Ibd

My little pal Franklin has recently been diagnosed with IBD. He's 2 1/2 and started 5mg prednisolone 2x/day about 10 days ago. He is MUCH better. He had been throwing up every day or two and had lost a lot of weight. He hasn't puked since he started the pred. and he has regained 3/4 of a pound! The goal is to slowly wean him down to 5mg of pred. every other day over the course of several months. Does anyone else have helpful tips on managing IBD?

Thanks,
Kyle

There is a difference between Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in cats and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in people. The latter is what is often referred to as 'nervous stomach' as there can be a stress component. In IBD there are actually inflammatory cells that embed in the lining of the intestine. These cells, when inflamed, tend to see eveything that they come in contact with as alien invaders. These cells then do everything possible to get the invaders (including food) out as fast as possible, including diarhea and vomiting. Unfortuneatley you can never get rid of these cells. Prednisolone, and other anti-inflammatories, keep the cells quiet so the cats can eat and properly digest.

I have 2 cats with IBD - Bugsy and Hope. Bugsy has IBD and Stomatitis and he takes daily meds for his Stomatitis, which greatly helps his IBD as well. He is also on a restricted diet - can not have Chicken or duck.

Hope was on Pred for 20 days, metro for about a month or so... Now she is completely fine and we are managing her situation with food alone, no medication - She is eating Hills Z/D.

I have tried other diets before Z/D and nothing really worked for her, but at the moment she started on it she got better... The results for her were amazing.

Since Z/D is a prescription food, discuss with your vet a plan. It used to be intended for short term use, however I called Hills and they said it is a complete diet that can be used for short, long term, and even for a lifetime if need be. Again, discuss it with your vet.

To KyleW - I am curious... Do you have IBS? Because I do, and I tell you that mine depends on what I eat and not on how stressed I am... I can be mediating on a pool of calm thoughts... Pizza is still a very risky food for me!

I don't have IBS and I did not mean to imply that it was psychosomatic. I was inelegantly trying to differentiate IBS from IBD.

I am familiar with z/d. IN fact I have a closet full of it, both canned and dry We may have put the cart before the horse, but in an effort to rule out (or in) food allergy, Franklin was on nothing but z/d for a month. It had no beneficial impact. He was still throwing up about every other day and had diarrhea. That's when he had the biopsy which confirmed the IBD diagnosis. The minute I started him on prednisolone all the symptoms stopped. He's now eating Royal Canin Intestinal HE dry and Natural Balance Green Pea & Duck canned and has managed to regain 3/4 of a pound.

We are still in the very early stages of his IBD journey. Eventually I'd love to get him off all meds, but the vet warned this might not be possible. THe first step is to cut the current dose in half, which will happen in 2 weeks.

Originally Posted by KyleW

I don't have IBS and I did not mean to imply that it was psychosomatic. I was inelegantly trying to differentiate IBS from IBD.

I am familiar with z/d. IN fact I have a closet full of it, both canned and dry

We may have put the cart before the horse, but in an effort to rule out (or in) food allergy, Franklin was on nothing but z/d for a month. It had no beneficial impact. He was still throwing up about every other day and had diarrhea. That's when he had the biopsy which confirmed the IBD diagnosis. The minute I started him on prednisolone all the symptoms stopped. He's now eating Royal Canin Intestinal HE dry and Natural Balance Green Pea & Duck canned and has managed to regain 3/4 of a pound.

We are still in the very early stages of his IBD journey. Eventually I'd love to get him off all meds, but the vet warned this might not be possible. THe first step is to cut the current dose in half, which will happen in 2 weeks.

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That is great that you found a diet that worked for you!! It can be a loooooonnnnnnggggg road! It was for our little girl Hope - she suffered for quite a while before we finally found Z/D. I never liked Hills, and was very skeptical of trying... Now I gladly feed her that and pray to GOD that she keeps eating and liking it for a long long time . She is known for getting finicky and the thought of that petrifies me.

Pred was also the treatment of choice for her... I hope once the inflammation goes down, your boy can be off meds.

