I know this will be long, if you can read it and offer advice, I would be grateful.
My 13 year old cat Niko has IBS. She was officially diagnosed about 3 years ago, although she has had vomiting and diarrhea pretty much as long as I can remember. It was always manageable before. She was a little messy in the litter box area, so we had to clean it sometimes twice a day. We added additional litter boxes so she had a place to go if one was dirty. We eventually invested in two litter robots so that she would always have a clean litter box. The vet always assumed that she had IBS, but we managed it with good food and probiotics. About three years ago, it started getting much worse. A biopsy confirmed the IBS diagnosis.
She had always had loose stool, but it began to become pure liquid. over the years it has gotten worse and worse till now she goes about 10-20 times a day and it's nothing but foul smelling liquid coming out of her. About two years ago, she stopped using the litter robots. Since they were smaller, she would get liquid feces on her paws and she obviously did not like this, so she began going on the floor all over the house. We switched back to a regular litter box and that seemed to have solved the problem, but only for a while. About six months later, she began using the floor again. She isn't burying her liquid poo, so if there is any in the litter box, she won't go in there. I have been cleaning the litter box 3-4 times a day for the past year while we tried to deal with this and it has not stopped her from going on the floor pretty regularly.
As far as healthcare, she has seen 4 different vets (including a specialist). We started with diet and probiotics when she was about 5. This helped until about three years ago. In the last three years, we have tried 6 or 7 different types of canned and dry food, every protein combination, gluten free, grain free, all natural, pretty much every option. We had her on three different steroids for two years and they did nothing to help her. her symptoms did not change or improve at all in the past three years. So over the last six months, we went holistic. We contacted Vitality Science and got the entire spectrum of items from them. for the past few months we have been giving her Feline Comfort Plus, Luxolite, and the GI Distress Remedy in increasing dosages and it has not improved her symptoms in any way.
We have had to replace the carpet in our new house once already, and are in the process of replacing the floors again because of the odor and feces staining. We have had to lock her in one room in the house to keep her from getting on the furniture and counters at night as she always has feces on her feet or rear/tail area. She has lost almost 4lbs in the last 6 months and drinks about a half gallon or more of water every day. We clean up after her many times daily, she is locked in a small room in the house for 17+ hours a day. She isn't eating very much and is slowly loosing weight. After three years and over $7500 in vet receipts, I know one thing for sure, we are not going to be able to improve her health at this point.
The vet has recommended putting her to sleep. We have literally exhausted every other option. She is still very affectionate and even runs and plays sometimes when I get out her favorite toy. Some days you can tell she is hurting more and she sleeps and lays around a lot. She spends most of the evening crying because we can not leave her out. she is skinny and yellow and molting a bit, but she still seems like the Niko I know.
I'm having a hard time deciding if it's the right thing to do for her. I know neither of us want to live like this, but when I look at her, she doesn't seem that sick. Not sure what to do.
--Shawn
My 13 year old cat Niko has IBS. She was officially diagnosed about 3 years ago, although she has had vomiting and diarrhea pretty much as long as I can remember. It was always manageable before. She was a little messy in the litter box area, so we had to clean it sometimes twice a day. We added additional litter boxes so she had a place to go if one was dirty. We eventually invested in two litter robots so that she would always have a clean litter box. The vet always assumed that she had IBS, but we managed it with good food and probiotics. About three years ago, it started getting much worse. A biopsy confirmed the IBS diagnosis.
She had always had loose stool, but it began to become pure liquid. over the years it has gotten worse and worse till now she goes about 10-20 times a day and it's nothing but foul smelling liquid coming out of her. About two years ago, she stopped using the litter robots. Since they were smaller, she would get liquid feces on her paws and she obviously did not like this, so she began going on the floor all over the house. We switched back to a regular litter box and that seemed to have solved the problem, but only for a while. About six months later, she began using the floor again. She isn't burying her liquid poo, so if there is any in the litter box, she won't go in there. I have been cleaning the litter box 3-4 times a day for the past year while we tried to deal with this and it has not stopped her from going on the floor pretty regularly.
As far as healthcare, she has seen 4 different vets (including a specialist). We started with diet and probiotics when she was about 5. This helped until about three years ago. In the last three years, we have tried 6 or 7 different types of canned and dry food, every protein combination, gluten free, grain free, all natural, pretty much every option. We had her on three different steroids for two years and they did nothing to help her. her symptoms did not change or improve at all in the past three years. So over the last six months, we went holistic. We contacted Vitality Science and got the entire spectrum of items from them. for the past few months we have been giving her Feline Comfort Plus, Luxolite, and the GI Distress Remedy in increasing dosages and it has not improved her symptoms in any way.
We have had to replace the carpet in our new house once already, and are in the process of replacing the floors again because of the odor and feces staining. We have had to lock her in one room in the house to keep her from getting on the furniture and counters at night as she always has feces on her feet or rear/tail area. She has lost almost 4lbs in the last 6 months and drinks about a half gallon or more of water every day. We clean up after her many times daily, she is locked in a small room in the house for 17+ hours a day. She isn't eating very much and is slowly loosing weight. After three years and over $7500 in vet receipts, I know one thing for sure, we are not going to be able to improve her health at this point.
The vet has recommended putting her to sleep. We have literally exhausted every other option. She is still very affectionate and even runs and plays sometimes when I get out her favorite toy. Some days you can tell she is hurting more and she sleeps and lays around a lot. She spends most of the evening crying because we can not leave her out. she is skinny and yellow and molting a bit, but she still seems like the Niko I know.
I'm having a hard time deciding if it's the right thing to do for her. I know neither of us want to live like this, but when I look at her, she doesn't seem that sick. Not sure what to do.
--Shawn