Hey guys. I got my kitty a month ago and he has been treated for worms twice and had three negative fecal tests for worms. He has had chronic diarrhea until I switched him to a raw diet about a week ago. I play with his poo a bit after he goes to check it, and for a few days it was solid with no problems. Over the last three days I've noticed blood and today an entire side of his very very long poop was coated in blood, looking like it was sort of "scraped" on as it came out.

During the whole ordeal I've been researching TF and know all the symptoms but still hoping. It was suggested here that he most likely has it, confirming my fears, both financially and for him, because I know the treatment can be dangerous and I am not home for 8-10 hours a day because I'm in college.

I'm wondering, how much does the PCR/QPCR test cost, and how much does the ronidazole cost? I'm in the US. The assistant at my vet said it would be $125 to test for but couldn't tell me if they did a pouch test or PCR test.

My boyfriend has been so negative toward Cyrus and me the whole time, making sure I feel bad for knowingly getting a sick cat (for free, so I didn't mind him being sick because it is treatable). So I want to do this all myself. I'm going to wait until May to treat it so I can save up the money and also so I can be home during the timed I give him the meds in case he has a bad reaction.

Can't help you with costs as I'm UK based. Worth shopping around vets though. Make sure it is PCR or QPCR or you could potentially waste your money. Make sure that you sample every poo for 3 days when you do, pool samples in one pot refrigerating between samples. I would feed him normal food when you do it so as to get nice soft samples, TF is shed intermittently in firm poo so difficult to detect.

Ronidazole is not really that dangerous when dosage is done correctly. Dosage us now recommended to be 20-30mg per kg in one daily dose. For two weeks. Give at the same time each day, preferably morning. Play with your cat the same time each day, preferably afternoon or evening. Play with an interactive toy that will require chasing and jumping. This allows you to assess coordination and neurological ability. Any deterioration, consult a vet and stop Ronidazole. Side effects at this new dose are very rare and usually very reversible on stopping the drug. When I treated my 4 cats the dose was 30-50 twice a day... We had no issues with our cats at all....

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Lollo

My two both had it, I think Kalinda gave it to Nunu when she came. The best way to get the test right is to catch it when it is soft and rush it to a vet. I could not send it direct to the lab in UK so I had an agreement with the vet that I will catch the poo, rush it in and they would send it on that day by speedy post.
Only one of then was positive on the test but I knew they both had it, just could not get them to poo soft at the same time. The cycle would be few days things would seem like they are getting better, then bam, soft and runny, then better... tried food, fretted, etc... but after they had the right medicine, they were fine and are both now on nice solid poops. To be honest I remember that time and shudder. The smell, going to the loo every few hours, constant cleaning, couple of poop accidents by Nuni, who would feel so ashamed she attempted to eat it... awful.

I would say try to test so you know asap.

With both of my cats being treated for tf the cost was around 600 for testing and treatment. The pcr here for tf alone was 150 and a full panel was 200 ( I think I can't remember) I do know for sure thr treatment was right at 200 per cat. I had to have several test done at different vets before we finally got a diagnosis so be diligent about getting samples and try not to get litter in the sample. The one time he tested positive was with no litter.

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Hello

My cat is going to be tested for TF along with two other parasites. One I can't remember and the other begins with C!

I am taking stool samples at the moment and they are all "normal"! Does this mean the parasite is "lying low" and will this affect the chances of it being picked up?

Thanks :-)

This may answer some of your questions - http://www.cvm.ncsu.edu/docs/documents/ ... _final.pdf

Thank you for the informative post. "Luckily" he had some softer bloody stools towards the end of the stool sampling period so I am hopeful the tester will pick up on whatever nasty is causing his problems! Thank you again

Is a cat that isn't eating/losing weight a symptom of TF? My 12 year old bengal has been losing weight and eating very weird. He completely stopped eating his hard food and is now turning his nose up to any kind of wet food I offer. He is also not interested in his kitty treats at all.

I've had him at the vet twice since June 24 and all blood tests, thyroid tests, the x-ray, etc looked good. He lost a half pound (down to 11.5 from 12lbs) from June 24 to July 10. Before June 24 vet visit he weight around 13.5lbs so this weight loss has been going on for a little while.

He has had some diarrhea randomly that is slightly formed but mostly runny... and is a light caramel brown color. He is also having formed brown pellet types of poops.

He is still drinking water.

Does any of this sound like TF? My vet is at a loss and wants me to go to an animal hospital 3 hours away for more specialized testing.

