Trouble diagnosing IBD-like symptoms- looking for guidance/experience

Hi there! 

I am new to the site, but was looking for some help/guidance/experience with the issues involved in diagnosing IBD symptoms.

I want to start off by saying I'm not asking for a diagnosis, just support and hopefully similar experiences from other cat parents. Sorry, this is lengthy, I want to start from the beginning. Hopefully, my nerves can be calmed.

My cat Meeko is my baby. I love him more than I can ever even explain, and I am so distraught and scared. He is a 2.5 year old Maine Coon mix. I'm going to write this as a timeline, to make sure I get everything right.

(Prior to any symptoms, he had a couple 2-3 noticed, gassy poops, and had maybe the same amount of hairballs since the beginning of the year)

6/22- We got a new kitten. Brought him and his paperwork to vet immediately. (checks out, gets appropriate shots).

6-26- Meeko starts showing symptoms. Growled when I tried petting him, won't eat. Gagging/retching, lethargic.

6-27- Vet visit. Did B/W- Everything normal, except it showed Bands (?) They told me this normally signifies infection. X-rays- Normal, gas in bowels.

6-28- Won't eat, went to ER vet. Given fluids and antibiotic shot.

6-29 - 7-7 - Doing much better. No vomiting, only did a hard swallow type thing when purring. Eating mostly wet food.

7-8- Vomits 3x. Ran out of wet food, gave him dry. Vomited full kibbles shortly after (Hour or so?) 

7-9- Soft stool in AM, back to vet with stool sample. Negative for parasites, given profender as precaution. 

7-11- Begins gagging again, vomits saliva/mucous but not food. 3x.

7-12/13 (4:30am)- Back to ER vet (different from first) Gagging/retching. Refused to eat. Given Iams low-residue prescription food. 

7-13 - 7-14- Doing well on Rx food. 7-13 gagging slowed down, maybe 5-7x, no vomit/lethargy. 

7-14- Got into other cats' dry food. Vomited whole kibbles within 5-10 mins. 

7-15- Ultrasound. Found mild to moderate thickening of the small intestine, Lymph nodes mild to moderately enlarged. Since Ultrasound, gaggged 1-2x, no vomit, eating more.

7-16- Brought to new Dr. Board certified feline vet. Told to start Metronidazole and continue Rx food. 

7-17 - 7-25 - Steadily getting better. Averaging 1-1 1/4 can wet food/day. No vomit/lethargy/gagging. Wouldn't purr/avoided until about 7/22. Started purring again, acting pretty much normal.

7-26- Eats much less than usual.

7-27- Spits up clear fluid, Boyfriend left out dry food by accident. Eats some and vomits immediately. Acting totally normal though. Back to Cat Dr. He said it may be that he is very picky and doesn't like the food, or still a GI issue. Because it was so soon after metronidazole, wanted to wait a couple days and see how he is. Gives me Hills Rx Digestive care chicken in stew(HD for below), Gastrointestinal with chicken(HG), Purina Rx food. just in case he totally refuses other food.

7-28- Spits up tiny bit in AM, clear/foam. Won't eat Iams, so we mixed it up with HD and he eats like 1/2 can in afternoon, and a bit more at night. 

7-29- Spit up tiny bit in AM. Won't eat mixture of Iams/HD or plain HD. Given HG- Eats half can in afternoon and 1/4 can at night. (maybe a little more) First formed poop in a while! May have been a little soft, but looked like a normally formed poo. 

