Schrödinger finally diagnosed...

It would seem that we finally have had some positive news re Schrodingers runny bum problem from the vet. After having to deal with this every day since he arrived and putting in yet another fecal sample (which was a composite of a number of samples taken over three days) and waiting over two weeks for the results the results came back positive for Tritrichomonas.

The vet, whom had never come across it herself gave me a link of a page on the internet and is going to be consulting a cat specialist to see what can be done for our schrodo and if she can get any medication to treat it.

She did mention that the problem can sometimes solve itself overtime (up to two years it would seem) but that the treatment using ronidazole has seen significant results. I'll await further information and the consult from the specialist before anything is agreed.

Finally we have a name for it and at last we can stop worrying that were giving him the wrong food.

Has anyone here on the forum ever heard of it ? experienced it ? dealt with it ? if so then please do tell.

Additionally, with this coming up he may yet have a temporary reprieve of his castration which was set for next Wednesday, oh and at weigh in today he's currently coming in at 6.5kg's - im not sure his cat tree can take much more abuse as I've had to already knock some nails in it :)

I have heard of TF and it does seem to be getting more and more common. The treatment that your vet has suggested does seem to be the best option from what I've heard although I know there is another treatment that has been used but I can't remember what it's called.

TF can clear itself but the in-between is not nice and I would imagine that your boy is feeling pretty uncomfortable, although his weight is surprisingly good.

Google it as much as you can because there is a lot of information out there

Louise

Thanks louise and dont worry we will be scouring the internet over the weekend on this. If you do remember what the other treatment you mentioned is could you please post/pm me it.

With schrodo apart from the upheaval of us following him every time he goes to the loo (about three or four times a day it must be said - sometimes more) and checking him/cleaning him when necessary he's a fine, energetic, utterly mad, attention seeking, noise machine.

I've posted some quasi recent pics of him here which i'll endeavour to upload to the forum this weekend when time permits.

Never heard of this before, but I can sympathize. When we got Zephyr he apparently brought something with him that made all three of our existing cats go through 2-3 bouts of diarrhea over about a month or so. Would be bad for a couple of days in each, then clear up, then reoccur a week or so later. Not fun! Repeated fecal tests found nothing, though some low level of coccidia was eventually isolated from Zephyr (and is known to have similar effects; as cats eventually develop immunity). Zephyr never had symptoms, nor had breeder had any issues at all.

Photos are very cute; he looks excellent despite his toilet issues!

Have you read the report by Originally Posted by Kittialex
Could someone summarise the issues here? I got my kitten from Mrs Zech. The kitten was very very poorly with terribly bad diarrhoea. He tested positive for coronavirus, which the vet said is relatively common with cats. However the usual drugs did not work. My wonderful vet finally discovered that he had something called tritrichomonous virus, newly identified in cats. He was placed on an experimental drug that has appeared to sort the problem for the moment. One of the other posts on another thread mentioned another illness - CMH or something.


Did you get the kitten from the same breeder??

I have never heard of this but very interesting,will ask at work if they have come across it if not will have do some googling myself & take info in,so pleased for Schrodinger that he has been diagnosed.I know in the past we have had animals in with that problem & never found out the answer & then suddenly they seem to be ok so if they can outgrow it that would be the reason why but a lot better for all if it is diagnosed & treated early on.As I said in another thread the only thing we have found that caused chronic diarrhoea & couldn't pin point the cause was the simple use of plastic dishes,got rid of those & problem resolved itself.
Isn't it great where information like this can be passed on & help others.....

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Originally Posted by ayeizajedi

Thanks louise and dont worry we will be scouring the internet over the weekend on this. If you do remember what the other treatment you mentioned is could you please post/pm me it.

With schrodo apart from the upheaval of us following him every time he goes to the loo (about three or four times a day it must be said - sometimes more) and checking him/cleaning him when necessary he's a fine, energetic, utterly mad, attention seeking, noise machine.

I've posted some quasi recent pics of him here which i'll endeavour to upload to the forum this weekend when time permits.

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Love the pictures especially the one with the quizical tilt of the mouth,think it was no5,but mum that one of the family jewels full on show was a bit much.....

