Inflammatory Bowel Disease and food questions

gracie65

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My 3 Year old female cat named Charlie has just been diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. I am almost relieved to find out it's this as we first thought it was behavioral.  The symptoms started back in April with her occasionally pooping on a chair or our bed. Took her to my vet who ran a stool sample and no worms, parasites etc. he felt it was behavioral.

Trust me when I say I have done anything and everything advised for treating this as a behavior problem. The good part out of all the litter, feliway, adding litter boxes, isolating the cat you name it was the discovery of Precious Cats Cat Litter. I started with The Cat Attract and slowly have converted all my boxes but one to The Precious Cats and love it as it's dust free. I still have one fresh step box. I have 6 cats and 8 boxes.

So for the not so good, with all the drastic measures her pooping gradually got worse, the stool changed and got worse about going all over the room I have been keeping her in at night. Last week I made the decision to get a second opinion from another vet. Come the night before the appointment I knew I had made the right decision as she was in our hall trying to poop and we could see she was in distress and was crying out in pain. Talk about heart breaking!!  I barely got any sleep that night as I kept dreaming about her being in pain. The next day I drove from Little River, SC to a vet a friend recommended in Wilmington, NC, it's about an hour away. This vet has her own Ultra Sound Machine and does not charge the 600.00 that they do locally or the 900.00 when they refer you to a specialist in Mt Pleasant, SC.

I got there and instantly felt comfortable, while I love the vet I usually go to they treat all kinds of animals and can sometimes be a very busy place. This vet treats cats only and she is in a restored old house. Lots of kitty decor all around. I had already collected a stool sample and gave to them before going back. Upon going back the vet asked me lots of questions and I told her what all we had gone thru. We immediately went back to the ultra sound machine, Charlie wasn't too happy about being held on her back but she actually started to calm down a little. Almost instantly the vet could see how inflamed her intestines were. She was also concerned about her pancreas but after some further blood testing everything else was fine.

As far as medications she started her on Metronidazole for 10 days, Budesonide daily and Pro-Pectalin which they compound there and I crush into her food. She also gave me samples of Royal Canine Hypoallergenic. She wants to see if after the inflammation is gone if hers can be managed by diet.

I guess my question to anyone who has been thru this or my concern is trying to feed one cat a different diet then the others. She said The Royal Canine would be fine for all my cats but a 17lb bag is 105.00 which is 5 times as what I have been paying for Purina Naturals for the hard food. I have always fed my cats Friskies for the wet food. The Royal Canine is over $4.00 a can there is just no way I could afford to feed this to all 6 cats. So I am left with trying to keep Charlie separate and feed her the RC and have to keep the other food put up when they are all out together or look for an alternative to feed them all that's A. Good for Charlie and B. doesn't break the bank for the others.

A friend told me about Natural Balance Limited Ingredients Duck with green pea. The ingredients are very similar to the RC brand. Does anyone else with a IBD cat use the Natural Balance? It's 23.00 for the large bag which makes it more affordable to leave it down during the day then separate them for the wet food.

I also am using Feline Comfort by Vitality Science, my vet said it was very good stuff. One of my male cats has a very smelly bowel and within a few days it doesn't run me out of the house anymore when he goes. I mainly bought it for my cat before I knew she had the IBD, I didn't notice it helping her and told the vet. She said to go ahead and keep giving it to her, that after the inflammation went down  it was very helpful to the digestive track with cats with IBD

Sorry to be so long and ramble on, in trying to get advise on the food situation I wanted to give all the background in case anyone else is going thru something similar.  I am so glad I went for another opinion, while I love my regular vet he doesn't have the ultra sound machine and all along I just felt like it was not a behavioral issue so my instincts were right.
 

denice

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I have a cat with probable IBD as well.  He also has the type where he becomes constipated easily.  He is on a small daily dose of a steroid to control it which the budesonide is.  It's a newer steroid and very good with controlling IBD.  It isn't recommended for cats with liver damage though and my cat has had fatty liver disease so he is on a different steroid.  Many people have had good luck controlling IBD with a raw diet.  I think you will have more success with an all wet or mostly wet diet.  I know an all canned diet would get expensive with the number of cats you have.  You can try a novel protein, one that he has not eaten before and grain free.  

If you want to try a raw or cooked diet there is a sub-forum for it in the nutrition forum.  With the premixes it is really very easy to do.
 

raintyger

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My kitty has IBD but has not gone through the food trials, at least not the veterinary prescription ones. I would, though, question feeding dry food. Dry food has carbs in it which can be the cause of inflammation. Hound and Gatos is a very simple food, mainly muscle and organ meat, guar gum, and supplements. They do sell rabbit, which is probably a novel protein for your kitty. You can obtain single cans for sampling at Whole Pet:

http://wholepetsholistic.com/store/department/5/Cat-Food/
 
I have a cat with probable IBD as well.  He also has the type where he becomes constipated easily.  He is on a small daily dose of a steroid to control it which the budesonide is.  It's a newer steroid and very good with controlling IBD.  It isn't recommended for cats with liver damage though and my cat has had fatty liver disease so he is on a different steroid.  Many people have had good luck controlling IBD with a raw diet.  I think you will have more success with an all wet or mostly wet diet.  I know an all canned diet would get expensive with the number of cats you have.  You can try a novel protein, one that he has not eaten before and grain free.  

