6 mo Bengal cat with diarrhea - maybe tritrichomonas foetus, maybe not
August 25, 2013 12:25 PM Subscribe
I have a 6 month old Bengal male cat with persistent diarrhea. We narrowed it down through testing to tritrichomonas foetus and gave him 30mg/kg dose of Ronidazole for two weeks. The diarrhea went away while he was on Ronidazole, then returned within 48 hours after going off the Ronidazole.
I am taking a sample back for testing (which is really tricky with tritrichomonas foetus) on Monday and see what the vet says. But I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this.
My vet has not had a lot of experience with diagnosing and treating tritrichomonas foetus. Treatment of tritrichomonas foetus with Ronidazole is new, only about 5 years. Even now it is difficult to diagnose as the protozoa are fast swimming when they are alive and dead within 10 minutes of leaving the intestines.
Furthermore, I am not sure we have the right diagnosis. We administered the max dose of Ronidazole and the diarrhea persists. My vet feel that once the obvious causes of diarrhea in cats have been ruled out, it can be impossible to identify the cause and cure.
I am inclined to let it go as a problem that is unlikely to be solved, but when a cat has diarrhea this severe, they can't reliably make it to the litter box despite their best intentions. It's an incredibly difficult thing to manage.
Also, he is a 5 lb cat and he gained a pound while on the Ronidazole for two weeks. So clearly the diarrhea is affecting his development.
This is my first cat ever. I am completely and totally and somewhat unexpectedly in love with this cat... I am a dog person but unable to have a dog at this time. I need to find a solution; I currently face 20 years of poop on everything.
Anyone been through this? Anyone figured this out? Does it ever just go away?
My vet has not had a lot of experience with diagnosing and treating tritrichomonas foetus. Treatment of tritrichomonas foetus with Ronidazole is new, only about 5 years. Even now it is difficult to diagnose as the protozoa are fast swimming when they are alive and dead within 10 minutes of leaving the intestines.
Furthermore, I am not sure we have the right diagnosis. We administered the max dose of Ronidazole and the diarrhea persists. My vet feel that once the obvious causes of diarrhea in cats have been ruled out, it can be impossible to identify the cause and cure.
I am inclined to let it go as a problem that is unlikely to be solved, but when a cat has diarrhea this severe, they can't reliably make it to the litter box despite their best intentions. It's an incredibly difficult thing to manage.
Also, he is a 5 lb cat and he gained a pound while on the Ronidazole for two weeks. So clearly the diarrhea is affecting his development.
This is my first cat ever. I am completely and totally and somewhat unexpectedly in love with this cat... I am a dog person but unable to have a dog at this time. I need to find a solution; I currently face 20 years of poop on everything.
Anyone been through this? Anyone figured this out? Does it ever just go away?
Dealing with the poop issue right now means getting more litter boxes. One for every room. Two for large rooms. You want the cat to have easy access to a box at all times, because really, cats prefer to poop in private. Kitten is not soiling your sofa (or wherever) on purpose. BUT will develop habits early in kittenhood and this behavior of pooping when and where the urge strikes will be harder to sort out later.
Plenty of water, and keep in touch with your vet about food options. If you continue to have doubts about the diagnosis, try a different detection method. This parasite is sometimes visible in fresh fecal smears. Very Fresh. So you can have the vet...um...extract a sample when you bring Kitten in. PCR is even more effective at diagnosing. If you still have doubts, get the animal to another vet for a second opinion.
Have you contacted the breeder of your animal regarding this issue? They may have some answers. I ask, because this parasite is known particularly among purebred cats where large numbers of cats are in close contact. Bengal kittens are in HIGH demand right now, but it looks like more cats than expected came up with it. Someone tested cats at a show a while back and found 30% of the cats came up positive. You may (may!) have some recourse with the breeder, but even if you don't, they should know so that they can mitigate this and not send sick kittens out into the world. (I'm not promising that this will happen, some breeders are unscrupulous and will send kittens out with all kinds of problems.)
As for the weight, Bengals are slow to fatten up, taking about 2 years to get to full size. So at five pounds I don't think you're behind schedule, but talk to other Bengal owners to get an idea of what's going on with their animals, size wise.
posted by bilabial at 2:02 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Plenty of water, and keep in touch with your vet about food options. If you continue to have doubts about the diagnosis, try a different detection method. This parasite is sometimes visible in fresh fecal smears. Very Fresh. So you can have the vet...um...extract a sample when you bring Kitten in. PCR is even more effective at diagnosing. If you still have doubts, get the animal to another vet for a second opinion.
