# advice from people who have cats with ibd.please



## purrmachine (Feb 6, 2013)

My cats been sick for almost a month now. She's been to the vets twice for fluids and a anti-vomit shot and once for blood work.The blood work came back good except for high white blood cells so the vet thought it was something to do with diet. We were told to get science diet sensitive stomach. The thing is she don't want anything to do with hard food. We called back thinking it could be acid reflux and the vet thinks it may be ibd. We got hills d/d soft food. The first night after eating she puked 5 time overnight! The next day I gave her smaller portions she went 8 hours without vomiting. When she did it was 2 small spots, one very watery, the other with food. She sleeps a lot, won't drink water and seems to vomit about 8 hours after eating. Sometimes sooner. Its usually bile or watery, rarely ever food. I feel helpless because we can't find the problem and I don't want to lose her.


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## Heather72754 (Nov 1, 2013)

If it is IBD there are a couple of medications that can be helpful. One is prednisone (or prednisolone), however it does have negative side effects and needs to be used with caution. Two good side effects of it though are the fact that it increases thirst and appetite, so the cat will usually eat and drink better while on it.

There is another medication that was tried on my cat, called Atopica. It is an off-label use for IBD though, as it is a medication that is for cats that have atopic dermatitis. However, going on the theory that atopic dermatitis and IBD are both auto-immune diseases, many people are having success in using it in IBD cats. It didn't work for my cat unfortunately but my vet said she knew of many cases where it had.

Also, although it is controversial in some circles, many people feel that a raw diet is best for cats with IBD. That is because it is the closest you can come to the way a cat is meant to eat, which means it is the easiest for them to digest. Many people feel that the rise in feline IBD is due to a reaction to some ingredient in the diet. It doesn't mean it's a bad ingredient, it just can be one that the cat all of a sudden develops an auto-immune response to. It is said to happen more frequently if a cat always eats the same food for many years as over the years the increased exposure to whatever the ingredient is can cause the reaction. So you know if your cat is eating raw food that there are no artificial ingredients for him/her to react to.

I feel for you - it is heartbreaking to watch a cat struggle with IBD. Hang in there and do the best you can, knowing you won't be perfect. How old is your cat? There are many people on this forum that have cats with IBD, and I am sure you will get some great advice.


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## zuma (Nov 5, 2009)

I have no experience with IDB, but I thought it's diarrhea and/or constipation issues? This sounds more an allergy to me. I'd feed a high quality wet food without any grains and a single protein source that is not as common, as in no chicken, turkey, etc. 
I'm sure more knowledgable people will chime in shortly


Sent from Petguide.com App


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## Heather72754 (Nov 1, 2013)

Also, I meant to say that there is really no way to make a definitive diagnosis of IBD without a biopsy. But many times depending on their symptoms there would not be a difference in treating them so sometimes a decision is made not to biopsy. I think if I were you I would start by seeing a gastrointestinal veterinary specialist and see what they think and what they recommend for diagnostics.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

This feels more like an acute situation, something that came up suddenly even though it's been going on for a while. IBD is usually a chronic problem that kind of sneaks up on you...cat starts vomiting once every few weeks, then every week, then every few days. 

Has the vet suggested x-rays or ultrasound? That would be the next step imo, not treating with medications for IBD. 

Has she lost any weight? Did she recently have any vaccines? I believe Kobi's IBD is due to a rabies vaccine. 

As for diet in the meantime...limited ingredient canned food, a protein source that she hasn't had venison, rabbit, pheasant, buffalo etc. Stay away from chicken, turkey and fish. Hound & Gatos, Wild Calling, Natural Balance, and Instinct would be good brands. I would not introduce raw into the equation at this point. Sometimes it's the only thing that works, but it's not without risk...true IBD is an immune system in overdrive and turning itself on the body. If the raw food used happens to have a high bacteria load it can push the immune system even harder causing the IBD to get worse.


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## Tokkaebi (Feb 5, 2013)

My good friend has two cats who both had bloody diarrhea due to IBD. They were both prescribed rather expensive medication that worked, but he couldn't afford it every month. So I told him to try Wellness food and it's solved his cats' problem! I don't know if this would work for every IBD case, in fact, I know it's no cure-all, but food is really important, and even the Wellness kibble is very good for cats. My boyfriend's cat who lived with me had a couple of UTIs on IAMS kibble, and that's when I did tons of research on good food. Wellness solved my kitties' isues, too.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

The expensive medication was probably chlorambucil (brand name Leukeran). That's what Kobi is on. Prednisone was working for him but caused him to go into congestive heart failure. Then we switched to Atopica (cyclosporine) and it did nothing for him. The chlorambucil was a last ditch effort, it's a chemo drug and as such...nasty. But that's the only thing that works. He is also on a raw diet (RadCat Lamb). He's been doing well and I've started introducing some canned rabbit just to have as a back up for those times when I forget to bring home the raw or take it out of the freezer.


