Diarrhea after being boarded, Vet not able to determine cause? (kitten, eating)

[smith-great]

My cats have developed on-going diarrhea after being boarded. The vet does not seem to be able to determine what is going on. Here's the full story:

About two months ago, my two cats were boarded for a week when I went out of town. Prior to this, they did not have any health issues and are up to date on all their shots. They are indoor only kitties and no other pets.

At first they seemed normal. About a month after boarding, I noticed that one of the cats developed soft stools. It was about 80% formed, not diarrhea. A week or two later, the other cat developed the same symptoms. There were no other symptoms. The cats food has not been changed over the past several months.

I took both cats in to the vet about two weeks ago to be seen and determine what was going on. The vet determined that they did not have any parasites. She indicated that their gut was out of balance. The vet prescribed anti-biotics and probiotics.

Within a day of their starting this regimen, both cats stools became more like mud pies and watery, rather than being mostly formed. The vet indicated that I should continue the treatment and after a week, nothing had changed.

The vet said I should bring in another sample for re-testing, which I did. The vet said it's the same thing as before and prescribed another type of probiotics, but no anti-biotics this time. For the past week, the cats have been on the new probiotics, but nothing has improved.

What is going on? The probiotics prescribed by the vet have only made the situation worse.

Edit: Aside from this one symptom, both cats seem normal. They have normal activity level and personality. They do not seem to display any other signs of distress.

[greg42]

My first inclination is to think that if it didn't show up until a month after, the boarding is not a factor. But I don't really know that for certain. (Not like I'm in any way familiar with all possible things that could have been transmitted.)

Here's a thought: a change in the food formula, or something wrong with the particular lot you're using at the moment. Maybe you can trace back to a newly purchased batch a few weeks ago?

Personally, I don't think there would be any harm whatsoever in backing off the probiotic and seeing if there's any change in the stool, as it sounds like that just made it worse. And you might want to see if you can figure out if there were changes to the food formula, even call the company if you have to.

Perhaps someone else will have some additional ideas. I'm sure it's frustrating.

[Opsimathia]

Stress can give them the runs or cause constipation. Constipation can cause the runs eventually.

Maybe they were just not eating and drinking normally and the probiotics are cleaning them out?

Overfeeding can cause loose stools. It could be worms too. I had a kitten that had a negative test for worms in samples but I knew it definitely had worms from grooming it. The vet gave me some wormer and well..after that, the samples had dead worms you could actually see. It just wasn't bad enough yet to show up in the other untreated samples.

I would stay on course with the probiotics till they are finished but contact your vet about it. Watch out for any blood passing. Make sure they are not overeating.

What do they eat now?