Diarrhea and now matted hair 11 year old cat

My 11 year old cat has been battling diarrhea for about a year now.  It's pretty much under control now.  It's loose but he only goes about once a day and is pretty good spirits.  Recently though I've noticed his fur becoming more dirty and matted.  He has pretty thin straight fur normally (tabby) so this is abnormal.

We feed him Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Wet Canned Cat Food (duck) at dinner time and Royal Canin digestive care (dry) in the morning.

Any idea what we could do?  I'm open to a food change but do worry it may effect his digestive system in a negative way.

Thanks for your help!

cjbsnow said:

 
My 11 year old cat has been battling diarrhea for about a year now.  It's pretty much under control now.  It's loose but he only goes about once a day and is pretty good spirits.  Recently though I've noticed his fur becoming more dirty and matted.  He has pretty thin straight fur normally (tabby) so this is abnormal.

We feed him Wellness CORE Natural Grain Free Wet Canned Cat Food (duck) at dinner time and Royal Canin digestive care (dry) in the morning.

Any idea what we could do?  I'm open to a food change but do worry it may effect his digestive system in a negative way.

Thanks for your help!

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Hi

When did he last see the vet? Was there a diagnosis for his diarrhea?  Is he a short hair cat?  If his hair is becoming unkempt it could either be a nutritional issue or he could be grooming less, either is a problem. Please answer the above questions and we can go from there ok?

StephenQ said:

 
Hi

When did he last see the vet? Was there a diagnosis for his diarrhea?  Is he a short hair cat?  If his hair is becoming unkempt it could either be a nutritional issue or he could be grooming less, either is a problem. Please answer the above questions and we can go from there ok?

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Saw the vet about 6 months ago.  They just haven't been of much help.  Yes, short hair.  I've switched his canned food to a lower phosphorus diet to help him.  No idea if it will actually work though.

He's also still on prednisolone to treat what we believe is IBS.  

Thanks!

cjbsnow said:

 
Saw the vet about 6 months ago.  They just haven't been of much help.  Yes, short hair.  I've switched his canned food to a lower phosphorus diet to help him.  No idea if it will actually work though.

He's also still on prednisolone to treat what we believe is IBS.  

Thanks!

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IBS or more commonly IBD can be a very serious condition (my cat eventually  died from complications of it despite much treatment) and letting us know that your cat is on Pred for IBD is very important because that's the cause of the diarrhea.  It's hard to easily explain the fur problem but cats with poor nutrition often have poor fur and cats with IBD have trouble digesting food so this could be an explanation.

It's really important to track a cat's weight when they have IBD, so if your cat is loosing weight while on Prednisolone, then you have a very serious situation that needs to be arrested asap or your cat's long term prognosis is poor.  Is your cat loosing weight?  If you aren't sure then i would buy a baby scale immediately, weigh him, call your vet and get his last weight there and compare.  If he's lost since the visit then he needs more intervention, and i would also keep a weight log and weigh him once or at most twice daily.

Bottom line: a cat who is loosing weight with IBD and if the weight loss can't be stopped then the cat is slowly loosing his fight with life.  Most cats with IBD are put on prednisolone because they are loosing weight and other treatments have failed.

Can you list all the treatments you cat has had, and what diagnostic work was done?

Also, If you don't like your vet then get a new one if possible.  Advanced IBD needs a pro-active vet.

I have to agree with StephenQ completely. He is very well versed on this subject and hAs helped me so much.
My Artie has been on the Steroid since May.
That along with several medications and a novel protein, low carb diet has done a world of good.
I am happy to say that I got my cat back

Artiemom said:

I have to agree with StephenQ completely. He is very well versed on this subject and hAs helped me so much.
My Artie has been on the Steroid since May.
That along with several medications and a novel protein, low carb diet has done a world of good.
I am happy to say that I got my cat back

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Sadly well versed and very happy for you :-)

No he is not losing weight.  He's still in pretty good shape.  He's having diarrhea about once or twice a day, no more.  The hair being matted is the new part.  Not sure what's causing this.  Feel like I'll never get this IBD thing solve. 

