Hi everyone I'm hoping for a little guidance from those of you who might have had similar problems.

We have a 6 month old male Bengal called Bo who is absolutely busting with energy and very cheeky. Bo has been checked by our vet and is fit and healthy and a good weight for his age but he frequently has poorly formed stools. When we first brought him home, he had bad diahorrea that we put down to stress and following lots of advice and guidance from Bo's breeder things firmed up. He's been given preventative treatment for fleas (Advocate) and tapeworm (Drontal) and the vet prescribed Surolan for ear mites which have now gone.

However, he was still having issues with things not quite being as solid as you might expect, sorry for the comparison, but a bit like a pile of mashed potato and he was scratching his ears, face and neck even though the mites had been treated and cleared. As a result, we have gradually changed his food from Royal Canin Kitten dry with 1/2 pouch of wet Bozita kitten to Orijen Kitten dry with 1/2 pouch of wet Bozita kitten to try and eliminate grain. We have seen a small improvement in his stools and a slight decrease in him scratching so my question is, how long should we leave him on this diet before moving onto something different? I've seen that it can take up to 12 weeks for any food sensitivities to clear following removal of the allergen, what are your experiences?

Should we need to, we plan to try Taste of the Wild next as they have more unusual protein sources that he may not have encountered previously. Following that, raw might be the way to go. The main reason we haven't gone straight to raw is that he bolts wet/raw food very quickly in a matter of minutes which causes even more problems with his stools.

Bo eats and drinks well, is gaining weight and seems very happy, we just want to make sure we are doing absolutely everything we can for him to be a healthy happy boy.

Hi and welcome, Bo is beautiful!

One of my boys had similar problems. I'm assuming Bo has been to the vet and has been checked for parasites that may be causing the loose stools?

Assuming this is the case, I moved my boy onto Royal Canin Sensible and this did the trick for him - it is specifically for this type of issue and has proteins that are more easily digestible. Obviously change any food gradually as a sudden change in diet can also cause diarrhoea or loose stools. Mine are older now but I still can't give them food that has lamb in it, and I bought some dried liver treats for them recently but that also caused problems, so I will steer clear of that now too.

Good luck!

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

Thanks for the tip.
The only things he hasn't been screened for are TF and giardia but it has been lingering in the back of my mind. Because of the ear/face itching in absence of any other obvious parasites/infections, the vet suggested it was more likely to be a food intolerance rather than parasites and that it would be more sensible to try and resolve it through diet first before going down the route of faecal screening.

With TF, are there usually periods of 'normal' stools interspersed with semi-formed ones or does it cause persistent diahorrea?

Fortunately I have no experience of TF or giardia but I believe the loose stools can be intermittent and can have blood and mucus in them as well. If you go to the Health Care section, there is a sticky with loads of information on these parasites, and I'm sure someone else on here who has experience will pass on their advice.

Sounds like the vet will check for parasites anyway if there is no obvious diet trigger and with the itching it could well be an allergy. It can be difficult to nail as I was using a dry food once they seemed fine with, bought a new bag of it, and there was something different in the composition which gave them diarrhoea and I couldn't work out what the issue was until I realised they'd started a new bag. I removed it from their diet and they were fine again after a couple of days. I didn't use it again and I also try to stick to grain free now - if they both ate the Royal Canin Sensible there wouldn't have been a problem. But Jagger won't touch it and Hendrix does like to try what Jagger is getting!

I hope you get to the bottom of it soon!

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

Read this. re TF

AN OWNERS GUIDE TO DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CATS INFECTED WITH TRITRICHOMONAS FOETUS

http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/docs/documents/ ... _final.pdf

Great, thanks both

I had my kittens on Royal Canin Kitten food as that is what their foster mom had been feeding them. They had loose bowl movements and diarrhea that was pretty bad and messy to deal with. They went constantly and were always hungry too. I took them to the vet twice and they sent out the stool samples the second time but both times they were negative. The vet told me to switch their food. I am currently feeding them Wellness CORE grain Free Kitten Formula wet food and trying a couple of different dry foods (Natural Balance Dry cat/kitten food, Limited Ingredient Diet Green Pea and Duck Formula and also EVO Turkey & Chicken Cat & Kitten food). They poop much less frequently and everything is perfectly normal now. I don't know if it was the egg or grain that caused the problem in Royal Canin but I know they are feeling much better now.

Thanks for the recommendations.
We've sent samples off for a full screen to see what shows up as its been particularly bad over the last few days. He's clearly upset by it so we'll get it sorted sooner rather than later. I'll make sure to report back what they find in case it helps anyone else.

Also someone on here mentioned a probiotic for cats (Eagle Pack Holistic Transition) to aid with runny BM. I have been using it for a good month now. I think switching the food was the main problem solver but this may have helped as well.

Just a quick update. The results have finally come back after a long wait and it has been confirmed, Bo is TF positive. Probiotics certainly helped him be a little more comfortable but we will be starting his TF drug treatment as soon as the vet has it ready.
I'll make sure I let his breeder know as well in case anyone else is having similar problems. Thanks everyone for all your help and advice

Really pleased you've got to the bottom of what's wrong and can now take the appropriate steps to getting Bo back to health soon.

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

So far so good. Day 8 of ronidazole and Fortiflora Feline treatment and he's almost completely solid with no side effects (touch wood!). My hand looks like its been through a mincer from administering the capsules but we are getting them in and that's all that matters at the moment.

One of my cats is on a pill for her soft BM. I am putting the little pill in a pill pocket and she gobbles it down no questions asked. This morning I noticed she ate the pocket and played hockey with the pill. Her prescription is just about up and thankfully her BM are normal.