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7 month old has irritable bowel

post #1 of 31
10/20/10 at 11:23pm
Thread Starter 
My baby, Lola, who is 7 months old has irritable bowel... she was taken to the vet last Saturday (10/16) and was given this diagnosis. I feel so awful for her. They gave her a shot and some medication in a syringe to give (thankfully). They stated she may need more shots but I am eternally grateful for having found an amazing vet.

Is anyone familiar with why a kitten would get this? She has not had a change in food or anything of the nature.
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post #2 of 31
10/21/10 at 10:17am
Likely genetic predisposition...

What is she eating? brand and type( dry , wet, raw , homemade)...

what are the symptoms? I have two diagnosised with IBD and one with IBS all have different symptoms
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post #3 of 31
10/21/10 at 10:41am
You are lucky to have a diagnosis this early in the game. Franklin started showing symptoms at 6-9 months old but it was another 18 months before we got the definitive IBD diagnosis. What meds is she getting? Has she started to show symptom relief?

PS IBS = Irritable Bowel Syndrome & IBD = Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
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post #4 of 31
10/21/10 at 3:28pm
i've been having same problems with my ragdoll kitten (4months old)...
how did they diagnose your baby? mine goes from 2x a day soft mixed stool to now 3x a day very soft/unformed...light in color, with a bit of blood and mucus. i am thinking of having mine treated for tri-trich...
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post #5 of 31
10/21/10 at 3:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BELLYBROWN View Post
i've been having same problems with my ragdoll kitten (4months old)...
how did they diagnose your baby? mine goes from 2x a day soft mixed stool to now 3x a day very soft/unformed...light in color, with a bit of blood and mucus. i am thinking of having mine treated for tri-trich...
What tests has your vet done? What treatment s have been done...What are you feeding?
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post #6 of 31
10/21/10 at 3:58pm
This stuff is no fun. There are lots of things to rule out which means lots of trial and error. There is only one way to diagnose IBd and that's biopsy. There is only one treatment for tri-trich and that's Ronidizole (sp). Stay vigilant and stay on top of your vets!
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post #7 of 31
10/22/10 at 11:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sharky View Post
What tests has your vet done? What treatment s have been done...What are you feeding?
Hi- Belly was initially tested for giardia (tested +), treated with metronadizole, diarhhea came back...then treated with panacur- did nothing...then albon for possible coccidia...didn't help...he has been on Hills ID and Royal Canin Intestinal Health...1 can/day...stools were pretty consistant semi formed/mixed with blood/mucus 2x/day...until just 2 days ago he now is going 4x a day
supposed to have him tested for tri trich tmrw!!
do you have any advise??
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post #8 of 31
10/22/10 at 12:11pm
Get him tested...

