also told that the sample should be collected over a few days?

They didn't mention it to me.

I will give them a call.

PS - My Zooplus delivery just came. I have some "Happy Cat" grain-free biscuits - hopefully she will eat it. She loved the senior version of it, so fingers crossed. There is also some fish Bozita - I forget which flavour  + salmon & chicken Cosma Thai. I wasn't thinking and shoiuldn't have ordered chicken that comes from Thailand. 

PS - I just phoned the vet and they are going to test for t. foetus as well. They called back and said it is an extra £42 in addition to the standard fee (not sure what that is  ) If it can sort her tummy problems out, it is money well spent.

She has eaten some of the Happy Cat food. She went to the tray again and nothing came out. I am strictly cutting out and food with grains in to see if it helps.

Amazingly, she has taken to the Crayfish Bozita. I wanted shrimp but it was sold out. It is nothing like the chunks in jelly in the photo. Although they are all described as chunks in jelly, it is more like a slop - like canned mince 

Anyway, she is eating it ravenously and has been eating solidly for the last 5 minutes  (only gave her about 1/6th of a carton)

[Tiggy's Mum]

Poor Alice

From the two faecal tests I've had (on the boys' poo not mine!) that isn't something that's routinely tested for, if I remember rightly they test for worms/worm eggs, salmonella and campylobacter. The latter part of the test takes longer than the first part to come back.

I was also told that the sample should be collected over a few days?

 

[Mark]

I don't want to teach grandma to suck eggs but do you think I should mention it to the vet?

[Gillian Harvey]

about t.foetus - anyone know if this is tested for in a routine test? - I read about it on the link and it says t.foetus can be seen under a microscope; which I assume they do with poo samples anyway to see if there are any visible parasites?

I always understood that t foetus wasnt routinely tested for. I think it can only be seen if it is at a certain stage, and if it isnt seen that doesnt mean it isnt present - if you see what I mean? 

[Mark]

Alice has always had a problem with blood & mucous in her poo. She went for all kinds of tests, but they all came out clear. She even had an ultrasound. The only thing they didn't do was open her up; which the vet didn't want to do. She has always had bouts of this on & off on a regular basis. This morning, I got up and there was runny poo with blood & mucous in both of her trays and quite a lot of it. She must have also been up to the kitchen in the night which she rarely does as there was some up there as well - unless it was Kylie. She didn't want any food this morning and deposited more blood & mucous in both trays again. I rang the vet and we agreed that I would take it to them to send off for testing.

I was reading on Sharon's thread about t.foetus - anyone know if this is tested for in a routine test? - I read about it on the link and it says t.foetus can be seen under a microscope; which I assume they do with poo samples anyway to see if there are any visible parasites?

SHe just at a few kibbles of purina one sensitive but I may need to get her something without maize in. The trouble is, she refuses most things.