Cleopatra may have IBD(otherwise cancer).

[cleopatras mom]

Hello everyone! It is off and on. She goes a few days without blood in her stools, and then a few days where she does. I have been trying to transition her to the new food, but it is taking SO long. I don't think she has gained any weight, or lost any, but she does seem a little skinnier than when she did a whole year ago. We have made the decision to start her on Leukerin as well, just in case. So, since putting her on Prednisolone and changing her food she seems to be doing better, but not "healed", or "solved". Hopefully within the next week I will have another update after starting Leukerin and changing her food.

 

[cleopatras mom]

I have a quick question, could she be allergic to the chicken flavored prednisolone, if she is allergic to chicken?

 

[ginny]

Good question.  Possibly.  Ask the pharmacist what the ingredients are in the flavoring.  I guess it has to be chicken but you never can tell these days.  

 

[cleopatras mom]

Alright, so I have an update-

For the past two days I have fed her straight pork. Today, she produced a stool. It seemed a little hard, and then ended with something that appeared like diarrhea. And she STILL has blood in her stools.  How long does it take for diarrhea or bloody stools to disapear? She seems hungry for her dry food, and it is making me so sad. I want everyone to be honest with me, do you think it is still IBD? If not, I want her to go back to her dry food, as she loves it the most. The half of the stool was diarrhea, and it concerned me. Although she has bloody stools on the dry food, she never has diarrhea. After being put on the pork for two days, she does. And it still has blood. Should there be an improvement within the next few days, or no?

 

[abby2932]

I really have no idea...I remember one of the primary things you were trying to figure out is if she had IBD or an allergy to something in commercial cat food you were feeding. What had you been feeding her a few days ago before you tried a pork only trial?I know you bought Alnutrin and had a plan to make a batch of food consisting of the proper amount of meat, calcium and bone. Did you ever make the food to rule out an allergy from something in the canned/dry food? What was your exact recipe?Diarrhea can come from not having enough bone/calcium in a homemade diet and I guess I'm just trying to figure out what she was eating the past few weeks. Other than trying to figure out the diet, I just don't know why she continuously has blood in her stool. I don't know if that is normal even if she did have cancer, God forbid.I do want to recommend that you post a new thread in the Cat Health section. This post is in Nutrition and I think more people will see your thread and give more advice in the Health section.

 

[abby2932]

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/320695/...dy-poop-and-vomit-still-no-ideas#post_4027172

You can check out this post started the other day by a member with a similar problem as yours.

I honestly would be interested if you made a batch of raw food and what your recipe was. I'm sorry you're still going through this, I know how disheartening and frustrating it can be when your cat is having issues and you feel helpless. I'm not so much help in the health department but I do know about raw feeding and nutrition.

Please feel free to ask any questions at all about the diet and I can try to help you in that department.

But definitely hop over to the cat health section and start a thread so other members more experienced than me can give you sound advice

 

[cleopatras mom]

Thanks for the response! I think I should make a new one, even if my questions all center on her diet. I was feeding her Wellness Core Turkey and Duck for a few months before I put her on plain pork for a few days. I made the batch of food for her yesterday with the Alnutrin, which consists of pork and beef liver. 

She never had diarrhea on the Wellness, but she did have bloody stools, with normal consistency. When I put her on plain pork two days ago, she had a bit of bloody diarrhea yesterday. BUT, I found out she ate a few pieces of dog food that were on the floor, so we shall see.

 

[abby2932]

Perfect! I'm excited to hear how she does on the new diet.

Just for my own clarification, you're using approximately 90-95% Pork with 5-10% Beef liver and the appropriate amount of Alnutrin with calcium, correct?

Did you get the Alnutrin with Eggshell Calcium or the regular Alnutrin with Calcium that uses limestone? (It doesn't matter either way, I'm just curious )

Does she like the food?

By feeding this food for a while, you will definitely find out if she was allergic to some ingredient in commercial cat food or not. I am keeping my fingers crossed for you and am anxiously awaiting any news!

 

[cleopatras mom]

Yep! Followed all of the instructions to a T!

I am using the Alnutrin with eggshell calcium, though perhaps I should have done limestone...hmn....

She actually enjoys it a lot.

I was worried because she didn't want to eat the pork when it was just pork, but after adding the Alnutrin, and the liver, she is gladly accepting it.

She has eaten 1.1 ounces so far today.

I want her to eat at LEAST 3, but we shall see.

 

[abby2932]

That's great news that she's eating it! And yes, I would say at least try to get 3-5oz a day into her.

I actually think the Eggshell Calcium is the better option.

Still keeping my fingers crossed that Cleopatra's stool issues are cleared up with this new species approproate, limited ingredient homemade diet

Hopefully you will start to see some improvement in about a week.

