New cat with IBD

that guy

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
198
Purraise
40
My old cat was a healthy cat all of his life and then when he was 16.5 years old he got in a cat fight and had a claw stuck in his side which got infected and ravaged him. He started with anemia and then IBD, renal failure, and pancriutus and lived until he was just about 20 years old. During the last year or so he was also getting really stiff from arthritis and I could see he was just wearing out but he still seemed happy for the most part. During that year I was thinking about what I would do when he passed on and because of him I decided I would either get a sick cat or an old cat.

Scratchy finally passed away so I started looking around the local shelters and found a cat that caught my eye. He is only 2.5 years old but has IBD and maybe pancriutus but I only got him a few days ago and haven't seen any of the vet documentation. He is a domestic short hair and looks a lot like Scratchy's sister who passed away 3 years and is black and is a fat cat. In the shelter his name was listed as Tiny but the first time I picked him up I knew his name was now Fatboy. Fatboy has a great personality and really likes people and being pet including his belly and seems really good natured. He is a little skittish still be is slowly calming down and getting used to things. I am pretty sure he lived in a small apartment before because he is fascinated and tripped out by stairs and the size of this place.

So far I have not seen any of the typical IBD issues but he has only been here for a few days. My first step is to get him used to the place and have my vet get all of his medical records and then bring him in for an exam and blood work. So far his stools have been good and the food he got from the shelter doesn't seem to interest him very much. I have been giving him Royal Canin stomach sensitive wet food to break him from the dry stuff. He only eats 1 and a half or so small cans of food which is not a lot for a 18 or so pound cat. I brought out some Fancy Feast to see if this would pick his appetite up but he didn't eat any more of this either. Today is day 3 in his new home and he is still nervous although he is very people orientated and spends a lot of time getting attention.

I am hoping what I learned from Scratchy can be applied to Fatboy and I will update this with any findings or changes to hopefully help others. First thing first, he needs to see a vet to see where things stand I am also getting him to be more active and playing with him to help him drop some weight. The not eating thing is a concern right now but he seems to be very happy and is not showing any signs of distress. He hadn't eaten much during the afternoon so I gave him a bunch of freeze dried treats and seemed to enjoy those and ate some food after that which was good sign.
 

mema62

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
91
Purraise
2
Location
ga
what is IBD? my ragdollis 6. had issues with thicken wall small intestine and bunched up looking but bloodwork good. he let loose green diarreah. vet said thought was something he ate. started eating again. but now 3 weeks later back where we started. want eat just licks the juice and drinks water. offered everything. changed dry food to purina sensitive stomach. but nibbled some last nite. cant get probiotic in because its a powder. no throwing up yet. bowel movement every other day. vet tomorrow. im scared i want be able to afford to find out. live on social security. anyone any ideas whats going on by experience?
 

mema62

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
91
Purraise
2
Location
ga
what is IBD? my ragdollis 6. had issues with thicken wall small intestine and bunched up looking but bloodwork good. he let loose green diarreah. vet said thought was something he ate. started eating again. but now 3 weeks later back where we started. want eat just licks the juice and drinks water. offered everything. changed dry food to purina sensitive stomach. but nibbled some last nite. cant get probiotic in because its a powder. no throwing up yet. bowel movement every other day. vet tomorrow. im scared i want be able to afford to find out. live on social security. anyone any ideas whats going on by experience?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

that guy

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
198
Purraise
40
IBD is known as Inflamed Bowel Disease which is a pretty broad term for a sickness that can damage a cats esophagus, stomach, or intestines and can cause a cat to throw up or have loose stools to name a few things. You cat sounds like it had IBD but the blood numbers seem good. I say seem because the blood numbers do not always mean it does or does not. My cat was anemic, had IBD, renal failure, and when they took his blood and tested it all the numbers were fine even though he passed on a few hours after this. Blood numbers don't always tell the truth but they are saying your cat is in fairly stable shape but obviously something is wrong.

