Update: I finally got results for Cyrus' test. They were negative. He still has diarrhea but it has been solid a few times since we've switched him to Iams dry food. He has also been a lot more energetic in the last two days; we started feeding him Iams with hairball protection five days ago. The vets want to do so many tests that seem unnecessary and are very expensive. Where should I go from here? :l

Just out of curiosity, how many poops did you collect samples from? TF is shed intermittently so you should always collect samples from every poo for 3 days to be sure of minimising false negatives. Taking a sample of one poo is notorious for providing misleading results.

Also, was the PCR panel a full fecal screen?

Any hairball food will firm poo up, it's got special stuff that helps to eliminate hair balls and the side effect is firmer poo...

Personally, I am not a fan of Iams as their testing on animals is horrific.

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Lollo

I collected the samples over the course of a five days, using several samples from each day. I'm going to have a full panel PCR done as soon as I can. The first test was only a TF specific PCR.

Thanks for the info on the hairball food! I did not know that it would firm up poo, just that it would hopefully make him have less hairballs. I don't know about Iams' testing, but it's Cyrus' favorite food out of all of the things we've fed him, from fancy expensive food, to raw food, to special vet food that he refused to eat.

Weight loss could be giardia. Another parasite. Hope they test for that as well..

He's been tested for giardia as well.. also negative. :( He had Flagyl (metronidazole), and StrongID/Pyrantel with his former owners, and Panacur (Fenbendazole) and probiotics with me. I'm going to do another full panel soon I guess to see if something was possibly falsely negative. Maybe a blood test too. I'm almost 100% sure my veterinarian did not send his fecal samples in correctly, anyway. I truly feel like this vet is stretching this out to get as much money out of us as possible. I called the lab it was sent to two weeks after we took it to the vet's office and they still had not received the sample, and I have a feeling it wasn't submerged in whatever solution (I think it's alcohol?) correctly.. We've done so many fecal tests though, and cannot find out what's wrong. They also took a look at his lymph nodes to (hopefully) rule out cancer.

Also another question. Does anyone have experience with Nutri-Cal (or any calorie/vitamin supplement) and sick cats and did it help them gain weight? I hate seeing Cyrus so thin. He's still extremely energetic and happy and cuddly but I doubt he feels 100% all the time. I feel like it's only a matter of time before someone thinks I'm abusing him, yet I'm doing all I can to try and get him better. When he stretches, I can see the shape of his ribcage and spinal column, like a plant vase. You can see where his abdomen is sunken in, in front of his hind legs. He really enjoys going outside on our balcony, but I don't want someone to see him and call the police or something without even knowing about him. I'm thinking of giving him Nutri-Cal in the meantime to help him gain a little weight if that's possible with so many parasites that could be in him.

Just want to say how sorry I am that your kitty is ill! I just went through over three weeks of agony trying to figure out what was wrong with my kitty, Em. Just a question: is your kitty eating regularly? Does he seem to be losing weight in spite of that? Or do you have trouble getting him to eat?

My Em has also had on and off diarrhea since we got him. Not totally liquid - most of the time. And sometimes not at all. We tested him for so many parasites, including TF, and all came back negative, except for a little spike in toxoplasmosis. Our vet told us that Bengals often have delicate systems, and we're in the process of switching Em to a prescription food for IBD, which we don't actually know if he has without an invasive and expensive exploratory surgery, which we don't plan to do unless he downslides again.

I'm only mentioning all this because your case is similar to mine in that the diagnosis is so difficult to find. I'm not a Dr but if he IS eating, and is losing weight anyway, it certainly sounds parasite-like. You might also consider getting a second opinion from another vet, if you aren't satisfied with how things are going with yours.

