# Time for a new vet?



## 3furbabies (Dec 7, 2011)

I adopted both my kittens (Sophie 7 months, Anna 8 months) from a rescue. The rescue used a certain vet and I just went and stuck with the vet as she knew their history. Anyways, ever since I got Anna she has had a loose stool. I have tried various foods, probiotics, etc and nothing has helped. In the past few weeks it had turned to Diareah and was constantly running down her legs. If we didn't catch it in time she would get it all over the place. Yuck. So I decided to bring her to the vet.

She did an exam(charged me $65 just for walking in) and while I was talking to her she gave Anna all these pills, de-wormed her and gave her some medicine without explaining to me what it was or asking for my consent and then charging me an arm and a leg for it! I brought a poo sample because she said she wanted to send it away to test it for all these parasites which she didn't think she had since my other kitten would have gotten it as well. Then she gives me this medicine which she didn't explain what it was (4ml Panacur, 10% suspension... still don't know what this is) which I agreed to. She then said I should start feeding her the prescription diet Gastro... I work at a shelter so I know that all this food is garbage. I said no and she really pushed it. So when I paid for everything (over $200:fust) she hands me a bag of gastro and 10 cans of gastro. Um. I said I didn't want it. She already charged me for it and said that I have to feed her nothing but that to see if it helps.

Anyways, test results came back, all negative so I paid for the tests for nothing. I haven't fed her the gastro and her stool is already looking harder (though still soft and smelly) and she is only going a few times per day vs. several. The vet called and said to keep feeding her gastro and she will call in a week. I don't trust her at all. I'm going to wait until the medicine is done and if her stool is still runny then I will try it.

I am very unimpressed and thinking about switching vets. Everytime I bring either of my cats here she does stuff to them without my consent first. It is very frustrating. :-x


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## Canadiancomforts (Jan 31, 2012)

Wow, I've NEVER had that happen to me. I think that you either need to tell her how you feel and ask her to go into detail with you what shes doing and to stop pushing products on you or find a new vet. 

My vet is amazing and no matter how many questions I have he answers them fully. He never gives Spook anything with out telling me about in full and if I say no and why I said no he respects that.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Yeah, you'll either need to put your foot down with this one or find a new vet.

There's no way a vet is putting ANY THING into my guys without me knowing what it is, what it does, what the side effects are and what the other alternative are.

I would definitely do something quick though, diarrhea running down her legs is bad and can dehydrate her quickly.


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

Hi, sorry you're going through this  Intestinal issues are tricky. Their cause can come from a fairly large list; parasites, food allergies etc. The only way to find out what is causing the problem is to start ruling things out.

It may seem as though you spent $200 for nothing, but now you know it's not any of the parasites she tested for. Do you know if she tested for giardia and tritrichimonas foetus? These are parasites that can cause problems but are not included in the 'usual' parasite tests. They often have to be specifically requested. Pancur is a deworming medicine.

As to the food, I couldn't find any information on "Gastro". Is that the complete name? Do you know who makes it? As long as you have paid for it, I would feed it. It may be a a formula that is easily digested. Your cat's intestinal tract is inflamed and anything you can do to calm it down, like feeding an easily digested food, is good. I wouldn't worry about the nutritional purity at this point. Your cat is not properly digesting her food now. High quality ingredients don't mean as much if they aren't being properly digested.

I went through this for nearly a year, and spent thousands of dollars. I did switch vets twice. Before each switch I gave the vet enough time to either fix Franklin or recommend something that made no sense. Thankfully the third vet solved the puzzle and Franklin is alive and well 

Kyle


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## 3furbabies (Dec 7, 2011)

The main problem is that the vet does not speak good english. I always ask her to repeat herself and I still can't understand here, although she still should ask me before she gives stuff to my cats. See I am quite certain that she has giardia as part of the medicine that I have been giving Anna is for giardia... although she says everything has been negative (she said she was negative and tested for *all* parasites, although I don't know if I believe her). The food is by medi cal and the full name is Gastro Intestinal high energy, It's by royal canin. I fed her a tiny bit of the stuff a few days ago and she was already starting to get addicted to it so I really don't want to start that, although I probably will for now. I just want to finish the medicine first because if I start to feed her the food the vet will be convinced the food is helping... yes it's meant for cats with intestinal issues.

