IBD? Cancer? Help :-(

My 16 year old cat has been in and out of the vet for the last year. Symptoms are:runny poop but small amounts, straining, gas when trying to "go", is now losing weight, a pound and a half in 2 months. He has good appetite, actually wants to eat all the time. They put him on prednisone this time around, seems a bit brighter as far as general wellbeing but zero difference in poop. Tried the veterinary food, science diet, wouldn't eat it. I know this sounds odd, but all of this started when I started feeding a strictly grain free diet. Could very well be coincidence, but I wanted to give all info possible. Blood work was normal, thyroid too, other than slightly elevated creatinine and BUN. Liver enzymes were ok. Tries pumpkin, sort of helped, but not much. Won't take metronidazole, fought with him for days and it isn't worth the stress for him. I feel, in my gut, its intestinal cancer or a tumor of some type. IBD is how we are treating it. He still seems to be in pain 50 percent of the time, although the prednisone has eased that some. Any suggestions, advice, anyone have a fur baby with similar symptoms? I just want him to feel better and not be in pain.

I have a kitty that always gets diarrhea with the grain free dry.  Is he on prednisone or prednisolone?  Has his thyroid been checked?  Many older cats will become hyperthyroid which will cause the huge appetite and still losing weight.

Thyroid checked out fine. He has been off of the grain free for about 5 months. He is on prednisone, just started him on it one week ago, he is now taking one 5mg daily, will taper to 1 tablet every other day, then half tablet, and so on.

Hi there ..

Another possibility is that your kitty has an impaired digestion due to imbalance of gut flora, or developing food sensitivity. These things can cause diarrhea, pain, digestive upset. When you switched to the grain-free food, did you do so gradually? This is really important to avoid digestive upset. What foods has your kitty been eating since the diarrhea and addition of prednisone?

There are specially formulated limited ingredient diets that may help in your situation. Nature's Variety has a line of such foods. Also the addition of a good human-grade probiotic which will work to replenish good bacteria and balance gut flora. It also improves digestion and when digestion is optimal, the immune system is better supported. This is especially important for older cats. When I switched to grain-free food a couple of years ago, my now 10 year old male cat Max experienced some temporary diarrhea in response, but we got this under control pretty quickly. I think the connection here is that when you change foods you change the nutrients and this can cause problems for some cats who may have a sensitive digestion to begin with. From that time on, he started struggling with constipation off and on. To make a long story short and after trying different things, I switched his diet to mainly high protein, low carb wet food, coupled with supplements such as probiotics and slippery elm bark, and he has been doing fine for some time now. 

I forgot to mention he also vomits 4 or 5 times a week. He is now eating just we food, Sheba pate, Turkey. I tried a probiotic gel Pro-bios brand, but he hated it. I would love suggestions on what brand to get, and would the digestive enzymes be any help as well? As mentioned, this has been ongoing for over a year, and we have tried alot of things, with basically no success. Vet says he didn't think he would have such a big appetite if it was cancer, but my old guy who passed on 2 years ago had a good appetite up until the day I had to let him go. And upon necropsy, he was full of cancer. So I don't think appetite is always an indicator and disagree with him on that.

The key here is weight loss and weight gain. There are many reasons for diarrhea but when it's with weight loss that means the cat has lost the ability to I sorb nutrients and that's usually from inflamed intestines (IBD) or in rarer cases small cell lymphoma. If it's ibd you will almost certainly see weight gain if the cat responds to the Pred and that weight gain is diagnostic. I would recheck weight weekly and you should see a gain in 1-2 weeks. The diarrhea itself may need additional work to get under control including diet adjustment amongst other things.

IFBgirl said:

Thyroid checked out fine. He has been off of the grain free for about 5 months. He is on prednisone, just started him on it one week ago, he is now taking one 5mg daily, will taper to 1 tablet every other day, then half tablet, and so on.

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Has the vet already started tapering the dosage?

Yes, for 7 days he took 1 tab twice daily. Now it's one tab once daily.

IFBgirl said:

I forgot to mention he also vomits 4 or 5 times a week. He is now eating just we food, Sheba pate, Turkey. I tried a probiotic gel Pro-bios brand, but he hated it. I would love suggestions on what brand to get, and would the digestive enzymes be any help as well? As mentioned, this has been ongoing for over a year, and we have tried alot of things, with basically no success. Vet says he didn't think he would have such a big appetite if it was cancer, but my old guy who passed on 2 years ago had a good appetite up until the day I had to let him go. And upon necropsy, he was full of cancer. So I don't think appetite is always an indicator and disagree with him on that.

