Has anyone here used tylan powder to treat diarrhea in a cat?..

[Princess Turandot]

If so, how long did it take to have an effect?

My 12.5 year old Russian Blue started showing some blood in his stool about 6 weeks ago, bright red so it was a lower GI source. He tested negative for parasites, was on flagyl for a few weeks with no effects. We also tried Iams low residue food which he refused to eat.His stool got softer and the vet put him on prednisone (steroids). That wasn't particularly aggressive; he was taking 2 pills a day for 3 days then started to taper down the dose. Some days, it looked like his stool was firming up then it got looser again. So he started on tylan powder a few days ago, which is hard to dose. He's been on it for 3 1/2 days with no effect. (My vet is now on vacation until next week.)

He is a very hard cat to medicate. I have to restrain him in a pillow-case with a drawstring (like a laundry bag) so only his head is loose and I have to wear leather gloves, because he bites. (Otherwise, he is my best cat.) Wherever possible, I grind the medication and add a small amount of water since using a syringe to get the medicine in is a little easier. Tylan powder doesn't appear to be soluble in anything, so I've been squishing it with some tuna.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I've never had a kitty with that problem

but I can relate to the difficulties involved in medicating the critters. You pretty much have to put on a hockey goalie's uniform to survive any attempt at cat medication. Good luck; hope the little guy gets better soon.

[tencats]

2. Yes and the cats hated the taste of that Tylan.

I've had over the years three cats start with a bloody end to bowel movements and later be diagnosed with a form of IBD. Tylan powder was prescribed for two but I only had short lived good effect from its use. Did have some short lived good results with Metronidazole. Diet adjustment and long term use of the corticosteroids was the best to suppress symptoms of IBD. There is a lot that I could say about it but I just now read these few linked articles that are a good read on the subject. The first cat that I had that suffered so terribly with diarrhea was found to be infected with an uncommon cocci that was not detected on repeated in house fecal labs. I stress that you be sure the cat is clear of any problem parasites as a first step. Here is a good article to read here that has a lot of info for dogs but is good for what there is for cats: http://www.dcavm.org/02oct.htm

There is a water soluble Tylan. My neighbors have used in their bee hives but its probably off label for cats. Your Vet could possibly get it. I had no luck mixing the Tylan powder into the cat food either. I had a Vet Pharmacist fill it into tiny gel caps which worked very nicely with a pill plunger. The Vet was hopeful that the Tylan taken along with prednisone would have good results but it didn't for my two cats. Another short article linked here is good: http://www.vlsstore.com/Media/PublicationsArticle/PV_23_11_964.pdf

You say you are giving him 5mg prednisone 2/day for 3 days? The shortest run on that for my cats was always been at least 2 weeks and then 2 weeks tapering off. Just 3 days at full dose seems too short of a time to see any good effect.

As for good cat foods to try with a medication I lately like Tiki Cat Ahi Tuna of which there are several combinations which are very good. Best for my cats has been my own home made baked Chicken which I prepare very much like a baby food. Other wise I do use Gerbers plain meat varieties. I never got any cat to accept the Hills Z/D which I hear is very good for cats with IBD.

Sorry to read about this bad turn you are having with him. Ivan? If there isn't any vomiting along with a bad bowel I would be hopeful that he can improve soon. Has there been any mucus like substance along with the hematochezia?

[BrklynLiberal]

3. What about probiotics that come in a capsule that you can open and put into their food?

[Princess Turandot]

4. Thanks all..

tc, it's Y. who is sick, not Ivan. I wound up super-blending white tuna in oil into a fine paste, combining it with the powder and basically shoving it into his mouth, once I restrained him in the ad-hoc cat straight-jacket. It hasn't helped at all; in fact the stool is now looser, with the blood still appearing at the end. He has no mucus and while he did throw up one day last week, that was the only time since this started. I stopped the tylan powder yesterday. I've been feeding him turkey babyfood, which is very low in fat, when I can get him away from the rest of the horde.

The vet was off for a long weekend and is back tomorrow. I think he will suggest that I take him in for a diagnostic procedure somewhere before doing anything else. He's put him on two very short courses of flagyl and the short steroid course. Everything that I've read so far indicates longer courses of treatment when those medications are used for IBD.

BA, thanks for the suggestion. It's really the blood in the stool I'm worried about, which was there before the stools became so soft. I don't know if the probiotics would help that.