7-30- Won't eat either of above. Try Iams again, eats 1/2 can+ and 1/4 at night. Spoke to vet on the phone. Pretty much same conversation as Monday. Wait and see. If he loses appetite, has diarrhea, vomits, etc, have to do further testing. (Pancreatis/lymphoma tests) 

7-31- Eats 1/4 can(+) Iams low-res in morning. Won't eat at 6pm feeding. Vomits small hairball at 7pm. Tries to poop, takes normal amount of time, two tiny little bits, nickel sized. Gummy and maybe orangey-red (blood?) but not totally certain. Not super apparently red. I got home after his hairball, he was acting fairy normal with me. Followed me around and jumped on my lap. Purred but licked lips/hard swallow a few times while on my lap. I tried to get him to eat some more, put a tiny bit of tuna juice on food and he ate a small amount. Was really interesting in the tuna can when he realized where it was. He is currently sleeping. If he doesn't eat/vomits/has diarrhea, will call vet in AM. (Might call anyway, though I feel like such a pain)

I'm sorry that's so long, but I really want to get all of the facts in there. Has anyone had any experiences similar to mine? What was the outcome? How did you find a food that they liked?

I am so worried sick about my baby, and it's so frustrating not having an answer to what is wrong, and lymphoma is so incredibly scary to me. This cat is seriously the love of my life, he's seriously my baby and has gotten me through so much already. Plus, he's just SO young. 

I also think I'm a little traumatized. We had a kitten that passed away a little over a year ago due to kidney failure caused by L-glyceric acuduria. He was only 6 months old. I just can't imagine losing my Meeko, too. 

It sounds like the same symptoms that my kitty has with IBD flares.  His flares started when he was 18 months old and he is prone to constipation rather than diarrhea.  His  main symptoms would be anorexia and the same dry heaving.  Has a vet said anything about trying a steroid?  It doesn't necessarily mean it would be a lifelong thing, though my kitty has been on a maintenance dose for a little over 4 years.  A steroid could get the inflammation under control and that would give you the time to try things like diet changes and probiotics.

Thank you for reading and posting! That makes me feel much calmer about everything. Right now, we're kind of in a 'wait and see' period to help with diagnosing. He didn't want to put Meeko right back on the antibiotics or a steroid without seeing if it was something that cleared up after the first round.
Meeko seems like he has an appetite, just isn't interested in to he prescription food.
He also seems constipated tonight. He tries to go, and looks like he's straining, but only a small amount of mucousy diarrhea comes out.

Did the blood work test for pancreatitis? When my mom's Sophie had pancreatitis she had similar symptoms. Did the ultra stenographer's report specifically indicate IBD? If so, a low dose of steroids could be immensely helpful. My Fernando had chronic loose stool and we did a trial of prednisolone and it's helped enormously. You may also ask your vet about giving OTC famotidine to help with the nausea/vomiting.

My initial vet did the b/w so I think it was just a general panel . My new vet suspects it could be pancreatitis or IBD, though can't rule out lymphoma yet, because they all have the same symptoms.
Meeko finished up his antibiotic last Saturday, so we were hoping that cleared up the issue and no further testing would be needed.
However, he doesn't want to eat again, and it's hard to tell if it's a lack of appetite from still being sick, or if he's boycotting the prescription food. I put a bit of tuna water (mixed with added water) to the food and he ate a bit this morning without hesitation, but not much. He also was searching out the tuna can, so it seems like his appetite exists, just maybe not for the Rx food. He also goes into the kitchen from time to time and looks up expectantly, which he didn't care to do at all when he first got his and didn't have an appetite.

Today we went back to the vet. He sent out blood samples to Texas for a Pancreatitis check and to California for a cancer marker test. Please keep us in your prayers that especially the cancer marker test comes out negative. I honestly don't know how I'm going to get through this week. 

I know I've said it before, but Meeko is truly the light of my life. I've never feel as loved as when he looks up at me, I don't think I've ever loved anything as much as I love him. I don't know how I can get through any of this. 

You and Meeko are definitely in my prayers. ((Hugs)) sending positive, healing thoughts to you and Meeko!

My Sebastian has chronic pancreatitis and IBD, and he's also the light of my life. So I know how you feel. I was sick (literally) with worry the first few months of diagnosis.

I'm not familiar with a blood test for cancer.     My understanding is that a biopsy is really the only way to diagnose cancer, but even biopsy results can be inconclusive.

Is Meeko on an anti-nausea medicine like Cerenia or Zofran? This would help him immensely with his nausea.