What was the diagnosis on Franklin in the end?


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

I think a language barrier would pose a problem for me. It's hard enough understanding what vets say when they're speaking your native tongue  You need to be comfortable with the vet to help keep your stress level down.

I am very familiar with RC Gastro Intestinal HE. It's a fine food and both Franklin and Franny, who has no intestinal issues, ate the dry version for about a year and a half. In addition to being easy to digest, it's a high calorie food. The high caloric content helps them recover from the malabsorbtion of nutrients. That same high caloric content also helped Franny start to chunk up  I would feed her the Gastro. If she will eat it it's easier on her stressed intestinal tract. 

Some intestinal pests are not present in every stool sample. You may want to think about having samples from consecutive days tested. This can be frustrating and emotionally taxing but you can figure it out. I's start by finding a vet you can understand 

At long last Franklin was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). It's not curable, but it is very manageable. He gets prednisolone every other day and will for life, but he's doing great. He's rebounded from 5 lbs to over 8 1/2 lbs!

Kyle


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## 3furbabies (Dec 7, 2011)

kwarendorf said:


> I think a language barrier would pose a problem for me. It's hard enough understanding what vets say when they're speaking your native tongue  You need to be comfortable with the vet to help keep your stress level down.
> 
> I am very familiar with RC Gastro Intestinal HE. It's a fine food and both Franklin and Franny, who has no intestinal issues, ate the dry version for about a year and a half. In addition to being easy to digest, it's a high calorie food. The high caloric content helps them recover from the malabsorbtion of nutrients. That same high caloric content also helped Franny start to chunk up  I would feed her the Gastro. If she will eat it it's easier on her stressed intestinal tract.
> 
> ...


I think you are right, I am going to try the Gastro to see how she reacts with that as the smelly, runny stool is full out back. The problem is that I am worried that my other cat will gain weight on this. She has no bowl issues but the two cats are very close and do everything together, including eat from the same dish at the same times. I tried feeding them seperately but they refuse food until the other can join.

I have been reading up on Inflammatory Bowel Disease and it sound like Anna does have this. I haven't mentioned it yet to her but I will see how the Gastro food works first.


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## 3furbabies (Dec 7, 2011)

*Update*

Well I ended up going back to the vet, which will be my last and final time. Needless to say, the Gastro hasn't been working... if anything it has gotten worse since then. She won't touch the wet so I ended up taking that back to the vet. She wanted me to try several other foods she sold but I said forget it. She ended up giving me Metronidazole and Prednisolone, which is suppose to be for the bowls but I highly doubt that will work and reading up on them, there seems to be several unpleasant side effects. I am done with all these meds, so if this doesn't work then hopefully it goes away on it's own.

Oh and funny thing? Today was my vet's last day... she didn't say why but I assume she lost her license or something. lol


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

Metronidazole is an antibiotic. It it often used to address intestinal issues. Prednisolone is a steroid used to combat intestinal inflamation. Franklin started with high dose Pred and tapered to 5 mg every other day. He gets this dose now and will for life. He has no side effects.

Tis will not go away on its own. You should pursue it with a new vet. It took me 3. Is you cat eating anything?


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## 3furbabies (Dec 7, 2011)

kwarendorf said:


> Metronidazole is an antibiotic. It it often used to address intestinal issues. Prednisolone is a steroid used to combat intestinal inflamation. Franklin started with high dose Pred and tapered to 5 mg every other day. He gets this dose now and will for life. He has no side effects.
> 
> Tis will not go away on its own. You should pursue it with a new vet. It took me 3. Is you cat eating anything?


Is your cat on a special prescription diet? I have stopped the Gastro food. The vet is still insisting on using it even though her stools have gotten worse since we have started on it. I have switched back to her normal food. Luckily this vet is done now but I don't trust the new one even before I met her so I probably will look elsewhere for a vet. Yes, she is eating her normal food now without issue, she is her normal selse other than the stool.

Another thing I was thinking that could it possibly be stress? Every since we brought her home she hasn't been best friends with my dog, even though she tollerates her now. She also has seperation anxiety, and is very skittish when I vacuum, visitors come over, etc. Like I said she was tested for a bunch of gastral/parasites and everything came back fine.


