Sphynx with Diarrhea

[Cinderstar95]

Hello all, I am back with another poo post. I posted a few days ago about my kitten suddenly having mushy stools and thought it might have something to do with a food switch. she has since firmed up and is completely back to normal, However, I now have a worse problem!
My three year old male has been having a mad case of the runs for the past two days. He has been in the box every couple of hours and what is coming out is almost completely liquid. He's been burying for the most part, but the last time he didn't, I saw it was slightly mucusy as well. He also went in my bathtub which is right next to the box and is completely unusual behavior for him. His diet hasn't changed, and this just started, yesterday, so no new stressers. I will be taking him to the vet, however as it is the weekend, I have to wait until Monday to call for an appointment. Currently he isn't acting any different, still plays with the kitten, eats and begs for food, he's a drinker as well so while he is a bit dehydrated i'm not super worried about immediate issues in the next day.
My question ultimately is in anyone's experience, have you come across something like this? though never tested, we have every reason to believe he is herpes positive as he responded to a temporary antiviral for a corneal sequestrum back in august of 16. Could this sudden onslaught of liquid diarrhea be herpes related? he's always had mushy poo, but this is straight liquid. I'm looking for any breed specifics my vet might not know about. (I go to an all cat vet, its a nice, fully functional animal hospital that only treats cats and the doctors are wonderful vets, but even so, sphynx aren't the most common. I have two of the four total in the entire practice.)
I guess I am looking for places to start testing. I'm a broke college student just trying to do right by my cats, so money is tight. Is there something besides herpes I should test for at this point? or should I just hand him over to the vet and let them have a go at it?
Any advice is welcome!
Thanks all!

 

[MollysMom]

Chances are they will give him metronidazole and send him home... *maybe* test a poo sample. For sudden vomiting or diarrhea, my vet always gives us metronidazole. Any chance he chewed on a plant or got into human food or anything else? For sudden watery diarrhea that may be the culprit, especially if nothing else has changed.

 

[Cinderstar95]

Chances are they will give him metronidazole and send him home... *maybe* test a poo sample. For sudden vomiting or diarrhea, my vet always gives us metronidazole. Any chance he chewed on a plant or got into human food or anything else? For sudden watery diarrhea that may be the culprit, especially if nothing else has changed.

I dont THINK he got into anything, but of course, one can never be 100% sure. Thankfully, My vet usually takes this stuff seriously, as he is herpes pos and has had severe issues with it in the past. He had to have surgery six months ago, poor thing had ulcers in both eyes, a dead patch of his cornea, round the clock medication... it was an ordeal. Sadly he was just at the vet LAST WEEK for an ear infection and had no poo issues then. I only am grateful he's not straining when he's trying to go... I lost my girl last year to complications of IBD and the straining that went along with it. unfortunately my boy has been sick most of his short life... he's lucky hes such a sweet heart and is so endearing. Captured my heart right away.

 

[Mousemumma]

Sometimes cats pick up stomach bugs same as you or I and with herpes history, his immune system will be slightly less effective, especially in varying weather conditions and when stressed. Feed him plain diet like chicken and even egg can be given for energy without hopefully coming out as fast as he ate it. Make sure he drinks and never give cats milk that is not proper cat milk as cow and goat milk has lactic acid and lactose And cats lack the enzyme to break this down, causing vomiting and diarrhoea.
If still the same after 16 hours or before if not taking fluids see your vet.
Pixie and buddy send healing

 

[Cinderstar95]

Sometimes cats pick up stomach bugs same as you or I and with herpes history, his immune system will be slightly less effective, especially in varying weather conditions and when stressed. Feed him plain diet like chicken and even egg can be given for energy without hopefully coming out as fast as he ate it. Make sure he drinks and never give cats milk that is not proper cat milk as cow and goat milk has lactic acid and lactose And cats lack the enzyme to break this down, causing vomiting and diarrhoea.
If still the same after 16 hours or before if not taking fluids see your vet.
Pixie and buddy send healing

Thanks for the advice!
I'm a pharmacy student with the intention to specialize in veterinary pharmacy, so a little loose poo doesn't scare me, it happens sometimes. I just worry with his herpes and all, and the frequency. If he didn't bother to go in my tub, I wouldn't be so worried, but he's trying to tell me something is wrong. I also am a bit perturbed by the mucusy aspect of it. There are no plants in my apartment at all, and he spends most of his time in my room so I really dont think he got any food he wasn't supposed too. He's had no milk, he's not even a fan thankfully, (my kitten loves it, so I have to buy her lactose free XD)
He is still eating his kibble and is still trying to trip me to feed him (somehow that logic makes sense in his little sphynx brain) so I'm not terribly worried about dehydration. He's still got good turger, and he is still drinking and playing. I just dont want to see him spiral into surgery again. the last herpes outbreak happened because he choked on a piece of a wrapper and panicked, it stressed him so much it caused an up flair and cost me nearly 2 grand.
I will be calling my vet on Monday, and I am very close to a fantastic teaching vet hospital, the one that took care of his sequestrum a few months back, So if he emergently gets worse tomorrow then he's within reach of help.

 

[Toa and Ross]

@Cinderstar95 does his poo stink really bad? If so it could be giardia. They can test it but the test can also be false negative. So if you're low on budget you could ask the vet to describe meds that kill most of the parasites. This way you safe yourself the money of testing. But it has the risk that you don't kill the parasite he has and have to buu other meds if the first won't work.
Sending healing vibes!

 

[MollysMom]

I dont THINK he got into anything, but of course, one can never be 100% sure. Thankfully, My vet usually takes this stuff seriously, as he is herpes pos and has had severe issues with it in the past. He had to have surgery six months ago, poor thing had ulcers in both eyes, a dead patch of his cornea, round the clock medication... it was an ordeal. Sadly he was just at the vet LAST WEEK for an ear infection and had no poo issues then. I only am grateful he's not straining when he's trying to go... I lost my girl last year to complications of IBD and the straining that went along with it. unfortunately my boy has been sick most of his short life... he's lucky hes such a sweet heart and is so endearing. Captured my heart right away.

Fellow IBD cat mom here LOL. Are you familiar with slippery elm bark? When my guys had sudden onset watery diarrhea I ended up giving her SEB and fasting her for 12 hours
... it was enough so that when she did have food again, it didn't result in diarrhea.

 

[momdeeze]

Hi, you mentioned that he had an ear infection last week. Was he given antibiotics for that? If so, that is very likely what has caused his diarrhea. I always give probiotics if any of mine are on antibiotics otherwise we always deal with diarrhea without them.

 

[Cinderstar95]

Hi, you mentioned that he had an ear infection last week. Was he given antibiotics for that? If so, that is very likely what has caused his diarrhea. I always give probiotics if any of mine are on antibiotics otherwise we always deal with diarrhea without them.

They have him on a gel that goes in the ears. It wasn't an oral antibiotic. He was on dermavet ointment. And he finished the course a few days ago. I've given it to my other gals without issue (lots of yeast infections here. Unfortunately ) but I'll ask my vet. Thanks!

 

[Cinderstar95]

@Cinderstar95 does his poo stink really bad? If so it could be giardia. They can test it but the test can also be false negative. So if you're low on budget you could ask the vet to describe meds that kill most of the parasites. This way you safe yourself the money of testing. But it has the risk that you don't kill the parasite he has and have to buu other meds if the first won't work.
Sending healing vibes!

Oddly enough it doesn't. Usually he stinks to high heaven. I mean he really can clear a room. But this doesn't even have an odor. I think at first I thought he was just peeing until I watched him go into the box over and over again and payed more attention