Hang in there and keep us posted.  Sending lots of vibes for Meeko... 

Thank you so much.

I'm so sick with worry, I don't know how I'm going to get through this week.

It's a cancer marker test. It measures an enzyme (thymadine Kimase(?sp?) that is made by rapid cell growth (cancer cells), and the enzyme feline haptoglobin an that is made with inflammation. Basically, it checks the ration of the two and can push us in one direction or the other. If it comes back positive, the next step would be to biopsy. If it comes back inflammation, we'll do a course of anti-inflammatories/steroids. So we're just trying to avoid putting him through surgery, especially since biopsy results can be inconclusive as well. 

He gave me Cerenia today, though we think Meeko's appetite issue is more due to hating the prescription food. He also gave me a sample of Hills I/D dry food, because Meeko was trying to get into the dry food we give the boys. He immediately throws  up his old food, so the Hill's dry is just if he's absolutely refusing the wet and not getting enough calories. Which is very likely, because he avoids the wet, and when I put tuna juice on it he just eats the parts with the juice on it. 

I really appreciate it, I am so scared for my baby. I just need him back to normal again!

The cancer marker test is interesting. I'll have to do some research on that.

I don't know what we'd do without Cerenia. Sebastian has been on it long-term for his chronic illness (among many other things). I hope it helps Meeko feel better.

Our vet tried to give Sebastian Hill's i/d canned food. He didn't like it, and when he finally did take a couple licks, he threw it up. It didn't agree with him at all. He doesn't get dry food because it's too difficult for him to digest, especially if there is inflammation present. A lot of cats with GI issues do well on Nature's Variety Instinct canned foods, which are over-the-counter. Their rabbit formula is particularly favorable. Also lots of success stories on homemade diets, for which we have a separate forum. If you wanted to go the prescription route, as a starting point, you could try Royal Canin Selected Protein canned (comes in rabbit, duck, or venison) or Hill's d/d canned (comes in venison or duck).

Meeko has been hating every canned prescription food. We're basically still on it to help sooth his belly, and to make sure his symptoms don't change because of changing food.
I bought the instinct chicken, but I don't think he's much of a fan. Its also so difficult because I want to slowly integrate whatever he'll eat, but he dislikes what he's on now, so he doesn't want it.
I'm definitely going to look into the homemade diet as well. I would rather be able to purchase it, as I get rather squeemish around meat (vegetarian) but I'll do anything I can do to help my baby.

So i have wonderful news! 

The cancer maker test came up negative! The cancer enzyme came back normal, whereas the inflammation enzyme was very high. (They consider high at 140, Meeko was at 235!) The pancreatitis bloodwork came back normal as well

My Dr. and I agreed on trying to get him regulated without medication. If he spits up or still has symptoms, we're going to start a round of steroids or another round of metronidazole to decrease inflammation. I'm keeping him on the Hill's I/D dry for now, but definitely heading over to read up more on raw diets and probiotics. 

Thank you all so much for your well wishes, advice and concern. Hopefully, my post helps someone going through a similar situation!

That's great news! Yes please keep us updated! (Hugs)

So glad the cancer marker came back negative! 

How is he eating? In some cats, the metro really suppresses the appetite. The steroid, IMO, is better for addressing inflammation.

I'm really glad the marker came back negative! I don't know how much you've read up on it, but it really reflects the aggression of the cancer more than anything. So in the case of something like small cell intestinal lymphoma, which is a very slow growing cancer, the levels would basically be normal. This is why biopsy is the only way to know if you're dealing with IBD or cancer. It would help catch something like large cell early. But by the time most cats are displaying symptoms, the inflamed lymph nodes or a tumor are present on x-ray.

Here is the link.  http://vdilab.com/page.php?id=59   Apparently they SAY there is a cut off in the results that helps distinguish between cancer (LSA) and IBD but not sure if LSA is classified as large or small cell lymphoma.  HOWEVER, it's interesting all the same and hopefully some progress is being made for a diagnosis that doesn't require an invasive procedure.