Anyone with a cat who has Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum. My cat Chloe is five years old, and was diagnosed with IBD in February after emergency surgery to do a biopsy after she'd been vomiting excessively with no clear cause. She's been doing exceptionally well, but I wanted to see if anyone else knew of the long-term effects of a daily dose of Prednisone and Metronidazole. I am fortunate that she's very good about taking her medications. I basically wanted to see what others have experienced, and get a sense of what might be down the road. She's such a sweetheart, and I want to do all I can to keep her healthy. Thanks! Cara

And here she is! =)

She is a cutie.  My cat, Patches, has IBD with the vomiting.  He actually is prone to constipation rather than the classic diarrhea.  He takes Prednisolone daily.  I do question taking Metro long term.  It is an antibiotic with anti-inflammatory effects and antibiotics really aren't meant to be taken long term.  It is good for flares, my kitty was on it multiple times before he was correctly diagnosed and put on the Prednisolone.  We have a member here who adopted a cat that had been on both for quite some time and she was able to take her kitty off the Metro.  I would talk to your vet about discontinuing the Metro.

My guy has IBD. It was diagnosed about 2.5 years ago. Originally, he was on several medications, multiple times, daily; including Metro, for about a month or 2--in order to calm down his tummy. Artie was slowly weaned off of it.. He did undergo an endoscopic biopsy before starting the meds..

I also discovered he is allergic to chicken. Each time he ate a canned food with chicken, he would immediately sit in front of me and just upchuck! I finally associated the vomiting with a chicken allergy.

As @Denice  has stated, Arte has constipation instead of diarrhea.

Currently his medicine regimen includes: 1/2 pill pepcid, 0.5 ml of prednisolone, eating a novel protein diet of rabbit, and cisapride 3 times a day for his constipation.

When Artie has a flare up of the IBD, the Specialist adds Cerenia into the mix for about 4 days...

I really think the novel protein---- high protein, low carbs really helps...

IBD is so frustrating.. each flare, Artie loses more weight which he never seems to regain.. 

Good Luck...

Thanks so much for your replies. I do like my vet, but I am wary of medications long-term. She's been taking Prednisolone and Metronidazole since her surgery in February. She's been doing very well, but this week she threw up a few times so I took her in, and they found she had lost a pound & half and her liver values were high. I was really surprised because she eats every meal and hasn't thrown up at all. He prescribed Denosyl and Baytril fora month, then wants me to bring her back for another blood test.

I would ask to reduce meds to see if she responds--don't just drop them right away, especially prednisone. That has to be weaned off.

Long term use of prednisone can cause muscle wastage/weakness, obesity, susceptible to infection (it supresses the immune system). Long term metronitozole use I am unfamiliar with, but if you follow the directions that your vet gave you, then your kitty will be fine  

Ask about B12 injections because cats who have chronic diarrhea can be deficient in that. Also, they have a food for kitties that have IBD and it worked great for my kitties!

Oh, I forgot to say that I also add a probiotic, Proviable, once a day to Artie's food.. It was prescribed by the Internal Medicine specialist..

Thanks everyone. I will see how she does with these new medications, but I will definitely ask if she can drop off the Metronidazole in the near future. So glad to know I have some folks to ask questions!!

I've been there. While my beautiful Bandit (who passed last week) suffered from the opposite of IBD, he developed diarrhea within the last year---at first we suspected pancreatitis, but then it seemed to follow more an IBD issue. We didn't use metronitozole for long--the prednisone seemed to really work for his needs. It was hard because he had megacolon (constipation) then he'd have the runs....in Bandit's case, he likely had cancer somewhere but I chose no to pursue the cause given the invasive testing and, as Bandit was almost 17, I didn't feel it really would improve his life. Knowing if he had cancer----the therapy we chose for him was what we would have done with the diagnosis so I just managed his needs and loved him.

Ask about the IBD hard food/gastro food that they sell at the vet. My two really liked it when they had pancreatitis and it's very gentle on the tummy.  

Kitty Curator said:

 
Thanks everyone. I will see how she does with these new medications, but I will definitely ask if she can drop off the Metronidazole in the near future. So glad to know I have some folks to ask questions!!

