My cat has chronic diarrhea, meds didn't work, fecal negative. Is it serious?

Typically cats get really bad vomiting episodes with IBD and occasional diarrhea. The prednisone likely is treating for inflammation or an immune mediated condition of the gut, which can include lymphoma, IBD, or a condition called lymphocytic plasmocytic colitis. At any rate, if the prednisone is helping, then I would continue with therapy as indicated. A lot of the times you can only get a final diagnosis with gut diseases by having a surgical biopsy taken of the intesines. As you can imagine this is a very invasive procedure, so response to therapy is typically the route we taken when making suspected diagnoses. I would also highly consider getting Beau on a hypoallergenic diet to help make it easy for her gut to digest food. My top picks here are Royal Canin hypoallergeic hydrolyzed protein, Hill's Z/D, OR Royal Canin Selected protein (rabbit/potato). Ask your vet for a prescription if interested! I hope this helps and best wishes with your pet Beau and her chronic loose stools. Take care.

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear about Portifoy's diarrhea troubles! It's not clear from the history what sort of duration we're talking about, but it can take time (sometimes weeks) to get IBD symptoms under control. Many cats improve much faster if put on a tapering dose of steroids (often prednisolone is used), so you could talk to your vet about this. Depending on what diagnostics were performed that led to the IBD diagnosis, those symptoms could indicate IBD, but could also be consistent with a food sensitivity/allergy, or GI lymphoma, among other things. An abdominal ultrasound helps with a diagnosis, if that hasn't been done, with a GI biopsy being the ideal diagnostic (although that's also quite invasive, and your vet can help you decide if it's worth the risk). At this point, I'd recommend communicating with your vet and letting them know how Port's doing, as they may have been hoping his symptoms would improve with the medications you mentioned - but they may want to change things (such as adding a steroid, or discussing the next diagnostic step) once they know he's still having diarrhea. Feel free to request a consultation if you'd like to discuss Port's case in more detail. I hope this helps!

Hi and thank you for using PetCoach. I am sorry to hear that Beau is having diarrhea. Since, Beau has only been on metronidazole for one day, I would continue it as it may not have started to work yet. It typically takes 24-48 hours to see any changes. However, if Beau stops eating, is lethargic or has blood in his stool, I would reach out to your veterinarian again and let them know. Beau may need another physical exam or other medications. Here is an article on diarrhea in cats that may be helpful for you and Beau: https://www.petcoach.co/article/diarrhea-in-cats/ Good luck and I hope he feels better soon!

There are several things I try for diarrhea that is not responding to typical treatments - sometimes I give the medications for a longer duration, sometimes I'll try a different antibiotic, and sometimes I'll try a different diet (which it sounds like your vet is attempting with the EN). Your vet might also want to retest a stool sample - sometimes with diarrhea there just isn't enough actual feces to get a positive results. Chronic diarrhea can also be caused by inflammatory bowel disease which is a more severe form of IBS and ultrasound and special blood testing can help diagnose this. Corticosteroid medications and B12 injections are often the recommended treatments for IBD.

It could be that the diarrhea worsening is independent of the metronidazole as this drug does not help all cases of diarrhea, dependent on the cause. But since it is new it would be best to stop until you can speak with your vet. Has your kitty had a work up for these symptoms? Chronic vomiting and diarrhea are common symptoms of several things, but most notably GI disease. It would be abnormal for a cat to need chronic medication for vomiting unless there is a disease process there. Just to help a little, a work up for an older kitty with these signs could include bloodwork with thyroid testing, an abdominal ultrasound, and sampling if needed (dependent on ultrasound). If there is an underlying disease that can be treated your kitty may feel better and need less medications eventually. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

HI there. So sorry Onyx is having this issue. If those medications are not working I would be worried about the possibility of something else going at. She may not have IBS at all. My suggestion would be to get some intestinal biopsies so you can have a definitive diagnosis. Without a diagnosis all your vet is doing is guessing as to what may be wrong. If you want proper treatment you need a diagnosis first. Here is a link to an article about chronic diarrhea in cats: https://www.petplace.com/article/cats/pet-health/chronic-diarrhea-in-cats/ In the meantime you can add in a probiotic to the diet. I suggest Fortiflora, it is the best. No human probiotics and no dairy. http://www.allivet.com/p-1130-purina-pro-plan-veterinary-diets-fortiflora-dog-supplement-box-of-30.aspx Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Alfie could have a parasite, infection, inflammatory bowel disease, hyperthyroidism, liver/kidney disease, etc. Since it has been a week, it would be a good idea to have full blood work, fecal test, and x-rays done to rule out potential causes. I would also recommend switching to a hypoallergenic diet, like d/d, and see if that helps. A medication called Proviable KP may also help. If your vet didn't already prescribe Metronidazole (Flagyl) than that could be tried, too. If the diarrhea persists than an intestinal biopsy may be needed.