Hobbes has IBS?

This little guy so needs a break!
So for the last few weeks Hobbes was having a little bit of a mushy poop and sometimes he needed his butt wiped and I saw little streaks of blood. I did check his poop these times and there was a couple streaks. I called the vet's office and we went ahead and got a parasite test done and it came out clean. This morning he went to the box and I saw that he needed a wipe and I saw it more bloody than usual. Fished out his poop and there was quite a bit of clotty mucousy blood. Took a pic and called the vet's office. Hobbes' vet is on leave this week and the nice lady at the front office (who I have a good rapport with and is also our petsitter) talked to the doctor there who rightfully said that he's not too familiar with Hobbes and suggested I make an appointment with his regular vet and so we will take him in on Monday. With the way Hobbes' poop fluctuates, he thinks it is IBS since otherwise Hobbes is eating, drinking and playing around fine and does not exert himself in the box. So they suggested I try the Hills or Iams prescription diet till Monday when I see their regular doctor. So I am thinking of keeping an eye on his poop and if I see too much blood, we may take him in to make sure there's no injury.
Question: Between Hills and Iams, is one better than the other? I think it will be i/d for Hills and the intestinal low residue from Iams. WOuld be great if you could share your experience with this.

I am planning to get the canned ones since it may not be easy to keep Calvin out of Hobbes' food and Calvin gets diarrhea on dry food. The lady at the vet's office thinks that we can try their dry, too, and it may not affect Calvin the way other dry food affects him. There goes all my plan of feeding the boys food with good ingredients - minimizing grain and stuff like corn and wheat but will do whatever keeps the boys healthy. The trick will be trying to convince them that this food is yummy.

Like always, I am looking for any advice and all the wisdom that members here offer.

A little background: Hobbes was detected with heart murmur and his trip to the cardiologist showed nothing alarming but a slightly larger heart. We will be taking him back to the cardiologist on the 13th for a followup. He also has asthma and has been on prednisone occasionally. We just ordered the aerokat and got a prescription for an inhaler and will start practicing after the labor day weekend.

One of my cats has IBD. We went through several vets before it was diagnosed. His symptoms were a bit different from the standard ones. He would have flares when he would quit eating and be constipated. One of the vets put him on the IAMs low residue and it was really really expensive. Like all the IAMs products it seems to be almost addictive, he really liked it. He was on it for about 8 months and then had a flareup. He is now on a maintenance dose of prednisolone to control it and I feed him California Natural Chicken and Rice. A lot of people swear by a raw diet to control IBD but my two will hardly eat canned food so I never tried the raw diet. The ingredients for the IAMs low residue are horrible but I think that is true of most of the prescription foods.

My Dante is my problem child - he had struvite crystals too and all I learned about litter box issues I learned from him

Anyway, the vet and I suspect he also has a touch of IBD as he'll also have 'mushy' poo on occasion (usually a nice big tootsie roll with mush at the end, or beginning, I don't know which) and sometimes that mucous with a bit of bright red blood.

As I understand it, the actual diagnostic for IBD is an invasive test, like a human colonoscopy, so most times, unless there's a major health impairment, vets will try to treat the symptoms. Which is what we did. Dante needs the Hills C/D as he is prone to crystal formation. The fishy wet CD gives him mushy bowels, which was treated with tylan powder, a mild antibiotic, and stopping the wet fish formula. Chicken wet, not so much. And, Dante seems better with a high proportion of kibble (the dry CD) in his diet.

We now go months between a bit of 'mushy' bowel and any blood streaks, and I tend to think the outbreaks are just when he gets nervous or upset about something (vet visit, whatever).

IMO, if the vet suggests trying a prescription food, I would - and wouldn't overly worry about the ingredients not matching comments on the internet about quality food. In my mind, the quality that counts is if the cat is healthy on a given food - and prescription food may not look great to a lay person, but if it does what it's supposed to do, well, hey....

