Green Bile - an IBD or pancreatitis issue

A couple of weeks ago, my cat Tao had his senior profile exam, vet did the blood test, urinalysis, and fecal. The blood result indicated that he has high level of PSL which indicates he might have pancreatitis. Urinalysis showed that he still has pseudomona, a bacteria that we have been trying to get rid of for the past 3 years but no matter what type of antibiotic we use, it won’t go away. The vet suggested that we do an ultrasound to the pancreas. So we did and we found that there is a mild thickening on both the intestines and pancreas. The vet explained that he could have IBD or pancreatitis. But we won’t know for sure unless he gets a biopsy. The vet recommended that we do this if his vomiting continues. I am wary about this biopsy thing because my cat is 13 years old and if he has an unhealthy GI, that might cause complications with surgery. Our vet recommended that we just treat our cat like he does have pancreatitis and just to feed him novel protein like duck, rabbit, turkey, and venison.

There were a few times when my husband and I had to syringe feed our cat Tao and even give him IV fluid because he wasn’t eating for a couple of days. But for the past week, he has been back to his regular appetite, peeing and pooping everyday. He stopped vomiting for a week until this morning, I saw another vomit which is the color green. I know it could not have been his food because he ate at 8:30 pm last night and I was still up at 2am and didn’t see any vomit until I woke up at 6:30am so he probably let out the green bile between 3-4 am.  I gave him his breakfast at around 7:30am and he ate everything with no issue. I'm still very concerned about the green bile. Do cats with pancreatitis or IBD usually vomit green bile?

FYI: Tao’s diet consists of 60% Mauri wet canned food and 40% semi home cooked meat with Feline’s Pride supplement.

Picture of Tao after eating this morning:

IBD and Pancreatitis often go together, so it's often hard to say if a cat has one or the other when they might have both.  But pancreatitis is painful, and from the picture above, I wouldn't think Tao is in pain.  He looks quite content.  (He's gorgeous, BTW )   Also, some cats with IBD have issues on the backend vs vomiting, as I understand it, and some have both

As to whether vomiting green bile is a sign of one or the other, I honestly don't know.  Luckily, I've never had a cat with either condition.  Is this something NEW to Tao?  If so, I think I would give my Vet a call and ask them (if you don't get any responses here). 

Since you are already cooking his meals partially, would it be a problem to prepare his meals 100% to give him a novel protein?  Or does that supplement contain all kinds of stuff that he shouldn't have?  What about the Mauri?  I'm not familiar with it. Is it limited ingredient?

The green bile is because his stomach is empty, yet he is still nauseous.

First thing I would do is stop all food entirely, even water.

Allow water again in 3-4 hours.

Meanwhile, get to the store and buy some regular pepcid ac, nothing extra just that formula.

Cut in quarters and give one quarter twice a day for a couple days while he is settling down.

He should be fed ONLY chicken or turkey baby food, at least 2 jars a day.

His vomiting will stop, and this will allow his system to settle down and stop reacting to whatever food is causing this inflammation.

Then slowly get him transitioned over to a limited ingredient diet, you can cook ground turkey meat and add U-stew to it so it's nutritionally complete.

Or you can buy either natures variety instinct or blue buffalo basics, both have limited ingredient foods.

I highly suspect IBD and pancreatitis.

This will help him feel so much better! Get that inflammation down.

Mrsgreenjeens, the vomiting is not really new to Tao. He vomits either when I’m at work or late at night. I think it would be a problem to give him home cooked meal 100% which will include the supplement. The supplement I include in his food(Feline’s Pride) has bone meal powder and too much of it causes him to be constipated. This is the new type of food that I’m giving him: http://www.mauripetfood.com/why-choose-mauri/

I like how that product doesn’t have carrageenan or grains. Prior to Mauri, I've been feeding him Blue Buffalo and Wellness.

Catwoman707, I think you’re right about his stomach being empty because last night he didn’t vomit at all, it’s probably because I finally left 6 pieces of freeze dried raw food for him to eat while I’m sleeping.  The thing is he doesn’t vomit continuously. Whenever I’m home, I don’t even see him vomit. Only when I and my husband are out working making a living or when we are sleeping are the times that he vomits. Must be due like you said his stomach being empty and him being nauseous. What is the Pepcid for? I have never used it. Now for the U-Stew, is this flavorless? Because any supplement that has flavor, my cat won’t even touch it. I might try it if it’s flavorless, but I don’t really want to feed Tao Blue Buffalo because it has carrageenan and that causes IBD. 

Carrageenan is classified as an algal polysaccharide produced from seaweed. Its safety for human consumption was questioned in 1982 after it was discovered that it could injure the intestines of laboratory rats. Animal studies have shown that sulfated polysaccharides, such as carrageenan, increase hydrogen sulfide production. Hydrogen sulfide production inhibits the metabolism of butyric acid and other short-chain fatty acids, which in turn starve colonocytes and induce lesions similar to ulcerative colitis. Avoiding sulfate consumption from preservatives such as sulfites and sulfur dioxide may be beneficial for IBD patients. 

