Finally, a diagnosis. Pharyngeal hyperplasia/IBD

jellybeans

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So 4 and a half months ago, my 2 year old girl was just really out of sorts and lost all interest in eating.

Then a month later, she started getting dehydrated and very upset.

The following month and a bit was filled with trial and error, with intermittent vomiting and diarrhea showing up.

And then finally she more or less leveled off.

Not really knowing what was going on with her has really caused me a lot of grief, and over the past month she's had a few different tangible issues that I've been able to treat, which has been nice.  (Including roundworm and vaginal e. coli)

She had an endoscopy on June 25th and the results of her biopsy have finally given me answers.  She has signs that are concurrent with IBD in the duodenum of her small intestine (or something of that effect), and she also has pharyngeal hyperplasia.

So even though I'm thrilled I have all of these answers at long last, it seems they've really only raised more questions in my mind.  Mostly around the hyperplasia...

Can anyone help me understand what exactly is the extent of this condition?  The vet mentioned that it is not a precursor to cancer, but from what I can find online, I'm reading that in some instances it can lend itself to cancer, and in some it has no relation at all.  Does anyone else have a cat with hyperplasia and know what is what?

Basically, pharyngeal hyperplasia is the enlargement of her pharynx.

Something that is curious to me is that this whole ordeal started as my poor girl not looking very comfortable eating.  IBD symptoms didn't start showing up until she became dehydrated from decreased appetite about a month and a half later and underwent a whirlwind of emergency vet visits/diagnostic procedures.  She would tilt her head while eating, swallowing looked troublesome, she would throw her food from her mouth, and even when I switched her to wet food, she still managed to make a big mess.  All of these things can be attributed to her pharyngeal hyperplasia.  So, I'm really anxious to see if managing this with smaller meals and easier to swallow food (a.k.a. watered-down wet food!) will resolve any remaining IBD issues. 

Could all the stress of her discomfort while eating, dehydration, and emergency vet visits have caused her to have IBD?  And now that we're finally in the know on what's going on with her, can minimizing these stressors put an end to her IBD?  Fingers crossed!!
 
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mrsgreenjeens

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I have not heard of stress being a factor in causing IBD, but stress can certainly cause LOTS of issues
, and I would think it could cause IBS, for sure.  These are definitely two different things (IBD and IBS, but you only said she has signs that are "concurrent" with IBD, not that she has a definite diagnosis, so it's hard to say if it might go away. 

Did the Vet put her on any medication for the IBD, or just say to wait and see by reducing her meal sizes?  At this point I guess all you can do is wait and see and hope for the best, although I would hope that, since it may BE IBD, you will need to give her foods that are grain free, and also low carb since grains tend to irritate IBD cats.  Also, you need to look for carrageenan free foods, from what I have been told.  Here's a really good site on IBD:  http://www.ibdkitties.net/IBDguidelines.html

Hopefully your little one will start feeling better very soon
 

jcat

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I've changed your thread title, adding pharyngeal hyperplasia and IBD. That might help to attract the attention of some of our members with experience.
 
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jellybeans

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I've changed your thread title, adding pharyngeal hyperplasia and IBD. That might help to attract the attention of some of our members with experience.
Thank you very much!!
 
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jellybeans

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I have not heard of stress being a factor in causing IBD, but stress can certainly cause LOTS of issues
, and I would think it could cause IBS, for sure.  These are definitely two different things (IBD and IBS, but you only said she has signs that are "concurrent" with IBD, not that she has a definite diagnosis, so it's hard to say if it might go away. 

Did the Vet put her on any medication for the IBD, or just say to wait and see by reducing her meal sizes?  At this point I guess all you can do is wait and see and hope for the best, although I would hope that, since it may BE IBD, you will need to give her foods that are grain free, and also low carb since grains tend to irritate IBD cats.  Also, you need to look for carrageenan free foods, from what I have been told.  Here's a really good site on IBD:  http://www.ibdkitties.net/IBDguidelines.html

Hopefully your little one will start feeling better very soon
Around the end of March she was put on prednisolone, and virtually all vomiting and diarrhea had finally dissipated by May 12th, which was nice.  (There was never much to begin with.  5-7 vomits over the course of 3 1/2 months, and 2 bouts of diarrhea.)