Thanks for your insight!

cjbsnow said:

No he is not losing weight.  He's still in pretty good shape.  He's having diarrhea about once or twice a day, no more.  The hair being matted is the new part.  Not sure what's causing this.  Feel like I'll never get this IBD thing solve. 

Thanks for your insight!

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Sorry for the delay in responding. I've NEVER heard of a cat getting Prednisolone for IBD unless the cat was very sick, loosing weight etc, because the Pred is a fairly big gun and once you're on it it may be hard to get off.

There are many less aggressive treatments out there like Flagyl, Tylosin, and trying different novel protein diets. Also you can't biopsy while on the Pred.

Do you feel your vet is taking this seriously enough?

Hi, I'm new to the forum but not new to feline IBD. I have a 13 year old kitty (Wombat) who has battled it all his life. He went through several different treatments, tests, diets and nothing would relieve his symptoms. I basically had resigned myself to cleaning up vomit and bloody piles of diarrhea several times a day that he would leave on the floor. 

About two years ago, just through chance, I was finally able to resolve his ibd and he has been healthy ever since! Firm, healthy stools only once or twice a day and always in the litter box and his vomiting has stopped. I know trealize that every cat is different, and what worked for Wombat will not work for every other cat out there, but maybe, hopefully, you can gain something from my experience that could help your kitty. At this point it doesn't hurt to try.

Anyway, Wombat is on a pretty strict regimen. If we deviate even a little from it, we'll have a mushy stool with maybe a two day window before the diarrhea starts up again. For reference, he is a slim, muscular cat at 12.5 pounds. 

Breakfast:

We feed him anywhere from 7:10am to 7:30am and do not stick to the same time. This seems to help prevent a boxed in time which always led to him throwing up stomach acid before eating.

We have him on a rotational diet of Nature's Variety Instinct Rabbit, Lamb, Venison and Pork. Canned only. A meal of dry food irritates his stomach. We switch out each flavor every 7 days. This prevents him from building up an intolerance to a protein source which is a real thing with Wombat. He would be fine with a protein for months and then all of a sudden diarrhea and vomiting would ensue. Rotating it out has prevented this from happening again. We do not feed him Chicken, Salmon, Turkey, Duck, Tuna, etc. He is allergic to all poultry, seafood and beef. 

We mix 2 tablespoons of distilled water in with his food and sprinkle one Cosequin capsule (for his joints) and one full packet of Forti Flora on top. I know, I know...Forti Flora gets some flack since it has animal digest in it which is gross but isn't necessarily harmful. We tried a bunch of different probiotics and enzymes but these did not work. For some reason, only Forti Flora does and I figure that I'd rather give him a gross, yet harmless supplement rather than have him on meds.

Dinner:

We feed him dinner anywhere between 7:30pm and 8pm. We again mix 2 tablespoons of distilled water in his food and sprinkle one Consequin capsule and one Vetasyl Fiber capsule on top. No Forti Flora this time and we can't split the packet amongst the two feedings because it magically will make the diarrhea come back.

Treats:

We give him a couple treats a day but we will only give him pieces of Nature's Variety Instinct dry cat food. We found that a lot of cat treats have crap in it that brings on the IBD symptoms. Pieces are small and a couple of them do not irritate his stomach.

This has worked for him consistently for the past 2 years. I'm not sure why the routine cannot deviate, but it does. I never thought I'd be so happy to scoop out the litter box however every time he has a firm, healthy stool, I get extremely excited. We used to have to take him to the vet every two weeks to have his anal gland expressed because it wasn't draining during his bowel movements when he had diarrhea. This was extremely tramautic for him. We have only had to take him in twice since he's been on this regimen.

Phatwombat said:

 
Hi, I'm new to the forum but not new to feline IBD. I have a 13 year old kitty (Wombat) who has battled it all his life. He went through several different treatments, tests, diets and nothing would relieve his symptoms. I basically had resigned myself to cleaning up vomit and bloody piles of diarrhea several times a day that he would leave on the floor. 

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Congrats on treating your cats IBD, my cat had it as well and congrats also for having the discipline to enforce a strict but winning strategy.

And welcome to TCS!