Cat Stories

This story is about my new cat, Paxon, and his health problems since the adoption. I'm writing this post thinking maybe it will help other cat owners.

We adopted Paxon at the beginning of April 2015. I decided to adopt him as soon as I saw him walking in with his previous owner to the ASPCA. Paxon had to spent two days at the shelter before we could pick him up. At the beginning he was doing okay (mostly hiding in his litter box), but a few days after the adoption his diarrhea started. Other than that he got used to his new house and he was doing fine: playing, eating, drinking and sleeping.

The pudding-like stool was very smelly and he was straining to get it out. I quickly learned to recognize the times he needed to go for number 2 as he would restlessly run around the house. Also, he choose not to do his business in the litter box and went to the bathroom instead. As a result I placed another litter box for him to use in the bathroom.

I knew that a vet saw Paxon before we adopted him, I also knew that he got wormer tablets so I wasn't worried about parasites. After doing a little research I came to a conclusion that the diarrhea situation is because of the change in food, so I bought him the same food they gave him in the shelter. That didn't help. I removed all of his food for 16 hours and afterwards gave him boiled chicken breasts and white rice for a few days. It helped a little but then the diarrhea came back and I saw blood in his stool and some live tapeworms. I rushed him to the ASPCA hospital. They were extremely efficient and kind and also, since I only adopted him less then a month ago, they took care of all the fees. After a technician took his vitals we went to see the vet who gave him wormer tablets.

The stool sample I brought to the pharmacy a few days later came out negative for parasites so I removed one of the litter boxes. Things got better for a few days, but soon enough we were back to square one. I took him to the hospital (again they covered all the fees) and we got a prescription for Metronidazole (cat antibiotic) and for Hills i/d dry food diet. I needed to give Paxon his pills twice a day, so I bought him pill pockets (special treats for hiding the pills and outsmarting your cat). The pill pockets worked great the first time and on the second time he ate the pocket but didn't swallow the pill. Later on he refused to eat the pockets even if there were no pills in them. Therefore, I started giving him the pills the old fashioned way (by sticking them down his throat) but I still covered them with the pill pockets, so he wouldn't taste the pills and start drooling. Things got significantly better, but after taking the pills for 2.5 days he completely lost his appetite.

I talked to the vet over the phone and she said I should try to find something that Paxon will agree to eat, like cooked chicken breast or tuna. She also said that if he still refuses to eat I should bring him back to the hospital. I mixed some of Paxon's regular food with his new food and he ate some of it. Hopefully, he will agree to eat that for the remaining 5.5 days without getting his diarrhea back. I'll keep you posted.

Update: Paxon gain back his appetite on the third day of taking the Metronidazole. Therefor, since then, he was getting only the Hills i/d dry food and the pill pockets. After finishing the Metronidazole he still had some diarrhea and also blood in his stool so I took him back to the hospital. He is now treated with Panacur C Canine dewormer powder. I need to apply it on his food, so I mixed it with standard wet food which made things even worse. As for the moment I set up for him another litter box because he avoids peeing in his usual one. Since the dewormer doesn't seems to help, I'm going to try switching his food again to a special hypoallergenic food.

Update II: The hypoallergenic food didn't work. I took Paxon for a biopsy and we run some blood tests. After getting the results back, it looks like Paxon has inflammatory bowel disease. He is now treated with Prednisolone (which is a steroid), 10 mg per day. I use the pill pockets to give him his medicine and he loves it. It has been over a month on steroids and he feels much better, all of his symptoms are gone. I still however need to monitor his condition as his latest blood tests didn't come back as good as we hoped.