I probably wouldn't do any more tests until I did the elimination diet. I think the probiotics are a good idea.

I might try a tablespoon or two of pumpkin to the diet to help control the diarrhea.

I've tried the pumpkin, she won't touch it. I thought about putting some in a syringe and forcing her to eat it but she already hates me enough (all the antibiotics I had to shoot into her mouth) I also tried to give her plain yogurt but she won't eat that either. Not sure if this is related or not but last night she had her first almost-solid stool. This was a few hours after I gave her the first does of probiotics. Then she ate some canned food and a few crunchies and this morning at 5am she used the litter box and it was diarrhea again. I will try the elimination diet. I have no idea why the vet thought we already tried it. The only time it was suggested was back in September (she has been sick recently since December 20th) and the vet told me that this is a continuation of what she had in September (I'm not a vet but I'm certain its not) as back in September she stopped eating after we returned from a week vacation in another state (we took her with us). She was vomitting and hiding under the couch and had some diarhea. The biggest symptom is that she wouldn't eat for four days and was dehydrated. Now she has a normal appetite, isn't dehydrated, isn't hiding or acting abnormally and this time she was diagnosed (the first week) with campylobacter. I dont think the two episodes are related (unless its something chronic) because the symptoms were different (she also had a fever this time and last time she did not) The fever and campylobacter went away with the antibiotics.

I just want her to have whatever tests will help rule the more serious illnesses out. If a blood test can detect something I would like them to try it.

So what is she eating now?

She eats about 3 cans (small cans) of soft food a day (the flavors vary) and maybe a handful of Friskies crunchies. She doesn't really like to eat the crunchies off of a plate, rather she wants to wrestle them out of the box herself or pick them up off the plate, carry them in her mouth, put them on the floor and chase each one around for awhile and then eat them. The other day when she wouldn't eat all day (a first in a long time) at night she was carrying something around in her mouth and played with it and then ate it (it was a piece of dog food that she must have found) I've never seen her do that before.
The vet gave me samples of something called Feline ID and I gave that to her yesterday when I got home from work (she hadn't eaten in about 9 hours) and she ate two bites of it and looked at me like I was trying to poison her and walked away.

When I give my cats canned food I never let it sit out on the plate for more than a half hour (so it won't spoil).

Do you have a dog? Is there a possibility that the cat has eaten dog food, periodically during this time since she's been sick?

No I don't have a dog. The dog kibble would have just been something left on the floor (of my basement) as I was pet sitting for my parents' dogs about four months ago and when I fed them a few pieces of food must have fallen on the floor and rolled under something. I doubt that even a few pieces of crunchy dog food would make her sick. But you never know.

I agree I don't think a few pieces of dog food would make her sick... but if (you had a dog and) she was getting a few pieces of dog food everyday over a long period of time that might explain the situation....

Hopefully your kitty improves, keep us updated on her progress, if any with the elimination diet.

I've started giving her probiotics twice a day and I don't know if it has helped or if this is a coincidence but once a day for the last two days (since I started the probiotics) she has had an almost normal stool. I'm not an expert on cat poop but twice she's eliminated something that looks "normal" compared to the diarrhea. Its has a shape to it and isn't like a big cow pie. Gross, I know. But I don't know how else to describe it. She's had this almost normal looking bowel movement in the afternoon right after I get home from work (which means she last ate at 7am and it is around 5pm-all she's had access to in that time period is her crunchy cat food). So I started thinking she might be allergic to her canned food.

However, every time, the next morning she will have diarrhea again and this is after last eating canned food around maybe 8pm and she has access to nothing but a few crunchies overnight and in the morning (around 5 or 6am she will have diarrhea again. So I can't find a pattern based on what she eats.

We have a kitty with chronic diarrhea. She finally had exploratory surgery and was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. We've tried everything, probiotics, pumpkin, holistic meds, elimination diet, steroids, compound meds, nothing works permanently. She goes through periods where she has normal bowel movements for no apparent reason, and then reverts back to diarrhea for no apparent reason. She is skin and bones, but still loving and active. I hope your kitty doesn't have IBD, or at least if she does, that she responds to treatment.

