Hi All!
I am new to this forum, but often find myself coming back to this website searching for advice. We have a 3.5 year old bengal girl, who we love very much! over 3 months ago, she started having loose stools. Prior to the loose stools, I noticed that she would twitch and lick herself vigorously then run around the house crazily. Didn't think anything of it...I also mentioned this to my vet and she didn't think it was a concern. She has not done it in months, since the loose stools started. We took her to the vet and they did a smear test and found a lot of bacteria, they did send it out and did not find any parasites. They did not check for T. Foetus. The vet said that it may be a food allergy so they told us to try royal canin fiber response. They also put her on metronidazole and weekly b12 injections. The metronidazole and b12 seemed to work for a week, but after that her stools were back to being more on the loose side. The royal canin fiber response made her stools more soft served and larger quantities and it seemed she used the litter more. She went from 9 lbs from December to 6.5 lbs, so to me it appeared that she wasn't digesting her food. She would eat, then immediately use the litter box. She started sleeping by her food bowl! It seemed like she was starving. We finally told the vet that we needed to do blood work. While we waited for the results, I decided to try boiled chicken and broth. Her stool started to firm up right away, so I continued to give it to her for 5 days. Then I slowly incorporated freeze dried Stella & Chewy Chicken so she can get the proper nutrition, her energy started coming back and she is more like herself now. It has been about 2 weeks since I started the boiled chicken and the freeze dried raw. She eats freeze dried raw 3 times a day and in between the meals, I leave boiled chicken out. My vet says to continue with what I am doing since her stools are back to normal now. However, as you all know the freeze dried raw is cost effective. She goes through a 12 oz bag every 3-4 days!! any other alternative I can try? We tried to give her Fussie Cat canned, but she immediately used the litter and her stool became soft again. As soon as I put her on all freeze dried raw, her stools are firm and in logs. She has not lost anymore weight- I am hoping she has gained some. She is playful and meowing as usual. My vet did call and advise that her liver enzymes (AST@ 570)were elevated and her cholesterol was low (@49), these tests were run before she started the boiled chicken and raw diet. Vet said that she would recommend an ultrasound, however, I spoke with the breeder (who is also a vet) and she advised to wait on the ultrasound as her having the loose stools for 3 months could have affected the blood work and since she seems to be doing much better now.
Vet has also suggested I speak with a vet nutrition specialist so maybe they can help come up with a diet plan. So many different paths I can take, just don't know where to start. Any suggestions/Advice? Thank you in advance!! :)
|