Colitis?

Adopted Blue in October 2008. He is about a year old now. Had diarrhea and has not stopped since. I have changed foods at LEAST 5 times. The last one he was on was a prescription diet of venison and peas. now he is on purina rice and chicken becuase he kept throwing the one with peas.
One days he started throwing up and progresively turned into not keeping anything down. Which led to watery diarrhea and loss of bowel control.
Did xrays - negative for bowel obstruction. He has been negative for parasites and worms three times. We also tested for the giardia (sp?); negative. Stool culture was negative. Lab work showed high WBC and Eosinophils. So he leaned towards colitis. He has been on antibiotics and predinosone (steroid) for over 2 wks. Was doing great until today. Threw up everything until he ahd pinked tinged vomit. I happened to have nausea med from the vet that I gave him but you can tell he doesn't feel good.
Any clue what to test for next? Anyone have a cat with chronic colitis that can offer up some advice?

Our kitty didn't have diarrhea, but kept having blood in his stool. He didn't have a problem with vomiting. We went through the same battery of tests and the imaging. Decided it was colitis. At roughly the same time, two of our other males had had several repeat problems with urinary tract blockages from the formation of crystals (calcium oxalate crystals, not struvite crystals). The only way to correct calcium oxalate crystals is through changing the diet. Our vet recommended Science Diet C/D. They free feed on the dry and we split one can of wet (chicken) between the three of them each evening. It's not the greatest food out there - but it's worked. It has worked for the problem with Shelly's colitis, and it has worked to prevent the crystal formation in our other two males. It's been over 1 1/2 years now since we've had any kind of problem.

I don't know if the answer will be that simple. Just sharing what worked for us. I have very little knowledge of cat nutrition options. Perhaps searching in the Nutrition forum or posting there? I know in people how to control IBS - but not in cats!

for your kitty.

Laurie

I have tried science diet but not that paticular one. The Doc said it would be a while beofre we saw any major changes. I am just hoping this is a small step back. Thanks for your input!

I don't think rice and cats belong together andf if you are thinking colitis or ibs or food allergies then the rice can be a big part of any problem. What I have seen work for irritable bowel is a raw food diet that you speciallyt prepare, If you cannot do that or purchase it, then grain free canned food is your next best bet
What I gave for diarrhea that worked for me was acidoupholous, a probiotic

After a little research I don't believe grain is supposed to be involved in a cats diet, either. I wish I'd researched more years ago, but this general consensus has seemed to change. We once thought dry food was best, but now they're saying that's not the case at all...

you might find this link helpful::
http://www.catinfo.org/

All I know is from my own experience. My cat has ulcerative colitis that is under control with high-fiber prescription food. The vet went through a lot of the tests and allergy trials you mention.

When you were on allergy food trials, did you give that food exclusively for two months? It does sound like it could be an allergy.

The typical symptoms of colitis are blood and mucus, not what you describe. That makes it seem like it might be something else. I know you've gone through a lot of vet stuff already, but you might try a specialist in veterinary internal medicine. My cat had to get a colonoscopy before they could get an actual diagnosis.

Every animal is different ... cats have no biological need for grain but NO rice usually is NOT the IBS / Colitis culprit it actually can be a help... that being said having had many different animals( human cat and dog) with this issue , I have found a high soluble fiber diet to work wonders , I dont use grains but easier to digest veggies for this ... probiotics will be of limited use but digestive enzymes are often a big help.. Note IMHO high for a cat would be about 5% of diet to 8 %

There has been blood in it only at his worst. It was pink tinged when it was watery. It is mucousy otherwise. (Sorry forgot to put the poo description in earlier.) There has not been any bright red blood in the stools though. Only when it was watery it was pink, no bright red. The last time he threw up the other day it was pink tinged, like what came out the other end a few weeks before.
I thought about changing protiens. I still have rabbit and duck to try. Although, I am a single person and its becoming VERY expensive. He has not thrown up in over 24 hours so I am going to keep going on what I am doing now. Steriods and Purina chicken and rice. Deep down I wish he had a bug rather than a chronic condition. I just went through a lot with a previous kitten in which I spent $2500 on trying to fix it and failed. I dont want to put down another kitten because I cant figure out what is wrong....