FWIW, my two love the CD, and I don't find it more expensive than the premium foods. My vet did help me work out proper portion size - some of the prescription foods are really calorie dense.

Originally Posted by Denice

One of my cats has IBD. We went through several vets before it was diagnosed. His symptoms were a bit different from the standard ones. He would have flares when he would quit eating and be constipated. One of the vets put him on the IAMs low residue and it was really really expensive. Like all the IAMs products it seems to be almost addictive, he really liked it. He was on it for about 8 months and then had a flareup. He is now on a maintenance dose of prednisolone to control it and I feed him California Natural Chicken and Rice. A lot of people swear by a raw diet to control IBD but my two will hardly eat canned food so I never tried the raw diet. The ingredients for the IAMs low residue are horrible but I think that is true of most of the prescription foods.

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Thanks for sharing, Denise. Hobbes is on various canned food and California Natural Chicken and Rice. Unfortunately, the boys refused to eat raw and so that's out of question. I have not found a trigger for Hobbes, though. The vet's office mentioned that we will try the prescription diet now and if that does not work then try the hypoallergenic food. My concern is how all this will affect Calvin's sensitive tummy. Will have to see what his regular vet recommends on Monday.

I know Carolina has a lot of experience with IBS because of Bugsy, and I'm sure she'll chime in here. That said, I also know that one of the major things she did for Bugsy that really helped control the problem was putting him on the probiotic specifically for IBS, ALIGN. It is available in most pharmacies. I don't know if she gives him an entire pill or not. But it helped him very quickly, and got him off the steroids.

Originally Posted by LDG

I know Carolina has a lot of experience with IBS because of Bugsy, and I'm sure she'll chime in here. That said, I also know that one of the major things she did for Bugsy that really helped control the problem was putting him on the probiotic specifically for IBS, ALIGN. It is available in most pharmacies. I don't know if she gives him an entire pill or not. But it helped him very quickly, and got him off the steroids.

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Bugsy takes two different probiotics, Proviable -DC, and a human one, made specific for IBS/IBD, called Align. I give him a whole capsule - it has never been used for animals before, but I had such an amazing, life changing experience with it, that I asked my vet to put Bugsy on it. He agreed to let me try. Putting it lightly, saved Bugsy from Surgery. The results were pretty much immediate.
Another member from TCS had the same problem, and read about my success - same thing - put her cat on Align, and bam - no more diarrhea.
You can get it on any pharmacy, including on Target, but I get it on Amazon, as it is cheaper. You will see immediate results, FULL results in 3 weeks.
IMHO Align can save a lot of kitties from prednisolone. My vet is now putting kitties on it before prescribing pred to them..... I am totally glad about that!

Originally Posted by Carolina

Bugsy takes two different probiotics, Proviable -DC, and a human one, made specific for IBS/IBD, called Align. I give him a whole capsule - it has never been used for animals before, but I had such an amazing, life changing experience with it, that I asked my vet to put Bugsy on it. He agreed to let me try. Putting it lightly, saved Bugsy from Surgery. The results were pretty much immediate.
Another member from TCS had the same problem, and read about my success - same thing - put her cat on Align, and bam - no more diarrhea.
You can get it on any pharmacy, including on Target, but I get it on Amazon, as it is cheaper. You will see immediate results, FULL results in 3 weeks.
IMHO Align can save a lot of kitties from prednisolone. My vet is now putting kitties on it before prescribing pred to them..... I am totally glad about that!

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Thanks for sharing, Carolina! When we did Hobbes' stool test a couple of weeks back, I picked up some fortiflora. That cleared the terrible smell from his poop (if he was in the box, we could smell him going from the next room) but clearly did not much for the blood. The good thing is they love the taste of fortiflora and I have been giving him 1/4 packet with 1 meal for 2 meals a day. The recommendation is 1 packet a day. I will buy align and start him on it and take it with me to the vet on Monday so that the vet can see the ingredients and then ok it. I read what you wrote to Lauren. Busgy is such a special guy and so lucky to have you.

