Thread: Maine Coon not putting on weight

I too had almost the same scenerio. My girl was not putting on weight, both MC's had soft stoo with alternating diarrhea. Changed foods a million times with little improvement. No visible parasites though, but turned out to be Giardia!! Vet must test specifically for this as it will not turn up in regular stool sample!! (if it even turns up at all) Although Metronidazole is the "gold standart" of treatment for Giardia, it was not successful in either one of my two Maine Coons!! Two rounds of Panacur, and negative test results I thought we were in the clear!!! Several months go by with slight soft stool, I am thinking everything is fine... I am not doing this again!!!! I discounted these symptoms and reasoned it out in my head to food changes or stress. Big mistake...another negative tests result! Hmmm... Thank goodness my Vet treated pre-emptively for Giardia based on symptoms!!! Bingo.. no more soft stool or stinky odor for last 6 months! Start to finish... almost one year! As for the litter box, I bleached it every other day and scooped 2x a day!!!
Hind sight... I would treat with Panacur a few consecutive times & not rely on expensive tests results because if the Giardia Protozoa, is not passing through the stool sample at time of test, your results will still be negative!!!! Long after treatment, pay close attention to consistancy of stool, Giardia is not always obvious!!! Hope this post is helpful! To rid Giardia, the dosage and medication must be correct!! I would not be shocked to see this again.. but for now it's beat!!

Originally Posted by quass

Hi All, this is Steve posting on my wife's account.

We got a Maine Coon from a reputable breeder ' ElysKats ' in the UK a little over three months ago. She had her injections, and was spayed before we got her at 32 weeks (which seemed very early to be spayed but still).

She had seemed to be putting on weight well up to 32 weeks prior to her opperation, as we visited her several times before taking her home and each time was a big change. When we collected her she had been spayed that week (only a few days before collections). We got her home, she had diarrhea. We thought this may be the stress of moving and possible change in habbits and or diet, although we were feeding her recomended food.

Over the course of one week she did not improve, so we took her to the vets, they suggested she was fairly pot-bellied and had a worm infestation. We subsequently treated her for worms, and over the following week her poops firmed up and she seemed back to normal. At this point I will sat she seems and has always seemed to be eating fine (we feed her Royal Cannin kitten food specially mixed for Maine Coons, both dry down for the day and meat in the evening).

Roll on another couple of weeks and she has put on a little weight (she was aprox 1.2 kilos at 32 weeks, and grew to a slow 1.4). We were still concerned, and monitoring her weight, low and behold she had a bout of dirrehea again. She was due to be wormed in a few days, so we wormed her thinking it was a persistent parasite and then after a couple of days again her poops firmed up and she seemed ok. She got to 1.5 kilos in the next couple of weeks and then Dirrehea struck again. We took her back to the vets, he has given us another medicine to put in her food for a parasite called Giardia, we are also giving her advocate again at the start of December when due as per the instructions of the vet.

It's now at the stage where we are getting a stool sample to be analysed and trying the Giardia medicine, I really hope that we can get this fixed soon, as she is a little over six months now and in the past 8 days alone she has lost weight, and gone down to 1.38 kilos although she still appears to be eating ok :(

I examined her stool this morning before placing it in the container for the vets, it had traces of small 'worm' looking things in it to me. They were tiny, but curved and several were visible on the surface of her poop. I don't think any food would look like this so I think it could be a persistent parasite?

She seems happy in herself, she has always pretty much been a lap cat, and likes to snuggle up to us and sleeps with us on our pillows But she is having a real issue gaining weight, and at this stage in her life it is so important she develops. We feel a bit powerless at the moment, as everything seems to take so long and we really want to see her getting better.

Has anyone got any suggestion on any anything else we can do while the cause is being investigated to try and help her put on weight? Would a higher callorie diet help? We just want to try everything possible really to speed up getting her well and recovering.


Thanks,


A sad Steve and Michelle

Just a thought Steve not sure that you can but Panacur paste straight off the shelf if you haven't already left might pay to ring pets at home first,if you are taking specimen to vets tomorrow pick up then as they have seen her you should be ok.....

Thanks, we already popped out and have delivered the sample.

We popped the solution in a small spoonfull of tuna in spring water so she would take the medicine. The solution the vet gave us is indeed panacure according to the label. I also bought panacure off of the shelf for Tiberius to treat them both as a precuation.

