URGENT at my wits end!

[poormeow]

Apologies for the long post - wondering if anybody else has had a similar experience?
Got a rescue cat a year ago. Newly rescued, was stressed and so wasn't eating a lot, no issues they said. A few days after she came home with us there was blood in her stool, took her to the vets multiple times. They tried probiotics but no improvement, they said she was the picture of health otherwise and not to worry. She also licks the walls and other random stuff again, they said nothing to worry about.

A year later she vomited a couple of times and had 2 rectal prolapses. Took her back to the vets who did ultrasound etc all clear. Started her on steroids, special food. She was doing fine on them at first, but then they became less effective.

Recently she has also started pooing just outside the litter box, which she never used to do....

Anybody have any advice? Anything I should ask them to do? I don't trust the vets at all at this point, I don't think they know what's happening either and are just leading us on :(

My DD cats poo outside the litter tray if it's not clean enough for them.
Sorry you are having such issues otherwise.

Has she got any joint issues (e.g. arthritis) that makes getting in and out of the litter tray difficult for her? As PP said, cats often won't use the tray unless it's clean. Something that might help with clean up is to have a puppy pad next to the litter tray.

@whatisforteamum @R41nb0wR0se thanks both.
The tray isn't dirtier than it was previously. In fact, I'd say it's cleaner now, as her stool has become a bit more solid since being on the steroids.

I did wonder whether she was having difficulty controlling her bowel movements and so was going before she could reach the tray. But that would mean her condition has deterioriated.

All very strange. No joint issues. She's a sprightly thing otherwise. Lazes around indoors in between jumping onto things and doesn't want to go out but she's 8, so I don't think that's unusual.

Has she never wanted to go out, or is this new?

Never. We've left windows open, she went out, hid under the car, then came back in deciding it was too cold and windy probably.

Is the poisoned? My friends cat was doing it out the tray when it became soft. She switched to grain free single protein food (James Wellbeloved) and her poo became solid and she went back to using the tray.

Sorry! Is the poo soft, not poisoned lol.

Can you change vets? My cat has been having on and off diarrhea/sickness. Tried prebiotics, didn't really work. They straight away said I should do poo sample. Came back negative. They have offered to do bloods. I've held back for now.

Animals hide things well. I'd ask for 2nd opinion

Yeah it is - but more solid than before when it was so watery

I would try her on a raw diet. Doesn’t have to be a complete raw diet but maybe half? It sorted girl almost immediately and she was having diarrhoea and vomiting all over the house.

What's her diet like? Have you had her checked for allergies at all?

Our little cat did this. Is she afraid, following the prolapse, of getting litter on her bum/bowel?

Same for mine, Bloods, poo sample, everything.

I did tell DH that, but he's insistent on sticking with this vet. He just doesn't like 'bad feeling'! He's had cats before, I haven't but all of his have been sturdy farm ones with no illnesses. I thought it common knowledge that cats hide illness well.

To be fair, after having seen a succession of people cat's now under the care of a lovely vet who seems quite on the ball. I'm still not happy that they switched her for someone else who had no clue at a follow-up appointment. I'd rather have it postponed.
Is it uncommon to want the same vet?

@Overtheatlantic @fieldsofbutterflies She's currently on a diet of hydrolysed food - I think it's Hills Z/D. It's supposed to be good for cats with digestion issues as broken down into small, easy to digest molecules.

I might ask the vet abour raw food, also no allergy tests done. That's something else to ask as well.

I just had to make a follow up appointment for one of mine, and the receptionist made sure I got the same vet, which I appreciate

That makes sense - except that she started doing this a few days ago, her last prolapse was weeks ago. We haven't changed anything

Aww that's good!
I'm just so annoyed that we took her in quite a few times when we first got her, and all of them said not to worry, it's now come to this.
I also don't see what further follow ups will accomplish, every time we take her in they just examine and say that everything looks normal. There's no point in taking her to the vet so many times unless they are actually going to do something.

I’m definitely no expert, especially when it comes to cats with medical issues but ours was urinating outside of her litter tray and following no medical reason for the sudden change we got her an additional litter tray and placed it in a room that is not frequently used for more ‘privacy’ which has helped matters. We try and scoop as often as possible as well, she’s quite fussy. This randomly started a few years after we rescued her as well for no apparent reason..