IBD diet -- need to find something before vet puts her back on w/d

Bella has confirmed IBD (w/ a biopsy) and vet put her on Hills w/d dry and of course all the meds. The last year she is surviving but not great. Too many relapses and I need HELP. Her last round of metronidozole caused her some bad liver problems and she is now recovering from that. I am afraid when I pick her up tomorrow from the vet (he is great btw, but has only recommended medication and Hills w/d), we will just go back to heavier meds and more dry w/d.
After reading online I am convinced she needs omega 3 oils, a probiotic and maybe a meat diet that has minimal grains. This is the opposite than what he has been saying - which is a strict diet of dry w/d and lots of fiber and nothing else.

Does anyone have experience and or suggestions? THere are so many types of canned food out there and I need to know what to tell him..
Please help with ideas as I am supposed to talk to him tonite.

Could you switch her to the canned version of w/d?

sorry I can't be of much help, I'm not familiar with IBD at all.

Fiber is good for IBD in both animals and people. Hills is not the only company out there though. Medi-Cal/Royal Canin make great diets- canned and dry. I know for sure that medical makes a high fiber diet.

Originally Posted by Dr. Doolittle

Fiber is good for IBD in both animals and people. Hills is not the only company out there though. Medi-Cal/Royal Canin make great diets- canned and dry. I know for sure that medical makes a high fiber diet.

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Ask your vet the fiber % fat% and protein% needed for ibd control.... I would also look into homeade

Originally Posted by jettafer99

Bella has confirmed IBD (w/ a biopsy) and vet put her on Hills w/d dry and of course all the meds. The last year she is surviving but not great. Too many relapses and I need HELP. Her last round of metronidozole caused her some bad liver problems and she is now recovering from that. I am afraid when I pick her up tomorrow from the vet (he is great btw, but has only recommended medication and Hills w/d), we will just go back to heavier meds and more dry w/d.
After reading online I am convinced she needs omega 3 oils, a probiotic and maybe a meat diet that has minimal grains. This is the opposite than what he has been saying - which is a strict diet of dry w/d and lots of fiber and nothing else.

Does anyone have experience and or suggestions? THere are so many types of canned food out there and I need to know what to tell him..
Please help with ideas as I am supposed to talk to him tonite.

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IBD is very difficult to treat. my girl has it, and what has helped her the most is just what you have said, a diet with few or little grains. i have elimated corn, wheat, soy, and a few things i know she has a problem with (fish, esp salmon and tuna) from her diet

a really good diet for IBD that many ppl on the feline IBD board are using is venison and green pea- it has a novel protein source and a carbohydrate that is also very unusual. you can get it canned and dry.
rabbit and rice is another good one. rice is the least problematic grain. potato is also better than corn and wheat.
i tried Innova EVO, which has no grain or carbs at all, but it has too much fat, i think, for my girl.

personally, since what you are doing is not working, i would try something new.

if your cat needs the fiber, you can always mix Benefiber - a soluble fiber, in the wet food. Insoluble fiber is very hard on the digestion.

has your vet tried prednisone? metronidozole, as you have found out, has far too many side effects. low doses of prednisone are generally much more effective.

well this is what i have learned from having a cat with IBD and from others who have cats with it as well.
there is no one diet that will work for every IBD cat, but i think you are on the right track looking for a better quality food without the grains that can cause so many problems for cats.

i will see if i can get the names of more foods you can try. my girl eats a premium cat food and Fancy Feast- only specific ones that do not have any kind of wheat (many of the FF flavors have wheat or wheat gluten)

she is going great! she only has a problem if she eats the other cats food (one cat eats Innova EVO dry)

good luck! IBD can be very frustrating!

My cat was diagnosed with IBD about three years ago, and my vet (an internal medicine specialist) recommended Eukanuba Low Residue. Not really sure about the protein/grain/oil ratios, but she's been eating the dry for all this time and she's doing fine - she's been completely off meds for about two years (and we did the metronidazole dance as well so I can certainly sympathize with that). I just started giving her a little bit of the Low Res canned as well - one of our other cats was just diagnosed with CRF and he's on a canned diet, so I wanted to give her a little bit of canned at the same time so she wouldn't be jealous

Hope that helps!

My IBD cat Teddy can only eat IVD duck and pea (prescription diet made by Royal Canin). He eats mostly dry, but we just started introducing wet and he can handle it! He couldn't eat any wet food of any sort, even the IVD brand, for the past year. He can't eat anything else - no other brands of food, no other flavors of IVD, and no treats. But he doesn't seem to mind, and aside from some little flare-ups that last a day, he has done GREAT on that food. Here (Georgia) an 8 pound bag is $30, and I think 24 cans were about the same, but it has been the BEST money I have spent for him.

As far as oils go - I give Vitamin E to my other cat - I have capsules that I pop open and I spread the oil on her treats. She has big acne problems on her chin, and so far, this is the only thing that helps her out. That's not important - but that's my strategy for giving her oil. She actually now only eats treats with oil - so if you want to add that in, that's one way to do it.

If your vet doesn't carry IVD, they should be able to order it. Mine only carries a little, but they will order whatever I need.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the suggestions. Bella's liver enzymes were not what they should be yet, so she is still at the vet until hopefully today or tomorrow. The Vet said he would be willing to look at alternatives with me and see what else is out there but its definitely at my suggestion and with all of my research.
To whoever asked, yes we did the prednisolone dance too - seemed to have more side effects than the Medtronidozle. So thats why I am anxious to do something that will work WITH her body rather than just heavy meds. I just dont see that as long term therapy and she is only surviving, which is no way to live.

For those who have IBD kitties, did you stop the meds and just take a chance on diet? I was thinking too of the Venison/Pea diet but is that high enough in fiber? The problem with Bella is we are not sure WHAT exactly she is allergic too, just when she throws up we know , so I am thinking we need to do a very unusual meat and grain source. And defnitely natural. (BTW, she got sick on w/d canned so thats not an option.)

Thanks for any help.. Bella needs it!! She is so tired of relapsing every 1-2months. I am afraid if we dont do something else, she will just keep getting worse and worse.

Originally Posted by jettafer99

For those who have IBD kitties, did you stop the meds and just take a chance on diet?

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Penelope was on meds for quite a while. A couple of months after she was diagnosed she stopped eating (which unfortunately we didn't notice right away until she dropped about 4 lbs and got lethargic), and she got hepatic lipidosis, which was horrible. After that she was on metronidazole, prednisone, and something else I'm forgetting the name of (but I think that had just been temporary). Anyway, we very slowly weaned her off the pred and then the metro as her liver numbers continued to improve. Especially since metro is not good long-term, we wanted to be able to get her off meds, and luckily she has been fine with just the food since then. The only relapse she had was right after we moved a couple of years ago, and she got a bout of diarrhea that didn't go away with the metro, but then I stopped giving it to her and it cleared up...figured I'd just jumped the gun on it and should have just let her calm down a few more days.

Penelope was never much of a puker, though, her main problem was the diarrhea.

Her only problem now is that she has remained quite plump since the pred (18 lbs), which my vet has cautioned me against. But she really doesn't seem to eat that much, and after that whole hepatic lipidosis episode I'm reluctant to try to cut her food intake. I try to exercise her a little each day, but she has remained pretty constant in her weight.