IBD cat - i/d or other?

Belle is just beginning to get better - she started vomiting and then went off her food. It took her a week and a half and a couple vet visits to get better - prednisolone seems to be what has made her turn around.

The vet recommended putting her on Hill's i/d wet and dry. They really didn't know what's wrong with her, but expected a case of IBD, as she has had some vomiting/soft stools in the past (not a lot, IMO, the main concern other than milk being that she always had softer stools with foods with grains in them).

The girls were eating Orijen dry and Friskies wet (sucks, I know, but it was the only one they would eat consistently - one variety only - chicken dinner pate).

Delilah had an issue last Christmas where she was pooping mucous from an irritated bowel and seemed to be a bit constipated. Now Belle's issues.

In other news, Delilah is on the chubby side and her teeth aren't great. At our last check up (before Belle got sick), the vet recommended Hill's Healthy Advantage...blah...

Right now, we're still in desperation mode - so I still have the Orijen out (Belle wasn't eating dry and I didn't see much sense in messing with Delilah's food at this point) and we've been giving Belle Fancy Feast (tuna flavour, but they've had some chicken as well. Delilah has been nibbling on the FF a bit as well.

I don't mind feeding i/d dry if that's going to help their digestive health. Looking at the ingredients, however, I don't see how it can be good for them. i/d wet, at $2.40/can, I have a bit of a problem with.

So, I'm not really sure where to go from here. Is i/d really the best option for an IBD cat? Are there foods with better ingredients that would be OK as well?

On the other hand, is IBD really just a catch all for "we don't know why your cat's throwing up and won't eat"? She didn't have any diarrhea as far as I can.

I/d Is one used for Ibd ... the issues is what triggers... One of mine it is soy and wheat( easy enough to avoid) ... One We have no idea he gets an attack for no apparent reason... the other we have some ideas but nothing concrete( stress and enviornment seem to play into )

IBD and IBS are real things ... they are harder to diganois( IBD is by elimination or biopsy though one person on here got a blood test)... Ibs is process of elimination


I have had many ibd animals and some work with raw and homemade well, one needed an RX( but this was nearly 15 yrs ago) my current 2 ibd kitties are on moderate protein moderate fat some grain diets ( one would do fine on grain free the other not )... It is a trial and error process .... Z/D is commonly used in the beginning and can if nessessary be used forever ... D/D is another common one as well as many similiar RXs from other brands... Royal canins with pea and meats are popular

I have an IBD cat. It took years and many flare ups and almost his death to get the right treatment nailed down. I have been feeding him the science diet senior cat formula wet food. He seems to do well on that. I rotate flavors as he is picky and won't eat the same thing all the time. I feed him other brands of the better brand wet food I find at Petsmart. Till now he has done fine. Lately I adopted another cat who was on dry food so of course now that's all he'll eat. I've started feeding them both the wet food in the morning and the Purina One dry food in the evening. It's the only way I can get him eat the wet food anymore. So far he's doing fine but I'm watching him closely for signs of any problems. Usually when I see signs of a flare up I have the vet put him on meds and anti nausia medicine and that does the trick. I've been told that one day he may need to be on meds all the time as well as the perscription wet food. I used to be on yahoo group that was about IBD cats. Some advocated what is known as a raw diet as being best. I don't know. That kind of diet takes a lot of time and may not work. You just have to try different diets and see what works good luck.

Not an expert, but from what I recall w/ IBD they are really just limiting ingredients that can be a cause of upset.

BlueBuffalo has a relatively new formula called basics which eschews chicken and rice and other common ingredients and keeps things simple. No corn, wheat, soy, etc.

Looked pretty good to me, although the fat is a bit on the lowish side, but I had read elsewhere that for cats w/ diarrhea, sometimes a slightly lower fat food can help so its probably intentional.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

Not an expert, but from what I recall w/ IBD they are really just limiting ingredients that can be a cause of upset.

BlueBuffalo has a relatively new formula called basics which eschews chicken and rice and other common ingredients and keeps things simple. No corn, wheat, soy, etc.

Looked pretty good to me, although the fat is a bit on the lowish side, but I had read elsewhere that for cats w/ diarrhea, sometimes a slightly lower fat food can help so its probably intentional.

Click to expand...

This food is NOT simple... Most define a simple formula as one meat and one grain... or two meats and two grains... The marketing on this is excellent ... Cats are made to digest fat and protein, in the majority of foods both are still low vs a prey diet( I mean the kitty who still hunts)