If you want to try a raw or cooked diet there is a sub-forum for it in the nutrition forum.  With the premixes it is really very easy to do.
Denice, I am curious about the budesonide, as Poppy leans towards constipation, too. We tried prednisolone, but then Poppy didn't have bowel movements until 3 days unless the dose was very low. Do you know if budesonide causes constipation as a side effect?
 
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gracie65

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Thank-you for the comments but I think the question I was trying to ask got lost in my being too wordy. I so far have been a lurker on these boards and anytime there is a health issue I notice if you don't give lots of details you will be asked so was trying to get that part out of the way.

My IBD cat has had fairly soft stools during the course of all this the pain she is experiencing is coming from the inflammation on the intestines she has not been constipated. Today is day 3 of the meds and food change and so far she has not pooped outside the litter box. I can also put my hand on her tummy and can tell a difference in the bloated feeling. Her stool has also gotten a bit firmer.

My real question is about The Natural Balance Limited Ingredient. In my particular case the vet has recommended The Royal Canine Hypoallergenic Dry and Wet Food. I have 6 cats who live together inside and all get along very well. Rather then having to feed IBD kitty separate I would like to try to see if there is a alternative to The Royal Canine, so I can just feed same food to all.  With 6 cats there is no way I can afford that particular brand for all 6 cats. In researching online I keep coming across The Natural Balance Limited Ingredient as being one of the top kinds for IBD cats. It is priced affordable enough where I could feed this to all my cats and not have to keep IBD cat separated from them for long periods of time. Is anyone currently using The Natural Balance Limited Ingredient for their IBD cat and having good results with it?
 

denice

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I don't know of anyone here who has tried the Natural Balance.  There really isn't a one size fits all strategy to control the IBD.  Some cats, like mine, don't have a single dietary trigger at least one that I could ever find.  That is why he remains on a low daily dose of a steroid.  If his symptoms are being triggered by the protein or the grain that he has been eating than the Natural Balance could alleviate the symptoms.  
 

denice

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Denice, I am curious about the budesonide, as Poppy leans towards constipation, too. We tried prednisolone, but then Poppy didn't have bowel movements until 3 days unless the dose was very low. Do you know if budesonide causes constipation as a side effect?
That is an odd side effect.  Patches used to be on Prednisolone.  He got 10 mg a day when he was really sick.  His dose was then reduced to 5 mg a day which is where he remained.  He is now on Dexmethasone because of the supply problems with the pred.

The budesonide is what they call a topical steroid.  It essentially remains intact in the digestive system which is why it is very good for IBD.  It is almost entirely broken down by the liver which is why it isn't recommended for cats who have or might have liver damage.  Even though it is harder on the liver it has a lower incidence of side effects that can come from long term use.  
 

jcat

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We recently had a member who fed her cat Natural Balance Salmon & Pea for diarrhea, and it worked. The thread is here: Help!!!! I don't know how to help Lucky She hasn't visited TCS since late August, so I don't know whether she'd respond to a PM. She's sight-impaired, so you'd have to use a very large font if you PMed her.

Our IBD kitty was on the Royal Canin Intestinal for a couple of months at the shelter before we got him, and it didn't help him at all (poultry intolerance). We put him on a canned limited ingredient prescription food that isn't available in the U.S., but I seriously considered the Natural Balance, as our old cat liked that brand. It's not so easy to find in Germany, so I didn't. There's really no way of predicting how a particular IBD cat will do on certain brands; it's really trial and error. One thing to keep in mind, no matter what you try, is that you might not see results for several weeks. In Mogli's case it was about three months before he pretty consistently had solid feces.
 

crazycatlady1

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It is such a relief to hear that I am not alone with this situation.  I could have almost written the same word for word of my situation.  My cat is a female 9 year old.  She was having about 6 bowel movements or more a day and lost about 7 lbs before we had a diagnosis of IBD.  I have 4 other cats in my house so I am in the same situation as to cost etc.  I did manage to change the food to the Royal Canin Hypo Allergenic Food only available at the vet but like you did not want to have to separate her from the others so they all eating it and it costs alot.  I found Natures Choice at Petsmart to be comparable and not as expensive.  After doing all the vet had told be to do with limited success I searched the web for a natural alternative and low and behold.  After all the money that had been spent with medication and food what helped the most was a $4.00 large can of "PUMKIN PUREE"  yes you read right.  It cannot be pie filling because there is additives to it.  It must be pure pumpkin puree.  Cats and dogs usually like it and it helps with both problems of diarahea or constipation.  Usually you only need to give them a teaspoon a day and it will help with the number of times they have a bowel movement and it also helps with the consistency of it.  I give mine it through a big syringe that the use to put flavours inside meat etc.  it does have a needle.  If your cat is not picky like mine you can mix it in with their food.  Hope this helps as I am still new to this situation too.  She has had it for about 4 months.  Now I have to retrain her to use the litter box.  Any suggestions?  Hopes this helps
 
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