I have a 19 year old cat, Scratchy, who has a lot of gas in his intestines which is not settling down. He is fairly bloated which gets worse and better but never settles down. He has IBD, pancreatitis, anemia, renal failure, and arthritis most of which can compound this. Scratchy was doing fairly well a before Christmas and then he stopped eating ‘normally’ and was barely eating and I could pretty much only get him to eat cat treats. Flash forward a few months and he is doing better but he still has stomach noises and bloating. He is eating food but not enough and he is making it up with cat treats still. If I don’t give him the treats he simply goes away and then comes back later and tries again so I don’t want to force it and keep him eating. He lost just under half of his body weight a few years ago when the IBD/renal failure started kicking in.
Scratchy is currently getting..
- Gets 0.30cc of Buprenophine for pain relief twice a day
- He gets 0.08cc of Dexamethasone once a day for IBD (injected into his sub-q)
- He gets 0.15cc of Cerenia every second day (injected into his sub-q)
- He gets 0.25cc of B12 once a week
- He gets 0.10cc of Cartrophen every second week
- 150ml sub-q daily
When the bloating started and he was not eating much I took him to a number of vet visits and he had x-rays, blood tests, and an ultrasound. The blood test showed his enema numbers were around 26 – 28 so he was given an iron shot with no changes in his insides. His next blood tests showed that all of his numbers and his B12 were somewhere in the in normal range. The x-rays did not show any issues and his ultra-sound only showed that his left kidney is a bit smaller but the numbers from the blood test showed it was still working. He was born with a small kidney on his left side which was not an issue until the IBD set in.
The ultrasounds don’t work well with gas in his intestines so they are not sure if there is further damage in his intestines. To settle things down the vet had me try…
- Ovol for children
- Pepto Bismol (3 day run, still finding pink spots in my house)
- Cisapride
The first two did not change anything and the Cisapride was given to him longer but I think things settled down more than that helping. Currently Scratchy is only getting the items on the first list. He is eating Royal Canin sensitive stomach canned food and their 12 year old plus food. He had been eating Fancy Feast chicken and turkey and before that it was Medleys Chicken Florentine but he seems to grow tired of the same food after a while. Before this last bout he was eating about 4 – 6 small cans of food and now it is 1 or 2 per day and a bunch of treats.
His bodily functions are usually good and he will leave 3 – 4 stools a day that are well formed and normal to slightly wet. The last few days he is only leaving a few stools per day but they have been well formed. He ate about ½ a can of food overnight and today he has only been interested in treats so today is a down day.
He will be 20 in May so I think he is a little old to be cutting apart to do more tests which may indicate what the issue with no sure results. I want to make him as comfortable as possible in his remaining time and he has come a long way. Pretty much all of the drugs he gets are injected with his sub-q because he doesn’t absorb much through his stomach. He had an average of about 3 days between throwing up and when I started to inject the Cerenia it just skyrocketed, he is currently on day 52 of not throwing up which is fantastic for him. His average went from 3 days to about 17 days now so he is doing well on this aspect.
What would you try for a guy like this to reduce gas buildup in his intestines?
Scratchy is currently getting..
- Gets 0.30cc of Buprenophine for pain relief twice a day
- He gets 0.08cc of Dexamethasone once a day for IBD (injected into his sub-q)
- He gets 0.15cc of Cerenia every second day (injected into his sub-q)
- He gets 0.25cc of B12 once a week
- He gets 0.10cc of Cartrophen every second week
- 150ml sub-q daily
When the bloating started and he was not eating much I took him to a number of vet visits and he had x-rays, blood tests, and an ultrasound. The blood test showed his enema numbers were around 26 – 28 so he was given an iron shot with no changes in his insides. His next blood tests showed that all of his numbers and his B12 were somewhere in the in normal range. The x-rays did not show any issues and his ultra-sound only showed that his left kidney is a bit smaller but the numbers from the blood test showed it was still working. He was born with a small kidney on his left side which was not an issue until the IBD set in.
The ultrasounds don’t work well with gas in his intestines so they are not sure if there is further damage in his intestines. To settle things down the vet had me try…
- Ovol for children
- Pepto Bismol (3 day run, still finding pink spots in my house)
- Cisapride
The first two did not change anything and the Cisapride was given to him longer but I think things settled down more than that helping. Currently Scratchy is only getting the items on the first list. He is eating Royal Canin sensitive stomach canned food and their 12 year old plus food. He had been eating Fancy Feast chicken and turkey and before that it was Medleys Chicken Florentine but he seems to grow tired of the same food after a while. Before this last bout he was eating about 4 – 6 small cans of food and now it is 1 or 2 per day and a bunch of treats.
His bodily functions are usually good and he will leave 3 – 4 stools a day that are well formed and normal to slightly wet. The last few days he is only leaving a few stools per day but they have been well formed. He ate about ½ a can of food overnight and today he has only been interested in treats so today is a down day.
He will be 20 in May so I think he is a little old to be cutting apart to do more tests which may indicate what the issue with no sure results. I want to make him as comfortable as possible in his remaining time and he has come a long way. Pretty much all of the drugs he gets are injected with his sub-q because he doesn’t absorb much through his stomach. He had an average of about 3 days between throwing up and when I started to inject the Cerenia it just skyrocketed, he is currently on day 52 of not throwing up which is fantastic for him. His average went from 3 days to about 17 days now so he is doing well on this aspect.
What would you try for a guy like this to reduce gas buildup in his intestines?