This is exactly what my cat had. Treated with same drug. He had something called tritricomonus virus and corona virus. Now happily putting on weight.

Sorry, this is a ps. My cat was going to the loo 8 to 10 times an hour. He was so poorly. The vet tried everything, and then happened to come across an article in the vets journal about tritricamonus being found in cats and causing bad tummies. The drug is not metronidazol, but an unlicensed drug called ronydasol or something like that. Happy to give my vets name to pass on to other vets if your cat has same problems.

Hi Kittialex, thanks for posting! :koolkat:

Did you experience any side effects with the drug ? i read that it can cause seizures and also how long did you have to administer the drug for until it was cleared up?

Thankfully schrodo hasn't experienced anything as chronic as 8-10 toilet visits (except when he had his worming tablet!) and weight doesn't seem to be an issue either but all his "deposits" are runny and he does go a number of times a day bless him.

If you could PM me the details about your vets, etc, that would be super-triffic-fantastic and i can pass that information onto my vet.

:satisfied:

I will give you his details by pm. He got in contact with the Queen Elisabeth Royal Vet College in Potters Bar who told him where to get the drug from.

Cleared up in a week, with no side effects at all. K

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Originally Posted by ayeizajedi

Thanks louise and dont worry we will be scouring the internet over the weekend on this. If you do remember what the other treatment you mentioned is could you please post/pm me it.

With schrodo apart from the upheaval of us following him every time he goes to the loo (about three or four times a day it must be said - sometimes more) and checking him/cleaning him when necessary he's a fine, energetic, utterly mad, attention seeking, noise machine.

I've posted some quasi recent pics of him here which i'll endeavour to upload to the forum this weekend when time permits.

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Great photos, especially the one with him crashed out, proudly flashing his nadgers whilst he's still got them. So pleased you've found out what's causing his runny bum - at least you know what you're dealing with, and that there's a treatment for it, hopefully you're on the home stretch :smile:

The vet requested we take Schrödinger in for a check up to make sure he's ok prior to getting the medication ordered and also to get an accurate weight.

So he now weighs in at 6.7kg's and boy can you feel that on the 5 minute walk up there, it was like my arms where getting pulled out of their sockets - it didn't help that he wouldn't sit still either! nosey boy! :smile:

I asked if he was getting fat as he's put on so much weight recently and she said he was fine. The tablets which she's ordering may arrive by Saturday so his castration looks like its off until we run the complete course.

Fingers and toes crossed this medication works :stressed:

my oldest maine coon was diagnosed with tritrichamonas Foetus 6 years ago
I am seriously amazed that many many cat breeders have not come across this(or claim not to know about it) and am constantly bemused at how many vets seem to know little about this. I don't mean that to sound offensive to anyone but I really do wonder!
My cat had no signs of anything until she was neutered at 6 months old. She then developed a severe runny tummy. She was padding the window to get outside and her rear end was simply running away from her..it was awful.
We went to my vet in Edinburgh and thankfully he, being a ragdoll breeder himself, knew all about Tritrich and tested immediately for it. The test took 5 minutes. A simple swab looked under a microscope which he showed me himself. It was very obvious to me there was something there
My girl was given the 'unlicenced' drug ronidazole, I had to sign my consent for it's use. Thankfully my vet already had his own supply in and I made up the capsules myself with the powder given to me. She was given a two week course and I was warned about seizures but I was prepared to take the chance as I couldn't let her live as she was.
I took my baby home..washed everything and my baby girl as her bottom was so red. She was vaselined up to prevent any more redness and the treatment began. The improvement was immediate and we have had no further episodes in 6 years.

The lady for vets to contact , I believe ,is Danelle Gunn Moore who is head of Feline studies at Edinburgh University(who happens to have a maine coon:))))
Danièlle Gunn-Moore | Graduate careers | The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies

this link is from the feline advisory website. It gives information on Tritrichamonas Foetus and gives contact details for vets to get in touch with Danielle Gunn Moore
Tritrichomonas foetus infection in cats

I don't believe this is anything to do with showing. It is something that is maybe passed from mother to kitten or multi cat households. I have not heard of any transmission at shows.
All show judges should be using hand gel in between every cat and pens are cleaned. I always use trigene wipes on my show pens to before I put any cat of mine in to them.