I/D is a bland diet, and 9 out of 10 cats won't eat it. I'm not at all surprised your kitty didn't want anything to do with it, especially since she is used to a variety of yummy foods.

Since you want to do the most non-invasive things first, I think the elimination is a great idea. It will take up to 8 weeks to get the full effect of an elimination diet. She has to eat something, it might as well be something that may help. I would avoid Z/D (Hills) since it only comes in dry formula which your cat will probably not eat, and it is preserved with BHA, ethoxyquin, and propyl gallate (bad). Purina EN is better (naturally preserved) and is high protein, low-carb but again only available in dry and if she is allergic to poultry it won't work at all. Royal Canin has my favorite limited ingredient diets. They are all naturally preserved and all come in canned formulas for cats. Most cats love the duck and rabbit formulas.

I put some of my chronic diarrhea patients on vitamin B supplements (usually injections) because this important water-soluble vitamin is processed in the GI tract. It's hard for patients with chronic diarrhea to get enough vitamin B sometimes. Not all patients need it, and there is a blood test for vitamin B levels.

Unless the bits of dog food were spoiled, they shouldn't cause a problem, especially not chronic diarrhea.

Things I would do non-invasively:
Continue probiotics
Elimination diet
Deworm with fenbendazole and ponazuril (just in case)
Maybe check vitamin B levels or start supplementing

If I was going to do anything invasive, I'd do the exploratory surgery with full-thickness intestinal biopsies rather than the endoscopy. You can't get full-thickness biopsies with endoscopy and some diseases require them for proper diagnosis (like IBD which is very possible). You don't want to get back a biopsy report that says "Lymphocytic-plasmacytic enteritis but lymphoma cannot be ruled out due to sample. " And trust me, pathologists NEVER rule out ANYTHING, especially off a less-than-ideal sample.

Good luck with everything.

Thank you for your help. My cat has now had three bowel movements in a row that have been normal (not diarrhea) This has happened almost immediately after I started giving her the probiotics. She ate two whole cans of food last night (small cans) one at 5pm and one at 10 and this morning her stool was fine. She is also eating her dry cat food as well. I have an appointment for her on Wednesday. If she doesn't have any diarrhea between now and then do you think further testing (a scope, exploratory surgery) is needed? Or should I wait till I'm done with the probiotics and see what happens? I'm probably being too optimistic because I'm so happy she's had no diarrhea for two days but this is the first thing that has helped her.

Could this all have been caused by the campylobacter (which seems to be the cause of her original symptoms) and then she was on two courses of antibiotics (which obviously killed the good bacteria in her system as well)? Or is there probably still some underlying cause?

If her stools stay normal for awhile - I would NOT do any test, particularly invasive ones.

I'd just keep on the probiotics for a while and do no further testing as well. I might deworm, just in case, but that's it.

Metronidazole generally spares the good GI bacteria, which is why I like it so much for enteritis. You generally don't kill all the bacteria in the GI tract, and it helps restore the normal flora. I am not familiar with the brand name of the other antibiotic, but my guess is that it was amoxicillin or something similar. In my experience, even normal cats get diarrhea with that class of antibiotic unless they are supplemented with probiotics.

I am so glad she's doing better. She has got to be feeling better too.

sorry if this was already clarified.

My vet talked about a probiotic type product for my cat too. He has IBD> What is the product you're using?

The product she was prescribed is called bene bac gel (sp?). My cat likes it and will lick it off your finger so you don't have to force it into her mouth. She has had several normal stools and then a bout of diarrhea every now and then. She has an appointment tomorrow. We will see what they say. Do you think once she stops taking the probiotic the diarrhea will return? If she is responding to the probiotic do you think it is still possibly an internal issue that requires exploratory surgery?

Meghane will give a better answer than I.

I think if she respond to probiotics, her good, digestive stomach bacterias were off for some reason, or maybe she was responding to her food and the probiotics help handle the negative gastric responses?

I would hold off on exploratory surgery and continue what you are doing. Maybe others have different, better ideas.

I am sop glad it is under control, and I am happy the forum helped you.

