Loose stool - change in food or Prednisolone?

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femcat@nospam.com - 08 Dec 2005 20:13 GMT

As some of you may remember, my mom's cat had a sore on her right hind
leg.
It's now clearing up thanks to a shot of Depo Medrol, and 2 applications
a day of Tresaderm + 2.5 mg/day of Prednisolone (crunched into powdered
form and placed in about one fifth or less of a slice of Boars Head roast
beef. Wow, does she love that. Those four little pieces are gobbled up
in about 10 seconds. She comes back licking her chops but unfortunately
(for her), I won't give her more.

Here's the problem. After about a week of Tresaderm and Prednisolone,
the little thing has moved her bowels about 7x in two day. The stool was
progressively looser each time and now she has a touch of diarrhea.
I thought it might be the 2.5 mg/day of Prednisolone, but we also
switched her diet from Fancy Feast canned food and Purina Proplan Chicken
and Rice Hard Food and Purino Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach Formula
Hard Food with the Fancy Feast canned food.

While diarrhea is a possible side effect of Prednisolone, our vet said
it's rare, and since she didn't have stool problems with it last year, he
thinks it may be the Purina Pro Plan sensitive food formula. He thinks
the abupt switch may have caused the diarrhea.

He suggested to eliminate the wet canned food, go back to Purina Pro Plan
Chicken and Rice, and if I want (my suggestion) skip a day of
Prednisolone.
He also suggested that when her stool is back to normal, slowly wean her
onto the Purina Proplan Sensitive food formula (which I think is more of
a lamb and rice formulation).

Anybody have similar problems? I didn't realize that a change in hard
food (of the same brand name) could cause a digestive problem.

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Cheryl - 09 Dec 2005 01:19 GMT

On Thu 08 Dec 2005 03:13:12p, wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
(news:8ZSdnSIMZKBFDgXeRVn-uA@giganews.com):

> Anybody have similar problems? I didn't realize that a change
> in hard food (of the same brand name) could cause a digestive
> problem.

My guess would be the food changes rather than the steroid. But,
that's just a guess. I have a cat that gets the same type of sores on
his legs and torso, and just a single Depo Medrol injection clears
him up for a couple of months. We don't use any oral or topical
steroids or treatments. I'd be a little hesitant to treat it that
aggressively.

Abrupt changes of dry food absolutely will cause digestive upset.
It's best to change it progressively over a week or two (i.e., adding
a little of the new food while removing the same amount of the old
food at first, and progressively adding more and more of the new
while removing the old)

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Cheryl

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femcat@nospam.com - 09 Dec 2005 04:19 GMT

Cheryl <jlhshadow@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote in news:Xns9726CEB63C3F3shads@
130.133.1.4:

> My guess would be the food changes rather than the steroid. But,
> that's just a guess. I have a cat that gets the same type of sores on
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> food at first, and progressively adding more and more of the new
> while removing the old)

Thanks for your comments. I didn't realize that a hard food change could
cause that kind of a digestive problem so fast.

Regarding the steroids - 2.5 mg/day is a small amount according to the
vet.
He gave me enough for a month. The last time we did (last year) this I
think we only gave her the Prednisolone for two weeks or less after the
Depo shot. He also doesn't feel it will do any harm using a small dosage
for a short time. Some cat info sites seem to indicate that steroids
don't have the same debilitating effect on cats that they do on dogs and
humans. What the vet wants to do is reduce the inflammation in the area
which causes her to lick the sore.

How long did it take for the Depo Medrol shot to clear up your cat's
sore?

Our vet doesn't think it's mites or fleas because the sore is localized
and only appears on that hind leg. She's also a very white haired cat,
so flea dirt would be very apparent when we ruffle through her fur.
She's also an indoor cat. That leaves food or environmental allergies or
a bacterial infection. We tried giving her antihistamines and Clavamox,
but either it didn't work, or we didn't give her the meds long enough
because she wouldn't eat the powdered form (I don't think there's any way
we could give it to her via a pill dropper).

