Inflammatory Bowel Disease

I suspect my 16 year old male Siamese has IBD. I think he has actually had this for years, but the vet I was taking him to never even suggested it. He was treated for a thyroid tumor 2 yrs ago, but it seems that is unrelated as the surgery did nothing to change his bowel habits. He has not used his litterbox to defecate in about 4 years, but it was only in the last 3-4 months that his stools have been very watery. They were usually fairly normal shaped, but clearly looser for most of the time he did not use his box. He also vomits fairly frequently, 95% he vomits food, the other times it looks more like a mucous. It was not until last March that my new vet finally suggested IBD. So I have begun treating him as if he does, since I don't have $800 to do a biopsy to find out for sure. The vet did suggest cancer, but my feeling is if this has gotten to the point of cancer, I would think he would be having all kinds of problems. Thing of it is, his appetite has not changed and he eats fine. He drinks water normally and urinates. He has been mildly lethargic, but nothing alarming. I did recently change his diet from Iams to Hill's I/D and it has made a big difference. He still goes out of the box, but only 1-2x a day instead of 6x. He's on prednisone to help with the inflammation and meds to control his thyroid. I really don't think it has progressed to cancer and that I have finally caught it in time to be able to reverse much of this. I am interested in other member's experiences with something similar, and if anyone has had a cat go this long with IBD before getting the correct diagnosis. I just need an idea of what I can hope for with this. I feel very positive, but I could use more information and insight.

--Whes

IBD is difficult to diagnose, and the symptoms are often mistaken to be signs of other conditions.

My girl, who will be 20 soon, has in all probability, IBD. Several years ago we had an ultrasound done with a liver biopsy, which confirmed liver disease. My vet suspects that during the last few years my kitty has developed IBD as well, or Triad Syndrome (involves the liver, IBD, and the pancreas).

Most vets will diagnose this condition through clinical signs, ie. episodes of vomiting, diarrhea, etc. Ultrasound can help diagnose liver disease and can show thickening of the intestines, a possible indication of IBD. Liver biopsies done by an experienced internist are generally safe - a very fine needle is used to take tiny tissue samples. My vet discourages biopsies of the pancreas though - they can be dangerous because the pancreas is very vascular and bleeding caused by biopsy may not be able to be controlled.

Two things that help my girl are slippery elm and L-Glutamine. She gets 5cc once per day of a "syrup" made of the slippery elm, and 1/2 of a 500mg capsule of L-Glutamine per day, divided into her meals.

The slippery elm is a natural anti-inflammatory and soothes the digestive system. Glutamine is beneficial to the cells of the intestines. (Glutamine should not be given to cats who are taking anti-seizure meds).

Diet, of course, is very important. You want a high quality food with easily digestible nutrients, and nothing with too much fat in it as fat can be hard for cats with IBD to digest and can cause diarrhea.

My baby has kidney disease in addition to liver disease and IBD. She has what I believe are IBD episodes every few weeks; sometimes we'll go a whole month before it flares up. But (knocking on wood here) so far the natural supplements have really made a difference for her.

There's a good section on recommendations for treatment of IBD in a book by Shawn Messonnier, DVM: "Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats" (Your A-Z Guide to over 200 Conditions, Herbs, Vitamins, and Supplements)

If you need more info, please PM me. I'll be happy to help you.

With the right food, it certainly can be controlled
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You need to either switch to canned foods with no grains or as little as possible or a raw diet where there are no grains at all.

What you also want to do is cut down on the fats

A human grade quality canned food like Merrick or wellness with chicken breast added would be great.

Diet plays a huge part in most IBD cats, If a no grain diet doesn't do the trick,
A novel protein like rabbit,vennison ect with no grains,

For a raw diet which is the best choice by far, you can buy something like nature's variety or you can make your own
These sites shows you how
http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm
http://www.catnutrition.org/pictorial.php
Study on raw diet for this disease
http://www.cfa.org/articles/health/role-of-diet.html
Here is a link about ibd
http://www.felineoutreach.org/Educat...il.asp?cat=IBD
http://www.catnutrition.org/ibd.php
My info comes from working with diabetic cats worldwide and many of them have other issues including ibd. I am giving you info that works. The very best

KTLynn Has given some very sound advice as did Ken .. though just as many IBD s need grain as dont in my multiple animals with this issue...