Indigo’s Story.

Indigo was four months old when we brought him home along with his half-sister, Violet, who was two months older.

It was Thanksgiving weekend 2004, and we picked them up on the Friday afternoon.

At the vets on Monday morning, Indigo and Violet tested positive for Coccida: a well known cause of diarrhea in kittens, and they were given Albon to treat it.

Several weeks later Indigo was still suffering from the diarrhea, but he had been on antibiotics for a URI (upper respiratory infection) and our vet at the time told us that the antibiotics could be upsetting his tummy, and gave him some prescription diet food to try and clear it up.

By January we were still battling the URI and moved to another vet for a second opinion. The diarrhea had still not cleared up and was really starting to cause us concern.

After beating the URI we were given a course of metoclopramide and metronidazole which unfortunately had no effect at all.

At times the diarrhea would get so bad that Indigo could not make it to the litter box. Cleaning up diarrhea from different places around the house got to be an every day event, and it was particularly upsetting as Indigo always looked so ashamed that he couldn’t make it to the litter box. It was heartbreaking to see him, and he was so uncomfortable.

I had to bathe him daily as his bottom was getting sore and he could not keep up with cleaning himself.

Our vet performed multiple fecal float tests, fecal cytology and tested for Giardia and Cryptosporidium, all of the fecal tests came back negative.

We had more blood work done, the Trypsin-Like Immunoreactivity (TLI) test and we tested for Serum Folate and Cobalimin Concentrations to rule out Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency.

By this time I was researching every possible cause of diarrhea in cats I could come up with, and although Indigo was not losing weight or vomiting, his symptoms at the time most closely resembled Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

I joined a wonderful Feline IBD group on Yahoo and after reading the writings of Dr. Lisa Pierson decided to remove all dry food from Indigo’s diet. I started with a premium, grain less canned food and Indigo actually stayed clear of diarrhea for three whole months which seemed like a miracle at the time.

We found that any stress at all, or any slight change in diet would start Indigo’s diarrhea off again. Once started it rarely cleared up on its own, often it would just get progressively worse.

We found that several weeks of treatment with Amoxi Drops would settle it back down again and bring his stool back into a more formed state, although it was never the tootsie roll stool that we were hoping for. Unfortunately on many occasions as soon as the antibiotic treatment was stopped, the diarrhea would start up again.

Eventually I became resigned to the idea that we would always have a cat who got diarrhea if we changed his diet, or if anyone came to visit us and stressed him a little.

Then, my vet mentioned having read about Tritrichomonas foetus. He contacted NC State University and we went ahead and got Indigo the PCR test.

For the first time since he tested positive for Coccidia over a year earlier, Indigo got a positive test result. We finally knew what we were dealing with.

Our vet ordered the Ronidazole for us. Indigo did not like to be medicated but Violet our other cat liked it even less. As she had had diarrhea a couple of times and sometimes had blood in her stool we thought it best to treat both cats to try and prevent one of them re-infecting the other.

Our vet had the Ronidazole compounded into a liquid medicine with a chicken flavour for our cats (we have found they prefer the chicken flavour to beef or fish) and the treatment went well.

Within a few days Indigo had completely normal looking stool, and what was more, we were actually able to let him try different flavours of wet food.

We had the blood of both of our cats tested to make sure their bodies had coped with the medication and they both seemed to have tolerated it well.

Having found the informative page of Highgait Paws Cattery I have since learned the importance of re-testing, so Indigo and Violet will now be getting tested on a regular basis to be sure that they are clear of TF.

This is of particular importance in breeding and shelter situations because of the high risk of re-infection.

Because the PCR test is quite expensive, being able to re-test every two weeks is unrealistic, and on Dave’s advice, we have purchased a microscope and ordered InPouch™ TF test kits from Biomed Diagnostics.

My vet has kindly agreed to supervise my use of these tests so that I can re-test on a bi-weekly basis.

This may be the solution for those who have shelters or catteries, as long as your vet is willing to supervise your results and treat your cats according to those results.

Once the test kits arrive and I start testing, I will write further on our experiences.

After eighteen months of cleaning up diarrhea, bathing Indigo daily when his bottom became sore, spending thousands of dollars on vet visits, tests, and medications, and constantly worrying about what on Earth was causing Indigo so many problems, we are very relieved to have reached this point.

We hope that reading Indigo’s story will help others learn about TF and get their cats tested and treated so that they don’t have to go through what he did.

For the latest information on diagnosis and treatment of TF please read: AN OWNER'S GUIDE TO DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CATS INFECTED WITH TRITRICHOMONAS FOETUS.