One good thing is that we finally got rid of what was probably a mite
infested carpet. It took a year to influence my mom to get rid of it as
it was about 30 years old. It wasn't easy to find someone to pick up the
carpet and the old rubber underneath. Why anyone bothers with these
allergy causing manmade materials, I'll never know. Building codes
demand it in some instances, but all they cause is bad health to people
(and animals) with severe allergies. Now we have to find someone to
clean the remnants off the floor (sand from the old rubber), and buff and
polish it. No way would we polyurethane with a cat in the house. As it
is, we're trying to find someone who uses a non-toxic cleaning solution
to strip the floor.

When the weather warms up a bit, I may take her for a second opinion (if
the sore doesn't disappear).

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Monique Y. Mudama - 09 Dec 2005 17:13 GMT

> How long did it take for the Depo Medrol shot to clear up your cat's
> sore?

[snip]

> Our vet doesn't think it's mites or fleas because the sore is
> localized and only appears on that hind leg. She's also a very
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> powdered form (I don't think there's any way we could give it to her
> via a pill dropper).

I'm not Cheryl, but my cat Oscar gets ulcers on her lip, and I wonder
(though I haven't been paying careful enough attention) if what you're
describing could be a form of EGC (Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex).

Most of the pictures you see on the web are pretty disgusting, but
Oscar just presents with a pink bump on her chin that gets
progressively bigger and darker.

Anyway, for Oscar's ulcer, a shot of Depo and then a second two weeks
later is plenty to make it go away for several months. Actually, if I
catch it early enough, a single shot seems to do it.

Signature

monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

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femcat@nospam.com - 09 Dec 2005 20:56 GMT

>> Our vet doesn't think it's mites or fleas because the sore is
>> localized and only appears on that hind leg. She's also a very
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> later is plenty to make it go away for several months. Actually, if I
> catch it early enough, a single shot seems to do it.

My vet told me this week that his best guess is that it's a lick
granuloma. Research on the web indicates that it's rare in cats and
occurs mainly in dogs. It can come from boredom or confinement.
Strangely enough, when I see the cat looking out the window, she turns
and sadly looks at me as if to say she would like to go out and explore
the outside. The only time she's out is when we take her to the vet.
She meows as soon as she's in her carrying case and until I'm outside.
Once I'm outdoors and in the car, she stops and is very calm. She's a
very tame cat, and rarely emits a sound, even during her vet exam.
The only time I ever saw her visibly upset was when another vet gave her
a blood test several years ago.

The sore on her leg at it's worst is an oval spot, about 1-1/2" in
diameter. It was a darkish color with a small scab. A week after her
shot plus Tresaderm and 2.5mg/day of Prednisolone, the hair is growing
back and the area is turning pink again.

Now if her diarrhea would stop, all would be almost well again.

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Dan M - 09 Dec 2005 21:09 GMT

> My vet told me this week that his best guess is that it's a lick
> granuloma. Research on the web indicates that it's rare in cats and
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> The only time I ever saw her visibly upset was when another vet gave her
> a blood test several years ago.

Have you considered getting her a leash and a harness and taking her for
walks? My Harri Roadcat used to love her walks when she was on the road
with me.

Dan

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polonca12000 - 09 Dec 2005 22:28 GMT

I have no advice unfortunately, but we are sending lots of purrs and
best wishes,
Polonca and Soncek

<snip>

> The sore on her leg at it's worst is an oval spot, about 1-1/2" in
> diameter. It was a darkish color with a small scab. A week after her
> shot plus Tresaderm and 2.5mg/day of Prednisolone, the hair is growing
> back and the area is turning pink again.
>
> Now if her diarrhea would stop, all would be almost well again.

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Cheryl - 10 Dec 2005 20:30 GMT

On Thu 08 Dec 2005 11:19:59p, wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
(news:BOydnQTZvrBymATenZ2dnUVZ_sqdnZ2d@giganews.com):

> Regarding the steroids - 2.5 mg/day is a small amount according
> to the vet.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> wants to do is reduce the inflammation in the area which causes
> her to lick the sore.