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I went down the long road of IBD with one of my cats Simon.  Pred can be a crucial part of long term therapy.  IBD is essentially (while very complex) in a simpler way is the body's own rejection of its own intestinal cells via the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the intestine often as a result of what started as a food intolerance.   The pred works to reduce inflammation in the intestines which is causing all the symptons.  Long term issues with pred is that it can cause diabetes,  but its a risk one must take when the pred is the only thing controlling the disease.  When the pred stops working and if nothing else helps (sometimes IBD fares up and recedes over time) it may be time to at least consider a stronger drug like chlorambucil.  Not all cats tolerate it and the cat needs regular monitoring.  There is also the concern that severe IBD when not controlled is mutating to small cell lymphoma which can happen and for which chlorambucil or similar "chemo" drugs may be the only option.  But you may still be able to get it under control with more conventional therapies.

A thought about "chemo" for cats as many people instinctively shy away from it in part because they know it can be very unpleasant for humans.  It's much simpler in cats.  Many tolerate this type of chemo and if the cat doesn't tolerate it then you stop the therapy and make them comfortable with palliative care.  There is no need to put cats through chemo if they don't tolerate it, and if they don't you'll know soon enough.  I'm neither advocating chemo for your cat in the future, nor now, just trying to explain some of the issues.

You mentioned your cat is on Prednisone, but to be clear, due to similarity in spelling, Prednisolone is preferable in cats to prednisone.  Cats have to convert prednisone to prednisolone so you can save them a metabolical step by giving the other version of the drug.

Dietary management, pre and probiotics can also help as well as antibiotics like Metro, and B12 injections.  If the nausea can't be controlled by treatments, then the symptoms can often be controlled with Cerenia, an amazing neural blocker of nausea which can be given as a pill, or if the cat is actively throwing up it can be given sub q with fluids, and this can be done at home, usually quite easily with a little training.  In fact, medications by "needle" are generally so much easier to give then via pill that i wish i could give all medicines by injection, the cat doesn't really even know its happening. In any case, Cerenia is a wonder drug when there is no other form of relief, and will buy a cat quality of life, but again, its not treating the cause, only the symptoms.  It's palliative care, but can be combined with medical treatments that get at the cause.

This article explains a lot.  http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/brochure_ibd.cfm

I wish you and Chloe the best.  It can be a long hard road, a road my Simon traveled bravely for quite some time, and well managed for quite some time as well.

Stephen

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply, Stephen. You are correct about the Prednisolone - that is what she is currently on. Thanks for clarifying. I will take a look at the the article you shared. Really appreciate the information.

I've been feeding Chloe Royal Canin dry Multi-Purpose - it's Hydrolyzed Protein and Urinary SO - since Chloe's had some issues with developing crystals as well. She also eats the wet version of Royal Canin Urinary SO. She's been happy with it, and except for this recent flare-up, she's been doing well on it. It's crazy expensive, as you probably know!! But of course she's worth it.

Kitty Curator said:

 
I've been feeding Chloe Royal Canin dry Multi-Purpose - it's Hydrolyzed Protein and Urinary SO - since Chloe's had some issues with developing crystals as well. She also eats the wet version of Royal Canin Urinary SO. She's been happy with it, and except for this recent flare-up, she's been doing well on it. It's crazy expensive, as you probably know!! But of course she's worth it.

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Re: your last post, thank you and happy to help.  I had more experience with IBD than anyone would want.  Regarding the hydrolyzed protein, the way it works is by basically smashing the protein down to its molecular basics such that the intestine is tricked into not recognizing it and and reacting.  If it works - sometimes does, sometimes doesn't - it ONLY works if that is the only food you feed the cats.  That even includes treats so if you're using it with SO then it defeats the purpose.  The special diet is not trying to provide a meal that the cat can absorb per se, its trying to treat the disease and the inflamed bowel can't calm down if there are other foods in the diet.  As an alternative to hydrolyzed protein you can also try prescription novel protein diets like rabbit, duck, etc, proteins the cat has never been exposed to.  My vet told me that the OTC versions of these foods are cooked in vats that also cook regular food and that dna testing revealed bad (common) proteins in these foods and to therefore stick to the prescription versions which didn't. 

The problem with these diets is that the disease can reach a point where they don't work anymore.  

Best

Stephen