Went to the vet today. Kind of irritated again. He said she doesn't have any type of fluid retention (which is good) She weighed 5.9 lbs November 1st (she was spayed then), she weighed 6.9 lbs (December 22nd after not eating for a day and vomitting twice) and on January 2nd she weighed 8.2 lbs! Now today (January 21st) she weighs 8.6 lbs. the vet said this is probably normal weight gain. So she is still gaining weight even after having diarrhea for over a month. I told him the bene bac gel seems to be helping as she only has diarrhea maybe every other day. Her stools are not as loose as before. Once a day she will have a normal one and then she has a looser (but not quite diarrhea yet) one. He said that is good but he still doesn't think it is something as simple as replacing her good bacteria. (she gets the bene bac gel twice a day and now he wants me to give it to her every other day) He didn't mention changing her diet. He also did not give me the location of the clinic the other vet wanted to refer her to. He said we will see if the blood work comes back with anything.

I still have no idea what is wrong with my cat. And he didn't talk about any "next steps". I had to ask for more bene bac gel. AHH!!

Frankly I still think its her diet...

When asked what you feed her, you replied:
She eats about 3 cans (small cans) of soft food a day (the flavors vary) and maybe a handful of Friskies crunchies.

So right there you have varying flavors and friskies. What brand of canned food are you feeding? Have you started the elimination diet yet?

You need to get your cat on ONE flavor of a premium food. Keep her on that for a few weeks.

Cheap canned food + varying flavors + cheap junk kibbles + irritated bowels = diarrhea.

I would suggest the reading the following

Here is a link that might be useful: Nature's Menu

Even though its been well over a year since my cat has had loose bowels, I still give her a probiotic once a week,a slippery elm supplement on alternate days, and a dab of pumpkin with every meal of Wellness canned chicken. My vet has assured me that none of these things can hurt her.

Of course, as I have stressed before,her problem may have resolved spontaneously (as I hope you cat's will), but why take a chance if a maintainance program is inexpensive and not harmful.
L

She's been eating the same food since she was a kitten. I know its possible to develop food allergies at any time. The vet did not mention the elimination diet but I do plan to try it on my own. Meghane recommended a brand of food and I'm going to try to find it this weekend. I advised the vet that she was getting better and that I believed it was in relation to the probiotics. His response was "I still believe we are dealing with something that is more serious and won't be cured by the probiotics" I asked what he thought it was and he does not know. Did not offer the contact information for a clinic to take her to to have a scope done. He did say it was a good idea that the other vet suggested having blood work done since it had been awhile since they'd done any (sept). I wanted to tell him the truth- that the other vet said blood work wouldn't help and that it was a waste of time (she is the one who wanted to send my cat straight to the clinic but couldn't give me the contact info) and I'M the one who scheduled the blood work!! But I bit my tongue. He did say her weight gain wasnt' alarming (first about 1.4 lbs in 3 weeks and now .4 lbs in 3 weeks) but it was not normal for a cat her age (7 months) but that there was no fluid retention. I will try changing her diet and hope that helps (but I have 3 other cats so she might be able to sneak some other food). Hopefully it helps. If not, I guess we are back to square one. Would you recommend taking her off the bene bac gel for a few days to see if things get worse?

Its not going to hurt your other cats, if they are all on the same diet. You won't know if the elimination diet is working, if she has access to other foods.

All your pets need to be on the same diet in order for you to know if this working.

This food will certainly be cheaper and considerably less risky than a scope or exploratory surgery.

You should stop the pro-biotics while on the elimination diet. You can always reintroduce them later.

Here is a link that might be useful: a good description of allergies, IBD and elimination diet

Maybe you should change your handle from newhomeseeker to newvetseeker.

So this is the same vet that said bloodwork wouldn't show anything new and didn't want to do it, now there's new bloodwork?

It's no wonder you're frustrated; I'm frustrated and she's not even my cat!

I'd still deworm her with fenbendazole and ponazuril, just in case. Then change her diet to Natural Balance or Royal Canin limited ingredient diet. Natural Balance is a commercial food you can find in Petco, Petsmart, etc. They have a green pea and duck formula in dry and canned. Royal Canin limited ingredients is by Rx only and I think only sold at vets, but cats really seem to like their duck and green peas and also the rabbit and green peas formulas, also available in dry and canned.

