Feline Triaditis. My experience and concerns/questions

Hi beaches4me -- yes please, do as Jim suggests!!!  If you're on Facebook then go to the IBDKitties page. I am there also. You will get all the info & all the help you'll need with your little girl. She sounds like she's getting stressed from her malady, but that too can be reversed if you can get her feeling better again. She isn't young tho' & you definitely have that working against you.
It is a tough disease/illness to combat. It's doable but not cheap. Our 9-10 year old boy Spencer survived it, but is still on two meds even after 8 months. He went from 22.7 pounds down to 16.1 & is now back up to 19.6. He is not fat - he is big! Trust me!

It was worth it to us & we were lucky that even tho' we ran up a bill, we got an income tax return which helped a little.
Please keep posting...there are good people here who will try to offer help from their own experiences with this!
 

Hi Beaches, 

Don't give up! We bought two good years for our Jojo, who not only had triaditis, but also asthma and skin allergies, by switching her to home-made food (check out Dr. Lisa Pierson's page), keeping her on prednisolone, and probiotics, increasing the pred and adding in metronidazole when she was flaring.  It's not an easy disease to work with but it's not impossible and my experience was that the meds controlled Jo's flares quickly, and when she wasn't flaring she felt good, was interactive, happy and leading a good life.

Hi,

 I am so glad I found your post because I too have a kitty with triaditis who, on and off, would act not himself. Kind of lethargic.  I can relate to everything you said except the prednisone. He's not on that. He;s about 3 and was always super active. About a month ago he started acting really sluggish and uninterested in things he's usually excited about and the vet said he lost a lot of weight. HIs ultrasound showed that he had inflammation of his liver pancreas and intestine, so we are feeding him through a tube as wella s giving meds like Bupronex for pain. The whole thing is traumatic for him. LIke you, I want to prevent future flare ups. I found a good site that is worth looking into,  When we ask our vet what caused it she just says she "doesn't know".  When we adopted him he did have Giardia, an intestinal parasite. Not sure if there is any connection. I will continue to do research a nd let you know if I come across more helpful info. In the meantime I found something interesting on pancreatitis by itself

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/10/05/pancreatitis-in-pet-cats.aspx

Hi -Sorry~ My  post was to Jim Peterford by the way. LOL  !

Hi group. My Fassah was diagnosed with Triaditis just today. Symptoms same as what is being posted on this thread; vomiting, loss of appetite and diarrhea. She had x-rays, ultra sound and blood work. She is over night at clinic getting fluids and nausea medication. Starting the process with my baby girl (10 yrs young) and looking forward to learning as much as I can about this condition! Everyone's feedback above has given me insight on where to begin

Hi Fassah's person - this is a great group of folks with all kinds of experience. What does she eat? Diet can make a huge difference.

As of this morning she was eating hills Rx (kd) wet and dry. Nothing for her condition, but for another of my cats that has early indications of renal failure.

There's growing evidence (to which I totally subscribe) that dry food isn't good for healthy cats, and can really exacerbate health problems. I firmly believe that I bought an extra 2 years of good life for my triaditic furbaby Jojo by changing her to home-made food.

I use Dr. Lisa Pierson's recipe and web page for info: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood. She provides all the veterinary data for ditching dry. But even if you are not inclined to devote the time to making your own, she provides the compelling arguments for eliminating the dry food and sticking with the wet. Btw - I find that making my own costs about 40% of what I'd pay for a really good premium wet food.  I spend one afternoon a month at it, package it in 4 oz plastic containers and freeze it, and make enough to feed 2 cats for the month..

