Anyone dealing with IBD??

For the past few months, Tiki has been having random bouts of diarrhea (on our carpet unfortunately) with some blood. After bloodwork and an ultrasound, the doctor said it is Inflammatory Bowel Disease. He has been on antibiotic (I forget the name...metro-something or other) for 6 weeks now. We had to cut him back from twice a day to once a day because giving him the liquid is stressing him out big time and the doctor said that can make him worse! It's pretty much a lose-lose situation, because he is still having attacks of diarrhea. They have become less frequent (from every other day at one point to maybe once a week or every other week now) and I do not see any more blood, so I guess he is getting a little better. He is also on a low allergen food prescribed by the doctor.

The other day he had a bad attack...crying so loud in pain I felt so bad for him!!!! I am debating taking him to another vet for a second opinion. This has been going on for months and I just want a solution!!!

If you have dealt with IBD, what was your experience? Did it ever actually go away? What was your trick for treating it?

I got my kitty, Whimsey, four years ago at the age of five from a rescue organization. They told me that he had diarrhea, but thought that it was due to the stress of losing his former owner and then being dumped at the local sheltor by that owner's relatives (grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!).

It soon became apparent that he had IBD (this said from the vantage of 20/20 hindsight). I won't go into all of the interventions that he's gone through, but I can keep it under control with flareups maybe twice a year by:

1. Switched him to Rad Cat, a raw food diet (this usually keeps it under control without medication);
2. Judicious use of budesonide and/or metronidazole when he has a flareup which can be triggered by stress;
3. Use of Feliway which keeps my alpha cat, Merlin, from picking on him.

Along the way he also had all of his teeth pulled and all of the chronic inflammation disappeared from his mouth. In retrospect, I think if I could have started him on a raw food diet as soon as I got him we would have achieved this state of balance much faster.

Anyway, he is happy and comfortable and the light of my life! Good luck with your baby.

If you have dealt with IBD, what was your experience? Did it ever actually go away? What was your trick for treating it?

I have cat, Rusty, that used to have the same problem of having diarrhea with blood in it. I first tried using antibiotics, but it didn't help. Then I changed his diet and gave him some supplements and the problem cleared up. Now I still have him on the diet and he doesn't even need the supplements anymore. You can try using the same nutritionist that I used at www.askariel.com. I had a phone consultation and was given the diet and told what supplements might help. Hope this helps!

I am pretty sure I am dealing with it, in Bugsy's case...

IMO you need to find a diet that agrees with his system - for Bugsy I had to remove Chicken; he is super sensitive to it...

Metronidazole, IMO is a great tool, for CRISIS, but not for day to day use - it is a very very powerful antibiotic! IMO a second opinion , to a specialist, is in order. So is a new diet and with added probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes, as discussed with your vet.

There is no cure for it, but it is controllable - you will need to be on top of it, but once you see what he responds to it, things will get better...

Yep, Emmy's got it too. She's on Royal Canin's Sensitivity Control - this is what the vet has put her on and it's worked a treat. She was on the probiotics at first and they were definitely worth the scratches we got from giving it to her, it really got her on the right track.

If you're not completely happy with your vet, there's no harm in getting that second opinion!

Originally Posted by carolinalima

I am pretty sure I am dealing with it, in Bugsy's case...

IMO you need to find a diet that agrees with his system - for Bugsy I had to remove Chicken; he is super sensitive to it...

Metronidazole, IMO is a great tool, for CRISIS, but not for day to day use - it is a very very powerful antibiotic! IMO a second opinion , to a specialist, is in order. So is a new diet and with added probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes, as discussed with your vet.

There is no cure for it, but it is controllable - you will need to be on top of it, but once you see what he responds to it, things will get better...

Click to expand...

VMMV but I agree with the above

My kitty also has IBD and this entire past year has been a whirlwind. There is no cure but it is often manageable with the correct diet and any required meds. However, ALL cats are very different in their response to IBD treatments, so you may have to go through several diets, meds, supplements, etc. to find what works for yours. Also, it typically takes a couple of months before you can even tell if the change has actually helped, so changing things often is not advised and can even make IBD worse.

I highly suggest joining the Yahoo IBD cats group as they are full of knowlege on this subject. Just for reference, here is how I manage my kitty, but it's still a day to day struggle at times:

Diet - Primarily meat-only cans (e.g. EVO, By Nature 95% meats), although she is now getting Cal Natural chicken/rice dry (very simple formula) since she gets nauseous if she goes too long without eating and I can't always be right there to feed her every 3-4 hours.

Meds/Supplements - Four Gentlemen teapills (1 twice daily) and 1/4 pepcid twice daily

I do want to mention that there are SO many causes for diarrhea and you should always get your cat tested for not only the more common parasites, but Tritrichomonas Foetus as well. This requires a special test that has to be sent out. If diarrhea is the only symptom, then I definitely recommend this test. IBD typically has more than just diarrhea as a symptom and often includes things like vomiting, nausea, refusing food, poor coat, etc.

Best of luck to you and your kitty!