Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

My cat has been suffering from diarrhea for about 1.5 months now. It came on quickly. He has had no health problems up to this point, and it is estimated that he is around 9 years old.  He is an indoor cat, but in the past we would let him out on occasion and he would eat the grass in the backyard. We never let him out without supervision, and we would only let him walk around in the yard for 10 minutes at most. About 7 days after his last outing, he vomitted up undigested grass. This concerned me greatly.  Then, he had an accident on the floor - his first instance of diarrhea.  Now, he is able to make it to the litter box, but his stools are consistently pudding-like. Sometimes he will have a somewhat normal bowel movement, but the harder stool has some white mass in it, not worms from what I can tell. And, I sift throw it everyday.

To first address the issue, our vet had us switch to Hills i/d. This did nothing. He has had blood tests and multiple stool tests. The vet treated him with Clavomox when his stool sample showed a possible bacterial infection. He was on Clavamox for 10 days, and no improvment. His lower intestine and rectum are inflammed. X-rays show no blockage or issue other than inflammation. We have done steroid shots at the vet, and this did nothing. We did an ultrasound, and luckily, no masses or scar tissue that could be detected. We did a 3-day dewormer, and this has not fixed the issue. (Though, his stool contained a what looked like a bunch of little grains - like the stuff that comes off the top of an english muffin. This only happened when we gave him the dewormer.) We are now treating him with Metronidazole, but again, no results. Also, during this mess, we tried a high protein diet that made things worse.  Every once in a while he will throw up, but largely the issue is inflammation of his lower intestine, rectal area, and the watery, pudding-like stools. During this ordeal, he has developed pancreatitis. The vet believes that this has been caused by the inflammation issues, and likely the resulting stress of frequent visits to the vet.  We have also recently switched to Hills z/d on the advice of our vet. My cat hates this food and will not eat it. He is hungry and would rather not eat then even smell the Hills z/d.  As he has maintained his body weight and somehow managed to stay hydrated during this whole ordeal, the last thing I want him to do is go hungry.

Has anyone had this issue?  If so, please let me know treatment options, what has helped, what has not worked, etc. I would do anything to help my cat, I just wish I knew what would actually help him.

Here is a great website for cats with IBD (http://www.ibdkitties.net). Often the vet food and treatments do not work very well and some people do very well trying a raw or limited ingredient wet food. Also dry food often irritates their intestines more so wet or raw is easier for them to digest. There are a few threads in the raw food section on this and one poster Carolina was able to get her cat with ibd to have his first normal stool on a raw diet (http://www.thecatsite.com/t/239771/...lucky-bugsy-and-hope-to-raw-challenges-galore). 

I believe my cat had IBS and he will not eat raw. I have decided him to try him on the vitality science treatment diarrhea and vomiting protocol (https://www.vitalityscience.com/v/AllProducts/cat-diarrhea/feline-treatment.asp). I have not started him on it yet but a blog that I trust and read had an interesting write up about this product curing a cat who tried every vet treatment and diet (http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2...wing-up-healed-in-one-month-not-just-by-food/). It also has a money back guarantee. 

If your cat will not eat the vet prescribed food try anything he will eat. A good grain free wet food with a novel protein will probably be better than the vet food but it is important to get him to eat right now. 

Thank you!

Is he acting like he wants to eat but doesn't with all food?  My cat has IBD and that's the way he acts when he is having a flare and it's a sign of nausea.  My cat would even pick up a piece of food chew it up and then let it drop out of his mouth.  I'm not a big fan of prescription foods except when absolutely necessary but this may be nausea rather than a dislike of this particular food.

Yes, he acts very hungry, but then will not eat the Rx food. I tried a grain free, duck wet food last night. He gobbled it down like he had not eaten in days. I'm waiting to see if it aggravates his situation.

It is a great sign that he ate on his own! When my cat has his episodes he needs to be syringe feed. What food are you giving him another ingredient known to bother ibd cats is carrageenan.

Last night I gave him Blue wilderness, duck flavored. I'm going to be making my rounds at the pet store to check out foods this afternoon.
Is it worth the stress of taking him to another vet for a second opinion? If it were me, I would get a second opinion for myself. But, the vet visits really stress him out.

Blue wilderness has carrageenan so you may want to check out some other options. Hound and Gato is a great food and they have novel proteins like duck and rabbit. Natures variety also has novel proteins. You could also try to get a commercial raw food because so many ibd kitties do well on it.

As for the vet the only to know for sure he has ibd is to do a biopsy which is both stressful and expensive. One thing to consider is to rule out lymphoma because of his age and the fact it has a lot of the same symptoms as ibd.

Thanks to everyone for all of the help offered. Things got very scary for a while. We tried several gran free foods with limited ingrediants and novel proteins to no avail. Also, he would not touch raw. During the food trials, his pancreatitis flared up to the point he was prescribed pain medication. The diarrhea was so bad that I was cleaning for hours each night and cancelled my vacation to stay and care for him. There was no way I could leave given his condition. Ultimately, we saw a specialist that highly recommended a non-surgical (though still invasive) biopsy to determine if he had IBD, cancer or a rare fungal infection. No results or diagnosis guaranteed. Since my cat was not losing weight or showing any other drastic signs of illness, we decided against the procedure, and went for the last thing we had not tried - keeping him on an allergy free Rx diet. This particular Rx is grain free and does not contain some of the red-flag, known irritants. I had to play a little tough love to get him to eat it. I am not a big fan of the Rx diets. They are bland, and have overly processed, low grade ingrediants compared to some of the newer brands that are out there. But, it is doing the trick right now. After a two-day stare down, he gave in and ate the bland Rx food.  On the Rx diet, the diarrhea disappeared within about 2  days and now his pancreatitis is under control. It took some time to get his naseua under control, and at one point he broke out in pimples or hives on his stomach. Basically, we had one symptom in check, but were making weekly visits to the vet for other issues. Now, after about a month, he is back to sprinting around the house if I have not played with him enough, waking me up at night and greeting me at the door. I will be taking him to the vet to get the blood tests to see if the pancreatitis is gone.

Thanks for the update, dast. I, too, have been dealing with a similar issue with my Sebastian and am trying to figure it all out. I'm so glad to hear that your cat is returning to his old self and that the prescription food is working for him. I've been "researching" people's experiences and treatment truly does vary across the board. It's a little disheartening for one who likes a definitive solution, so I know me and my cat both have a long road ahead of us.