Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Andrew Kent — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:51:06 GMT

I have never had a problem with using Ronidazole but side effects are reported. I believe the general consensus on this at present is that if clinical signs are mild it may not be worth treating as often resolves with time. If clinical signs are severe then treatment is indicated. If you need contact details for Ronidazole supplier then let me know, it takes a few weeks to get hold of and is pretty costly.

Have a look at:

http://www.fabcats.org/breeders/infosheets/tritrichomonas.html

Andy

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Rob Loxley — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:23:33 GMT

Have identified it (PCR) in a young siamese with chronic intermittent diarrh. Would be interested in other experiences of ronidazole use - metronid and fenben seem not to permanently cure the condition.

Client is retired parasitologist and also had only heard of it as a cattle pathogen.

I usually PCR the young cats with chronic/recurrent diarrh for tritrich, if negative on microscopy.

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

sarah mason — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:27:23 GMT

I had a positive case diagnosed by pcr -capital diagnostics in edinburgh, it was -ve on microscopy (only about 30% picked up this way), the parasite is intermittently shed and so you can get false negatives. If you email danielle gunn moore at edinburgh she has information sheets on the disease for vets and owners, including relevant literature. she was really helpful to me when I emailed her about my case.

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Andrew Kent — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:30:12 GMT

I have had a couple of cases confirmed through the Langford Veterinary Diagnostics PCR. One was fairly mild so didn't treat and cleared up on its own at about 10 months of age, the second was severe and the kitten suffered a rectal prolapse through straining.

This also responded very well to ronidazole with no side effects and is now doing well - the only down side is that ronidazole is hugely expensive, I think it worked out as something like £110 for the course.

The FAB have a good factsheet about it on their website.

Andy

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Rob Davis — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:46:48 GMT

I have confirmed one case in a young siamese cat - found t.foetus after taking rectal swab (the receptionists were concerned about how excited myself and a colleague were while looking at cat poo down the microscope...).

I did use ronidazole after an email discussion with Danielle Gunne-Moore. It worked brilliantly with not side effects, and after months of continual diarrhoea which had partially but temporarilly responded to metronidazole, it completely cleared and has not relapsed.

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Emma Jarratt — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:39:18 GMT

I've had a go a few times but never caught one. In my current practice I don't have ready access to a microscope unfortunately, have to wait until I'm in a different branch, so no use now either!

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

sophia guymer — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:26:01 GMT

[quote user="Emma Jarratt"] not yet sent away to confirm a case[/quote]

Not very good at it myself but one of my collegues diagnosis them straight from a rectal swab under the microscope, you have to be quick though, they stop moving very soon. She diagnosed a very chronic diarr case like that (came in as sec opinion from other local vets). Cleared up on Ronidazole.

Sophia

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Emma Jarratt — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:47:57 GMT

[quote user="salome2001"]

Owner just glad to know what the problem was so wasn't overly upset about the "it will eventually go away on its own but it might take a while" prognosis

[/quote]

For this reason not yet sent away to confirm a case, but suspected it several times.

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

salome2001 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:46:00 GMT

by the way, "HTH" = "Hope That Helps" :)

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

salome2001 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:44:36 GMT

yes I have had Tritrich. foetus confirmed in a young cat (pedigree from breeder) that had chronic D+ but normal body condition etc. Been seen by the practice vets/locums since adoption at 13 weeks with just about every treatment and test EXCEPT T.foetus. Positive when sent off to the US.

Owner just glad to know what the problem was so wasn't overly upset about the "it will eventually go away on its own but it might take a while" prognosis

I did also do folate and cobalamin and folate was high and cobalamin low so gave metronidazole, probiotics and Vitbee as supportive tx. HTH.

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Richard Carter — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:20:19 GMT

Not sure why this is a 'new' discovery - I have my (South African) SA medicine notes from 1985 which happily discusses Trichs, spirochaetes, bacterial overgrowth in cats and as a result have been using metronidazole almost routinely in non-responsive diarrhoeas for years with quite good results... (and so have my class mates)

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Jenny Smith — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:24:59 GMT

Thanks for that! Andy Sparkes does ring a bell so I think you may be right about that.

Jenny

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Ian Battersby — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:24:58 GMT

Hi Jenny,

T foetus causing chronic diarrohea in young cats has been increasingly recognised over the last few years. So the information you have ( which i suspect from your description may have been given by Andy Sparkes) is correct.

Certainly i would look for it in a young cat with chronic diarrohea that is none responsive to initial non specific therapy. T foetus doesn't respond to routine wormers, you need to use ronidazole off license. I think Danielle gun moore at edinburgh has information on ronadazole and is inetersted in following cases that have received it. As there is liitle information on using this drug in the cat. There is a feacal PCR avaliable which can be easily performed before endoscopy etc .

I am not aware that anyone has come up with an explaination to link the jump to from the reproductive system of cattle to cat

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Jenny Smith — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:09:09 GMT

Sorry about that! Yes LI d+ is large intestinal diarhorrhea!

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:34:16 GMT

[quote user="Ian Mostyn"]Large Intestine Diarrhoea presumably[/quote]

Ah. I see. Look, we all have our own private abbreviations and slang, but could we agree while this forum is still young that proper words, or at least universally recognisable abbreviations (Staph. for Staphylococcus for instance) should be the general rule?

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Ian Mostyn — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:40:50 GMT

Large Intestine Diarrhoea presumably

Not sure I meant to suggest the answer above - sorry

Re: Trichomonas foetus... in cats?!

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:10:01 GMT

I'm sorry, if I wasn't 95 years old I might not have to ask, but what do you mean by " L1 d+" ?

Evelyn