If that didn't work, I'd go with biopsies. But I'd definitely try the diet first. I might even try treating for IBD instead of getting biopsies. I just had my first experience with intestinal biopsies that I did break apart, causing septic peritonitis and ultimately the death of the cat. I feel *horrible* about it and looking back, it is my fault for rushing to biopsy at owner's request instead of doing things logically and non-invasively. At owner's defense, she runs a cat rescue and has ~30 in her care, and this one was causing a LOT of extra work in cleaning and laundry with his blowout diarrhea. She really wanted a diagnosis and I tried to give her one, but things turned out horribly. That said, same thing could happen with endoscopy and you might not get a diagnosis. Point being, taking things slow and non-invasively, the way you want to do, is the right course. And sometimes it's OK to treat even before you have a definitive diagnosis if you're reasonably sure of the diagnosis, and the treatment doesn't cause harm.

If it will help I will put them all on the same diet.

As far as the vet- it is the same office. The last vet told me we should do more bloodwork (at the beginning of the phone conversation) and then at the end I asked what the next step would be (about ten minutes later) and I mentioned the blood work and she said no it wouldn't show anything new. This is the vet that told me there was absolutely nothing more they could do for me and recommended the scope but couldnt' give me the info for the clinic.
I am the one who called and scheduled an appointment and told them I wanted blood work done. At this appt, my cat was seen by a different vet (he was the emergency vet on call back in September when my cat wasnt' eating) I requested him this time. He saw that she had no fluid retention and listened when i told him about her diarrhea not being as frequent since I began the bene bac gel. He felt her stomach and everything was fine, really squeezed her and she didn't care. No elevated temperature.

He mentioned to me that it was good idea that the previous vet had suggested doing the blood work again because it hadnt' been done since September and could rule out more serious things (if it was normal) or flag something. I should have told him (but I figure they stick together) that actually she said NO blood work and I'm the one who pushed for it (well I just called and scheduled an appointment and said I want this done) They told me (vet techs) that I'd have the results the next day (today) but I'm betting $ I don't get a call. I will wait till friday before I call them. Its strange- they always call to remind you of your appointments but seems once you have paid your bill they "forget" to call with important things like follow ups and test results. Very frustrating!!!

The limited ingredients diets I mentioned are all OK for regular cats too, so no need to worry. I had all my dogs on limited ingredients diets because of one of them, and they all did great.

I hope the bloodwork still shows everything is OK, once you finally get the results. My clients get a phone call from me, the same day I get results. I'm just saying....

I received a voicemail from the vet yesterday but it was not from the vet that I just had an appointment with but from the vet that I'd last had problems with. The one who specifically said there was no point in doing a blood test. She called said they had the results and that I needed to call her back to discuss them and also that she had the contact information about the clinic she was referring my cat to. I was upset first of all that it was handed off to this vet because when I made my last appointment I specifically told them I didn't want to work with this vet anymore and requested another one that had seen my cat before. And now here she is calling me to discuss results of a test she never ordered.

So I called her back and a vet tech answered the phone and said she'd go get the vet. Instead the RECEPTIONIST comes to the phone and says she can give me my test results. Well that is funny because for just a stool sample test (last week) I was told only the vet or a vet tech could give me teh results. Nothing against receptionists but she didn't go to veterinary school and a week ago was not qualified to tell me if the stool sample lab tests were positive or negative for bacteria and now she is giving me the results of a blood test?

She said the blood test results indicate that my cat might have lymphocytosis or plasmocytosis colitis. I asked her what this is and she said "I don't know, hold on" and went to ask someone. She came back and told me that it is similiar to Crohns disease in humans or IBS. She said my cat would need to have a colon biopsy. She gave me the number for the clinic. I asked her what part of the results indicated this and she said my cat had a large number of lymphocytes in her blood. I asked what these were and she said that it was just something in her blood (they are white blood cells). She said her liver and kidney functions were a little abnormal but that her lymphocytes were 7000 and normal is 4000. She said the clinic would probably give her Panacure. I asked what this was and she said a dewormer. I asked why they were telling me to drive an hour to get dewormer (I was mad) and then she said well if you wanted to get that from us (10 minutes away) we could give it to you thats no problem. She said the clinic would also put her on a special diet. Again I asked why my current vet had not done this. She said well if its what you want we can do that here too. She said they would put her on Science Diet DD. I asked about other brands of food that people have recommended and she said they don't carry them and if I wanted to use the Science Diet it would take them a week to get it in so I need to order it right away.
I asked the receptionist why they were pushing the clinic when they can do (two of the things) right here. She said well your cat isn't eating and is vomitting and losing weight so you need to have this taken care of so she feels better.

