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- Feb 17, 2015
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We've had our orange tabby since he was a kitten. He was 14 years old when he started having diarrhea regularly and was 14-15 pounds. The vet could not find the cause. They did the full blood panel, urinalysis, x-rays, GI scan for tumors etc. and found nothing. We were told he probably had irritable bowel disease (IBD) and quickly learned this is very difficult to diagnose and treat. After much research, we tried canned food with duck, then a raw food diet, then a raw dehydrated diet. These temporarily made him better but diarrhea always came back and he would eventually stop eating. We would have to go to the vet and give him metoclopramide to get his digestion and appetite kick started again. We tried the anti-diarrhea drug metronidazole and like the diets, it helped at first but stopped working. I'll also mention that canned pumpkin and powdered probiotics helped a few times at first but eventually did not. Within a year, he was 11 pounds and diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. We were able to treat his hyperthyroidism with felimazole but still battling diarrhea and IBD at this point.
About a year and 4 months into battling diarrhea, I had a vet that does home visits come to the house for a full blood panel test. This is done about every 4-6 months to adjust felimazole dosage for his thyroid if needed. During her visit, she asked me if we ever tried Hills Prescription W/D. She said it is high fiber and often helps with diarrhea. I almost did not even bother. Nothing else worked long term. I however got some cans the same day and fed him a little. The diarrhea was all but gone overnight. I was in disbelief. It did come and go at first and when it did, I would adjust his feeding schedule to feed him smaller amounts many times a day. He's been eating nothing but canned W/D for 10 months now. I give him 0.70 ounces every hour, 24 hours a day (total 3 cans a day). I portion out many servings each day and put in the fridge and freezer. I then put these in feeder trays with a timer that rotates. We program the timer while at work or sleeping so he can eat every hour. If you are interested in this type of feeder, do an internet search for 5 meal automatic pet feeder. The instructions say to use dry food only but trust me, it works for canned too. I have 3 of these 5-tray feeders. I place 7 frozen servings in them before bed and 9 before leaving for work (first 3 servings are from fridge). I would hope most cats with IBD don't have to eat 24 times a day but ours progressed to this point. He is currently 16.5 years old, 7.5 pounds, and randomly has diarrhea but it's rare. He bounces back quickly. I wish he weighed about 5 more pounds but we're thankful he is alive and stable. Hills Prescription W/D (canned only) is the one and only food that has helped him long term.
I cannot stress this enough, we do not give him anything else. No treats including vitamins, supplements, high calorie paste, probiotics etc. even if your vet recommends it (unless they insist and it is absolutely necessary for some reason). It's also worth mentioning that diarrhea comes back if they have to use just about any antibiotic. He got a urinary tract infection and two different oral antibiotics caused bad diarrhea the entire time he was on them but thankfully stopped once completed. It also took me a while to figure out that the supplement paste lysine caused diarrhea. He took lysine for conjuctivitis for years (random inflamed watery eye and mild sniffles) but it was no longer worth it if barely helped his eye and caused diarrhea. I noticed giving him B-12 shots just for good health caused diarrhea as well. Again, not worth it. Basically, if you are going to try W/D, I recommend feeding only this and required medications, nothing else. I did try giving him W/D DRY food once and it unfortunately gave him diarrhea but any dry cat food has made him worse during this experience.
To sum it up, his diarrhea and IBD began over 2 years ago and it seemed hopeless for a long time. With the exception of a rare random incident, he has been on canned W/D for the last 10 months without diarrhea. While it is clear he will never be healthy as a horse again, I really don't think he would still be with us had we not tried feeding him this product. I recommend this product if your cat is having this unfortunate experience. Good luck.....
About a year and 4 months into battling diarrhea, I had a vet that does home visits come to the house for a full blood panel test. This is done about every 4-6 months to adjust felimazole dosage for his thyroid if needed. During her visit, she asked me if we ever tried Hills Prescription W/D. She said it is high fiber and often helps with diarrhea. I almost did not even bother. Nothing else worked long term. I however got some cans the same day and fed him a little. The diarrhea was all but gone overnight. I was in disbelief. It did come and go at first and when it did, I would adjust his feeding schedule to feed him smaller amounts many times a day. He's been eating nothing but canned W/D for 10 months now. I give him 0.70 ounces every hour, 24 hours a day (total 3 cans a day). I portion out many servings each day and put in the fridge and freezer. I then put these in feeder trays with a timer that rotates. We program the timer while at work or sleeping so he can eat every hour. If you are interested in this type of feeder, do an internet search for 5 meal automatic pet feeder. The instructions say to use dry food only but trust me, it works for canned too. I have 3 of these 5-tray feeders. I place 7 frozen servings in them before bed and 9 before leaving for work (first 3 servings are from fridge). I would hope most cats with IBD don't have to eat 24 times a day but ours progressed to this point. He is currently 16.5 years old, 7.5 pounds, and randomly has diarrhea but it's rare. He bounces back quickly. I wish he weighed about 5 more pounds but we're thankful he is alive and stable. Hills Prescription W/D (canned only) is the one and only food that has helped him long term.
I cannot stress this enough, we do not give him anything else. No treats including vitamins, supplements, high calorie paste, probiotics etc. even if your vet recommends it (unless they insist and it is absolutely necessary for some reason). It's also worth mentioning that diarrhea comes back if they have to use just about any antibiotic. He got a urinary tract infection and two different oral antibiotics caused bad diarrhea the entire time he was on them but thankfully stopped once completed. It also took me a while to figure out that the supplement paste lysine caused diarrhea. He took lysine for conjuctivitis for years (random inflamed watery eye and mild sniffles) but it was no longer worth it if barely helped his eye and caused diarrhea. I noticed giving him B-12 shots just for good health caused diarrhea as well. Again, not worth it. Basically, if you are going to try W/D, I recommend feeding only this and required medications, nothing else. I did try giving him W/D DRY food once and it unfortunately gave him diarrhea but any dry cat food has made him worse during this experience.
To sum it up, his diarrhea and IBD began over 2 years ago and it seemed hopeless for a long time. With the exception of a rare random incident, he has been on canned W/D for the last 10 months without diarrhea. While it is clear he will never be healthy as a horse again, I really don't think he would still be with us had we not tried feeding him this product. I recommend this product if your cat is having this unfortunate experience. Good luck.....
Thank you for sharing. :heart2:
