# i dont know what to do...my cat has had a leaky bum for months now!!



## sammykins

Like i said, i have had enough! i have had my siamese cat since Nov, he was 16 weeks when we got him. When i first got him he had quite solid poops, then from when i had him he was quite runny and really smelly. I kept him on the same food - royal canine dry kitten & the odd felix wet pouch. Anyway i stopped the pouches and kept to the dry food, to see if that made a difference. 

It has got from bad to worse, just before xmas his anal glands were infected, so he had an ooozing bottom! then we had that sorted by vets, with anti biotic injection, cream for his bum, and paste for his mouth to solidify the pooh. Then even since then he has been runny, i put him on sensitive tummy food by royal canin, and that didnt do anything to help, just made his pooh less potent smelling. He is an indoor cat just in case you were wondering, so has litter tray etc.

Anyway since jan/feb his bum has been leaking, not only from his anal glands but very watery pooh, leaving puddles around the house, on the side, bedcovers, carpet, absolutely bloody everywhere! so with 7 kids to care for (with 3 being my own) i have to clean up continously after him, i am now getting to my tether with the cat as i keep having to clean the covers, etc and make sure he doesnt nick any other food off the plates, etc, and i am having to shut him in the bathroom at dinner times etc, as he is such a scavenger, and he is always up on the side! even with spraying him with water and little taps on the bum! 

Anyway went back to the vet, she said his tummy was very squishy, did a poo sample and it came back that he had some type of parasite type worm that you can only get rid of using panacur (i did use drontal wormer) so gave him that, still no change! he could have IBS, but the vet thinks that it should sort itself out with panacur! it clearly hasnt! 

I just feel the vet hasnt got to the problem yet after spending over £200 to try and find out the problem.

what should i do? he is such a georgous cat and i feel like im always telling him off for pooping everywhere which is not his fault. But i have had months of this now. Also he has a habit of treading in his runny poo then running to me treading his dirty paws all over me, normally when im in bed so i get a faceful of shite! he knows i wipe him as its always leaking out, so thats why he comes to me, rargghhhhhh help!!


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## VivMcfall

Hi Dont know if this will help or not but worth a try it worked for my cat. As your cat is indoors he wont get any veg matter in his diet. I found cat food that has veggies in it and gave him that twice a day and kept up the dry food. I gave mine Purina and Felix with veg.
within a week his poo was much firmer. Cats need fibre too they get it in the wild by eating mice and grass etc


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## sammykins

he has had wet food with veg and that hasnt helped in the past, it gives him more a smelly poop, and its still runny, but thanks for your idea x


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## Dally Banjo

Did the vet take his temp & do any blood tests?


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## ChinaBlue

Has the vet tested for TF TFFelines.com - Home or giadia?

A friend of mine had a cat with a similar problem and she tried all the premium foods such as RC Sensitivity to no avail. Someone told her to put the cat on Whiskas and Go Cat and after a few weeks the cat's stomach settled down and she has been fine since - she thinks the premium foods may have just been too rich for her cat.

Have you been in touch with your cat's breeder? Have they any ideas or offered any advice?


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## Leah100

sammykins said:


> Anyway since jan/feb his bum has been leaking, not only from his anal glands but very watery pooh, leaving puddles around the house, on the side, bedcovers, carpet, absolutely bloody everywhere! so with 7 kids to care for (with 3 being my own) i have to clean up continously after him, i am now getting to my tether with the cat as i keep having to clean the covers, etc and make sure he doesnt nick any other food off the plates, etc, and i am having to shut him in the bathroom at dinner times etc, as he is such a scavenger, and he is always up on the side! even with spraying him with water and little taps on the bum!
> 
> Anyway went back to the vet, she said his tummy was very squishy, did a poo sample and it came back that he had some type of parasite type worm that you can only get rid of using panacur (i did use drontal wormer) so gave him that, still no change! he could have IBS, but the vet thinks that it should sort itself out with panacur! it clearly hasnt!


Giardia is a parasite that can take a prolonged course of panacur to eradicate, it is very easily reinfected, so one course would not have been enough.

Did the vet test specifically for TTF? It's another parasite and although symptoms can be similar to Giardia it rarely shows up on traditional stool sample tests as the test either needs to be swabbed and looked at immediately down a microscope when fresh or a specialist test used.

Either one of these can cause absolute havoc with your poor cats innards [ and by extension your home] and need consistent and sometimes extended treatment.

Cats who have suffered like this for a while can actually have damaged linings on their digestive systems making IBS and allergic reactions to food additives far more likely.

Whilst treatment is ongoing, and for a while afterwards I would go back to a 'sensitive' food with as little exposure to common allergens [ cereals etc] as possible to reduce the risk of long term secondary inflammation.

Your vet can keep giving you Pro Kolin paste and perhaps some anti inflams to help symptoms whilst treatment is ongoing, and you can make life easier for yourself by confining your poor boy over night and when he can't be supervised in a small easy to clean room.

It's hard when you are so frustrated, but remember it is completely not his fault, he cannot help himself and is probably immensely distressed by these events.

TFFelines.com - Home

Efficacy of ronidazole for treatment of feline Tri... [J Vet Intern Med. 2006 May-Jun] - PubMed result

::: Tritrichomonas Foetus: Our Cattery's Experience :::

Tritrichomonas foetus infection in cats

Diarrhoea in the cat

you need to keep going back to consult with your vet [or a different one if you are not wholly confident] if you ring the surgery and ask to speak to a vet on the phone then this advice is not normally billed like a consultation visit is if that helps.


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## Leah100

''and i am having to shut him in the bathroom at dinner times etc, as he is such a scavenger, and he is always up on the side! even with spraying him with water and little taps on the bum!''

He will be getting very little benefit from his meals as they are not being digested properly and he is probably feeling starved all the time bless him


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## sammykins

his temp was fine, no blood tests were taken, she literally just squeezed his anal glands, gave him an anti inflammatory or anti biotic (could of been both) gave cream for his bottom where he had made it sore from licking, and also some pro-kolin and put him onto RC Sensitive. Even after all that nothing changed in his bum area.

We then went back a few weeks later, she got me to do a poo sample, i took it back in the following day, she looked under the microscope and phoned to tell me it was this parasite type thing, and to treat it with Panacur. She did say if she couldnt find any parasites / worms it would be IBS.


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## Leah100

I think you need to contact them again and tell them he obviously needs a longer course of treatment if they are sure it's giardia, or more investigations for TTF. Good luck.


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## zabadaca

Hi l have exactly this problem with my Abyssinian kitten, did you manage to resolve the problem.


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## sammykins

Hi i have a half abbysinian too - i love them! lucky you!

with my siamese cat, in the end i had to let him out as it was getting unbearable even with the litter tray and him scavenging for food all the time!

He does still get on the side occasionally, but i now try and throw away food as soon as the children finish their dinner as im sure all their food was making the situation worse!

Anyway he does seem better and i think that is purely because he just grew out of it! he did an accident on the carpet the other day and i noticed it was more solid, so i think it is better. 

The only time recently he had an upset tummy was because he was entering into a neighbours house eating their cat food (and stealing toys) and i could feel his tummy was so full of air and he did smell! But she has now changed her cat flap and he stays in doors alot now - his choice.

So i would suggest getting some wormer and just grin and bear it as they should grow out of it. Its so horrible, good luck x


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## lauren001

Tritrichomonas foetus infection in cats


> In the UK, up to 30% of faecal samples from cats with diarrhoea are currently being found to be infected; with young pedigree cats (particularly Siamese and Bengal) being significantly more likely to be infected. The evidence therefore suggests that T foetus is probably quite widespread in cat populations, and infection is most likely where there is a high density of cats sharing the same environment.


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## Bodiecat

Hi - I am adding this some years on from when you all posted. But I have just come accross this. My boyfriend;s cat had the same issue - and we found a fantastic vet who does JUST cats, she knows her subject -! She has seen this many times. It is simple the cat is allergic to BEEF. Pretty much ALL pet food has beef in it even if it does not say so. The Abbisinyan cats are most at risk of this and this is what my boyfriend had. WHen the cat;s diet changed the cat became a different cat, he was in constant pain. He had to get some special cat buscuits that did not have beef in them and give the cat only fresh or cooked meet like chicken/pork/turkey etc - he cooks it in bulk and freezes it. IT WORKS! The mainstream vets have no idea how to deal with this, so they go down the path of biopsy and invasive proceedures on the poor cat. 

The cat Woody, is now a very happy cat! He used to leak poo everywhere and was tetchy - now he is just a very happy cat.


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## Miri

Bodiecat said:


> Hi - I am adding this some years on from when you all posted. But I have just come accross this. My boyfriend;s cat had the same issue - and we found a fantastic vet who does JUST cats, she knows her subject -! She has seen this many times. It is simple the cat is allergic to BEEF. Pretty much ALL pet food has beef in it even if it does not say so. The Abbisinyan cats are most at risk of this and this is what my boyfriend had. WHen the cat;s diet changed the cat became a different cat, he was in constant pain. He had to get some special cat buscuits that did not have beef in them and give the cat only fresh or cooked meet like chicken/pork/turkey etc - he cooks it in bulk and freezes it. IT WORKS! The mainstream vets have no idea how to deal with this, so they go down the path of biopsy and invasive proceedures on the poor cat.
> 
> The cat Woody, is now a very happy cat! He used to leak poo everywhere and was tetchy - now he is just a very happy cat.