First of all my cat is GAINING weight, eating fine, hasn't vomitted since December when she was diagnosed with campylobacter and she is running around like crazy and playing, and doing back flips in the air when she chases her toys, and doesn't seem to have anything bothering her. She still has diarrhea maybe once a day or every two to three days (the probiotics have helped). She doesn't appear to be in any pain.

Would anyone have the colon biopsy done? I know it is a dangerous procedure and I really don't want to risk it unless it is absolutely necessary. If the problem is IBS/colitis can't they just treat it as such without knowing for sure? (doing the biopsy) What other serious diseases could cause her symptoms and these blood test results. I asked for a return call from a vet (I thanked the receptionist for her information but I feel that the call should have been handled by the vet!) I doubt I'll hear anything. Any suggestions?

Sorry, they suspect she has Lymphocytic-plasmacytic colitis. The receptionist said OR but I looked it up and it is one disease. Everything I read suggests trying to control it with diet before having a biopsy or colonoscopy done.

I am one of the last people to recommend changing vets. I also am not a cat owner. However, I've been following your thread and now have to say - change vets. Personally I would obtain ALL records from your current vet, even if they ask you to pay for copying. Take all those records either to a new vet or to the clinic they recommended. Even if you go to the clinic, ask them to re-evaluate before they suggest a colonoscopy. In other words, get a second opinion.

Just my 2 cents.

I think you need to STOP going to the VET and tackle the diet issue.

Nothing you've described give me the level of confidence I would require to let them near my beasts except as a last resort in a dire emergency.

I'm a big believer in diet. I even cook for my cats. You may need to mess around with food for awhile, but I bet that you can find a dietary solution. Be systematic in your changes. One thing at a time. Keep good written notes of what you do and the results. Dates and things have a way of becoming jumbled together. If you do need to move forward with a procedure, it's nice to be able to hand the vet a clear record of what has been tried so far.

One of DH's cats was prone to diarrhea when I met her. She would only eat dry food. The transition to a healther diet has been slow. I was never able to identify an ingredient that she was allergic to. No single thing that I tried worked. I'm inclined to think that an overall upgrade to her diet allowed her to heal and process food normally.

Meghane plan is a solid one. That's the fastest way to see if you are dealing with an allergy. I used Royal Canin duck and pea (Rx only), since Tina would only eat dry food. It's better than what she was eating and it helped a little.

Since feeding too much meat (no carbs) will cause most cats to have hard stool and make elimination difficult, you might try adding meat to kitty's daily diet if a couple of weeks on a limited ingredient food doesn't resolve the problem. I used plain, cooked ground turkey. Use organic meat if you can, but mainly avoid the seasoned stuff. I've also used ground lamb.

Tina no longer has diarrhea. I can't get her to eat a balanced homemade diet yet, so she still gets some duck and pea kibble. She now eats a variety of high quality protein. Turkey and chicken top the list. She gets much smaller amounts of chicken hearts, chicken liver, fish, and lamb.

thank you all for the ideas. I called several vets in my area and none of them will order the Royal Canin (one orders that brand in a urinary tract beneficial variety for one patient) The only things my current vet carries are Feline ID (too bland my cat won't touch it) and Science Diet DD (I have not done any research on this yet). I plan to try Natural Balance in Limited ingredient varieties if I can find that. I've been keeping a record of what flavor food I am feeding her vs. her type of stool. I had thought turkey and chicken might be something that sets the diarrhea off but there haven't been enough results to see a definate pattern yet. I had all this info for the vet and he could have cared less. Just wants to rush her to have the colon biopsy done.

