Advice Please. IBD, anxiety, or something else?

Hi All,

I am new to the forum and in desperate need of advice. My obese (22lbs) 10 yr old neutered male orange tabby was diagnosed with diabetes in Dec 2011. The vet gave no advice except "here is some insulin, give him this much." The result of a huge amount of research on my part is Spanky now has diabetes under control with a change in diet. Spanky is currently fed: Fancy Feast Classic wet food or Friskies Pate at around 7am & 7pm. So I am reluctant to change Spanky's food since his diabetes is under control. Since changing Spanky to wet food we have had issues with him having loose poops. He was having an occasional accident, but in May he began pooping in my bathroom and the poo was mucusy and bloody. The vet treated him with Flagyl. The pooping issue was sporadic up until July. Spanky began not using his litter box at all. The vet ran many blood test and treated Spanky with an injection of antibiotics along with oral.All blood test were perfect, including thyroid.  We also purchased Feliway. I also carried Spanky to the litter box 2 times a day, and within a week he was back to normal with his training. Spanky has always been an occasional puker, but this has increased as well. Spanky will try to wake me up at 3 am every morning, if I don't wake up and feed him, or stir the food in his bowl, he will throw up. I explained all this to my vet and they are telling me to try amoxicillian and flagyl again. I think it is more IBS or Stress, as Spanky is terrified of rain or thunderstorms.

So the issues are:

1. Recurrent loose stool. He poops one time a day, its usually loose and has sometimes has bright red blood in it. He also has urgency with some accidents.....Thoughts?

2. Vomiting at least once a day at 3 am while usually on an empty stomach. This morning he has vomited 4 times.

Any advice is appreciated.

Val

A little more information: I went and put more food down for Spanky, his bowl was not empty. He ate a few bites, and now he is acting fine. Since 3am he has been smacking his lips and moving around a lot like he was not comfortable. Now that he has ate, he is fine. I took him to his litter box normal pee-pee and his poo was a little loose, but better than usual. I have spent 500 bucks for the vet to tell me "we will do whatever you want next" or just keep giving him antibiotics. I'm 20 weeks pregnant and I need to have a home that I am not cleaning up poop and vomit off the floors every day.

The smacking of his lips, is an indication, he feels like he needs to throw up, kinda the feeling you feel, just before you do.  

I don't know very much about diabedies, other than, one of the causes is feeding a grain food. Grains are carbs, carbs are sugars, same as with people.

I highly recommend you take him off the Purina products, which are Fancy Feast and Friskies, they are filled with grains, by products and glutens. Grains cause tummy upset and crystal/urinary/bladder issues.  Glutens also cause tummy issue, hence, you see so many human products, that are gluten free. By products are the left over anything, from the animal, including the 3 D's and euthinized cats and dogs, and their collors.

I will also give you some links to read.

If I understand your post correctly, kinda early, lol, you feel he is over weight. Feeding grains contributes to this.

You need to feed a grain free, by product free, gluten free food. I feed Blue Wilderness chicken. Or you could feed Freedom, it has the exact same ingredients as BW, except it does not have fish meal in it, and its lower in fat and protein %'s. Mine are show cats, they need the higher fat and protein. Both are by Blue Buffalo, you can get it at Petsmart or Petco. 

You also need to look at the kcal count (calorie), and with the help of your vet, or the other very knowledgeable kitties on here, how much you should feed, per day, then split it up into 2 or 3 feedings per day.

You will find, you feed alot less, of the grain free food, and your cat is healthier, which means, less trips to the vet, lol.

Mine get  1/2 3.0 can in the morning and 1/8 cup dry at night, one does get 1/4 cup. They are not thin,  and I would not want any more weight on them.  2 of my kittens, finished in the top 25 last season, judges don't final thin or overweight kitties.  

Here are some links to help you.

http://catinfo.org/

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/ralston.html

http://www.bluebuffalo.com/healthy-cat-food

I also have a diabetic cat whose condition is now controlled by her diet. (She originally took glipizide, an oral medication but no longer needs to have it.) I feed her Fancy Feast classic turkey and giblets, and classic beef. Both have no grains and are low carbs, as may be seen on Janet & Binky's cat food comparison page: http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html

The biggest difference between how you and I feed our cats, Val9955, is that on my own I decided to feed her four times a day. She gets half of a 3 ounce can for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime. Total of 6 ounces a day. Never any dry. This isn't something my veterinarian suggested, it was my own decision. If human diabetics are told to eat frequent small meals, why not a diabetic cat.

If cats are obligate carnivores who shouldn't eat grains I see no reason why they should consume blueberries, cranberries, sweet potatoes etc.

I advise you to see a different vet if at all possible. I agree with getting him on a better quality food and also feeding more than you are now. But if it is IBD, you need to also get that under control and this vet seems to just shove things at you and say nothing. I think you need another more compassionate and forth coming vet. If it is IBD that's something that will take time and effort. For now try giving him a 1/4 piece of a 10 mg Pepcid a/c twice daily 30 minutes before a meal. This will help with that nausea and acid. Is there another vet in your area you can take him to?