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Sorry to hear about the vomiting. 4-5 times per week is a lot. Is this vomiting of food or bile? If food, it could be a contributing factor to the weight loss if what is being thrown up is not getting replaced?

I am not familiar with the brand of probiotic, although taking a quick look online, I see that it contains a good amount of CFUs which are active cultures. I use Natural Factors Double Strength Acidophilus Bifidus and it is well tolerated. It could be that if your kitty has a pancreatic insufficiency, he may benefit from some digestive enzymes, but this is something you will want to discuss with your vet. If it were my kitty, I would want to get the vomiting under control before introducing something like enzymes as sometimes they can make things worse. There are tests that can be done to determine pancreatic function that you could ask your vet about.

There is another limited ingredient food that I meant to include above, which is Hound & Gatos. This is a high protein, low to no carb quality food that is very limited in ingredients and is excellent for cats who are experiencing digestive issues. It is a blander food I will warn you, and not all kitties take to it, especially if they are used to more mainstream foods. It is very good value for the money. 5.5 ounce can for $1.89. If you are in the states, probably cheaper.

I don't know how connected you feel to your vet but I would consider a second opinion.  My kitty has IBD with a lot of vomiting when he flares.  When he was finally diagnosed he too had lost a lot of weight and gone into fatty liver.  He was on 2 tabs a day of prednisolone for 2 or 3 months before he was tapered back to 1 tab a day.  I hadn't seen any real results from the steroid after only 1 week.

Thank you all for the replies. Some very good information given. I need to ask something that is really bothering me. When he poops, it is a tiny amount, less than a tablespoon. He also tries to poop several times a day but only flatulence, no poop. When some runny poop does come out, his whole body wretches, like it is extremely painful. And mind you, it's just a tiny amount of liquid poop. Is this typical for IBD? I feel like for all he eats, let than a tablespoon of poop doesn't seem right. I have told the vet this as well. They don't have an answer.

Would a tumor/growth in the intestine or near the digestive tract show up on a xray? No radiography have ever been taken. Thanks in advance everyone, I am just worried sick about my Otis. This has been going on too long and I feel like there is something my vet is missing. I already have over 1500 into his care amd trying to find out what the heck is wrong. Maybe time for a different vet, as Denise said.

He could actually be constipated and just a small amount is going around where he is impacted.  Constipation can and often does cause nausea and vomiting.  Normally an ultrasound will give a better picture of what is going on.  

So you think it may be possible it's constipation for a year and the vet can't figure that out? Seriously? Could he be like partially impacted? I'm going to request an ultrasound.

I would agree that there could be some impacted feces, a mass or even a hairball in there that may be causing a partial blockage. Not common to have constipation and diarrhea, but its possible I suppose. Its been a really bad year for hairballs, with several members including myself, reporting that their cats are dealing with hairball problems this year, which can be a long-term problem to deal with. I was going to suggest earlier that it might be a very good idea to get an x-ray and/or ultrasound done which can reveal any masses and feces in the colon, that may be present.

If you feel that your vet is not being proactive enough, it might be time to get a second opinion, and perhaps a holistic vet who may be able to provide you with more options for managing this situation.

Thank you for the good advice. I will check back when I know more. Again, much appreciated!

I am way late in the follow up on this, I apologize. In October I had to put Otis to rest. I asked for a necropsy and tissue samples were sent to WSU Veterinary to be examined. It turns out that Otis was a very sick boy. He had colon cancer along with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and necrotizing Pancreatitis. What came first was most likely the IBD, but there would have been no way to save him. I felt horribly guilty about euthanasia because I didn't know what was wrong. After the results came back from WSU I was relieved that I did the right thing as it became clear he was in misery and much sicker than even I knew. Thank you for all your help.

I am so sorry.  You can write a tribute to Otis in the Crossing the Bridge forum http://www.thecatsite.com/f/19/crossing-the-bridge

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IFBgirl said:

Would a tumor/growth in the intestine or near the digestive tract show up on a xray? No radiography have ever been taken. Thanks in advance everyone, I am just worried sick about my Otis. This has been going on too long and I feel like there is something my vet is missing. I already have over 1500 into his care amd trying to find out what the heck is wrong. Maybe time for a different vet, as Denise said.

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Barbara1957 said:

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