Oh, before I forget - she also eats a fiber supplement sprinkled on the food - it is called Vetasyl. My vet wanted her on a high fiber diet but since the only thing she could handle was Z/D, I sprinkle one capsule a day on her food. She has no problem with the taste whatsoever... Bugsy also gets it on his dry food.
I am not sure if HE is high fiber? Sometimes a higher fiber diet helps IBD kitties.

I am familiar with the long road It has taken 2 years to get where we are today. Most of that time was spent thinking protein allergies and tinkering with his diet. Luckily Franny will eat anything and just went along for the ride Up until now I've always thought Franklin was a picky eater. The though of switching dry foods used to make me cringe. But now that his gut is getting better I don;t think he's quite so fussy. I think it was food in general that he used to shun, not any particular kind, because his stomach was a mess.

Ah, I feel for you. My Archie was having gut issues - My vet didn't think it was IBD ... I am sure you know the true diagnosis is a deep biopsy - which is dangerous. We tried a more conservative approach.

I am lucky in that a change in diet - eliminating virtually all grains ... has seemed to fix the issue. Took about 3-4 months for his gut to quiet down. He is a much happier boy now, too.

Good luck with Franklin.... lots of for him.

I spent 2 years trying to treat all kinds of "diagnoses", all unsuccessfully. We got to a point where IBD had to be ruled in or out, so Franklin had biopsies taken via endoscopy. THey confirmed IBD which was good and bad. Bad in that there is no way to eliminate it and good in that at least we know what we're dealing with

Franklin has now been on 2X/Day prednisolone for 18 Days. THe change is nothing short of amazing! His apetite is very good. He hasn't thrown up since he started the pred. His diarrhea has cleared up. He was initially a little sluggish on the pred. but that seems to have ended. This morning I saw him attack Franny for no apparent reason We go back to the vet next we for a check up.

Originally Posted by KyleW

Franklin has now been on 2X/Day prednisolone for 18 Days. THe change is nothing short of amazing! His apetite is very good. He hasn't thrown up since he started the pred. His diarrhea has cleared up. He was initially a little sluggish on the pred. but that seems to have ended. This morning I saw him attack Franny for no apparent reason

We go back to the vet next we for a check up.

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This is good to hear. Re: IBD diagnosis - yes - at least you know what you're dealing with... it's better than the frustration of NOT knowing. He's a beautiful kitty - give him some scritches for me. I have a soft spot for meezers. EDIT - ooops... they are Balinese, which I assume has a meezer root, right? Colorpoint, blue eyes?

Bali's are Siamese with longer coats. Other than that they are the same

THe latest news on Franklin and his IBD is all GOOD! He finished 4 weeks of 5mg prednisolone 2X/day and then 4 weeks of 1X/day. He regained 1.5 pounds, which was 25% of his low body weight. There has been no vomitting and no diarrhea! Yesterday we went back to the vet, who was impressed with the improvement. The pred has now bee reduced to every other day I am hopeful that this maintenance dose continues to keep the deamons away

Originally Posted by kwarendorf

Yesterday we went back to the vet, who was impressed with the improvement. The pred has now bee reduced to every other day

I am hopeful that this maintenance dose continues to keep the deamons away

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yes vibes for your kitty cat

Originally Posted by kwarendorf

THe latest news on Franklin and his IBD is all GOOD! He finished 4 weeks of 5mg prednisolone 2X/day and then 4 weeks of 1X/day. He regained 1.5 pounds, which was 25% of his low body weight. There has been no vomitting and no diarrhea! Yesterday we went back to the vet, who was impressed with the improvement. The pred has now bee reduced to every other day

I am hopeful that this maintenance dose continues to keep the deamons away

Click to expand...

Yay!!!!! Good to hear!

I heard from the vet yesterday and Franklins B12 level is 324. The bare minimum is 290. having had 6 weekly b12 shots, the vet said he expected the level to be closer to 1000. We are going to give Franklin 3-4 more weekly shots to allow his body to finish recovering from the IBD drama. It's all good though