IMHO your vet jumped the gun with diagnosising... Most likely he will need lots of probiotic therepy
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post #9 of 31
10/22/10 at 12:17pm
Have protein allergies been discussed? If the tri-trich test come back negative, it seems that IBD and food allergies are the remaining candidates. The biopsies need to diagnose IBD are invasive. They are done either with an endoscope or surgically. Either way she'll have to be put under. If you want to rule out food/protein allergies, you could put her on Hills z/d, or another hypoallergenic diet, for about 6 weeks. She should eat NOTHING else. At the end of the trial either her symptoms will have resolved or not. If they have then you know she has a food allergy. You can either leave her on z/d for ever or try and reintroduce proteins one at a time and see how she reacts. If her symptoms do not resolve after 6 weeks then it's not a protein allergy and you may want to consider the biopsies to test for IBD. After 18 months of chasing this stuff I finally had the biopsies done, via endoscopy. Franklin does have IBD, but that's OK. At least We know. He get's 5mg prednisolone every other day and he is symptom free!
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post #10 of 31
10/22/10 at 4:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleW View Post
Have protein allergies been discussed? If the tri-trich test come back negative, it seems that IBD and food allergies are the remaining candidates. The biopsies need to diagnose IBD are invasive. They are done either with an endoscope or surgically. Either way she'll have to be put under. If you want to rule out food/protein allergies, you could put her on Hills z/d, or another hypoallergenic diet, for about 6 weeks. She should eat NOTHING else. At the end of the trial either her symptoms will have resolved or not. If they have then you know she has a food allergy. You can either leave her on z/d for ever or try and reintroduce proteins one at a time and see how she reacts. If her symptoms do not resolve after 6 weeks then it's not a protein allergy and you may want to consider the biopsies to test for IBD. After 18 months of chasing this stuff I finally had the biopsies done, via endoscopy. Franklin does have IBD, but that's OK. At least We know. He get's 5mg prednisolone every other day and he is symptom free!
i actually thought of this route...when switching foods- generally they say to do so gradually...is this the case with hypoallergenic foods? i bought the royal canine venison and gave it to belly once- but then he had diarrhea even more so panicked and stopped immediately...just wondering if you switched to the z/d immediately or gradually? thank you!! i'm so glad your lil guy is finally better!
-sara
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post #11 of 31
10/22/10 at 5:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BELLYBROWN View Post
i actually thought of this route...when switching foods- generally they say to do so gradually...is this the case with hypoallergenic foods? i bought the royal canine venison and gave it to belly once- but then he had diarrhea even more so panicked and stopped immediately...just wondering if you switched to the z/d immediately or gradually? thank you!! i'm so glad your lil guy is finally better!
-sara
I too have one cat with IBS, and one with IBD; both on Z/D, wet and dry. Z/D pretty much saved my girl Hope's life - she was REALLY bad, and at the moment she went on Z/D, she started getting better. Because she was doing so badly on other foods, the vet told me to switch her immediately. There were no ill effects from that; but again, she was doing badly to begin with...
She was also on prednisolone for a month, but now she has her condition controlled with food only. She can not eat ANYTHING else at all... The only food that doesn't make her sick is Z/D, and I tried just short of everything.
Bugsy takes medication daily for his stomatitis, which contains an immune-modulator and helps with his IBD. He is also allergic to Chicken, so Z/D works great for him...
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post #12 of 31
10/22/10 at 6:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BELLYBROWN View Post
i actually thought of this route...when switching foods- generally they say to do so gradually...is this the case with hypoallergenic foods? i bought the royal canine venison and gave it to belly once- but then he had diarrhea even more so panicked and stopped immediately...just wondering if you switched to the z/d immediately or gradually? thank you!! i'm so glad your lil guy is finally better!
-sara
Gradual food change usually relates to dry rather than canned. It has more to do with getting fussy eaters to warm to the new food. There aren"t any health concerns about switch food. z/d is complete and balance so it has all the nutrition you need. If you switch to any other protein, like venison or duck, you may get lucky, but if the symptoms continue you won't have a definitive answer. With z/d you will. z/d + continued symptoms = not an allergy.
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post #13 of 31
10/22/10 at 6:35pm
thank you all for the help. hopefully i will have some answers after the tri-trich test/ zd food trial...im ready for a normal kitty.
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post #14 of 31
10/22/10 at 8:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleW View Post
Gradual food change usually relates to dry rather than canned. It has more to do with getting fussy eaters to warm to the new food. There aren"t any health concerns about switch food. z/d is complete and balance so it has all the nutrition you need. If you switch to any other protein, like venison or duck, you may get lucky, but if the symptoms continue you won't have a definitive answer. With z/d you will. z/d + continued symptoms = not an allergy.
The highlight is Wrong ... The gradual switch is to help changing flora in the gut, Ie high corn diet takes different things to digest than a high rice diet
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post #15 of 31
10/23/10 at 3:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sharky View Post
The highlight is Wrong ... The gradual switch is to help changing flora in the gut, Ie high corn diet takes different things to digest than a high rice diet
You may be right, in an academic sense. Both of these cats are sick in a clinical sense. When I was going through the same thing, my vet advised that getting to the root of the problem asap was key. If Franklin's current diet was the culprit he needed to stop eating it. The only way to find out was for him to stop eating it.

I'm no expert. I just have a cat that went through this and am trying to help by sharing my experience
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post #16 of 31
10/23/10 at 9:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleW View Post
You may be right, in an academic sense. Both of these cats are sick in a clinical sense. When I was going through the same thing, my vet advised that getting to the root of the problem asap was key. If Franklin's current diet was the culprit he needed to stop eating it. The only way to find out was for him to stop eating it.

I'm no expert. I just have a cat that went through this and am trying to help by sharing my experience
We are all giving experience and knowledge...