Hi, I'm reggie's mom, he's a main coone cross about 12 years old.  He's had tummy problems in the past, and has been on a Royal Canin High Fiber,[ supplemented with a bit of tuna and turkey] because of the amount of hair in his stool ., But for the last seven and half days he's had runny diarrhea with blood in it.  His behavior has changed, not as active, seems to be in pain.  To make a long story short, he's been seen by three vets, two in the same clinic.The first vet is an emergency one- took Reggie there the instant I saw the blood thought it was stress, she weighed him, did a rectal, put him on metronidazol 100 mg daily, and thought it was just probably stress. I took him to my regular vet on Monday, who has been treating him for years.  He had lost a pound in two months but was still acting happy and normal.She said he had some guarding around pancreas, and she gave me some flack about not bringing him in earlier, since his bowel movements and eating habits had changed a bit [ I was actually going to bring him in anyways later that week even if he hadn't gotten sick].  I thought he was just stressed out because I am, but she dismissed that and ordered blood tests and gave him Cerenia for anti nausea and stress. .  She said she wasn't going to do stool tests as it would give a false positive, and only would say that Reggie had been getting sick and hiding it. The next day reggie was worse, so my son took him in to the vet while I was at work, but Reggie acted normal, still blood in stool, but it was a different vet,. He gave me heck about Reggie's vomitting [ according to him cats should never vomit, Reggie would do this twice a month for years].  This vet talked about the Triad, the blood work was normal except for elevated pancreatic enzymes, which he said the tests were not really conclusive.  He wanted to do a stool test, even after I told him the other vet said no and started talking about the triad,and IBD, which he thought it was because of the vomitting.  He said his cat has food allergies and thought Reggie had this,  and this would be chronic,  and could be treated with medicine and a new diet. He then outlined the diagnostic tests- xray, ultrasound, a more thorough rectal exam under anaethesia then endoscopy and finally exploratory surgery, but didn't really say when they should be done. He looked at the chart, supposedly, that the first vet sent over and said the first vet gave the wrong medication and gave me, it turns out the same medication- he had looked at the wrong chart somehow.

Wednesday Reggie was worse, I phoned my vet's office to tell them I was bringing in a stool sample, that the vet had prescribed the same antiobiotic and told them I thought Reggie was worse.  I was told the vet wasn't in yet and that to just bring in the sample.  When I got there and talked to the vet he wanted Reggie in- he wanted reggie on IV, painkillers, IV prenisone immediately and scoped soon but I just couldn't- I would get fired if I was late for work. . So he sent me home with a painkiller for two days, prednisone and told me to phone him.  Reggie got better, and the vet didn't say anything about followup.  he still has blood in his feces and today he's acting worse.  And now my vets won't talk to me, I have no idea what I should do now, I'm supposed to phone tomorrow to talk to the second vet about the prednisone, but that's it, nothing else.

When your kitties had this disease did they continue to have or did they have blood in the feces.  All I have read says this is cancer, I'm so afraid.

I'm taking Reggie to the first vet today, an emergency vet, to check on his pain level and weight and show them the feces.  I'm so scared, he is so dear to me.

Has anyone had similar experiences? I really don't know what to do.

Thanks

It isn't necessarily cancer.  My kitty has IBD which at one point was in his liver in the form of cholangiohepatis and fatty liver.  He hasn't had the pancreas involvement yet.  One thing, they are talking about scoping him which I assume would include a biospy.  A biopsy won't have reliable results after starting the steroid, the biopsy is to look at the inflammatory cells which the steroid suppresses.  To be honest, if the vet is suggesting a biopsy after starting a steroid I would be leary of that vets knowledge base.

I didn't get the biopsy done.  Patches was very ill and was started on the steroid right away.  The steroid did get things under control and a small maintenance dose is keeping things under control and has for almost 4 years.  What dose of pred is he on and is it prednisolone or prednisone.

Blood in the stool, though concerning of course, can simply be a symptom of the IBD and not cancer.

hi, he is on prednisolone 5 mg twice daily.  My vets just aren't giving me answers as to what is next or how long to wait for the prednisolone to work.  He's had tummy troubles before but the vet said it was a combination of stress and hairballs, he's  a maine coone, so he's been on royal canin high fibre gi dry for years, and a bit of tuna a turkey for a treat.  I took away the tuna and turkey and put him on royal canin fibre wet on my own, got too many conflicting responses about the tuna, turkey.  He's lost 400 gm in two months, I'm just worried with the vets not comunicating how long to wait in regards to the blood and him being in intermittant pain.  He still eats, drinks, but sometimes he acts so quiet and sad.  Thank you for listening

Hi Reggiesmom- My take on the vet is that you need to find one who will talk to you, but that's just personal opinion. Cats normally don't vomit but long-haired breeds will do so occasionally - when you're stressed about your furbaby it's bad enough, you don't need someone ragging on you for what's already done. What did the blood work show? That will help to tell you what additional diagnostics might be needed.