Oh, and as far as diet goes, I much rather go into an elimination diet then these you are thinking about it... I would choose either a one protein/one starch diet - such as venison/green pea, Rabbit/green pea, etc, or go straight into hypoallergenic diet - Z/D or Royal Canin HP.
It is ok for Calvin to eat this too - what you do is pump up the wet for him , so he gets his meat from wet, not the dry, and only snack on dry. But for Hobbles I would attack on both fronts, eliminate all possibilities, including food sensibilities (which can result in IBS, BTW).
Also Align is just a probiotic - like Fortiflora, benebac, proviable DC, etc etc. It is NOT a drug. The difference it is that it is a different strain. It is the only one specific for IBD and IBS and backed up with clinical trials for it - no other has that. But no, it is not a drug, in any way shape or form - it is much clrearer than Fortiflora, that has Animal digest, for example. Just letting you know

I forgot
When you discuss Align with your vet, also discuss adding fiber to his diet... It helps to absorb the extra water from his gut and slow down his digestive track. I use Vetasyl, which is a form of Veterinary Metamucil - the capsules are 500mg - Bugsy gets one capsule a day, divided in two meals. It is tasty, so you can sprinkle on the dry or mix into the wet food with a bit of extra water. Do NOT Pill him the capsule or he will choke. Fiber is a great help for IBD kitties, and psillium seems to work the best.

Another wonderful product your vet can order for you, or you can get online is DiaGel - that one will stop the diarrhea on it's track - BUT if it is IBS or IBD, the diarrhea will return. If it is bacterial related, or food related, it will take care of it though.... Worth a couple of doses to try for sure.... Very expensive at $12, but 100% natural, and a wonderful, wonderful product!!!

After having Bugsy's liver compromised by drugs trying to solve his diarrhea problem, the best piece of advice I can give to you, is to try all your natural resources first before loading him up on drugs

Originally Posted by Carolina

Oh, and as far as diet goes, I much rather go into an elimination diet then these you are thinking about it... I would choose either a one protein/one starch diet - such as venison/green pea, Rabbit/green pea, etc, or go straight into hypoallergenic diet - Z/D or Royal Canin HP.
It is ok for Calvin to eat this too - what you do is pump up the wet for him , so he gets his meat from wet, not the dry, and only snack on dry. But for Hobbles I would attack on both fronts, eliminate all possibilities, including food sensibilities (which can result in IBS, BTW).
Also Align is just a probiotic - like Fortiflora, benebac, proviable DC, etc etc. It is NOT a drug. The difference it is that it is a different strain. It is the only one specific for IBD and IBS and backed up with clinical trials for it - no other has that. But no, it is not a drug, in any way shape or form - it is much clrearer than Fortiflora, that has Animal digest, for example. Just letting you know

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Thanks, once again, Carolina.
The food definitely will be a tricky one and it will be me convincing myself, too, that I am doing the right thing for the boys. I know that prescription food works well - it's jst that we seemed to have educated ourself to some extent about "good" and "appropriate" incredients for our kitties and read labels before buying food. I went through a lot of careful selection of ingredients for Calvin and now it seems there will be a whole set of different ingredients (that I'd rather avoid) for Hobbes. I will talk to their vet about the hypoallergenic diet - I was told today that if the intestinal does not work, we will move to that - so we may as well do that. I was giving them California Natural Chicken and Rice (a 1 protein 1 starch diet) since Calvin's diarrhea and he does way better on it than any other dry food. I will just have to find the right balance between the 2 boys' diet now.

And about Align - I know it is not a drug but I do appreciate you explaining. The only reason I want to run it through his vet (though I will be starting it earlier) is that I want to keep him in the loop. Hobbes has multiple issues and a lot of things to keep in mind. It may be a good idea to have this on record at the clinic. Again, appreciate all the help.