 

[cleopatras mom]

She weighs about 6 pounds. And I forgot the exact type of pork I have, but it varies from 200-250 calories per three ounces. I estimated that she should have 20 calories of food per one pound of body weight, but I want her to gain more. So she would be eating the equivalent of an 8 pound cat eating for maintenance, if she ate 3 ounces?

So, two ounces left to go!

I hope so too! I really hope it is only IBD, and nothing else. x/

 

[cleopatras mom]

Alright, so I have a question for you all that have put your cats on homemade diets. Did the stool size, and the moisture change at all? Did they go to the littebox less? Unfortunately, still blood. After being put on te home-made, she is dong #2 less, and it seems way more firm. Not a case of costipation? I thought I heard less litterbox activity, and drier stools was a good sign.

 

[abby2932]

Alright, so I have a question for you all that have put your cats on homemade diets. Did the stool size, and the moisture change at all? Did they go to the littebox less? Unfortunately, still blood. After being put on te home-made, she is dong #2 less, and it seems way more firm. Not a case of costipation? I thought I heard less litterbox activity, and drier stools was a good sign.

Yes, she will go #2 less and the stool should be smaller and drier.

Cleo hasn't had diarrhea exept for that one time the other day? If so, thats great news. What color is the stool? It should be a brown/tan color if you're feeding pork and not too white.

Since you're using the Eggshell Calcium, I wouldn't think that she should be constipated as long as you've used the proper amount in the batch.

I'm not surprised that the blood is still there, give her some time for her intestines to heal and see what the results are after at least a week of the new diet.

 

[lisahe]

 
Alright, so I have a question for you all that have put your cats on homemade diets. Did the stool size, and the moisture change at all? Did they go to the littebox less? Unfortunately, still blood. After being put on te home-made, she is dong #2 less, and it seems way more firm. Not a case of costipation? I thought I heard less litterbox activity, and drier stools was a good sign.

Feeding raw, homemade, or even canned foods that are all meat (plus supplements) with minimal or no fillers usually means less poop (both in quantity and frequency) and less smell. Our cats eat a combination of raw, homemade, and very meaty canned foods and they don't poop quite once a day.

 

[cleopatras mom]

Thanks for the response!

No she hasn't had diarrhea since then, which is great!

Her stools range from a light brown to a darker brown color

I definately used the proper amount, but I know she has elevated calcium levels of calcium. x/

Unfortunately, she will not pass up on dry food, and she found several pieces of dog food on the floor, that I didn't see.

So, I am just going to act like I started her on the food today, and will expect some sort of results, if this is the right thing, by, say the 1st.

 

[cleopatras mom]

Also, the smells had diminished by a lot!

Less stools must mean the more food that is actually getting into her system, instead of just going back out.

 

[abby2932]

Has your vet tested Cleo's parathyroid?

Check out this website:
http://m.petmd.com/cat/conditions/endocrine/c_ct_excess_parathyroid_hormone?page=1

The parathyroid is a gland that regulates the amount of calcium in the blood and if something is wrong with that gland, that could be why her calcium levels are elevated. Supposedly, the parathyroid is the first thing that should be checked when blood work shows elevated calcium.

Cancer also raises calcium levels in the blood but that usually happens long after the cancer has been present and the patient is usually very sick at that point. Check this website out too:
http://www.parathyroid.com/high-calcium.htm

The above website is for humans but basically it states that when there is an instance of high calcium in the blood, it is almost always due to hyperparathyroid, very rarely is it because of cancer.

 

[abby2932]

Have you ever redone the bloodwork since that one time? I think it would be a really good idea, especially since it was only slightly elevated. It might have just been off that day.

Also, just want to note that even though her calcium may be elevated, it is still important to not lower the amount of calcium in the diet. Lowering the calcium in the diet would not affect the level of calcium in the blood, it would just be an imbalanced diet.

I know you followed the recipe properly and are not feeding an imbalanced diet. I just wanted to clarify that for any others who may read this one day if they're in the same situation as you.

 

[cleopatras mom]

No, I do not believe we did. When she checked her heartbeat, she claimed that it was beating fast, on the high end of even stressed cats. But I did some research, and it seems that stressed cat's pulse can even be 240. While Cleo had 220. She explained that it could be hyperthyroidism, so we took a simple blood test. Not exclussive for anything. Everything came back normal, except that her calcium was slightly high, and because Cleo lost some weight, she explained that it could be cancer. And that it most likely was.

No, we have not. It's been nearly two months since we last brought her in, and I was thinking of making another appointment. So, checking for the parathyroid would be something other than a simple blood test?

 

[cleopatras mom]

And I agree, even with elevated calcium in her body, I am not going to change anything around, at all. That would just be asking for trouble. x/