What you described above sounds like IBD especially the scarring of the small intestines. IBD is a complex disease and what works for one cat may not work for all. So my guy threw up a lot and because he had IBD he didn't really absorb the drugs when they were in pill form so I had to inject everything into him which is easy for cats. For my guy Cerenia in injectable form changed him from throwing up at least every few days to months and when he passed away he was on day 70 of not throwing up. If your cat feels nauseous then he is not going to want to eat even though his body really needs it. Sometimes you can try human food like plain chicken or pork and see if you can get him to eat a little this way. I would check with your vet and see if he can give him an anti-nausea shot and see if he improves a bit. It can be expensive so see if there is a shelter or an organization that can help you maintain him and keep him at home where he should be. It can be a tough fight to get him settled out and if it is IBD you can maintain it but it will never get betting. Things like loose stools or throwing up can go away but the damage that has been done can never be reversed. Sometimes IBD is a reaction to food so you can also try feeding him something different such as rabbit or duck and see how he likes that. What kind of food is he getting?

Best of luck and keep up the fight.
 

mema62

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
91
Purraise
2
Location
ga
thank you. Jack ate really good after the blast of diarreah during xray. even during uri caused by the stress.last 2 days picky again. went to new vet today. i really liked him. he did a deep feel exam on Jacks upper an lower stomach. said he felt great no gas and appeared to be very healthy. he suggested i not make over his food that by offering him everything and coaching him to eat He could be getting paranoid with me. suspicious other words. he has lost 2 oz since last xrays test 3 wks ago. so wants me not to change his food yet as he wants to reweigh him 2 wks. he suggest i leave dry food out all times and put wet food down. walk away act normal not concerned around him. he plays and sleeps alot. would the vets not see this or test for it. his stools are every other day and normal but stinky. no vomiting since over 3 wks ago. i give him purina indoor wet food and purina indoor. he loves canned tuna but vet suggested not to do that. he might hold out for that. i am afraid as if it was caused by something i fed him i would be the cause. praying its not IBD. he is 6 in june. PLEASE ADVISE ME HOW THEY FIND THIS IN DIAGNOSIS he studied his xray and said he saw nothing that would want him to further test yet
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

that guy

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
198
Purraise
40
What it sounds like to me is the vet is saying the cat is healthy and well and you should just feed it normally and hope for the best. You can try it and see how it works out and 2 oz is not a lot of weight especially over a 3 week period. My IBD cat was 7 lbs and he could lose triple that or more from one day to the next. I used to use a kitchen scale and weigh him every day and I saw gains and losses larger than that on a daily occasion. With IBD my 7 lb cat would eat anywhere from 1 to 6 - 3 oz cans of food in a day depending on how he felt. If you spoil the cat by giving him treats and food that is not nutritionally complete then this can hurt him. On the other hand if he is sick and not eating enough to maintain a proper weight and strength.

Get his weight and then figure how much food he should be eating going by the guides on the food or web site. Use this only as a rough guide, a lot of cats will eat less than this so don't be too concerned. Like humans cats also have good and bad days so he may not always be eating a lot. Try the suggestion and monitor how much food he is eating for a few days and if possible weigh him to see if his weight is holding.
 

mema62

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
91
Purraise
2
Location
ga
What it sounds like to me is the vet is saying the cat is healthy and well and you should just feed it normally and hope for the best. You can try it and see how it works out and 2 oz is not a lot of weight especially over a 3 week period. My IBD cat was 7 lbs and he could lose triple that or more from one day to the next. I used to use a kitchen scale and weigh him every day and I saw gains and losses larger than that on a daily occasion. With IBD my 7 lb cat would eat anywhere from 1 to 6 - 3 oz cans of food in a day depending on how he felt. If you spoil the cat by giving him treats and food that is not nutritionally complete then this can hurt him. On the other hand if he is sick and not eating enough to maintain a proper weight and strength.