Originally Posted by Carolina

I forgot

When you discuss Align with your vet, also discuss adding fiber to his diet... It helps to absorb the extra water from his gut and slow down his digestive track. I use Vetasyl, which is a form of Veterinary Metamucil - the capsules are 500mg - Bugsy gets one capsule a day, divided in two meals. It is tasty, so you can sprinkle on the dry or mix into the wet food with a bit of extra water. Do NOT Pill him the capsule or he will choke. Fiber is a great help for IBD kitties, and psillium seems to work the best.

Another wonderful product your vet can order for you, or you can get online is DiaGel - that one will stop the diarrhea on it's track - BUT if it is IBS or IBD, the diarrhea will return. If it is bacterial related, or food related, it will take care of it though.... Worth a couple of doses to try for sure.... Very expensive at $12, but 100% natural, and a wonderful, wonderful product!!!

After having Bugsy's liver compromised by drugs trying to solve his diarrhea problem, the best piece of advice I can give to you, is to try all your natural resources first before loading him up on drugs

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Once again, thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge. The good thing is Hobbes does not have diarrhea per se - yes his poop is a little mushy, but it's not what we've had with Calvin. I do give Hobbes fiber once in a while, not everyday anymore as I used to, for his hairball, when we thought his cough was a hairball cough and not asthma. Now I give it occasionally. I think I will go back to giving him fiber everyday. It's just the blood in his poop (and a whole lot of it today) that's most concerning. I will surely try food and other additives first before venturing into meds. Hobbes gets prednisone as needed for his asthma and he will be getting flovent soon since that seems to be one of the safest ways to treat his asthma.

Originally Posted by Calvin&I

Thanks, once again, Carolina.
The food definitely will be a tricky one and it will be me convincing myself, too, that I am doing the right thing for the boys. I know that prescription food works well - it's jst that we seemed to have educated ourself to some extent about "good" and "appropriate" incredients for our kitties and read labels before buying food. I went through a lot of careful selection of ingredients for Calvin and now it seems there will be a whole set of different ingredients (that I'd rather avoid) for Hobbes. I will talk to their vet about the hypoallergenic diet - I was told today that if the intestinal does not work, we will move to that - so we may as well do that. I was giving them California Natural Chicken and Rice (a 1 protein 1 starch diet) since Calvin's diarrhea and he does way better on it than any other dry food. I will just have to find the right balance between the 2 boys' diet now.

And about Align - I know it is not a drug but I do appreciate you explaining. The only reason I want to run it through his vet (though I will be starting it earlier) is that I want to keep him in the loop. Hobbes has multiple issues and a lot of things to keep in mind. It may be a good idea to have this on record at the clinic. Again, appreciate all the help.

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Here is my thought on both things: Always, always run everything through your vet.... Luckily, I have a WONDERFUL vet who will work with me - for example - This has been a LOOOOONG road for Bugsy, and I have brought several things for us to try - even herbs from the amazon He took his time, researched, got back to me with his go ahead. Other vets (like the idiot I walked out from before), will just follow a protocol - nope, hasn't been used in cats - this is what is what you are going to use, and period. Had I been in the original vet, I have a feeling Bugsy would be dead.
Bugsy's vet knows everything he takes - all his supplements, all the dosages, and how it affects him - it is very important, because like Hobbes, he is not a simple cat. That is not to say that I will just quiet and not try/discuss/fight/tell him to research better what I believe to be a better route for Bugsy (Luckily with this vet this hasn't been necessary - he is amazing )
On the food - I am on the thought that the best food is the one that works best for MY (in this case your) cat - to the heck with the theory. If a food has what is perceived below the average ingredients, but solves my cat's problems and makes him healthy..... guess what - it is getting fed - no butts, not ifs, and no regrets. A food can be WONDERFUL on paper, but it it makes my cat sick, it might as well be trash.
In my house, every one of them had their crisis, and thank goodness everyone are knock on wood healthy right now - but all of them require attention.... There is no theory here, there is just what they need.
A while back, you might not be aware of this, I was caught in the trap that "any wet is better than the best dry" theory. Hope was eating an all wet diet. I was also told that feeding animal by-products was OK. BIIIIIGGGGG mistake. Hope got SO SO SO sick, she nearly died. She had a bout of IBS (caused by food sensitivity) and explosive diarrhea that would NOT go away - the poor thing was melting away.... she stopped eating, was hiding, and it was a major, major crisis......
This was HOPE - not Bugsy..... The threads are in here on TCS....
You know what saved her? Hills Z/D. Immediately, when I put her on it, she got better - on the same day. After weeks of suffering with drugs, and explosive diarrhea.... Z/D saved my girl.
Only now, almost a year later, I am confident again to add meat - and VERY high quality food (ZiwiPeak) back into her diet - one ingredient at a time.....
So..... think carefully about the theories, and don't discount the power of prescription diets and what works for your cat

