Why is my cat sick with diarrhea, dehydration, and normal vet tests?

That is a very difficult situation. You may talk to your vet about treating for giardia (even if the test was negative), IBD, food allergies, an aggressive dewormer, running a GI panel, or referral to a specialist in internal medicine. The next step may be biopsies through exploratory surgery or endoscopy. Many cats with diarrhea of unknown cause will respond to a prescription hypoallergenic diet.

Stray cats can pretty nasty parasitic infections. I would check to see if the vet ran a fecal examination + a Giardia test. Both of these can pick up on many parasites that can cause persistent diarrhea. However, if these tests were already done and were negative, then additional testing may be needed to find other not so common causes of diarrhea like the one ran by Idexx. Http://www.idexx.com.au/pdf/en_au/smallanimal/reference-laboratories/diagnostic-updates/realpcr-canine-feline-diarrhea-panels.pdf Any pet with diarrhea should be on a broad-spectrum dewormer, probiotics and potentially and antibiotic for treatment regardless of any of the tests mentioned above. I would suggest going back to the vet for additional treatment and these additional tests if not done already.

If these cats have not been on long-term medication like probiotics and metronidazole, I would start these. Also, all cats might benefit from a food-allergy diet trial like Hills z/d fed exclusively for 8-10 weeks. This helps to rule out food allergies as a cause for chronic diarrhea. If these things don't work, you may have to actually send out fecal tests for culture and sensitivity to have done at an outside laboratory as most vet clinics are only equipped to do basic parasite fecal floats and smears in-house. Your female who is having behavior issues may benefit from anti-anxiety medications like Zylkene or Lorazepam, or even an anti-depressant. Since all three are young cats, it's most likely that they are sharing a parasitic or other intestinal infection that is causing chronic diarrhea, so I think you are on the right tract to continue to monitor for coccidiosis and giardiasis. They may need much longer-term treatment to clear these kinds of infection. Hope that helps!

Kodak could have a parasite, inflammation of his intestines, or some other infection causing this intermittent diarrhea. Sometimes a deworming is needed, sometimes antibiotics, other times the diet change. Rarely we have to give steroids to decrease inflammation. I recommend you consult with your veterinarian if they would like to perform any sort of testing on Kodak or try any sort of treatment to help with his diarrhea. They may want to do a fecal exam or perhaps some bloodwork to make sure everything's OK.

Congratulations! It is good you brought a stool sample in. Some worms do not shed eggs often and do not respond to routine dewormers so I would put in the back of my mind that he may need a thorough stool panel done at a reference lab. Other thoughts include: stress colitis (especially if Onyx came to you very recently!), diet changes, bacterial overgrowth (typically respond to antibiotics and probiotics), and irritable bowel syndrome. I would ask your vet about basic diarrhea treatments and if that does not help, then I would want to pursue bloodwork and a send out stool panel. If you still do not get an answer I would consider imaging like an ultrasound. I hope this helps and that Onyx is better soon!

I’m sorry to hear that CJ is not getting better. At this time, since she has not responded to traditional therapy I think you need to pursue further diagnostics like blood work (to rule out hyperthyroidism, diabetes and kidney disease), X-rays (to rule out a mass or blockage) and possibly an abdominal ultrasound. Also, you may want to consider talking with your vet about hospitalizing CJ with IV fluids and medications until she is stabilized and you can determine what is causing her illness. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. If you have any more questions about CJ or her condition please let us know!

I am sorry to hear that everyone has been so sick! The one parasite that can transfer between species that produces symptoms you describe is something called giardia. You may consider asking your physician to test you for it. Other possibilities include salmonella, Cryptosporidium, and campylobacter. When testing my patients for these more rare diseases I use a test through idexx called a GI fast panel PCR. You may Consider asking your veterinarian to run this test. Using proper hygiene when handling pets is important as well as making sure they are not eating any forms of raw diet that can transmit disease. Best of luck and I hope you improve soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.