Clostridium Perfringens Enterotoxin?

[MiLu]

I may finally have an answer to my 8-month-old's chronic diarrhea.

Lulu has never had normal poop in the 5 months she's been with us. Several vet visits with fecal smears, an ELIZA(?) test, blood tests all showed nothing. We changed her food, thinking she might be allergic to chicken, finally settling on duck based canned and dry...no change. Added fiber, pro/pre biotics all did nothing.

Last friday I took her to the vet again and he put her on Hills Z/D while ordering a fecal PCR panel. The canned Z/D, by the way, looks like plastic...it's weird. But Lulu didn't mind, she seemed to like it. However, when I called the vet yesterday to get the results from the PCR, I was told that it was positive for both Clostridium Perfingens Enterotoxin and feline coronavirus

Does anyone have experience with CPE? Lulu is now on a 10-day regimen of Baytril tabs and Flagyl tabs. I also found out online that it is pretty uncommon and that adding psyllium to the food is recommended. I asked the vet and he said about a tsp/day. Does that sound right?

[YayHappens]

Hi MiLu,

I am glad they finally found out what is going on so that it can be treated. This is a lot to deal with and bless your heart on the journey to get her well after having to deal with it for so long!

I don't have personal experience with CPE but 1tsp/day of psyllium powder should be about right to bulk up the stools under more common circumstances. A possible side effect of at least one of the antibiotics she is on, is diarrhea. A possible side effect of too much psyllium powder is also diarrhea. It may be difficult to guage whether or not there is any progress in the short term but don't lose hope. Hopefully there is already some progress?

Mainly, while the cat is on the antibiotics the 1tsp/day may be just right (fingers crossed) but may also need to be adjusted again once she is off of them.

Now that you have the correct diagnoses from the vet, I would ask the vet again what his/her thoughts are about continuing on the probiotic after the cycle of Baytril and Flagyl is finished, and ask for a suggestion for what a good immune booster is to keep her immunity up while she recovers from the use of the antibiotics. Since she is having intestinal issues, this is really super important because the antibiotics wreck the intestinal flora, her immunity and leaves her vulnerable to other complications.

Please find out exactly how soon you can get the cat off of the Hills Z/D and/or what you need to 'see' from the cat to get her off of the food immediately. Your mention of it looking like plastic is eery and isn't too far off. If you are using the psyllium powder, and complete the antibiotic cycle it is technically not necessary to have to use the prescription cat food at all based on what I see the ingredients are, so long as the food you switch to is appropriate for a cat with a sensitive stomach.

Please keep us updated <3

[MiLu]

Thank you so much for reassuring me, YayHappens (love the name!)

I'm very happy to be able to say that I have not had to clean my little rascal's rear end this morning. Ugh! How I hate to wake up to the sound of her scratching in the litter box and knowing I have to go through chasing her down (Lulu knows by now that pooping means having her butt washed and tries to avoid it at all cost) and dealing with the mess.

I guess I forgot to mention in the original post that as soon as the vet got the test results he recommended stopping the ZD since switching cold-turkey to especially the dry foods could also produce runny stools which would then mask any improvement we might see from the meds. Originally he wasn't concerned about switching foods quickly because 'diarrhea was already the problem we were seeing him for' (his words ). So Lulu is back on her old foods for now at least (NB duck/peas canned + Blue Buffalo duck dry)

I'm also holding off on the psyllium until I can see if the meds work. I hope to use it more as a maintainance thing later.

Keeping all toes and fingers crossed that this is finally the end

[laurief]

I'm very glad that Lulu is improving, but I'm quite concerned about the Baytril that has been prescribed for her. As you will read in the links below, Baytril is not one of the recommended antibiotics for the treatment of CPE. Much more importantly, though, is the contraindication of the use of Baytril in young, growing animals because of the possibility of cartilage damage that it may cause. Also, Baytril, in rare cases, causes ocular damage in cats, which may include blindness. I don't understand why your vet prescribed Baytril when other, safer antibiotics are recommended for the treatment of CPE.

You will also read in one of the links below the recommendation for dietary fiber (psyllium) in the treatment of CPE, so you may want to reconsider adding that to her treatment protocol now rather than waiting until after you see how she responds to the meds.

Laurie

Diagnosing cases of acute or intermittent diarrhea: Giardiasis, Clostridium perfringens enterotoxicosis, Tritrichomonas foetus, and cryptosporidiosis (Proceedings) - Veterinary Healthcare

PCR - enterotoxigenic C. perfringens

[MiLu]

Originally Posted by laurief

I'm very glad that Lulu is improving, but I'm quite concerned about the Baytril that has been prescribed for her. As you will read in the links below, Baytril is not one of the recommended antibiotics for the treatment of CPE. Much more importantly, though, is the contraindication of the use of Baytril in young, growing animals because of the possibility of cartilage damage that it may cause. Also, Baytril, in rare cases, causes ocular damage in cats, which may include blindness. I don't understand why your vet prescribed Baytril when other, safer antibiotics are recommended for the treatment of CPE.

You will also read in one of the links below the recommendation for dietary fiber (psyllium) in the treatment of CPE, so you may want to reconsider adding that to her treatment protocol now rather than waiting until after you see how she responds to the meds.

Laurie

Diagnosing cases of acute or intermittent diarrhea: Giardiasis, Clostridium perfringens enterotoxicosis, Tritrichomonas foetus, and cryptosporidiosis (Proceedings) - Veterinary Healthcare

PCR - enterotoxigenic C. perfringens

Oh geez! That sounds alarming. I'm really not quite sure why he would prescribe something like that if it was dangerous. This vet is a cat specialist treating only cats and has some national recognition. Sigh*

[laurief]

The way to find out is to ask him why he prescribed Baytril instead of one of the other recommended antibiotics. You might also want to ask him about the potential for cartilage damage in young, growing animals taking Baytril.