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

My guys are no longer on a prescription diet (Gastro). about 9-12 months after we got Franklin's IBD under control I weaned them off of Gastro and on to Natural Balance L.I.D. cans and Royal Canin INDOOR Adult 27 dry. The prescription diet was expensive and a pain to get. The other issue, a you pointed out, was that Gastro is very high calorie and Franny was getting chunky  They both do very well on the current combo.

I don't think that stress would cause this level of intestinal problems. As long as all other parasites/bugs and *food allergies* have been ruled out you may want to talk to the new vet about IBD. Diagnosis of IBD requires a biopsy. This can be expensive, and unless you have a vet that can do endoscopic biopsies, it requires surgery. If these are not options for you ask you vet about treating for IBD without the definitive diagnosis. This treatment involves high dose prednisolone tapering down to a maintenance dose; 5mg 2x/day for a month followed by 5mg 1x/day for a month followed by 5mg every other day for life. Franklin has been on the maintenance does for about 18 months and is doing really well 

Before that, have you researched protein allergies? Lots of cats are allergic to traditional proteins like chicken or turkey. There are lots of foods that use what are called novel proteins; things like duck, venison or rabbit. Natural Balance L.I.D has a whole line of these foods and there are lots of others.

Kyle


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## 3furbabies (Dec 7, 2011)

I did a little experiment with the gastro. I fed her normal for a day and her stool was like it was before I took her to the vet, then I tried a tiny bit of gasto... 20 mins later she ran to the litter box and had terrible diareah so I am refusing to feed that anymore even though the vet insists, and yes she gained almost a pound in just one week of gastro :???:. 

I don't think it is allergies because there is no other symptoms (no itching, excess licking, etc.) It may be IBD, but I think the vet wanted to avoid all these tests now since she also said it would start to cost a lot of money, which I can't afford to do at the moment. Wow! Why does a biopsy require surgery? She has been through enough stress with all the vet . 
visits(she is terrified of the car and vets... she shakes the whole time).

Yes she is treating her for that. We have to give her 1 pill of prednisolone for 7 days then 1/2 a pill every other day. I guess if this works I will know and get more meds. 

I haven't researched protien allergies but I will look into it... I'll have to find a neutral flavoured protien and see if that helps(if the meds don't work).

Thanks a lot for all your help by the way.


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

I'd try and avoid switching foods back and forth. Her digestive system is in chaos and that doesn't help. I suspect that she gained weight on the Gastro because she is better able to absorb the available nutrients. It's specifically designed for that reason. 

Try and get the old vet out of your mind. Your goal should be to get your cat well and not to prove the old vet wrong. 

Allergies, if they are protein allergies may not result in itching or excess licking. They may very well result in diarrhea. 

The IBD biopsy does not require surgery if your new vet provides endoscopic biopsies. This is the procedure that Franklin had. Not all vets do provide endoscopy. However they get them, they need cells from various places along the intestine. These cells determine whether or not it's IBD.

It is likely that Anna's intestinal tract is very inflamed. The prednisolone dose you describe does not sound big enough. Franklin was on 10mg a day for a month. You describe what sounds like 5mg for a week? Franklin then was on 5mg every day for another month and then 5mg every other day. 

In addition to finding out what's causing the problem you need to get Anna's intestinal tract calmed down. Based on my experience the dose you describe won't do that. 

I'm not sure what you mean by neutral flavored protein. If they are allergic, cats are likely to be allergic to chicken, turkey and or fish of any kind. Most cat formulas contain some or all of the above, even in very small amounts. That's why the novel protein formulas are based on rabbit, venison , duck or any other protein that you cat has never been exposed to.

In your shoes, I would do the following. See if you can convince the new vet to carpet bomb with prednisolone. At the same time I would switch to a novel protein food. Feed her nothing but the novel protein food. No treats, no nuthin' else! I'd try this for at least three weeks and see where I was.

Just one man's opinion 

Kyle


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## 3furbabies (Dec 7, 2011)

I am now convinced that she does have IBD. She only pooed once today and her stool was the best that I have ever seen from her. Firm and dark. She never had a stool like this before. So it's either the Metronidazole or the prednisolone, but from the sounds of it, it's the prednisolone working. It's clearly not the gastro as I have switched her back to the normal diet. She has only had 2 full prednisolone pills so far but her stool is excellent. Could be a fluke but I shall see.


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

How's she doing today?


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