Her diarrhea (as a symptom) isn't a huge problem- she doesn't have accidents, she doesn't appear to be in any pain (if a cat in pain can do back flips in the area and constantly run around and chase things then I want to have a cat's pain tolerance!) and she is still gaining weight and eating. I have just spent so much time trying to find out what is wrong with her because an animal having diarrhea every day for a month isn't normal.

Cats have amazingly high tolerance for pain. Your kitty truly doesn't sound like she's in pain.

I know how frustrating and just plain tiring it is when you can't find a solution. I switched to a homemade diet because my cats had a skin problem that no one could explain. Indeed, the best explanation was that *I* was crazy. And by that point I was crazy, but that doesn't mean that I was wrong about the cats. Anyway, you're being a good cat-mom, so please hang in there!

I realize that isn't a good long-term solution, but it looks like you can order the Natural Balance food online from Petco if you can't find it locally.

Naturapet, the maker of Innova cat food, has a couple of limited ingredient canned products: EVO 95% duck and EVO 95% beef. I haven't tried either one, but I do like Innova foods in general. Their website has a "where to buy" feature.

Newmans Own Organics has a canned beef formula. Whole Foods and one co-op are the only places in my city that carry that brand.

Argh, you have GOT to be frustrated. I am, and she isn't even my cat!

Bummer nobody will order the Royal Canin diets- they are really good. I'll have to look up the Science Diet DD formulas; I suspect they have ingredients I wouldn't recommend like artificial preservatives (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin, TBHQ). Natural Balance is available in pet stores and is also very good. If you can find Newman's Own Organics that would be even better, but I haven't been able to find it here. There are places you can order online though.

The biopsy would definitely diagnose lymphocytic-plasmacytic enteritis. Usually, that condition is treated with immunosuppressives such as prednisolone, cyclosporin, or azathioprine, so we do like to confirm that diagnosis before starting a patient on a life-time of immunosuppression. Some cats respond well to diet alone, or with some supplements.

There is a company called Standard Process that makes herb-based supplements for a variety of ailments in dogs, cats, horses, and humans. I have been using their products for a little while; one of my dogs just started Thyroid Support. They made a feline Enteric Support which may help your cat.

I would exhaust all non-invasive diagnostics and give a limited ingredient diet a chance to work before doing biopsies. And of course, deworm (I'm beginning to sound like a broken record)- get the panacur, it's fenbendazole, and give it for 5 days in a row, repeat in 3 weeks. I'd also get ponazuril in case of coccidia and give it 3 days in a row. That combination kills every protozoal and nematode parasite known to affect cats except T. foetus which your cat probably doesn't have since she is not fecal incontinent.

I wouldn't bother with endoscopy as the results may not be usable. If it came to it, I'd do full-thickness biopsies. Any vet can do it- you don't need a specialist or any special equipment. And I'd only do that if diet and supplements didn't work.

Here is a link that might be useful: Standard Process Feline Enteric Support

First off friskies is AWFUL, you need to stay away from Grains, cats DO NOT handle these well.

Innova EVO

Ziwi peak

Orijen

Instincts

Natures logic( must be used W other food)

Grains are the source of the issues, cats are carnivores.

Dry will cause dental issues too. Raw is best but $$ and its best to go with prepared Natures variety, bravo, or something along that line. there is also prey model- which means giving things like rats mice/dead and thawed. www.Rodentpro.com
www.haretoday.com

Brands to stay away from

Friskies

Iams

anything "Purina"

Ol roy

Special kitty- you cat will have special health problems

Roundys cat food

meow mix

euk

S/D

alley cat

whiska's

many articals on pet food are on www.felinefuture.com

I am ordering Natural Balance online from Petco. Went to Pet Smart this weekend and they recommended Blue Buffalo (no by products, no corn, wheat or soy protein and glutten free). I bought a few cans and she ate a few bites yesterday morning. Not sure if it was the food or what but she was crazy all day. Running around, playing, "attacking" my other cats, meowing for attention, literally climbing curtains, watching birds outside and running from window to window to try to see them when they flew away. She had normal stools both times she used the litter box yesterday. She slept beside me last night and this morning her stool was normal but she seemed to be bothered by something.