I took her off prednisolone beginning of June after weeks of reducing her dose.  She seemed digestively comfortable, and we were back down to just the "mechanical" issues of eating, which unbeknownst to me at that time was due to her pharynx.  My regular vet was still convinced IBD was the problem but I was certain that there was something else going on, so I got the referral for the specialist and she was initially due for her endoscopy on the 12th of June.

HOWEVER, about a week before her endoscopy I brought her to emergency for a urinalysis because she'd been experiencing a mild discharge for a month and no one was taking me seriously (everyone seems to think I'm the boy who cried wolf here...), and it turned out she had vaginal e coli.  She was on antibiotics for 3 weeks total and the endoscopy had to be delayed because I couldn't fast her when I needed to give her food with the medication.

The awful thing about the antibiotics is that ever since she was put on them, she's been having consistent mild diarrhea that is making her turned off from food.  It's very frustrating and I don't know how to help her poor little gut find its equilibrium again.  And to make matters worse, I need to have her retested to make sure the e coli. is gone, because if it's not, I need to put her BACK on antibiotics  :(

Fortunately I haven't seen any discharge yet!!

I see what you mean about IBD vs. IBS.  I guess what I meant to say is dear Lord I hope she was only experiencing IBS!  But maybe not if the biopsy said otherwise....

If nothing else, I'm sure she'll have a very manageable IBD if I can just detox her from all the flippin' bad karma that's been going around in her life as of late 
 

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Oh I'm so sorry! :hugs:

My understanding is that pharyngeal hyperplasia is usually due to an underlying viral infection. Did anyone mention this as a possibility? :dk:

You can surely help mitigate some of the issues potentially related to the IBD. I have a long post discussing the issues here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/278273/the-well-known-problem-of-ibd-or-lymphoma/90#post_3576295

A good probiotic would help, as obviously the antibiotics wiped out all of her healthy bacteria too. Those are discussed in this section of the IBDkitties website: http://www.ibdkitties.net/Probiotics.html

:vibes: :vibes: :vibes: that E. coli is gone!
 
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jellybeans

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Curiously, Juna did have a weird couple episodes a few weeks back where her voice changed and sounded very raspy.  Elly has had this type of meow her entire life, and it never concerned me, but when Juna started sounding like it, it made me wonder about throat type issues.  Juna sounds like her normal self now though...

Maybe she's just a trooper?  Girl loves to eat, poop, and play.  I can't imagine much getting in the way of this!  (Apart from her very conveniently orchestrated foreign body obstruction that occurred at the high point of all my stress with Kitty #1!!!)

Anyways, what kind of viral infections should I be asking about?  Elly has always been my sneezer, and her fur is very on-again off-again covered in dander, so I was curious about how allergies might affect her hyperplasia and which allergies she might have.  If I do a blood test to check for allergen responses, I may as well have them investigate relevant infections too.

Also, right now Elly is taking Florentero every night.  It's a paste probiotic.  Any opinions on this?  I think I might read the instructions and give her more if directed to.  Maybe that will help settle the diarrhea...
 

ldg

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I have no experience with Florentero, so have no idea whether more will help or not. :dk: I have experience, direct or indirect, with the probiotics in the article to which I provided a link.

As to cats sharing illness, it's just like people. I don't always get sick if my husband does; many parents don't get sick if their children do. I have an FIV+ cat and a cat with an active herpes infection (that I control with lysine and bovine lactoferrin), and they do a lot of mutual grooming (well, the FIV cat does most of the grooming. :lol3: ). And yet my FIV+ kitty has never exhibited symptoms of herpes, and none of my other cats have contracted FIV from Chumley.

So no, proximity does not mean both cats would have the same illness. It could also be that your other cat DOES carry the virus, but her immune system manages it differently. I don't remember the numbers - but something like 85% of cats have been exposed to the herpes virus, and exposure to the corona virus is also quite high - yet most cats aren't symptomatic for herpes or suffering from upper respiratory illness. :dk:
 
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