Hi everyone,

I am new to the site but have been reading all of the posts since we got Caesar, our new Bengal boy, about 3 months ago. His breeder had him on a raw diet (one teaspoon a day) that had metamucil and other vitamins ground up in it as well. She also had dry food available 24/7.

When we first brought him home his poo was VERY smelly. I've had cats before (non-Bengal) who had poo that smelly every once in a blue moon, but Caesar's poo was smelly ALL the time. We had one ziplock of the breeder's dry food which we gradually mixed with his new food. I originally had him on Nature's Variety Instincts Raw Boost Kibble in Rabbit (a dry food) as he did not seem to care much when I tried to feed him raw chicken (which is completely fine with me because I worry about salmonella and other bacteria in raw meat). His poo was soft and whenever he used the bathroom, we all knew right away and could smell it around the apartment.

I switched to the Nature's Variety Kibble in Chicken to see if it would make a difference but it is still smelly and soft. He also would poo pretty frequently. He is not lethargic in any way and is VERY hyper and VERY playful.

We decided to take him to a different vet to get a PCR test done on his poo. I was worried that he had TF based on all of the posts here. Vet says he is very healthy but she could feel that he was very gassy. When we handed her the stool sample in a ziplock (inside of an extra plastic bag) she said that she could smell it already & that wasn't normal. She started Caesar on metronidazole and Forti-Flora (probiotic that looks like top ramen seasoning! Caesar loves this stuff) in the mean time.

We recently received the results which showed Caesar tested positive for coronavirus but not for TF. Our vet mentioned that coronavirus can lead to FIP in very few cases but that Caesar will not get FIP since he appears very healthy and has made it to almost 5 months now. She now has him on Clavamox, which she says will clear up whatever the Metronidazole could not.

I am wondering if anyone has had any experience with coronavirus and if I should still be worried about TF??

Also, should I tell the breeder that Caesar has coronavirus? I am sure she knew her cattery was infected and chose not to tell us. When I texted her telling her about the poo and that we were waiting on the PCR results, she never responded back.

I got a 16 week old female bengal kitten, and she has had very soft and smelly poop from the moment I got her. Initially I put that down to stress of the new environment (she also got stress induced cystitis), however she is now 12 months old and the poop is just as bad, if not worse.

I have been to the vets about 6 times regarding this, they have given her antibiotics and probiotic powder about 6 weeks ago, and immediately her poop was solid and had no smell at all, the very next day and for the whole course of the 2 week treatment. Within 3 or 4 days following the last course of antibiotics, it returned back to the same runny consistency and very foul smell. In fact it got worse, as previously she would only defecate only once a day, whilst now she would go about 3 times within a period of about 10 minutes (but just once a day), each time the stools getting more and more runny, with blood and mucus.

I went back to the vets with a faecal sample and they sent it off for testing, but it came back clear for worms and bacteria. She has now been on a medicated dry food diet (Hills prescription diet for gastrointestinal health) for 2 weeks and things haven't got any better, she still defecates 2 to 3 times within a period of 10 minutes (but just once a day) and it is very foul smelly, with the 2nd and 3rd one containing much more mucus and blood than the first.

Should I go back to the vet and request she is tested again, for TF? Or could it be something else, like a food intolerance perhaps... I have read that a lot of Bengals are Gluten intolerant and she eats mainly Royal Canin kitten or James Wellbeloved kitten turkey dry biscuits morning and evening, then encore chicken/rice or tuna wet food during the day. They all contain grains it seems, apart from the chicken and tuna wet food (not a complete diet tho, i believe).

Have your vet test for everything!!! Antibiotics should get rid of bad bacteria or parasites. For the condition to continue means it's something else, especially when medication seemed to help it temporarily. It could be diet related. You may want to read up on raw feeding for bengals. There is something in your kitty's digestive system that isn't balanced, which is causing the stinky and soft poo and going multiple times. Mine has had diarrhea once in the two years I had him and they found bad bacteria in his stool sample. Antibiotics took care of it, but it took a solid week. Many vets test for the simplest of problems -- you may have to request that they dig a little deeper in the issue.

Ask your vet for a full fecal screen by PCR testing.... This will pick up anything! You want to to include TF but also things like Cryptosporidium and salmonella... Not all antibiotics will treat all parasites and infections. Some need very specific treatments.

To test properly it needs to be a pooled sample of stool over a few days. Refrigerated in between... Sample a bit from each poo episode for 2-3 days. Some parasites are shed intermittently!

Most normal fecal tests do not include TF so you really need to rule it out before you go down any dietary change.

Also, antibiotics including wormer scan stun most parasites for a short while so you have to leave two weeks after last dose of them before taking new samples.

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Lollo