She only ate a few bites of her food (wouldn't touch the new food at all so I gave her her old food) and I picked her up and she purred but when I put her down she made a noise like I've hurt her. She wouldnt chase any of her toys, and only batted at a piece of string a few times before walking away. She also did not want to be around the other cats (walked away from them) which is a sign she isn't feeling good. She also normally loves her probiotics but barely licked at the medicine today. I really wish they could talk and tell us whats wrong!

Will be starting the elimination diet as soon as I receive the food. She would not eat the Hill's Science diet DD venison and green pea that the vet gave me. Ate two bites and walked away. One of my other cats loved it though.

wouldn't touch the new food at all so I gave her her old food

Does anyone besides me find this thread, REALLY ANNOYING?

No, what I find really annoying is people who post on threads with rude responses. There is no reason to leave a rude response when someone has a problem with their pet. What I find really annoying is veterinarians who won't return calls as promised or call with test results.

The food that I bought isn't the food for her elimination diet (I was given a sample of Science Diet DD and I bought Blue Buffalo per the pet store personnel's suggestion) I gave her samples of both types of food because the food I use for the elimination diet has to be one that has limited ingredients and one that she will eat. I have ordered Natural Balance which was suggested by Meghane. If my cat won't eat it all, I have to give her something as I don't want her losing weight. If she's not eating and has diarrhea often then she will lose weight.

So until I receive the Natural Balance I am feeding my cat her normal food. I don't see what is so annoying about that.

If you have something rude to say please don't post on my thread. I am under enough stress as it is worrying about my furbaby. Thank you.

This isn't your first post about this problem. And many, many posters on previous threads have suggested changing the diet, long before you started this thread.

And its taken you a long time to change the diet and then finally when you did make a change, you bailed on it after two meals ... I don't think you "get" it.

There might not be a "magic" food that cures your kitty's problems.... but simply improving the diet to a premium consistent food is going to help...

I agree you don't want your cat to loose weight. However, the cat ate and then you fed you some of his old food anyway, because you didn't think he ate enough... Recognize that a cat will eat less of a premium food than the junk that you were feeding. Also realize, you may have to let the poor guy get "hungry" and he will eat the other food. One or two meals is not a enough time to determine if the cat will or won't eat a food.

I think I know my cat's behavior better than you do. While I understand the need to change her food (and am doing so) I did not do so before as the vet was recommending more serious measures. It will take apprx. six weeks of the elimination diet to even notice a significant change. The reason I am trying to find a type of food my cat will eat is because her main symptom before is that she refused to eat for almost 5 days. And she lost a significant amount of weight. After five days you would think she would be starving and would eat anything but she wasn't interested.

Also the two foods that I've tried, she literally eats one or two bites and that is it. I tried offering it to her again later (fresh food) and she wouldn't touch it. She tries to cover it up.

If she won't eat something, it's not going to help her. I don't want her to stop eating again as she did before. Just like several posters suggested giving her pumpkin for her diarrhea and while that is a good idea, my cat wouldn't touch it. If I mixed it in her food she wouldn't eat that food. I left it out all day (and nothing else) and she still wouldn't eat it. Same thing with yogurt. So I have to give her the bene bac gel which she loves. If she won't eat it, it won't help her. So I'm trying to find something she will eat.

Take her to a new vet. You need real medical advise from a professional who has examined her and run tests. Which no one here on GW has done.

I'd suggest that you find a new vet if the place that you're going to now is not making you happy and her well. Distance is nothing when it comes to the health of a loved pet. Try finding a veterinary school that will take her. Usually they have all kinds of specialists for the specific problem. Or search online and check reviews of vets in your area. Look on yahoo, google and yellow pages classifieds for reviews. Try vetratingz.com. Google "veterinarian ratings/reviews". Try yelp.com. Merchantcircle.com

You might want to focus on locating a good veterinarian internist. They can usually help when others can't. Note, this is not an intern. They are specialists in internal medicine.

You may need a referral or you just may need your current vet to fax the new vet your cat's medical history.

I think at this point another vet visit would be a waste of money....

NewHomeSeeker, please private message me. I won't bash you for anything. I have advice for you that might help.

If kitty has not eaten in 5 days, you need to get her to a new vet pronto. I have no idea why she isn't eating, but I can tell you that there are may possible reasons. Not all are serious in themselves, but they become very serious indeed if the cat stops eating.