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## purrmachine (Feb 6, 2013)

Thank you everyone, she's not even 2 years old yet. She ate a tiny bit of soft food but that's it today. The worse thing is I was laid off last month so getting her better treatment won't happen right now as I wait for unemployment and to get called back to my job. I do believe she has lost weight due to barely eating or drinking and vomiting. When it seems like she's staring to feel better she vomits and goes back to not eating and just sleeping.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

How long ago were the vet visits and blood work? How much did she eat before she started vomiting? How much is she eating each day now? Is she vomiting up most of it?

If she's barely keeping anything down, then you have a serious situation on your hands and it needs to be addressed asap. When a cat eats less than half of it's normal required amount of food, it is in danger of developing fatty liver disease which can develop within just a few days of reduced consumption, especially if the cat is overweight. Combine that possibility with whatever her original problem is and it comes very critical that she receives further medical attention asap.

You cannot wait days or weeks for unemployment benefits. Is there someone you can borrow from? Something you can sell? 

In the meantime, I suggest that you assist feed her. Get some of the canned foods I mentioned, put them in a blender with water and make a gruel that you can syringe feed her with. Give her a little at a time, hopefully she'll keep something down.


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## purrmachine (Feb 6, 2013)

She was 7 pounds last time she was in the vets. She doesn't vomit up food only bile, rarely does food ever come up. She was at the vets a week ago for blood work. Currently I'm feeding one ounce every few hours because it seems like bigger portions affect her more. Today she hasn't ate at all. Only a few bites of wet food.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

How much did she eat yesterday and the day before? In total ounces for each day...and are you measuring or guesstimating?


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## Tokkaebi (Feb 5, 2013)

Could it possibly be a parasite and not IBD? This seems fairly aggressive even for IBD.


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## koshechka (Jul 14, 2013)

I had a cat with IBD. High blood cell count can be present in IBD, but it is a chronic condition and your kitty's condition sounds very aggressive. With my cat it started as someone described - first vomiting once every few months, then once a month, you think it's hairballs, then more and more often. Could it be some infection or worms? How about acute Pancreatitis, it also has vomiting and appetite loss as symptoms?

In terms of treatment for IBD, one steroid that wasn't mentioned here yet is Budesonide. My Mashka also went into congestive heart failure from prednisolone (turned out she had had a pre-existing heart valve abnormality) and we switched to Budesonide. It's a steroid like prednisolone, but it's action is more localized to the gut, so it has fewer side effects. Metronidazole is an antibiotic that is often prescribed as well because cats with IBD often have an overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut and also because metronidazole has some anti-inflammatory properties.

I opted not to have a biopsy because the less invasive one, endoscopy, could be inconclusive, and I didn't want to subject a senior cat (she was 13 then) to a very invasive surgical biopsy. But she did have the ultrasound, and it showed thickened intestine with well defined layers, the latter being more consistent with IBD then Lymphoma. So while ultrasound is not definitive, and cannot distinguish IBD from Lymphoma, it can show thickened intestine, so you may consider it. Vitamin B12 test is also useful since IBD cats often aren't able to absorb vitamin B12 from food.


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## howsefrau32 (Mar 6, 2013)

Sounds like you have got some good advice, I jut wanted to say I hope that your kitty gets better soon, and that you figure out what is causing the problem. One thing I did want to say, one of my cats has a severe allergy to beef, and she threw up all the time while we were trying to figure out what was wrong with her, and many vet visits, and finally when we ran out of the beef variety of Wellness canned that we had been feeding her, (it was the beef and chicken mixture) we noticed she had not thrown up in a while. She threw up for years and were never did figure it out, we had just decided she was a puker, when we finally figured it out. A few friends that I have that have pets with severe allergies have had good luck with Natural Balance Venison or Duck and green pea. If it is a food allergy, it is really hard to figure it out. I know you said money was an issue, but feeding something like natural bal to one cat, the amount she will probably eat will not be that expensive to feed it. I'm not positive, but I don't believe that NB is grain free, so if it is the grains bothering her, which it could be, then if you can get EVO or Wellness, some places sell them in the 12 ounce cans making it a better value, it really isn't that expensive. One of those 12 ounce cans goes a long way with one cat. I believe that some cats just can't handle the crap and fillers that are in so may cheap foods AND are in Hill's, which is not cheap but has that bad stuff in it. 

I just hope you figure out what is going on, and please let us know how she is doing. Poor little kitty, and you, for all the worry.


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## emilyatl (Sep 9, 2013)

If she's vomiting up bile, that means her stomach is completely empty, which means she hasn't had food in it for quite a while. The bile will upset her stomach, make her not want to eat, then make her vomit. I'd recommend giving her Pepcid to control the stomach acid, and that may stimulate her appetite. This won't FIX the underlying problem though, it will just treat her symptoms. Has she had any diarrhea?

High white blood cells can be an indication of chronic inflammation or infection, but it won't tell you which one (or what the cause is). What WBCs specifically were elevated? Do you have the lab results to post?


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