Ortie and Kheru
Lairian
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2016
- Messages
- 14
- Points
- 4
Hello everyone!
My Ortensia is a 3 y.o. female (spayed) sphynx beauty who has had a couple issues that I have been battling since I've had her (at 14 weeks).
Problem #1: Ortie has chronic loose stools. When I first got her as a kitten, I put her on grain free blue buffalo kitten food and she had blow out diarrhea, at which point I changed her to the grain free sensitive stomach diet, which gave some form to her stools but gave her major gas. At this point I changed her to another diet ( I can't remember which) and she no longer had gas, but went back to the blow out diarrhea. I took her to the vet and had a fecal smear done and the results showed she had on overgrowth of "bad bacteria" (idk which specifically). She was put on a probiotic supplement for about 10 days and that worked wonders! Her stools bulked up wonderfully, but once I finished the probiotics, she went back to her normal routine of smelly diarrhea. So again, I switched her diet to Nutro grain free Duck and Potato blend. She is currently on this diet and she no longer has blow out diarrhea, but she still has loose, mucousy stools. I also feed her the same blend of wet food with pumpkin once daily, which seems to help, but it doesn't give her normal stools. I do give her fortiflora (probiotic) when she has a bad day and it helps alot; I've also spoken to the vet about giving it to her daily as a maintenance and they said that is perfectly okay, and I don't mind doing it, but I feel as if this is just a bandaid on the issue and I'd really like to fix it 100% if that is in any way possible. I don't believe she has IBS-she doesn't vomit much, maybe once in a blue moon. If anyone has any experience with similar issues and has recommendations on diets or other remedies, I would greatly appreciate it!
Problem #2: She constantly licks her tail to the point it is raw. She does have some black heads, nothing major, but I do suspect a possible stud tail? She seems to have sensitive skin in general, as she grooms her- self excessively and seems itchy but her skin is not red or inflamed, she just licks and sometimes chews, but her tail is the most problematic. I bathe her once a week with an organic baby shampoo for sensitivities, and apply coconut oil to keep her moisturized after the bath, but of course she licks it all off. I apply coconut oil (a small amount) to her tail daily to try to help it stay moisturized, but again, she licks it off. I wipe her down daily with organic alovera coconut oil wipes to keep her as clean as possible in between bath times. These wipes don't leave her dry either, they just get rid of dirt nicely; I live in a dry, and dusty climate. I am going to start adding fish oil to her diet and see if that helps, but I begin to wonder about allergies. Again, any advice would be greatly appreciated! I hate to see her in so much discomfort. It just breaks my heart.
My Ortensia is a 3 y.o. female (spayed) sphynx beauty who has had a couple issues that I have been battling since I've had her (at 14 weeks).
Problem #1: Ortie has chronic loose stools. When I first got her as a kitten, I put her on grain free blue buffalo kitten food and she had blow out diarrhea, at which point I changed her to the grain free sensitive stomach diet, which gave some form to her stools but gave her major gas. At this point I changed her to another diet ( I can't remember which) and she no longer had gas, but went back to the blow out diarrhea. I took her to the vet and had a fecal smear done and the results showed she had on overgrowth of "bad bacteria" (idk which specifically). She was put on a probiotic supplement for about 10 days and that worked wonders! Her stools bulked up wonderfully, but once I finished the probiotics, she went back to her normal routine of smelly diarrhea. So again, I switched her diet to Nutro grain free Duck and Potato blend. She is currently on this diet and she no longer has blow out diarrhea, but she still has loose, mucousy stools. I also feed her the same blend of wet food with pumpkin once daily, which seems to help, but it doesn't give her normal stools. I do give her fortiflora (probiotic) when she has a bad day and it helps alot; I've also spoken to the vet about giving it to her daily as a maintenance and they said that is perfectly okay, and I don't mind doing it, but I feel as if this is just a bandaid on the issue and I'd really like to fix it 100% if that is in any way possible. I don't believe she has IBS-she doesn't vomit much, maybe once in a blue moon. If anyone has any experience with similar issues and has recommendations on diets or other remedies, I would greatly appreciate it!
Problem #2: She constantly licks her tail to the point it is raw. She does have some black heads, nothing major, but I do suspect a possible stud tail? She seems to have sensitive skin in general, as she grooms her- self excessively and seems itchy but her skin is not red or inflamed, she just licks and sometimes chews, but her tail is the most problematic. I bathe her once a week with an organic baby shampoo for sensitivities, and apply coconut oil to keep her moisturized after the bath, but of course she licks it all off. I apply coconut oil (a small amount) to her tail daily to try to help it stay moisturized, but again, she licks it off. I wipe her down daily with organic alovera coconut oil wipes to keep her as clean as possible in between bath times. These wipes don't leave her dry either, they just get rid of dirt nicely; I live in a dry, and dusty climate. I am going to start adding fish oil to her diet and see if that helps, but I begin to wonder about allergies. Again, any advice would be greatly appreciated! I hate to see her in so much discomfort. It just breaks my heart.