Get his weight and then figure how much food he should be eating going by the guides on the food or web site. Use this only as a rough guide, a lot of cats will eat less than this so don't be too concerned. Like humans cats also have good and bad days so he may not always be eating a lot. Try the suggestion and monitor how much food he is eating for a few days and if possible weigh him to see if his weight is holding.
 

mema62

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 11, 2015
Messages
91
Purraise
2
Location
ga
i have read reports purina is made in china now with no inspections for purina. i am going to petsmart to get a quality dry and wet and transition him over for next 2 weeks. i believe Jack knows what is hurting him. when i took up wet food by purina put down blue spa tuna which tuna 1st ingredient he immediately ate it. when i put down purina he began dh a king his tail and seemed nervous s nd just licked it walked away 3 hours till blue spa. if i were making him paranoid i think he would have questioned that change. my gut tells me i need to start tomorrow will let vet know. does it always indicate ibd with a slightly thickened small intestine?  NOW WHICH FOOD DO I CHOOSE?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

that guy

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
198
Purraise
40
I don't know if thickening of the intestines always leads to IBD or is part of IBD but I know some IBD cats have this but not all. Cats are rather unique as they are carnivores and in nature eat mostly meat so ideally you should be sending mice and birds through your meat grinder and feeding them to him. Read this page and whether you have an IBD cat or not the points they make will work with any cats. There are links on the top left for all different kinds of cat food and should help.. http://www.ibdkitties.net/Food.html I've used a number of these foods with good luck as long as my guy would eat them. Diets make up a large part of our health problems which is the same as animals so try something with ingredients that theoretically won't upset your buddies stomach.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

that guy

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
198
Purraise
40
Fatboy is settling down a lot and is fairly relaxed now and has been doing pretty well. He was not feeling well the other day and I could hear stomach noises the evening before this and he ended up throwing up later in the evening. It had been a while since I had to clean up cat barf and his looked like cat food that had not been digested in any way. Fatboy typically gets a small amount of food every hour when people are around otherwise he gets more food every three hours. This helps him digest the food easier and he threw up enough food for at least two feedings so the food had been in his stomach for no less than around 3 hours and had no signs of breaking down. After he threw up he was fine and started eating around and hour or so later.

He was at the vet yesterday and had some blood tests done and an examination and seemed fine other than carrying a bit too much fat. His stools have been very dark for the last few weeks but the one he left yesterday and a little bit of light colour in one end. They are seem pretty small and dry as well although he seems hydrated. I have to get a stool sample to the vet and then we will have a better idea of how he stands. Getting him off of Fancy Feast is the first step so my vet had a food called Rayne pet food which is made with human grade ingredients and the formula Fatboy got was the G/I formula. http://www.raynecanada.ca/ They only had hard food on hand so I have ordered in some wet to try because he doesn't seem to like the dry stuff all that much. If I mix it with his wet he doesn't really eat it although he did eat some when I first put it out for him the night before.


He is a really good cat with a very gentle personality and is very chatty with a quiet voice. When he was weighed at the vet he was 6.92 kgs (just over 15 lbs) and other than the IBD he seems to be in very good health with a nice shiny coat. He was updated with all of his shots but I still need to give him a topical de-wormer that the vet gave me. At this point on the very dark and almost black stools concern me but he seems like he is very comfortable and is running around and being active.
 

reba

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Aug 27, 2013
Messages
860
Purraise
654
Location
New England
Awww, he's so cute.  It's really heartwarming to hear about someone adopting a cat that has issues or one sort or another.  My challenges with IBD (or I should say my cats challenges) seem to have been mostly solved with one of the limited ingredient commercial diets.  If it wasn't for fortiflora I'd be going crazyl trying to get him to eat sometimes.  Actually I shouldn't complain, I"m trying to switch his brother and sister onto grain free and they've been a complete PITA.

Anyway,  I'm very sorry about your other cat and so happy to see you saved Fatboy.  I have a 14 lb linebacker of a cat with a little meow, so I know exactly what you're describing. 
 
Top