They have both been treated today, trays have been disenfected, two more days to complete Marthas course and fingers crossed she wwill improve.

Thats interesting info about giardia as Marthas symptoms sound the same.

I hope your girl is cured and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for ours.

Thanks

I really hope that Martha gets better soon xx

Hi All,

Martha had her final dose of Panacur today.

She's been eating lots, but not so much of her own diet! She seems to not want to eat the Royal Cannin Maine Coon food and instead keeps making a b-line for our adults cat food. We compared the contents and the difference seems to be that the adults has 10% fat vs 18% for the kittens food. The ingredients and other content is very very close. Perhaps it is because it is not so high in fat or as rich that and she has an upset tummy that she wants it?

We are wanting her to eat, so we've mixed some adult biscuits into her biscuits.

She was 1.3 kilos Saturday, we weighed her yesterday and she was 1.5 kilos, this evening she is 1.7! Her stools though since sunday have been loose yellowey foul smelling poops. I haven't seen any sign of them getting back to normal yet. I'm not sure if the weight gain is food inside her as she has been eating lots or if she is actually maintaining some of it and putting on weight. I'm not sure if it's my imagination, but her fur seems to be 'fluffier' today and you can see her colours more? She has also been more active today than past days and has been playing a bit and wandering around a lot, she normally just sleeps on our bed.

We are really, really hoping that by the weekend the weight has increased, I'm sure that if it continues to go up it can't just be food in her waiting to pass through, although the stools she is producing is still a concern, and I have seen no trace of worms or anything strange in them in the past couple of days.

Fingers crossed that with the final dose today it will clear whatever was in her system out and she will start to get back to normal and the weight will keep going up.


Thanks,

Weight gain,coat looking better hopefully she is on the way up,does sound as if the kitten food is too rich for her & if she is enjoying the adult go for it,she is better off having that if it suits her just add some extra supplement to it to help with her growth at this age they can pile it on quite quickly & their bone growth is big too.
The panacur might have made things a bit smelly but the yellowish colour is a bit strange,will be interesting to see what they are like now you have finished dosing her although you really ought to do her again in a months time.
How long before you get any results back....?
So pleased for you all that things are looking more positive,it does seem as if she is making better use of her food now & those weight increases look good,cuddles to Martha tell her to keep it up,we will be watching....xxxx

Just as I was reading this my door was pushed open and there she was, she hoped up onto me and snuggled up chirping bless her

Indeed the stools don't seem good, but I am hoping that things will improve in the next 24 hours after the last dose.

I contacted the vets Monday and today and they have no results yet. The anoying thing is that the stool sample we gave them was much more normal, and since we gave them that they changed, typical!

I've been working home the past couple of days to look after her and keep on top of the litter tray + give her lots of attention. I'm staying home tomorrow too so I can keep on top of things and monitor her.

I'll try to post a picture of her soon and I hope to update you with some positive news.


Thanks,

Oh bless she looks a little darling & has a lot of growing to do to catch up with those ears her little eyes have got a bit of that washed out look about them so you can tell whatever she has gone through has wiped her out so the fact she is putting on weight is a good sign,bet she has loved having company & will not be a happy girl when you go back to work,perhaps if she is not infectious you should get her a furry playmate to keep her company.....!
Hey,what,who said that......xxx

I've told work I'm staying home tomorrow again as I'd hate to go back and leave her. I 'think' she is on the mend so want to make sure it continues. We nearly got two, but we decided against it in the end. We were hoping she would get on well with Tiberius as he was only a little over a year old when we got her, but she seems to be very laid back and just watches him prance around like a clown bless him :D

She also seems to be cleaning herself a lot more. I really think she is looking better in just a few days, I hope I am not fooling myself and that her improvement continues. Patches of her fur look darker to me and the colour seems to be coming out more, I am not sure how and if that is even possible in four days? I'l be chasing up the vet for those results again today.

I really wish there was something more we could have done earlier, if it was just a parasite I feel bad that it got this far :(, but it will be a relief to know that it isn't a serious illness that we will have to live with.

We have been administering Advocate which the vet told us to do each month since we got her though, and have had her checked up.

She still doesn't seem to like her food, she seems to prefer the adult food. I'm not going to worry too much right now as long as she is eating well and getting something down her, although I will be getting some small packets of various food to see if there is one which she takes to better than the maine coon kitten mix.


Thanks,