Hi! Our Riki had loose bowel movements for about 2 months after we adopted him and we were getting stressed out trying to find a complete wet food that wouldn't upset his tummy. He's now on Feringa (chicken and rabbit varieties) and James Wellbeloved sachets (Turkey) and it seems to have done the trick. Neither of these wet foods contain beef (Feringa do a beef variety too, but don't put beef in their other varieties). He occasionally has Applaws chicken dry food too, but mainly eats wet. Basically, we're giving him food with no beef, no grain and (possibly not significantly) no pork, and his bowel movements are now nice and firm and he no longer farts for Britain.


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## havoc

I'm interested in the timescales where owners have decided it was a food intolerance or their cat eventually 'grew out of it'. I wonder how many of these cases were actually TF as cats do become symptom free in time.


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## Ianthi

havoc said:


> I wonder how many of these cases were actually TF as cats do become symptom free in time.


Yes, in a young kitten with a persistently leaky bowel (which the organism inhabits ) I'd be far more suspicious of TF than a straightforward case of colitis, where it's not normally the case.


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## Treaclesmum

Bodiecat said:


> Hi - I am adding this some years on from when you all posted. But I have just come accross this. My boyfriend;s cat had the same issue - and we found a fantastic vet who does JUST cats, she knows her subject -! She has seen this many times. It is simple the cat is allergic to BEEF. Pretty much ALL pet food has beef in it even if it does not say so. The Abbisinyan cats are most at risk of this and this is what my boyfriend had. WHen the cat;s diet changed the cat became a different cat, he was in constant pain. He had to get some special cat buscuits that did not have beef in them and give the cat only fresh or cooked meet like chicken/pork/turkey etc - he cooks it in bulk and freezes it. IT WORKS! The mainstream vets have no idea how to deal with this, so they go down the path of biopsy and invasive proceedures on the poor cat.
> 
> The cat Woody, is now a very happy cat! He used to leak poo everywhere and was tetchy - now he is just a very happy cat.


Surely the cat should've been on some of the prepared raw minces you can buy (i.e. Natural Instinct?) as cooked meat would not have the right nutrients in? The food would not be complete and would not have enough taurine!!! The biscuits hopefully would be complete, but ideally the cat should be having more of the wet/raw food and only snacking on the biscuits...


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## Miri

havoc said:


> I'm interested in the timescales where owners have decided it was a food intolerance or their cat eventually 'grew out of it'. I wonder how many of these cases were actually TF as cats do become symptom free in time.


Riki was 2 years old when we adopted him and clearly had a less than ideal diet in the past as he had already had 4 teeth removed and had a 5th dodgy one when we adopted him.

The fact that his guts have responded well to food without grain or beef in it makes me think it was likely that he was intolerant to at least one or the other.


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## spid

From my research TF clears the system once the cats are about 9 months old. (just can't find the source - sorry)


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## havoc

I've seen articles saying it can take 'up to' two years for a cat with TF to become symptom free. I've never assumed this meant they were necessarily clear for some reason. I've also seen something recently stating that kittens brought into a household with incumbent adult cats could sometimes be wrongly blamed for the introduction of TF. I gather the thought is that adult cats can be symptomless carriers and be passing it onto new kittens. It's usually assumed that a new introduction is to blame and this may not always be the case.


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## Ianthi

havoc said:


> I've seen articles saying it can take 'up to' two years for a cat with TF to become symptom free. I've never assumed this meant they were necessarily clear for some reason.


Nor should you ( I wouldn't either unless they tested negative, of course) since symptom free means just that, mainly because the immune system has peaked at this point. Likewise, this would explain why a lot of older animals who've harboured eg Giardia for years suddenly 'succumb' when their immune system is compromised for whatever reason.

Sometimes it can be a real eye-opener when a stool sample reveals an array of (potentially) problematic parasites and bacteria in an otherwise asymptomatic cat! Often then a dilemma for vets when treating those that are is to identify which ones(s) if any, are responsible when a cat presents with them.


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## havoc

> Sometimes it can be a real eye-opener when a stool sample reveals an array of (potentially) problematic parasites and bacteria in an otherwise asymptomatic cat!


Hence my interest in timescales and assumed cause and effect Ianthi


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## Ianthi

Yes, it is all very interesting Havoc and one of my own 'pet' topics!

As an aside, it's such a long time since I brought a new kitten into the household but I'm fairly certain when I first got Sophie, she never had diarrhea at any point. She was a feral kitten by the way! So I would have expected her stress levels to be even more.


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## Superash

Simples! Just get to the bloody vet you shouldnt leave it:001_wub:


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## Ianthi

Superash said:


> Simples! Just get to the bloody vet you shouldnt leave it:001_wub:


Who exactly are you talking to? This thread was initiated nearly three years ago!


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