Cat with Colitis

[HotRos]

My 9 yr old cat was diagnosed with colitis a couple of weeks ago after a trip in March and May for diarrhea and vomiting. Both times, he was given something for nausea and metronidazole for diarrhea. Both meds worked wonderfully. Now, he is reverse sneezing. Not all day, maybe a couple of times a day. In the middle of the night, he’s been throwing up some sort of hair ball. Other than those 2 things, he’s completely normal. Eats all his wet food, whines for snacks , activity is the same…basically normal except for the nightly hairball and reverse sneezing. Is this part of the colitis, or IBD that I think are the same thing? If so, would the metro work? I was given extra pills in case the vomiting and diarrhea happened again.
Thanks!

 

[stephanietx]

Have you tried giving him Pepcid before bedtime? Not Pepcid AC, but plain Pepcid or Famotadine, which is the generic. Also, is he eating mainly wet food or dry food? Are you giving him any probiotics?

 

[HotRos]

I have not given him any Pepcid. Didn’t know I could do that. Is that the over the counter stuff? His diet mostly consists of wet and he snacks a bit on dry with some treats at night. No on the probiotics. I mentioned it to my vet but at the time, he didn’t say much. I had bought some in a tube off chewy but never gave it to him.

 

[HotRos]

The probiotic I have is proviable capsules

 

[HotRos]

Also, I assume I’d have to get the dosage from the vet for the Pepcid. Hot Rod is 15.2 pounds.

 

[Alldara]

Also, I assume I’d have to get the dosage from the vet for the Pepcid. Hot Rod is 15.2 pounds.

Yes you can get the dosage from the vet. It's something like 1/4 of a low dose pill so you'll need a pill cutter as well.

Never had a cat do it, but we did have dogs do it. Used to massage their necks if they let us.

Probiotics are excellent for all cats, so you can give it.

Did your vet adjust your cat's food? Have you considered food allergies as the cause?

 

[HotRos]

The only adjustment to his food was to give him wet food twice a day, instead of once and to limit the dry food. Back in March, I changed his wet food to Solid Gold brand for wet and he gets Blue Buffalo sensitive stomach for dry. I’ve also bought some foods with rabbit or duck bc I’ve read those proteins are food for colitis. We did rabbit yesterday and duck this morning. I heard him wretching in the middle of the night but didn’t find any vomit or hairballs.
I just got off the phone with the vet and he said give it to Monday and then call back to schedule an appointment if he’s not better. He said with the diarrhea he had, it can take some time to straighten out his tummy. I also mentioned that I think he may be constipated. I checked his box this morning and there appears to not be the amount of poop I would normally see.
I’ll had the probiotics to his wet food tonight.

 

[stephanietx]

Pepcid is 10mg once a day. We usually give it at night after the last feeding or at bedtime.

If you introduced a new food, I would say that might be the source of the problem, especially if the vomiting is new. I would try a single protein food that's not Solid Gold. Also, Blue Buffalo has been known to cause issues on the past and has been recalled for various reasons. It seems like eliminating what you changed for a couple of weeks and seeing if his tummy settles down might be the way to go.

 

[HotRos]

Thank you! I’ve introduced rabbit and duck, by the same brand, yesterday and today. He seems to be a bit better as far as activity goes. I’ll know more when I wake up. He typically has been doing the retching in the middle of the night.
But after some research the last couple of days, my plan is to stick to rabbit. I did find a couple of local stores who sell vital cat rabbit patties. I’m also going to check the ingredients of the pouches of rabbit and duck I currently have.

 

[Alldara]

Good rule for sensitive cats: One new thing at a time or one new protein at a time. Slow switching. Tummy upset could be because of introducing two new wet foods at the same time.

Think like when a person is sick and they eat things like toast and butter. We don't usually introduce ourselves to new food when ill. But for example if toast was the issue we might make the switch to plain rice. We would eat limited food until we felt better.

 

[stephanietx]

My kitty with a sensitive tummy cannot handle rabbit, we've discovered. He can do chicken and venison, but not rabbit. It takes about 2 weeks of a new food for us to know if it's going to negatively affect him. We don't vary his food at all if we can help it and we try to stick to a strict feeding schedule to help keep his stress level down. Your guy may need to have a smaller snack serving portion prior to bed to keep him fuller throughout the night.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
Is he pooping more normally yet?

 

[HotRos]

Thank you for asking. I haven’t checked today, but Friday morning he did a nice normal poop. I woke up to him meowing so I thought he was going to have diarrhea but he was in his box pooping. He’s normally a one poop but he did 2 of his normal size and they looked normal to me.
He also did not throw up last night and seems more active the last couple of days.

 

[Furballsmom]

This is great news!