She is eating fine. What I was referring to when I said she didn't eat for five days was back in September- she stopped eating and had to have IV fluids on two occasions. I was defending the reason I gave her a can of a type of food that was recommended by a pet store to try and she wouldn't eat it (ate maybe 2 bites) tried giving it to her on and off all day and she refused to eat it although she wasn't given anything else to eat so she should have been hungry.
So I went back to feeding her the regular food I've always given her. It was suggested I should only give her the recommended food until she eats it (feed her nothing else and eventually she should eat it) I didn't want to do this because #1 I can't start an elimination diet if she refuses to eat the food and #2 I am afraid of her not eating for several days again because the cause of that (back in September) was never diagnosed.

As an update she wasn't feeling well on Monday- she didn't eat much in the morning (just a bite of the recommended food) and she vommitted I think (I have four cats and she was the only way acting strangely so I believe it was her) and after that she was fine. Running around playing and eating her food. I've cut back on the probiotics to once every two days. She has not had diarrhea in almost a week (her main symptom) and she is very active (she literally climbed curtains this morning) and she's rolling around and chasing my other cats and just acting like a young kitten (she's 8 months). So I think she is feeling much better.

I am still going to change her food to see if that helps even further.

Newhomeseeker, how is your kitty doing? Does she like Natural Balance? Have the vets given you test results yet? Just thinking about you...

Thanks for thinking about her. The results of her blood test were that her white blood cell count was very high (around 7000) and they think she has lymphocytic-plasmacytic enteritis. The first person I spoke to said they wanted to send her to the clinic for the biopsy and then I spoke to a different vet and he said he wants to try worming (panacure) and an elimination diet. I ordered the Natural Balance online and per the vet, I have been slowly introducing it to her. I give her a can of that a day and a can of her old food. I tried feeding her just the Natural Balance but she went on a two day hunger strike and refused to eat the natural balance (wouldn't eat more than two or three bites a day) so the vet said to introduce it gradually. I also have the dry natural balance and none of my cats will eat it. My oldest female seems to love the Natural balance soft food (duck and green pea) but my kitten will only eat a few bites of it. She is used to eating chunky food in gravy so it may just be the texture she doesn't like.

Her weight is stable though and she hasn't had any diarrhea for about two weeks! (and for the two weeks prior to that she only had diarrhea maybe 3 times). She is running around and playing as though she feels fine. I also stopped giving her the bene bac gel about a week ago. And she still hasn't had diarrhea.

Since the diarrhea has cleared up even before I started changing her food, the vet does not think it was her food that was causing the diarrhea. One think I've noticed is she eats less than she used to (used to eat 3-4 small cans a day and now she eats maybe one can total as she has to share with my other cats) She hasn't been wormed yet either (I stopped at the vet's to get the meds and they were out and were supposed to call me when they got it in but haven't yet suprise,suprise. I will stop there in the next few days to try again.
Thanks for asking.

I'm glad she is doing so well- no diarrhea in 2 weeks is great!

I'd leave well enough alone and not do the biopsy unless she started having diarrhea again. Sounds like the food wasn't the problem. I didn't think it was, just that a different food may be part of the solution (semantics I know).

Out of dewormer?! Sigh...

I think I have one of the most spoiled kitties ever! Yesterday I fed her a can of her old food in the morning (she shares this with two other cats) and she ate and then she had access to crunchies all day. At night I gave her a can of Natural Balance (she normally will only eat a few bites). I feed her on a paper plate and she was sort of chasing the plate around because she was trying to lick the food from the plate. I sat there and held the plate for her and then I decided to hand feed her (spoiled!!) She acted like she was starving and wolfed down the entire can. She normally doesn't care for this food but she licked every bit of it from my fingers. And then this morning she didn't want her old food, she wanted the Duck and Green Pea ( natural balance). So she's finally starting to like her new food.

With my other three cats, I have always said they are not allowed to sleep in the bedroom at night (because they want to play, make noise etc) but of course somehow my little one started sleeping in there with me and now if you lock her out she sits outside the door and demands that you let her in. She sleeps curled up next to me or on my pillow every night. Spoiled!!