What If….?

I had a discussion with Indy’s vet yesterday and she is concerned about the blood in his stools.

Of course I am too. I am also aware that one of the causes of blood in the stools is cancer although we have not discussed this yet but much earlier on, the vet found no growths or lumps in his intestines.

Yesterday’s stool output had more fresh blood than usual and I sent a photo of this to the vet. To cut the story short, the vet gave two suggestions: (1) Put Indy on the gastrointestinal kibble or (2) Put Indy on a low dose of steroids.

My priority is, of course, for Indy’s wellbeing and I will do whatever is best for him.

I asked about the possibility of trichomonas or coccidia being the pathogens. If you remember, I wasn’t present at one of Indy’s visits because I had to go to work, so my husband took him, so I don’t exactly know what was examined in that visit. The vet informed me that she had already checked Indy’s stools for coccidia during that visit and found no traces of it, but she did find “something floating and moving very fast” and suspected giardiasis (another protozoa). Indy was then put on an anti-protozoa medication for giardiasis for 3 days along with an antibiotic, Clavamox. His stools were firm for that one week. The moment the antibiotics finished, within 2 days, he had loose stools again and it’s been like that since then.  I asked about trichomonas too, and the vet said the Metronidazole should have suppressed that, but this didn’t happen. From my own research, a stool sample examination cannot detect tritrichomonas foetus, a PCR panel is needed. But then again, if it’s positive for trichomonas, the only medication is Ronidazole and this is toxic. From what I’ve read, some cats can resolve this problem by themselves so instead of subjecting the cat to a toxic medication (which is banned in the US), it might be prudent to just let the body overcome the problem. But the diarrhoea can go on for 2 years. In any case, the median age for cats infected with trichomonas is 1 year. Indy is 11 years old.

Finally, the vet says that if I could bring Indy in today, she would like to do a stool sample examination and recheck for coccidia. So, we shall see what happens today.

We have tried so many things for Indy and none seems to have worked. With Indy being a non-textbook cat, I am totally aware that what works for others might not work for him or worse, might cause a totally opposite reaction too. For example, Slippery Elm is supposed to be excellent for addressing blood and mucus in the stools, but it did not work for Indy at all. S.Boulardii is also excellent for gastrointestinal problems, but we’ve been on it for 21 days now. Is more time needed? Are these causing his problem to become worse?

So, yesterday, I removed the Slippery Elm and S.Boulardii from Indy’s treatment regimen. Let’s just go back to basics – FOOD.

I only gave him his Fillet Plus (chicken fillet, 5% liver, bone meal, Vit E, taurine). In between, he had some bone broth.

That was all.

Let’s just try.

But there’s still a possibility that he is intolerant to chicken!

Then, what is Indy going to eat?  He refused to eat duck and quail. I have not tried rabbit.

And what if Indy is intolerant to the bone meal, or the Vit E and taurine? What if he is just intolerant to something in these supplements?

Too many what ifs!!

I have a few minutes more before I go to work, so I’m watching the sandpit like a hawk.

Indy had his Fillet Plus this morning and is now taking his usual long morning nap.

Everyone one is napping too…

This morning, everyone had Cubgrub except for Heidi who had chicken fillet.

“The leg”

Since Ginger is in the patio, Tabs gets to stay in the room and enjoy the scenery of the park.

Why is Heidi still eating? And why only chicken fillet? That would be another story later.

I would just like to share that this is what everyone else’s stools look like now that they are on Cubgrub (Dr Lisa Pierson’s recipe):

The stools are small, crumbly, a bit dry and does not smell. The above is Cleo’s daily output. Some of them don’t defecate daily also, because most of the food is absorbed by the body, leaving very little for output (Tabs does it every 3 days while Bunny does it on alternate days, based on my observation). I still haven’t been able to find Pole’s poo! She just buries it so well, I guess.

I read somewhere that if we take a walk in the jungle, we will usually not get to see animal faeces because when in nature, animals eat whatever that is biologically appropriate for them, and their poop will crumble and disintegrate very quickly and merge with the soil so as not to leave traces for their predators.

Everyone is doing well on Cubgrub….except Indy – those bloody stools!!  (Again, I am not swearing!)

Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2019/11/14/what-if/

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AnimalCare is a registered society that promotes caregiving to street animals and helps in their neutering and medical needs. AnimalCare has a Medical Fund, Food Fund and Education Fund.

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