IBS?? IBD?? PLEASE HELP!!

I am desperate to save my cat . We have been dealing with blood and mucus in her stools, diarrhea, and her leaving presents on our carpet. We have 2 cats, but have had them both since 2009. We have 2 litter boxes in different rooms in the basement, she only poops on the floor in the basement (sometimes its the carpeted areas sometimes is the concrete floor) (sometime she hides it behind the couch and other times its left in the middle of the floor). She always urinates in her litterbox. She poops in her litter box maybe 25% of the time and that goes in waves. We have done multiple blood panels, fecal samples and everything comes back normal. We have treated her for Giardia as a precaution, she has been on multiple antibiotics, an anti-diarrheal's and now steroids...nothing seems to help her. We have tried a hypo allergenic diet, gastrointestinal, high fiber, high protein (Science hills ZD, EN, Royal Canin gastrointestinal and hypo allergenic diets) She is now on a high protein no grain raw freeze dried diet by Natures Instincts, steroids and probiotics, and its still not working. This is all over a  5 year span. We have tried different kinds of cat litter, adding more boxes, moving boxes around, different types of boxes-covered, uncovered, deep, shallow etc...We have seen 5 vets (2 feline specialist, 2 regular vets, and an internist). I truly think its something medically wrong with her. I just feel like a bad cat mom because I cant figure out what's wrong with my first fur baby .

Any ideas you have would be appreciated...I know the vet said out next step would be an endoscopy if we choose to go that route which is $7900!! We cannot afford that. I feel like we are headed down a euthanization path if we cant get this solved. We have a 17mo old son and we cannot have her pooping all over the floor, as its not safe. I don't know if she is in any pain as cats tend to hide this.
We just spent $700 for an ultrasound, results came back with no findings...I feel like I am at a loss and I don't know what to do.

Thanks in advance

have you tried putting her on a raw diet? 

She won't eat it

jmull said:

She won't eat it

Click to expand...

worth getting her to eat it. Here is a practical guide for the transition. 

Which probiotics are you using?  People have had good luck with s.boulardii.  From what I understand it isn't a true probiotic but it is one natural supplement that has been studied by conventional medicine and has started to be used there as well  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3296087/

We're using Flora-flora

My cat has been dealing with the same issues, and it seems to be dialing down now. I was just as desperate as you! Here is what I did, and what I would do if I were you~

Buy some boneless pork

Buy some beef liver

Buy Alnutrin, a supplement online.

Prepare it as directed, except cook the meat(Alnutrin can be used with cooked meat temporarily, or permanently if it is low in fat), and then add everything else.

Slowly transition her to this home prepared food for a while, several weeks, and then slowly cook the meat less and less for each batch.

Perhaps stop the probiotics for a while. Cleo does poorly with probiotics.

Forti flora isn't one of the better ones.  Here is a thread that talks about human grade probiotics http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263336/probiotic-not-sure-which-one-to-pick

Here is a thread with a lot of info about S. Boulardii  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/283161/saccharomyces-boulardii-use-for-diarrhea-and-gi-disease-incl-ibd   I think it is definitely worth a try.

My cat (Chia) was just recently diagnosed with IBD.  Xrays showed gas and inflamed intestines, so we have been treating with antibiotics (first), Forti-flora probiotic (not the best out there, but she likes it), and a diet change.  I had her on a grain-free seafood-based diet before, but we have switched to Royal Canin Digestion (Fiber) - a prescription - wet food, with some dry of the same midday.  She absolutely wolfs it down.  I thought euthanasia was going to be the end result as well, but she is back to her old self in roaming the house and hopping up on furniture and laps.  At one point she was in such pain that all she would do is growl and hiss at her stomach while hiding.  It took 3 visits to my vet to get the best of the vets in the practice, and 2 sets of X-rays.  I did complete bloodwork to rule out other issues as she is 11 yrs old.  She still has very soft stools but we are working on adjusting that slowly.  Gas-X for small children in liquid form can safely be given at .3 ml.  That helps with discomfort (and apparently tastes good).  What she won't take in her food I have given her by syringe, and fortunately we are down to just Prozac for that.

Hang in there - you will find the right combination for your kitty!  Lots of folks recommend raw with some kind of balancer, but I haven't tried that.  It was recommended to me to find a specialist (internist), but fortunately I have an excellent vet team who will work with whatever is needed.  I was told this was by all means nowhere near an "end of life" situation.

A couple of groups I've found helpful are IBDkitties on Facebook and IBD Felines on Yahoo.  Sweet supportive people.

God Bless,
Shannon and Chia
Houston, TX