7 month old has irritable bowel

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.

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

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.

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...

Originally Posted by BELLYBROWN

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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What tests has your vet done? What treatment s have been done...What are you feeding?

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!

Originally Posted by sharky

What tests has your vet done? What treatment s have been done...What are you feeding?

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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??

Get him tested...

IMHO your vet jumped the gun with diagnosising... Most likely he will need lots of probiotic therepy

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!

Originally Posted by KyleW

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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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

Originally Posted by BELLYBROWN

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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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...

Originally Posted by BELLYBROWN

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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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.

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.

Originally Posted by KyleW

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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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

Originally Posted by sharky

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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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

Originally Posted by KyleW

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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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 ....

Originally Posted by sharky

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 ....

Click to expand...

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...

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 ;-)

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...

If parasites and tri-trich have been ruled out, I come back to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (not irritable bowel syndrome) or a protein allergy.