I'm not a vet so please don't take my comments as what you should
do. I guess what I'm saying is that I've been dealing with a cat
who has had skin problems since before I got him at 6 months old
(estimated age, but I think he was maybe 1 year) and he's now
probably 4 years old. For the first year or so he had a couple of
Depo shots, but the vet we had at the time wouldn't give him any
more. Said it was too risky - risk of diabetes or risk of him not
being able to produce *something that I can't remember now* so we
found a new vet. New vet would give him Depo shots every 2 months
as needed, and I liked this because this cat (like others who have
to suffer needlessly) was just MISERABLE when he broke out - back
of legs, along his spine, sides of his torso, base of tail. The
old vet also would prescribe antibiotics that never helped; new
vet NEVER gave him antibiotics because he never showed signs of
infection. No vet I've had him to recommended oral, injected and
topical steroids all at the same time. I know cats metabolize them
differently, so maybe the vets I've seen were just playing it
safe.

> How long did it take for the Depo Medrol shot to clear up your
> cat's sore?

For him, "soreS". It would take about a week, but the anti-itch
effect was nearly immediate. He never fully grew fur back in any
of his spots because he's break out again before fur had a chance
to grow back and it'd be the same cycle all over again.

> Our vet doesn't think it's mites or fleas because the sore is
> localized and only appears on that hind leg. She's also a very
> white haired cat, so flea dirt would be very apparent when we
> ruffle through her fur. She's also an indoor cat. That leaves
> food or environmental allergies or a bacterial infection.

Shamrock was tested for mites, ringworm, combed for fleas,
cultured for bacteria more than once. We tried a short food trial,
but he hated ZD (only likes canned food) and wouldn't eat the IVD
canned hypoallergenic diets either. With mulitple cats it's very
hard to do a food trial. As for environmental, I stopped burning
candles in the house, used only steam or Dawn or Simple Green for
cleaning surfaces he'd touch, finally got carpets steam-cleaned,
had the heating duct system cleaned professionally, etc. I
finally also took him to a vet dermatologist last year who did
allergy tests (after yet another bacteria culture, because
apparently there is a skin bacteria that is very hard to kill and
requires very aggressive antibiotic treatment for about a month
before it gets rid of it, but he was negative to that again). He
had the same type of skin test that humans get - a patch of skin
is injected with about 70 allergens and they look for raised skin,
and the raised skin indicates the inhalent allergies. He tested
positive for many environmental allergens including mold spores,
various pollens, dust mites and even cat dander, plus a bunch more
I can't remember off hand. Test for flea bite was surprisingly
negative - that's what all vets had said was what caused his sores
even though we'd never found any fleas, so I had treated him with
Advantage monthly even in the winter up until then.

We

> tried giving her antihistamines and Clavamox, but either it
> didn't work, or we didn't give her the meds long enough because
> she wouldn't eat the powdered form (I don't think there's any
> way we could give it to her via a pill dropper).

I even tried a treatment I'd read about which was a combination of
antihistamines and Omega 3s & 6s (fish oil) but that didn't help
him either.

> One good thing is that we finally got rid of what was probably a
> mite infested carpet. It took a year to influence my mom to get
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> house. As it is, we're trying to find someone who uses a
> non-toxic cleaning solution to strip the floor.

That's my next step, too. To get rid of the carpets. I've been
pricing hardwood, but can't afford it right now. In the meantime,
I vaccum a lot and plan to do yearly professional cleaning.

> When the weather warms up a bit, I may take her for a second
> opinion (if the sore doesn't disappear).

I'd suggest a vet dermatologist. A bit pricey, but so is the
constant vet visits for steroid shots and the tests they keep
wanting to do. Shamrock has a break-out right now, but since he's
been on allergy shots since last May, he's only had 2 steroid
shots. He did so well in the summer, and this time of year the
environment allergens are probably dust mites and mold spores, so
I need to work harder to elliminate both of those better. In the
past we'd be close to needing a 4th Depo shot by now.

Good luck, and sorry this got so long.

Pic of Shamrock with his "allergy grid"
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shambondow/detail?.dir=2a54&.dnm=dbd7.jpg&.src=ph

Web site of the dermatologist I took him to:
http://www.animalskindisease.com

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Cheryl

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