Most vets , realize I have had multiple species with this issue , still recommend a gradual switch over ( some will recommend a fast 4-5 switch) even with IBD or IBS ... That is what I have heard from other and experienced personally with 7 different vets ....
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post #17 of 31
10/23/10 at 1:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sharky View Post
We are all giving experience and knowledge...

Most vets , realize I have had multiple species with this issue , still recommend a gradual switch over ( some will recommend a fast 4-5 switch) even with IBD or IBS ... That is what I have heard from other and experienced personally with 7 different vets ....
In extreme cases, like on Hope's case though, my vet told me to change immediately. It is not the optimum way to do it, but the other food was SO bad for her, that the food switch was the lesser of the two evils, it really was. An immediate food change was, for Hope, the best thing to do, it was very very clear; she started getting better at the moment I switched foods, even doing it at once, not gradually. IMHO, you need to consider the specific case - in general, it is better to do a gradual switch... but sometimes the food can be almost a "poison", and you need to stop feeding it immediately. In cats, even though there is a general rule, there are some that do not fit the bill; you gotta do what's best for your cat...
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post #18 of 31
11/1/10 at 7:52am
Thread Starter 
I am so sorry I have not been around to update this thread! My laptop broke (my kittens tore the keys off of it and an entire new keyboard was going to have to be ordered) and I had to get a hold of a new one... anyway...

She eats Halo -- it is the purest, most organic food we can find-- no by-product or meal in it.

We were feeding wet food 1x a day in addition while we were eating dinner but ceased that thinking that would resolve it a bit. No such luck.

At the vet, we thought she had Giardia but was confirmed it was not after a parasite test and an explanation that the parasite is very rare here--particularly for an indoor kitten.

So the vet ran the parasite test, I explained the symptoms and he came back stating it was irritable bowel. She got a shot and some medication (metronidazole suspension) to be sure it was not giardia and to treat just in case it was for 10 days.

Things were good for awhile... about a month.

Now, she's having issues again. Calling the vet in about 15 minutes after they open. She has runny poo and going around scratching everything in an attempt to cover it up.

I am so lost. Hopefully the vet can shed some light on this again. This is going to be a mighty expensive cat ;-)
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post #19 of 31
11/1/10 at 11:13am
Halo is FULL of starch and Carbs.... that could be part of your issue... Something I learned , Holistic often = full of lots of unneeded stuff...
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post #20 of 31
11/1/10 at 12:05pm
If parasites and tri-trich have been ruled out, I come back to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (not irritable bowel syndrome) or a protein allergy.
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post #21 of 31
11/6/10 at 6:50pm
Thread Starter 
Today has been eventful.

Lola has been to 2 vets. The first one was awful. Once I told him that she has had all her shots/tests that kittens should have and all came back positive as well as having about 6 fecals... he seemed a bit... um... upset. We left without anything but a script for a minimum ingredient diet (Science Diet z/d) and that's that.

Because of the poor experience, we went to another vet nearish our place and was much happier. The vet saw us on spur on the moment and we will try that location in the future.

The second vet had some Royal Canin Rabbit wet food for sale which we purchased for $50/24 cans. Apparently, each of our kids (2 of them) need 1 can day. Therefore, each month we would be spending $100+ on food.

We have tried to feed them separately and they don't take to it well. Eeecks. I am so lost and frustrated.

It is believed she has inflammatory bowel disease.
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post #22 of 31
11/6/10 at 6:58pm
Over the counter Rabbit diets are often very similar to the RX ... Ask the Vet about them...

Z D will definitely tell you if it is a protein allergy and IBD in some cases ... For a Trial I would try the zd first ... If it does not work then you know it is IBD and not IBD linked to allergy to food .... If it does work very well you will know it is likely a protein allergy issue( In my experience both go hand in hand ) ....

I do not understand why the first vet did not make sure you went home with the ZD ...
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post #23 of 31
11/6/10 at 7:13pm
Thread Starter 
First vet suggested to purchase it at PetCo.

Second vet did not carry it (the z/d)--only the Royal Canin option (and they only had the wet). He stated since she has only eaten chicken, to try to rabbit to see if it is a sensitivity (or whatever) to the chicken. Stated they could order the dry.

Went by a PetSmart today... they had the z/d dry at $25 for 4 pounds.