Have you contacted the breeder of your animal regarding this issue? They may have some answers. I ask, because this parasite is known particularly among purebred cats where large numbers of cats are in close contact. Bengal kittens are in HIGH demand right now, but it looks like more cats than expected came up with it. Someone tested cats at a show a while back and found 30% of the cats came up positive. You may (may!) have some recourse with the breeder, but even if you don't, they should know so that they can mitigate this and not send sick kittens out into the world. (I'm not promising that this will happen, some breeders are unscrupulous and will send kittens out with all kinds of problems.)
As for the weight, Bengals are slow to fatten up, taking about 2 years to get to full size. So at five pounds I don't think you're behind schedule, but talk to other Bengal owners to get an idea of what's going on with their animals, size wise.
posted by bilabial at 2:02 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: The reference is invaluable. Thank you wwax. At worst, it seems they kick it within 2 years on their own. That is a lot less than 20 years.
Bilabial - The breeder figured out she had it in her cattery after she sold me the kitten. When she was sure she had it, she told me to test for it. That's how we narrowed down the diagnosis from the many possible causes of diarrhea. I have a contract that says that she needs to take the kitten back if it has serious health problems. I think she would.
I'm not completely thrilled with the breeder's response, at a minimum she had a little denial going on. In hindsight, I now see evidence she had issues while I was buying the cat that I would have picked up on and drilled into if I were more experienced with cats. (FYI - If a breeder tells you that she had to change the brand of food she is using because the manufacturer changed the blend and it is making all her cats sick, ask a lot of questions.) But I am also sensitive to the fact that she's got one hell of a problem on her hands and she is overwhelmed.
The real issue is that the cat is in a class by himself, diarrhea and all. I played with 30 kittens before I chose this kitten. Not one of them had a personality like this. And, as you are aware, your average kitten is pretty sweet. So the recourse I have with the breeder is not a real option.
posted by alcahofa at 2:25 PM on August 25, 2013
Bilabial - The breeder figured out she had it in her cattery after she sold me the kitten. When she was sure she had it, she told me to test for it. That's how we narrowed down the diagnosis from the many possible causes of diarrhea. I have a contract that says that she needs to take the kitten back if it has serious health problems. I think she would.
I'm not completely thrilled with the breeder's response, at a minimum she had a little denial going on. In hindsight, I now see evidence she had issues while I was buying the cat that I would have picked up on and drilled into if I were more experienced with cats. (FYI - If a breeder tells you that she had to change the brand of food she is using because the manufacturer changed the blend and it is making all her cats sick, ask a lot of questions.) But I am also sensitive to the fact that she's got one hell of a problem on her hands and she is overwhelmed.
The real issue is that the cat is in a class by himself, diarrhea and all. I played with 30 kittens before I chose this kitten. Not one of them had a personality like this. And, as you are aware, your average kitten is pretty sweet. So the recourse I have with the breeder is not a real option.
posted by alcahofa at 2:25 PM on August 25, 2013
I don't know anything about the specific issue you're dealing with, but I have had success clearing up similar cat intestinal issues with Bene-Bac. It's probiotics for small animals. This fixed up my kitten with diarrhea when nothing my vets tried was working. Petco carries it, but sometimes they keep it with the hamster supplies or someplace weird like that. You may have to be persistent with employees to find it.
posted by MexicanYenta at 2:26 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by MexicanYenta at 2:26 PM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
This is a useful info sheet, and says the average time to resolution is 9 months...so you might be getting there soon.
Bene-bac is really useful, and there are other probiotics out there too. Talk to the vet or another specialist before trying a bunch of different probiotics though.
In the meantime, can you keep the kitty in a bathroom or other confined space, especially when you're out of the house?
posted by barnone at 3:33 PM on August 25, 2013
Bene-bac is really useful, and there are other probiotics out there too. Talk to the vet or another specialist before trying a bunch of different probiotics though.
In the meantime, can you keep the kitty in a bathroom or other confined space, especially when you're out of the house?
posted by barnone at 3:33 PM on August 25, 2013
Response by poster: 9 months... we've already been through 3 months.
the news is getting better and better.
we're already plying him with kitty-bloom, a pro-biotic recommended by the breeder.
and we'll do the pcr next week and see where we are with this nasty little protazoa.
tks.
posted by alcahofa at 3:57 PM on August 25, 2013
the news is getting better and better.
we're already plying him with kitty-bloom, a pro-biotic recommended by the breeder.
and we'll do the pcr next week and see where we are with this nasty little protazoa.
tks.
posted by alcahofa at 3:57 PM on August 25, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
You might want to remain a single cat household as even after the symptoms etc pass your cat may still be a carrier and infect any new cats, if nothing else it is something to take into account.
This is a very good reference that may answer some of your questions.
IANAV, and I have had no direct experience with this, just came across info about it when researching issues my dog was having etc etc.
posted by wwax at 1:06 PM on August 25, 2013