Advice needed for situation with poorly cat

[Poorlycatadvicewanted]

I need some advice please. So we have a kitten still but he isn't well. We've been to the vets countless times. He's on prescription food, he's been on 4 rounds of antibiotics and he's not getting better. I've tried a few vets and they all say he might just always be ill as a complication of the virus. I want to take him to the vets again. But my husband wants to give him up to a cat charity so he can be looked after and possibly re homed. I'm not sure and think we should try to get him better. Its cost me a fortune in treatment so far.

The lady we got him from lied about everything. She said he was a she. She said he was flea treated but he was riddled with fleas. (I took him.straight to the vets and he was flea treated and wormed and vaccinated) She said any cat food was fine but he had diarrhea from the day we got him. After weeks of messaging her it turns out she was feeding him a raw food diet. He was only 4 months old and he got campylobacter ( like salmonella) vets reckon this is the cause of his illness.

He doesn't have campylobacter now as we got this treated but the constant diarrheah is an ongoing complication and he's not putting on weight even though I feed him 4 times a day. Kids are devastated because he said we need to give him up. I'm quite upset but part of me agrees with him and the other says we should carry on looking after him.

The other problem is that the vet refuses to do his vaccinations again or neuter him until he is better. But then also said he might never be better. But won't advise what we should do! I've tried all 3 vets in our area and they say the same. He can't have top up vaccinations as he has the diarrheah and so now he would need them re started but again can't because he's ill.

So now I don't know what to do as he is very much loved! But I feel awful that he's not getting better and looks like there isn't anything we can do about it either. The vets kind of given up!

What food is he on and what diets have you tried?

Apart from the diarrhoea is he in good health - energetic and bright and playful or is he lethargic and unenthusiastic? Does he enjoy his food when he eats it?

Have you tried probiotics?

It sounds like his poor little tummy has been bombarded with too much with the prescription food and antibiotics.
When we had a kitten in the same situation we stopped all cat food and put her on fresh cooked chicken mixed with natural yogurt. It balances their tummies and also puts the good bacteria back in.
We had her on that for 2 days and gradually her poo went back to normal.
As another poster said, how is she in herself? Is she playful? Is she drinking?

Also try a pro biotic like forti flora.

I’m thinking probiotics too, I had campylobacter and the treatments kill the infection but kill normal bowel bacteria needed for gut health too.

You took him on though, you can’t get rid of him because he had a terrible start to life & your dh is wrong to suggest it and upset his children.

Put him on plain boiled chicken breast for a week, no cat food at all or biscuits. You can buy bags of frozen breasts reasonably at Aldi, then after a week introduce a cereal free cat food for one meal a day then chicken for the other 3, give it a week and move him onto 4 meals a day of cat food but it must be cereal free so no maize gluten or rice at all.

I wouldn’t bother with a dry food while he’s so small. A lot of them are bulked out with cereal which cats intestines can’t cope with and they get runny tummies.

I had to do all this for my Bengal when he was a kitten, turned out he had an intolerance to cereals used in tinned and dry cat food. I got him sorted though, he was vomiting and food was going straight through him.

Thanks everyone.

So he's been on prokolin twice a day for the last 3 months and the vet suggested adding the proforma twice a day also. So that's been happening for about a month.

He is on royal canin gastrointestinal wet food and the kitten gastrointestinal pate. She said to use both to try and get him to put some weight on. This again has been about 3 months.

I have just contacted the vet again today to bring him in for blood tests. So I will be doing that.

I don't want to give him up. I'm very attached to him. And the cat protection emailed back to say they where full. So I told dh tough luck we will keep going and hopefully he will get better with time and if we carry on.

He drinks fine. He occasionally plays but not like other kittens. He sleeps a lot. But I'm.not surprised

I did do a week of chicken only diet but it didn't do much. Maybe it should be longer?

Thank you everyone

Apart from being very tough on your kitten, it would also be pretty unfair on a rescue to expect them to take him & pay to get him better - most rescues are already at their limits. Has your DH considered that?

Personally I'm not a fan of Royal Canin as a brand - it contains a lot of fillers and unnecessary ingredients like maize, gluten and wheat. My first port of call would be a high quality, grain-free food.

Chicken is also a very common allergen in cats - have you considered trying a white fish based diet instead?

Not yoghurt as suggested up thread. Aren't cats lactose intolerant?

@margotrose thank you. No I hadn't. Maybe I should do white fish only for a week or 2? I'm assuming boiled?

No yogurt!! He had some lick e licks and they have yogurt in and that makes his stomach worse. He has freeze dried treats but they are white fish

@EmpressaurusOfCats I've already told him we are keeping him

I'm trying to make my cat better and I don't want to give him away. That's why I'm asking for advice. Because quite frankly the vets haven't been too helpful.

Should I add the forti flora on the fish?

I would try just steamed white fish and see how he gets on. And yes, the FortiFlora is kind of like a soup so it can all be mixed together.

The kitten’s lucky to have you, @Poorlycatadvicewanted. Good luck x

Ok thank you @margotrose I will try that.

I’ve just googled the royal canin wet, it’s got grains in it and they are not easily digestible at all in cats.

Try the white fish lightly steamed and some scrambled eggs but no milk. Eggs very nutritious and cats will go for eggs in the wild if they find them.

Poor boy

I wonder if he needs to try a fully hypoallergenic food. I'd be reluctant to over-do the plain chicken/fish as both will seriously lack the essential nutrients he needs. He needs a fully balanced cat food that will meet his nutritional needs, more so as he's been so unwell for so long.

Has he been checked for giardia?

I was also going to suggest egg, a little scrambled (no additional ingredients) or mushed up hard boiled. Well cooked. And like others have said, a little steamed white fish or plain chicken.

Egg is very binding so only give a little at a time and see how he gets on.

Ask the vets to check his electrolyte levels too with the next round of blood tests. If these are out of whack due to diarrhoea then they can continue to cause diarrhoea.

Is he drinking water? I'd be tempted to add in a teaspoon of water to food to keeps his fluids up - and given his tummy, I'd use freshly boiled and then cooled water.

Thanks all. Yes we did a stool sample test which is how we found out it was campylobacter and they said it wasn't giardia

Interesting about the eggs. I will try that then.

And I will look for a hypoallergenic cat food too.

also we tried James well-behaved food before for a few weeks and it didn't make any difference. But he wasn't on probiotics then. Maybe we should try this one again?

And yes drinking water fine.

Just scrambled an egg now and it's cooling down will add his fore flora on top to see if he will eat it.

I was going to suggest that too.

No giardia. That's been checked.

He's wolfing down the egg now

How about untamed cat food. Does anyone recommend this? Or is this too rich?