SOURCES:  http://drhoffman.com/article/addressing-inflammatory-bowel-disease-2/

                    http://truthaboutpetfood.com/why-carrageenan-can-be-dangerous-to-your-pet/

My dog has chronic pancreatitis.It's an incredibly painful thing for them to go through. My vet says to put them on a low fat diet. You could try putting your kitty on Weruva-paw lickin chicken canned food, it's only about 2%fat. My cats devour it. You could always put her on something a little bit higher in fat,or her regular diet later on. I think my vet said for cats and dogs prone to pancreatitis don't feed food that exceeds 8% fat. Good luck!

Also, my dog threw up green and yellow bile. If your kitty has yellowish stool, that's another indicator of pancreatitis

@TaoMom  you're right, the dry does not.

I feed mine the dry on the side but feed canned fancy feast turkey and giblets which does not contain carrageenan.

From what I understand, the biggest culprits are chicken, grain, fish, carrageenan and sometimes beef.

I also like natures variety instinct limited.

Parisinthe30sx, how old is your dog? How can you tell if he is in pain? I know that cats are really good at hiding it! I tried Weruva and he didn’t like it. And now he’s starting to hate Mauri either, he would only eat Blue Buffalo or Wellness and these are terrible food because they all have carrageenan, I wish every company would just eliminate this ingredient.

Catwoman707, I will have to check out fancy feast, does that have a lot of carbs or starch though?

My dog is 6, she's a dachshund/Chihuahua mix. I can tell when she's in pain because she constantly stretches her back/stomach, and also she adopts a hunched position where she kind of lays on her feet. She also whines a bit and generally acts a bit restless, moving positions alot. But the yellow poo, as soon as I see it I know pain symptoms will follow. Depending on how bad, my vet puts her on tramadol, though since she's epileptic we have to be careful with meds, and I'll bring her in once a week for fluids. Cats are very good at hiding pain unfortunately, you're right about that! My cat has IBD, she usually has a bit of the same symptoms as my dog, shell hide more than usual or sit hunched up. It's too bad your kitty doesn't like Weruva! My cats are also on earthborne-chicken, and Primal freeze dried turkey. I know that natures logic, fromm "four star", natures variety instinct canned, and the Weruva -Cat's In The Kitchen pouches do not contain carrageenan. And I think tiki cat and halo doesn't either but I'll have to look it up. Maybe you could try one of those? My cats liked the natures logic but it's hard to find in my area. Good luck with your kitty!

Aww @ your dog stretching her back/stomach when she’s in pain  I see my cat stretch in the morning but I don’t know if he’s in pain because cats seem to stretch that way naturally. His poop color is either light brown or dark brown and he doesn’t need IV every week. If he does have pancreatitis, maybe it’s a mild case for now because he’s been eating, pooping, and peeing regularly lately and haven’t been taking any meds since a couple of weeks ago.  I tried earthborne-chicken and tiki, didn’t like them. I just recently tried Rad Cat raw food and he loves it so much!  He also seem to not mind eating By Nature and Merrick’s Limited Ingredient. But it just takes him a while to eat them after introducing pure raw meat Rad Cat, it seems like that’s all he wants to eat! Don’t want to give him too much though because he had constipation issues before.

UPDATE My cat have stopped vomiting for the pass 4 days. I began leaving 5 pieces of Stella & Chewy freeze dried raw food for him when my husband and I were gone for more than 5 hours and also late at night. That did the trick, no more bile.   We have a running water fountain for him so I think the freeze dried food encourages him to drink more water while we are gone to kinda fill up his belly a bit.

I'm so glad your cat seems to be doing better! There are two forms of pancreatitis, chronic and acute. Acute is the one that comes on suddenly. Your kitty could just have a very mild case, which is good! I know every animal is different, but if your kitty does have pancreatitis, it usually only lasts about a week, at least in my case. I've been trying all different types of food for my cats. I was so excited for them to try rad cat, I prepared it for them, sat and watched...them walk away. They wanted no part of it, they for some reason dislike raw. I don't get it! They've been eating primal freeze dried (sometimes) weruva and earthborne. I guess I cave, I'll just stick with those brands. I'm glad your kitty is doing good, he's gorgeous by the way, what breed is he?

If his pancreatitis was acute, I hope it never comes back! :wife:   Lol @ your cat rejecting the Rad Cat food. When I first put out the Rad Cat raw food for Tao, he just smelled it and walked away. The next day, I tried again and that time, I warmed it up just for a little bit, put about 5 teaspoons of water, broke the meat apart (they look like they stick together too much), and I sprinkled a little bit of Stella & Chew freeze dried with it, omg he ate the Rad Cat like there was no tomorrow.  My cat is a Chausie breed, got him about 12 years ago. I would adopt a cat but back then I didn’t have a stable job and the Humane Society ask for job information and stuff. 

I just don't feel good feeding him completely all processed canned good, I think that might be the reason he developed the pancreatitis. Pancreas was working too hard to digest all the unnatural stuff...

I tried the Stella and chewys as well, it was a no go. I put it out every day for about a month, they never took even a lick. I must have the pickiest cats in the world. You're right about the stuff in canned food, I hate not knowing exactly what's in it, all the good cat food without the veggies and fruits my cats just won't touch. I'm not giving up though I'll keep trying. I keep telling them their carnivores, they're supposed to eat raw meat, but they just don't seem to agree good luck with your kitty I hope he keeps doing well!