Originally Posted by darlili

My Dante is my problem child - he had struvite crystals too and all I learned about litter box issues I learned from him

Anyway, the vet and I suspect he also has a touch of IBD as he'll also have 'mushy' poo on occasion (usually a nice big tootsie roll with mush at the end, or beginning, I don't know which) and sometimes that mucous with a bit of bright red blood.

As I understand it, the actual diagnostic for IBD is an invasive test, like a human colonoscopy, so most times, unless there's a major health impairment, vets will try to treat the symptoms. Which is what we did. Dante needs the Hills C/D as he is prone to crystal formation. The fishy wet CD gives him mushy bowels, which was treated with tylan powder, a mild antibiotic, and stopping the wet fish formula. Chicken wet, not so much. And, Dante seems better with a high proportion of kibble (the dry CD) in his diet.

We now go months between a bit of 'mushy' bowel and any blood streaks, and I tend to think the outbreaks are just when he gets nervous or upset about something (vet visit, whatever).

IMO, if the vet suggests trying a prescription food, I would - and wouldn't overly worry about the ingredients not matching comments on the internet about quality food. In my mind, the quality that counts is if the cat is healthy on a given food - and prescription food may not look great to a lay person, but if it does what it's supposed to do, well, hey....

FWIW, my two love the CD, and I don't find it more expensive than the premium foods. My vet did help me work out proper portion size - some of the prescription foods are really calorie dense.

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Thanks, Darlili. I remember that Dante is mostly on dry food and that prescription diet works well for them. I hope it does for my boys too. Yes, I will surely not think twice about giving them a vet recommended diet, since I know they work. I will, however, have to figure out if Calvin tolerates it, too.

I agree that if the veterinary food works in combination with Align and what not, I would ignore the ingredients and feed what makes your cat healthy.

On the other hand, if you have the time, a raw diet will have the same effect, and will allow your cat to live healthily without any medications. There are many resources pertaining to this, here is just one of them: http://www.catnutrition.org/ibd.html

Minka, thanks so much for responding. Unfortunately, I do not have the time or resources to prepare raw for the boys and I tried feeding them commercial raw (have some sitting in the freezer still) and they will have nothing to do with it. So raw will not work for us.


Also, Calvin and Hobbes do not like the Iams low residue canned that the vet has prescribed for them. This will possibly be an uphill task.
My brain tells me that the boys (Hobbes really) are better off eating the prescription food but my heart breaks since they love certain flavors and they will not have access to variety anymore. Only weeks back I was complaining that they are not eating enough canned food and then I was successful in getting them to eat canned.

I think there is something to highly processed pet foods causing IBD in cats. Unfortunately cats are creatures of habit and it isn't always possible to switch food to what would be optimal for them. The idea that they will eat whatever we give them when they get hungry enough will not work for cats. They will starve themselves or end up with possibly fatal liver problems from not eating. I've resigned myself to Patches being on Prednisolone probably for life. The end of last year he ended up with two forms of hepatitis and was on a feeding tube for a short time to get him through it so I now give him his pill every day to keep the inflammation in check.