Hi Lori (
@Max & Lori)
Congratulations on your new little kitty, Charlie. He is definitely a cutie. I’m so sorry he’s having issues. Also sorry for the delayed response but we were in France all of May and I’m just settling in back home.
Wendy has made some great suggestions. I would also suggest you join the Raw Feeding for IBD Cats on Facebook. You don’t have to feed raw to post there but they have alot of experience which far surpasses mine and I have seen some very, very young cats on there with IBD. I also hope that is not what is going on with Charlie.
If you want to see if he has food sensitivities (not allergies), you can look into
Nutriscan. I did this for both of mine and Tobey had a sensitivity to chicken so we stopped all chicken before he could develop any issues. Also, Wendy is correct that I ran a fecal test through Animal Biome just to see what Tobey’s gut flora looked like (he does not have any gut issues). It’s my thought that the AB people are always going to suggest buying their Gut Restore unless a cat’s gut flora is almost perfect which is probably rare. I did the consultation with them that comes with having the sample analyzed. Tobey’s gut flora was pretty good although he had one strain that was ok to have but was at a marginally higher level than desirable and so they suggested we move him from the Jarrows S boulardi with MOS to one with FOS. I might have already given you this info for Max but now, at my vet’s suggestion, use
Four Leaf Rover S boulardi with FOS. Wendy is correct that this will not help if the cobalamin is low and IBD cats very often have an issue with low B12 so I agree next time you have labs done, get at least a cobalamin and folate test done through A&M UNLESS he has super smelly poo that is a really weird color like yellowish. Then you will also just want the full panel so they can check him for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. I don’t know how much S boulardi you are using, but if his B12 tests are normal, you can likely use a bit more of it. Let me know as I believe somewhere I have info on how much they can be given.
Tobey had really bad diarrhea as a kitten and we had him tested for worms and parasites but it all came back negative. However, because his poo was so horribly stinky (not like normally stinky poo), my vet felt he likely had coccidia and did a course of Albon. That did the trick and he’s never had the issue again. Of course, Albon is an antibiotic and Charlie has already had too many (I also don’t like Metronidazole) so I wouldn’t jump to talk to the vet about Albon unless his poo is really really stinky (but a fairly normal color). Just keep that in your back pocket.
A close friend of mine has a 17-year old cat who has had mild IBD for about five years. She’s been on budesonide but it was starting to be less effective. She heard about
Smalls partially cooked cat food (she has 13 cats and can’t afford to feed them all raw) and she said the food has worked so great for Corey that she’s been able to stop the budesonide. I would avoid the chicken and fish as chicken is often reactive in cats and cats shouldn’t have fish. But they have turkey, beef, and pork and my friend said her cats go crazy over it and she’s seen a great improvement in all of their health (she has a majority of geriatric cats). I had to contact the company to get the as-feds and dry matter basis analysis so if you’d like to see those, please PM me and I’ll get them to you. My thought is their beef is pretty high in phosphorus but for a young cat, that’s good as they are still building bone. Their ingredient list looks ok although I don’t think cats need fruits/veggies but most companies use them. And, with most commercial cat foods, the protein runs 32-45% calories from protein because high quality protein is very expensive. Contrast that to the raw diet with EZC I give my cats and their % calories from protein is about 70. Because Smalls is trying to keep the carbs low, which they do, then the fat is higher than what I feed my cats with raw but it is in the ballpark of most commercial foods. They will send you a sample pack and it might be worth a try for him. Sometimes moving a dry fed cat straight to raw is a little tough even if you do it slowly so using a partially cooked food is a great alternative.
I looked at the Koha and it has guar gum so I would definitely try to avoid foods with gums in them.
Three other resources which are great for cats with gut issues are Adored Beast Apothecary and
Dr. Judy Morgan’s PEA which is an anti-inflammatory. AB has some great products for the gut and my vet is a big fan; she’s spoken often with Julie who really is very picky about her sourcing and also knows her stuff. You could even contact her to see if she recommends a specific thing but I use her Feline Healthy Gut (digestive, NOT pancreatic, enzymes), Feline Gut Soothe, and a few other things. The Chaga mushrooms are also good for inflammation but it’s best to talk to Julie to find out what is the best support product for a cat like Charlie.
I also like
Animal Essentials Slippery Elm. You can also buy Slippery Elm Bark Powder at health food stores and
make a syrup yourself. I used that for my CKD kitties and never had to give any pepcid for acid tummies and I also gave it to Gracie for her IBD. Really good stuff!
I’m also going to tag
@Sienne and Gabby (GA) because she had a close friend whose kittens had horrific diarrhea for quite some time as kittens I think up until they were over 1 (not sure about that). She might be able to tell you what they exactly found out about it and how they treated it but I know they did manage to get it under control.
I hope this helps and you can get this addressed for your sweet boy. He’s so lucky!!!
He is soooo cute.
. 
.
And welcome Charlie 
He was treated for coccidia and had the stinkiest runniest poop of all time. By the time I found him at the shelter, of course the coccidia was gone but that diarrhea stayed. My vet also gave him Metronodiazole, which I now think further upset his poor little insides. I got him on Proviable, pumpkin and after a year, the diarrhea finally stopped. Still has the stinky poop though