With so many negative tests, I've begun to think it's IBD as well. He's having hairballs every 1-2 days; sometimes it's just a blob of hair and sometimes it's formed. But, as you said, the diagnosis would have to be done through expensive and invasive surgery. He usually eats regularly, and gets 3-4 1/4 cup servings a day, depending on how much he wants to eat. This week he's barely eating 3 servings, if that. He was small when we got him from his previous owner, because he had already been ill for 2-3 months and she couldn't afford the vet bills and expensive food anymore. He hasn't lost weight since we got him, but I still hate to see any animal suffer and want to do all I can to keep him happy and healthy. Perhaps he'll be my "little cat" forever. He'll have random 1-2 days of solid stools and then go back to liquid. When I looked at a little symptom chart that states whether or not the symptom is usually from the upper or lower intestine, his were pretty equally spread through both intestines. Should I consider IBD medicine if my vet is willing to do that without an invasive surgery? He was on Hill Science low sensitivity food that he absolutely hated, but I think that was for food allergies and not IBD. What are you switching Em to? Maybe I could try that. My boyfriend has been calling vets around our city, and we haven't had any luck with finding one that we think has enough experience with exotic animals or gastrointestinal diseases. We'll keep trying though.. and probably end up going to the vet in our hometown an hour away.

Hi Cormasaurus,

Unfortunately because my Em wasn't ever really diagnosed, I don't want to give you false hope that I know what I'm talking about. BUT - has your kitty had an ultrasound or x-ray? That could at least reveal something else that may not come up in a poop test. Not that it revealed much in Em - but it did reveal a tiny thickening of the intestine, which while inconclusive at least eliminated things like blockages. We also got Em tested for FIP, which thankfully came up negative. Is Cormasaurus peeing normally? No chance of kidney issues?

Your kitty's symptoms seem slightly different than Em's, except for the chronic on and off diarrhea, but I think it would be worth asking a vet about IBD or any other things which are not parasite related.

We are in the process of switching Em gradually to i/d Feline Gastrointestinal Health food. We've been mixing little bits into his normal canned food, and we are up to half and half now. His diarrhea hasn't completely stopped - I notice it happens more when he is stressed - but he's had a couple solid poos lately! We were also told that we could give him 1/4 of a 10 mil tablet of Pepcid AC (famotidine) every 24 hours if needed for gas. I would DEFINITELY ask your vet first before doing that, though.

I don't know that I would worry about finding an exotic animal specialist - you probably just need someone who is super experienced with sensitive kitties. If you're able to fork up the cash, you could try an internal medicine specialist. What city do you live in? Also try Yelp or Angie's List for vet recs. That's how I found my vet.

I'm sorry you're going through this! The good thing is that your kitty isn't actually losing more weight - if he's maintaining, and eating, that's a really good thing!!!!

One more thing - and this might be controversial - I actually had a friend who is a Reiki Master do some Reiki for Em. This might a separate topic, but sometimes a holistic approach can also be helpful. Em really enjoyed the Reiki sessions - much less stressful than a vet visit, and while not a replacement, it was a good supplement!

Wow, I had no idea there was a charity to help Bengals! I'm so glad you were able to find a way to get Cyrus some more tests. Poor little guy. Keep us posted, please! I'll be sending good thoughts to you both.

Hiya, If you had either wormed your kitty or he had been given antis within 14 days prior to collecting the samples and testing unfortunately it could well of created a false negative.

I waited more than a month to collect the poop samples for the PCR test. :)

It has been almost a month since the first PCR test now, and I'm having a PCR kit sent to me. I'll start collecting samples when it comes in the mail. Hopefully either this PCR panel, or a blood test if the PCR is negative again, will finally let us know how to get Cyrus better.

So interesting about the different ways people on this forum get testing for different things. When I had my kitty tested for TF, the vet said they had to do it at the office, because the sample had to be absolutely fresh - they had to actually get a little bit out from his poor bum! He called it a "pouch test" because the poo had to go directly from my cat into a pouch without being contaminated.

But for other tests I just brought in a poo sample from the litterbox.

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Lollo