I am at wits end.

approx $125 for a month supply of food alone is steep no matter how you look at it.

On the topic of the first vet... we were very dissapointed. We asked if the original vet we saw at that clinic was regular and he isn't--just on call. And he practices far from the city regularly (which may explain why he is so nice).

It is awful it has been so difficult finding a vet which loves my kitties as much as I do :-(
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post #24 of 31
11/8/10 at 7:03am
Just a note for those considering trying z/d to see if allergans are part if the IBS problem, the #1 ingredient in z/d dry is Brewer's Rice. z/d dry is marketed as a "low allergan" food - but Brewer's Rice can be an allergy trigger. If you're going to eliminate allergies as a source of the problem, please try feeding the z/d wet only.
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post #25 of 31
11/8/10 at 10:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LDG View Post
Just a note for those considering trying z/d to see if allergans are part if the IBS problem, the #1 ingredient in z/d dry is Brewer's Rice. z/d dry is marketed as a "low allergan" food - but Brewer's Rice can be an allergy trigger. If you're going to eliminate allergies as a source of the problem, please try feeding the z/d wet only.
Very good Info thank you as I did not think about that ... I guess I figured it was all micronized proteins...
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post #26 of 31
11/8/10 at 1:59pm
It doesn't say it's hydrolyzed Brewers Rice, it just says "Brewers Rice." And THEN I noticed the dry says "low allergan," not "ultra allergan" like the wet does.

It's a major ingredient in the c/d dry too (which we feed our cats). We thought we'd done the food allergy elimination for Chumley when he was on z/d for almost two months... but we fed him the dry. So yesterday I went ahead and picked up all the dry food (despite the revolt) so we can eliminate the Brewers Rice as a possible trigger. My understanding is that Brewers Rice is a known allergan (so I find it REALLY strange it's in the low allergan food, but whatever).
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post #27 of 31
11/8/10 at 2:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LDG View Post
It doesn't say it's hydrolyzed Brewers Rice, it just says "Brewers Rice." And THEN I noticed the dry says "low allergan," not "ultra allergan" like the wet does.

It's a major ingredient in the c/d dry too (which we feed our cats). We thought we'd done the food allergy elimination for Chumley when he was on z/d for almost two months... but we fed him the dry. So yesterday I went ahead and picked up all the dry food (despite the revolt) so we can eliminate the Brewers Rice as a possible trigger. My understanding is that Brewers Rice is a known allergan (so I find it REALLY strange it's in the low allergan food, but whatever).
Brewers rice is a allergen as it is fractionated rice( ie piece so you do not know if you got the protein, carb or the fat part or a combo)...

Yeah I remember the cat one saying low allergen vs the dog saying No allergen but thought I read that had changed evidently it was the canned not the dry...
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post #28 of 31
11/12/10 at 9:29pm
Thread Starter 
Hey everyone! Just thought I would throw out another update. Lola is going okay so far on the rabbit Royal Canin. But... only time will tell if this is a long term solution.

Having a lot of trouble separating the kitties at meal time. They don't as well as they should when we do. Feeding both the babies this rabbit food is a bit out of my finances right now due to family emergencies. In addition, I also need to keep some money aside for Lola's constant vet visits.

If anyone has any ideas in how to effectively get this separate feeding thing down that would be great!
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post #29 of 31
11/12/10 at 10:05pm
Just keep at it. Put them at different levels. Lola up on a table, other kitty on the floor.

Feed Lola first, and give her a few minutes head start before feeding the other kitty. Possibly distract the other kitten by tossing a kibble on the floor for her (him?) to chase, to give Lola more time. One kibble at a time.

As soon as second kitten is finished remove her (him?) from the room until Lola has finished.
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post #30 of 31
11/2/11 at 10:10am

I adopted a Siamese Chocolate Point Cat from a breeder last March 2011. It has been 7 months now and she still has diarhhea... The Vet I took her to is of NO help for me. All the bloodwork and the fecal check came back negative for any issues. It must be the food.. I changed the food and it seems that nothing helps her. Does anyone have a cat that has had constant diarhhea and gas with smelly stools?  She is a Siamese. What medicines are out there that are used to treat diarhhea for cats? Doxycycline is one of them.   PM me please I'm not always going to be on here.  Thanks from Debra 

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