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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / September 2004diarrhea
What can I give my cat who has been on a month of antibiotics and has explosive runny diarrhea? Would yogurt or the acidophilus supplements help? If so, how much, and how to administer? Thanks. >What can I give my cat who has been on >a month of antibiotics and has explosive >runny diarrhea? Yogurt will help. I find my cats like vanilla. You can also get some plain canned pumpkin and add a teaspoon or two to her food at each meal, although she may like to eat it by itself. Megan  Signature"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray For yoghurt to work it MUST be the live culture type. If the cat won't eat it then try the acidolphulis. Get the capsules in the refrigerator section of a health food store. Open a capsule and mix the powder in some canned cat food. DON'T get the product unless it's refrigerated and don't get it in pill form and try to crush the pills. I tried to use some that was outdated and it didn't work. The acidolphulis should correct the problem in less than two days. ---MIKE--- > For yoghurt to work it MUST be the live culture type. If the cat won't > eat it then try the acidolphulis. Get the capsules in the refrigerator [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > some that was outdated and it didn't work. The acidolphulis should > correct the problem in less than two days. You can get much better quality of refrigerated lactobacilli by asking a pharmacist for refrigerated lactobacilli. The ones they sell, such as Lactinex tablets, are regulated to contain what the label says it contains. Supplement/health food types are unregulated, and when tested by independent labs, usually contain only a fraction of the live cultures claimed on the label, if any. I don't see what the problem is with crushing tablets. Lactinex chewable tablets are fairly soft and easily crushable. It's possible that the cat might even like the tablet itself -- they sort of taste like cheesecake. Signaturejamie (jamiemck@newsguy.com) "There's a seeker born every minute." > What can I give my cat who has been on a month of antibiotics and has > explosive runny diarrhea? > > Would yogurt or the acidophilus supplements help? If so, how much, and > how to administer? Yes, they would help, but why the antibiotics for so long? He has been through testing for more than a year because of severe weight loss, diarrhea, and vomiting. Blood work was consistently normal, but a little high on the white blood cell count (indicating an infection of some type). I finally asked my vet to refer us to an internist. She felt "masses" in his abdomen. I had the ultrasound done, and it showed masses. The next step was exploratory surgery. The surgical referral was out of my range cost-wise. The internist felt that my regular vet could handle this. My regular vet agreed. He found only many enlarged lymph nodes, and a slight thickening of a certain part of the stomach. All was sent to pathology. The only significant finding was "helicobacter off the charts". So it was assumed he had something similar to an ulcer, and he was started on amoxicillin. I went away on vacation in the middle of the first antibiotic course, and left someone in charge of administering the pills. My cat, Willie, successfully hid from the pill givers! Even though I spent a small fortune on the cell phone trying to help them find him, they were unsuccessful in catching him! So when I came back I explained this to the vet, that he'd missed 4 days of pills, and we lengthened his course of treatment. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to go back to the internist, because the cat has lost still more weight and has this horrible diarrhea. I explained this to my regular vet, and at first he was unwilling to give him anything for it! I was finally able to convince him that it was a serious problem and he prescribed something (centrine?), which I don't think is helping. This whole thing has been so upsetting. Last night he couldn't make it to the litter pan and let loose on the dining room rug. I'm so worried about my kitty--I don't know how he can lose any more weight and survive! >> What can I give my cat who has been on a month of antibiotics and has >> explosive runny diarrhea? [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >> > Yes, they would help, but why the antibiotics for so long? When you say blood work, did they run at T4? > He has been through testing for more than a year because of severe weight > loss, diarrhea, and vomiting. Blood work was consistently normal, but a [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > >> > > Yes, they would help, but why the antibiotics for so long? Yes, twice. > When you say blood work, did they run at T4? > [quoted text clipped - 50 lines] >> >> >> > Yes, they would help, but why the antibiotics for so long? The advantage of using the powder from acidolphulis capsules is that it has no taste so a cat will tolerate it mixed in their food. The tablets are usually flavored and the cat might reject the food if a foreign taste is detected. ---MIKE--- >> I finally asked my vet to refer us to an internist. She felt "masses" in > his abdomen. I had the ultrasound done, and it showed masses. The next > step was exploratory surgery. Did the ultrasonagrapher not attempt to get needle aspirates? Yes, the aspirates were inconclusive, and that is why exploratory surgery was the next step. They showed only lymph tissue and intestinal type tissue. >>> I finally asked my vet to refer us to an internist. She felt "masses" >>> in >> his abdomen. I had the ultrasound done, and it showed masses. The next >> step was exploratory surgery. >> > Did the ultrasonagrapher not attempt to get needle aspirates? > Yes, the aspirates were inconclusive, and that is why exploratory surgery > was the next step. They showed only lymph tissue and intestinal type > tissue. It sounds to me like this needs further workup. The yogurt can help, but not if the initial problem continues and you have to keep giving antibiotics. > It sounds to me like this needs further workup. The yogurt can help, but > not if the initial problem continues and you have to keep giving > antibiotics. ...........Continuous antibiotics can create diarrhea problems. Kill everything and the bad guys move in - give more antibiotics - kill everything and the bad guys move in again. Personally I thik that for some animals who are sort of on the cusp of functionality as far as gut goes, the antibiotics can tip them over the edge if the gut is not repopulated with good guys fast. I'd give this a chance for a couple of weeks - acidophilus powdered cultures 2X a day and L-glutamine to help heal up the gut, maybe even a bit extra Vit A and E. Can't hurt - might help. buglady take out the dog before replying Thank you all for your responses. Last night Willie, or