Cat Issues Abound on a Sunday-Myrna and Elizabeth

Myrna ok today. Not eating well. She sits at the bowl and eats for five minutes but nothing is really gone, just pushed around. She will eat dry food and dry treats. Has diarrhea due to antibiotic. I'm giving her yogurt, Forta Flora to help combat it; cutting out oily supplements; cannot really decrease water due to possible dehydration due to diarrhea; and will need to give water and liquid protein (tuna juice, KMR, corn syrup-just a touch of this) by mouth to support her general nourishment, electrolytes and kidneys and hydration levels.

Elizabeth presented us with a present first thing this morning-going out of the box followed by constant urination of dime size and smaller amounts every few minutes. Luckily, this time, all in a box. I secluded her in the bedroom; gave endless mls of water by mouth, two doses of buprenex of .2ml and then .15ml; and Clavamox 62.5mg pills (which are left over from this summer)-two of those between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. She presented with blood in urine around noon. My husband took her to the ER because you can't wait 24 plus hours before the vet sees a cat that is urinating with blood. An infection can grow and infect the kidneys, not to mention who wants a cat urinating every few minutes around the house? Vet found bacteria and blood; will give us more Clavamox and Buprenex.

Myrna Loy

Elizabeth Taylor

Diarrhea and Cats-Next Is Elizabeth Taylor

Tonight Elizabeth came down with diarrhea. This time, I was prepared: gave an antibiotic that Jimmy and Katharine are taking; gave some fluids by mouth; gave .10 Buprenex (helps with fever and pain.) We have enough antibiotics for three cats Monday and I'll get more hopefully Tuesday. I would premed the rest but you shouldn't give an antibiotic unless there's cause. Trying to figure out where this came from and when. Baby was the first to go to the vet, to take Dasaquin for possible joint pain, and then develop diarrhea for which she received Metronidazole. A week later, Jimmy began diarrhea once a day, and then after a couple days, twice a day, and then last Tuesday, four times. Then Katharine began Thursday. And now Lizzie. Meanwhile, Cooper was in the ER May 11. Either Baby brought home a virus from the vet or Cooper brought it home. Either way, this isn't attacking the kitten siblings in the order of which they normally share an illness and get sick so that's a puzzle. Why has it jumped around? Thankfully, it's just a mild temp and diarrhea and not other symptoms. We'll see if giving Lizzie an antibiotic at first sign will prevent the others from getting it or if it's too late and someone will get sick in a few days (which remain-Bette and Myrna and maybe Cooper.) It's not what they ate or they'd all be violently ill and they all don't eat the same thing. Baby did go to the vet with Katharine so why didn't Katharine bring it back and get sick when Baby was sick? We had a stool sample checked and there are no parasites. Puzzling.

Myrna's Diarrhea Issue Returns This Week

Myrna's diarrhea has returned as of Sunday. Not sure the cause: gave Revolution to all cats this weekend (except to Myrna) so she could have licked it off a sibling; she licked a plate of grease Saturday night before we could stop her (from cheesy nachos but there was nothing else on the nachos); everything else has remained the same. So, we are cutting out anything that could disrupt her-fiber, a lot of wet food, COQ10-until she normalizes. It's not chronic, just once a day but it has continued to come out like a pudding blob.  Today there was improvement and it came out soft but formed.  Her cardiologist isn't concerned yet because blood was at end of stool (or at beginning but at the end of the blob) which is a sign of colitis and not a sign that there is an ulcer due to bleeding from Plavix or aspirin.   If a lot of blood does ever appear, then we must suspend one or both of those drugs, putting her at risk of developing more clots (and she's already had one form, break loose, and cause a heart attack.)  For now we will do what we can and if it continues, then we might need another antibiotic (which made things worse last time.) But one thing at a time.

Myrna's Stool Firmer After Stopping Antibiotics, Added Inulin Fiber and Forta Flora Back to Diet

In this week's episode of "Update on Myrna's Stool": Yes! I know you've been eagerly waiting for news-bated breath and all. Recap: she developed really loose stool when lasix was increased in June and then developed watery stool once on antibiotics in July for lesions. Probiotics of one sort or another and fiber sources did nothing. Bananas helped but we weren't sure if they were the cause of her lesions or not (allergy perhaps-we will test that theory once the lesions are healed.) Once off antibiotics, stool became less watery while still soft, gradually overtime becoming better formed while still very soft. Then we began to see an uptick in times when the stool was more solid than soft. She was gassy the other day (I know, such a pleasant topic of conversation) so I reintroduced inulin fiber just once a day in her food and that seems to have corrected the problem AND this weekend we began to see almost completely normal (firmer) stool. Yes, it is important that we take care of the gastro issues of our HCM cats as much as we monitor the heart and breathing. Diarrhea can be the result of meds or of an illness or of something they've eaten. The cause must be found and reduced. Rice, rice water, and bananas are good natural sources of fiber and usually with our other cats, have been reliable in clearing up diarrhea. But Myrna's issue had so many causes that I think stopping everything-extra water, inulin fiber, fiber food, probiotics, antibiotics, and rice/bananas, and aspirin (not her heart meds) and time has been the best method of healing. Gradually, we reintroduced Forta Flora (probiotic), fiber dry food, and now the inulin fiber. I continue to add 1ml of club soda to her food in the morning and for lunch and this continues to help reduce stomach acid that had begun to appear in June when we added extra lasix. Actually, it had begun to appear from time to time before June but was worse after the extra lasix. I knew she had stomach acid because she constantly smacked and licked her lips.

Proviable and Cats and Diarrhea, Myrna Gagging and Foaming with Proviable

Myrna has been taking Proviable since Thursday but as of yesterday, not only has it not stopped the diarrhea but she now gags and foams when it is given. If we can mix it with enough wet food to coat it, we can get it down her with less gagging. She had really wet stool Saturday so I've stopped the Clavamox antibiotic as of today. She only had three doses left, anyway. We'll see how the lesions do without the antibiotic. She vomited up dinner last night and never used the litter box until noon today. I've not found any accidents. So, not sure what happened there unless all the water in her system is in her colon. Poor Myrna. The only good thing is that her breathing so far has been just fine these last two weeks.