Jojo's triaditis came on in stages and the first stage was IBD, which caused loose and bloody stools.  Our triaditis diagnosis came after a couple of years of successfully controlling the bowel issues through diet (I cook and feed Lisa Pierson's recipe), and that diagnosis was through blood work that showed liver values off the charts, followed by an ultrasound that showed pancreas involvement. When Jo was in full-blown triaditis mode, a combo of long-acting buprenorphine (pain-killer shot that lasts 3 days) and cerenia (which is a pain-killer as well as an anti-emetic) really helped her pain level, plus we added in metronidazol and upped her prednisolone. If we caught it early we could use the lower dose oral buprenorphine. I kept a supply of both on hand for flares. My vet was very, very good about making sure I had what I needed on hand, and also worked with me to identify increased pred doses when Jo was flaring. We had a complete protocol ready to go.

 btw-wet food is definitely better - stay away from dry - it causes other issues. 

Thank you so much.  I took Reggie to an emergency vet, just to make sure he wasn't in pain and was hydrated.  This vet said he was slightly dehydrated[ they gave him some fluids under the skin] and said he wasn't in pain.  This vet had a definite plan of action, first xray to rule out masses, then ultrasound and also gave me quotes and a timeline..  She was very patient and understanding and explained a lot of things, including the meds and I will probably switch to her, .  While I was there I met another cat mom who's regular vet clinic is also mine, she is also thinking of switching vets. My vet put Reggie on his dry high fiber cat food  years ago when he had a bout of diarrhea and one bloody stool, which she said was because of being a longhaired, but everything I read says wet diet is better. I have learned so much in the last week, just feeling a bit overwhelmed.  Thank you so much for your information.

I had the same issues with finding a good vet with my IBD kitty.  It is frustrating and a good vet makes a world of difference.

@reggiesmom, I'm sorry you and Reggie are going through this.    My Sebastian has chronic pancreatitis, so he's very susceptible to triaditis. I understand your worry and about feeling overwhelmed. When Sebastian had his first pancreatitis attack, I knew nothing about pancreatitis. Over a year later, I know more than I care to know!    Dry food was eliminated from Sebastian's diet earlier this year. He does much better without it from a digestion standpoint. He now gets premium canned and supplemented home-cooked. But, of course, it what works best for your cat. 

Triaditis and chronic inflammatory diseases are difficult and scary, and finding a good, responsive vet is a significant piece of the puzzle.  This virtual group of wonderful folks can help and support you through the stressful process of diagnosis and treatment planning and execution. Finding them made a world of difference for Jojo and me.  I hope that all goes well for you and Reggie. Take GoHolistic's words to heart - find what works best for your cat. If you are interested in making your own food check out Dr. Lisa Pierson's webpage.  I'm feeding 2 cats home-made chicken cat food and spending half of what good quality canned food costs.  Good luck to you and Reggie. Keep us posted.

My reggie has had a xray, shows IBD, but is still pooing blood.  He stopped eating his Royal Canin High Fibre GI dry, and had lost weight, so the vet changed his diet to Rayne Feline Sensitive GI because it had more calories.  I did some googling and found out that other people have had their pets getting very sick to Royal Diets.  Reggie got his last bag about two months ago, about the time he started loosing weight and his poos were runny.  I'm very concerned- has anybody else heard anything about Royal Canin or the Rayne diets?  I looked at the ingredients on both- royal canin doesn't have anything real, Rayne starts with turkey, sweet potato, and peas.

I would try to get him converted to a wet diet whether it is prescription diet or not.  The wet food is easier on the digestive system.  I would be looking to switch simply because it isn't working not because it is a prescription diet.  There are a lot of people who routinely reject any and all prescription diets as bad at best and poison at worst and I think they tend to be very vocal when it comes to writing reviews.  If he has been on this food for 2 months with no improvement then it is time to try something else.

Is your kitty still on the steroid?  I would try one of the simple foods in a novel protein like lamb, rabbit or pork.  Nature's Variety LID, Wild Calling and Hounds and Gatos are three and there are others.  Nature's Variety is the most expensive.  Hounds and Gatos is the hardest to find, most people have to order it online.  Nature's Variety has the fewest thickeners in it which are a problem for some kitties, Hounds and Gatos has the most thickeners in it.

I know seeing blood in his stool is frightening but since he has had an ultrasound and no masses were found I think it is probably a symptom of the IBD.

Sweet potato and peas are not suitable dietary fare for felines and may well be exacerbating Reggie's issues...and I can promise you that no matter how "premium", feeding him dry food isn't helping at all. Denise is absolutely right - switch him to a wet food diet as soon as possible. Meat protein and little else is what Reggie would eat on his own, so that's a good diet to aim for. Since I home-cook I have no knowledge of what's out there, but Denise knows her stuff and you can trust her reccos.

Meant Denice. Sorry Denice for the mis-spell.