something, woke me up at about 3 a.m. I visited the john, and Willie jumped up to get a drink from the faucet, his routine. But then he started crying. I panicked and went downstairs to get him something to eat and decided to start him on some prednisone I had left over from another cat, another illness. I tried to go back to bed, but then I just couldn't sleep. I went looking for Willie and gave him some hamburger I'd bought for him. Then I fed him some kitten food. Then I got out the tube of Nutrical. Then I realized this was nuts, so I resolved to call the internist today. The receptionist was going to defer us to the "return visit" priority list, but I begged her to listen to my tale, which she did, bless her, and she immediately gave me an appointment for tomorrow at 2:00. I'm on board with buglady--antibiotics can certainly be lifesavers, but I'm a bit irritated with my regular vet, or maybe with myself, for not realizing that a cat who ALREADY had serious diarrhea and vomiting problems and was a shadow of his former self should NOT receive a prescription for something that would prophylactically mitigate against that if he was going on a course of long term antibiotic treatment! Phew, what a mouthful! Anyway, I hope to get some more answers tomorrow and some relief for this poor guy. And some sleep! >> It sounds to me like this needs further workup. The yogurt can help, but >> not if the initial problem continues and you have to keep giving [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > buglady > take out the dog before replying > Thank you all for your responses. > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > something to eat and decided to start him on some prednisone I had left > over from another cat, another illness. GAAHHHHH!!!!! NO! BAD IDEA! > Then I realized this was nuts, so I resolved to call the internist today. > The receptionist was going to defer us to the "return visit" priority > list, but I begged her to listen to my tale, which she did, bless her, and > she immediately gave me an appointment for tomorrow at 2:00. Better idea. Let us know how it turns out. Not good. The internist is convinced he has lymphoma. He's lost another 1 1/2 pounds and is down to 8.5 lbs. She feels everything is symptomatic of that. My choices are to have him "explored" surgically again (out of the question financially and I really don't want to do that to him); do an endoscopy (also prohibitive right now at around $1200 and of course there will be other affiliated costs). Or I can just start him on steroids and a "novel" protein source in the hopes it is IBD. But then chemo is forever ruled out. Having a chronic illness myself right now, and having spent a huge amount on 2 other cats and a dog last year, I opted for the steroid treatment. She said that the chemo would buy him 6 months to a year, and the steroids maybe 3 months. We did decide to send the slides of the biopsies to a specialist pathologist, hoping to get a more definitive diagnosis, so we are holding off on the steroids until we get that report. So here I was foolishly hoping to get away from the vet at under $100 (I won't even tell you the figure) and I was presented with a bill for $400--$130 for the return visit, $50 shipping for the slides, $$ for the re-interpretation, and $$ for the bloodwork done today. Jeesh. My poor little buddy. And my poor pocketbook. Can anybody give me hope? If the slides don't definitively show lymphoma, then she will not authorize chemo. So even if I decide I can afford it, the absence of further exploratory surgery which I canNOT afford will rule out the option! If it is lymphoma, and we do treat him with steroids--is 3 months typical in your experience? It seems to me she's read me a death sentence already, and I don't understand why chemo would be so horrible (having been through it already with another cat, who actually acted more energetic than normal during chemo!) My head is just swimming. >> Thank you all for your responses. >> [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Better idea. Let us know how it turns out. << My head is just swimming. >> I'm sorry. I can imagine. I know you've been through a lot. << Or I can just start him on steroids and a "novel" protein source in the hopes it is IBD. But then chemo is forever ruled out. >> Why is it forever ruled out once steroids are started? Keep us posted, plese. And I will keep Willie in my thoughts and prayers. Candace (take the litter out before replying by e-mail) See my cats: http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace "One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other than human." (Loren Eisely) Evidently once a cat gets on steroids chemotherapy is very hard on their system. Thanks for the good thoughts. > << My head is just swimming. >> > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > other > than human." (Loren Eisely) Betsy, This may sound like strange advice but you should join the Yahoo newsgroup for feline megacolon. Tell them your situation and ask about slippery elm bark. It can be used for both constipation and diarrhea. If you do a google search you can find out more about it. The people on the newsgroup have directions for its use with cats. Also you can check the archives. If you have a holistic vet in your area you might check him/her out. Four years ago my regular vets had no other options for my megacolon cat other than to remove 90% of her colon.That's when I discovered the holistic vet that successfully treated Patches with acupuncture and holistic meds. She has not needed the surgery yet. I hope you find the answers you need soon. I know how distressing the search for the right treatments and meds can be. Michele, (N.C.) This sounds very interesting. I will check into it. Thank you for the lead. > Betsy, > This may sound like strange advice but you should join the Yahoo [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Michele, > (N.C.) Betsy, I hope you do join the group at least for a while. Some of the folks on the group know a lot about GI problems so be sure to let them know how urgent your situation is. Last Jan. one of my other cats was not doing well. An x-ray revealed a mass around his abdomen. My regulars vets felt that there was a good chance of cancer. They suggested exploratory surgery with a slim chance of a good outcome. My holistic vet was out of town. I was pretty frantic. He is my snuggle kitty and is 16.5 years old. I decided not to put him through the surgery because I didn't think it would be fair to him. If I wasn't going to have him much longer I at least wanted him to be as comfortable as possible. I am very glad I didn't opt for the surgery. It turned out not to be cancer but pancreatitis. Now more than half a year later you would never know what a scare he gave me. I hope you will have a similar experience. Good luck, Michele |
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