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Originally Posted by candes

Great information! This does sort of scare me away from showing though. How well do they clean those cages? Does anyone know?

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I should also add that my cat had never been shown and has never been shown since..she was never bred from and was bought as a pet. The cat that came from the same household had no sign of tritrichamonas and has never shown any sign of it.
I do think more breeders need to be aware of this condition though and test for it is there is any sign at all. My vet at that time declared himself a tritrichamonas free breeder and I think he was the only breeder in the country to do so.

We got the medication this evening and after a struggle to administer the first tablet (they're normal capsules similar to what you'd get paracetamol in) schrodinger has had his dose.

Were're keeping an eye on him incase any adverse side affects appear.

Keep you posted.

** Update **

He got a bit sleepy for an hour or two which in itself is not worrying, what was worrying was the level of sleep he was in.. out for the count big style *managed to lift his back leg right up without any attempt at severing my arm* after a bit of play he went to the loo, dropped a huge deposit (most solid looking ive seen in ages - 9 out of 10 for swirl technique) and then proceeded to go mad running around the house and shortly discovered that he can now jump up on to the window ledge without any additional apparatus.... at speed.

Good going so far, only worry at moment is the level of drowsiness he seemed to display and the overly deep sleep - both of which I may be over judging as I know that he's on med's.

Well the tablets seem to working a treat. Third day, 2 tablets down and really the difference is quite dramatic.

Not a "runnybum" in sight since starting this treatment. He isn't wolfing his food down like its going out of fashion, in fact we woke up this morning to see his bowl half full (ever the optimist) which I don't believe has ever happened before, also his tray just has balls of pee in it where we would normally find cow-pats.

The two stools that he has passed since starting the medication have been the firmest we've ever seen and to be honest were going to have to relearn his "patterns" at this rate as from the day we first got him he's been to the loo about 5 to 8 times for 1's and 2's.

We are just wow'd and gobsmacked at the effect this medication has had on him in such a short period of time - literally a few hours after the first tablet the effects were evident, amazing.

I hope I'm not jinxing ourselves by posting this but I thought it would be good to share his progress.

I hope he continues to improve :smile: x

A further update:

We finished the tablets on tuesday and by thursday we were seeing signs of the runnies coming back which is a tad bit saddening. We have an appointment set for monday at vets were no doubt we'll need another set of fecal testing done and maybe another batch of the medication.

Over the last few weeks while schrodinger has been on these meds our entire experience with him has been so different. He's been so calm and "nicely" playful, experimenting with heights and overall its evident that he's been very happy. His food intake dropped back to what I expect to be normal levels (around 80-90g's of dry food with left overs still in his bowl the next day instead of around 150g, empty bowl in the morning and crying for more) and his toilet trips resulting in him being clean after his business is complete.

For us as you can expect its been such a relief, not having to rush to his loo when ever we hear the scratching of his litter box, going through packets of baby wipes and having to wash him every other day - its been a very nice break and pleasant having the feeling of "normality" hovering about :)

But alas not everything is straight forward is it. I guess one consolation we can take from this is the knowledge that this medication solved the problem for nigh on a month and i guess that we're on the right track (fingers crossed on that one!).

Additionally while Im at the Vets on monday im going to get his appointment sorted for the lobbage of his walnuts as he's been suffering from a little stud tail and seems to think he's audley harrison a few times a day.

Updates will follow.

Thanks for the update on Schrodinger,isn't it great that the change in him was so dramatic,just proves that they are aware of things not being as they should even though he really had only ever known going to the toilet that many times a day as part of his life.
Lets hope things haven't reverted completely back to square one by the time you get to the vets & a prolonged course of the tablets will really knock it on the head,fingers crossed for you all & a special cuddle for him....x

I'm shocked that he wasn't tested for TF at the start I'm going to post some threads on some common (Here at least) causes of diarhhea

Hi all,

Just thought I would share the link to my blog post which covers the last 6 - 7 months with Schrödinger and his problem.

Link is: Tritrichomonas Foetus causing frequent prolonged diarrhoea in cats/

Great title or what eh :LOL:

Anyhoo, very new to blogging so please excuse any blatant mistakes.

Regards