Hi everyone, long time since I was here but I'm hoping that I can get some reassurance/advice

Bella is 6, she started having problems straining, producing nothing and then growling massively afterwards, just short of a month ago.
Off to the vets: Not cystitis, not we find later, Giardia
She's on her second batch of a 10 day regime of liquid metronidazole 1.3ml twice a day also prednisolone once a day (now reduced to every other day)

Still got diarrhea/ loose stools but eating and otherwise her normal self apart from the 3rd eyelid maneuver which she still has but not as bad as two weeks ago.
Her bum was on fire a week ago with constant licking and poo-ing, but its calmed a little and vaseline helped I think.

Her poo is very smelly, there is a lot of mucus in it too - she goes often but does little

Vet is now suggesting we test her for TF ... so questions

1. If she's on Metronidazole will a fecal test show TF ?
2. Since she poo's such small amounts (and TF doesn't 'save' well) should I take her and let the vets do a saline flush
3. I have two other bengals, none show symptoms but would it be wise to get them checked/treated also?

Any wisdom to help actually get Bella on the mend will be most gratefully received

Gilly

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Gilly, Bella Naughty Knickers, Tofi Too and Kajika (Boy)

spelng ... who ndees it ?

She needs to be off metronidazole for at least 1 week prior to testing... i would leave 2 weeks to make sure.

The only acurate test for TF is a PCR or QPCR test. This detects DNA in poo. It is best to sample as many poo specimens over a few days as possible as TF is shed intermittently so sampling just one episode has a high rate of false negatives. If you sample the poo when wet and pop in the fridge, you just keep adding to the pot with more samples of poo... pooling the samples. As the test detects DNA it is there even if the TF has died. The fresher the better but a few days old, if refrigerated, will not matter too much.

If she does have TF, then your other cats will have been exposed to it. Chances are they will have it. You have a few choices if it's TF:
treat all cats at the same time

treat Bella, isolating her from the others until you get a negative from her and from them. No point in not isolating her if you only treat her as the others can reinfect her, or she can pass TF to them before it's killed in her and then gets passed back to her....

Test all cats and take it from there really.....

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Lollo

Thanks for the response lollo

I am glad you cleared up the fresh v saved (older) poo sample - I didn't realise how they tested

Do you have any clues as to how much meds and testing might be, my other two cats are insured but Bella isn't :(
Also any idea's as to whether I should try litter box sampling or go for the saline to be sure ?

thanks

Gilly

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Gilly, Bella Naughty Knickers, Tofi Too and Kajika (Boy)

spelng ... who ndees it ?

cannot remember where in the world you are... i'm guessing USA as saline flushes for poo sampling are not common in the UK...

i'm in the UK so things may be different, it cost around £55 for the test and £100 for the Ronidazole per cat.... mine were all covered by insurance though and my vet actually put it on two cats records so i only had two excesses not four!

My issue with the saline sampling is that if TF is shed intermittently it could still be missed by the saline flush... so for me, i would prefer to sample the poo myself. You just have to try not to get too much, none if possible, litter in it.... mine was never litter free though and all 4 cats were positive for TF.

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Lollo

I havebeen through laods of testing with my boy Jasper, if it were me I would go with the full panel pcr and get the samples yourself with as little litter as possible. I am here in the states snd the full panel pcr cost 150 and the tf only was 80 or 85.

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Just worth noting - the poop sample for TF cannot have any cat litter in it. I got samples by shoving a piece of plain paper under their butt when they went in the litter tray and catching it on there and then transferring it into the pot.

Good luck and let us know how you get on

Lisa
x

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Lollo

Thanks to all who replied

I spoke with the Vet today and Bella is now off the metronidazole and prednisolone - We have to wait 2 weeks then do the test.

I was told absolutely no litter in the sample, so I'm going to have to hang about behind her with something to 'catch' it on/in ... can you imagine the smell that close up

I am in the UK, so thanks for the info about costs

I will wait to have Bella's results confirmed and if it is TF then I will go ahead and get them all tested/treated

Gilly

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Gilly, Bella Naughty Knickers, Tofi Too and Kajika (Boy)

spelng ... who ndees it ?

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Lollo