IBD-on to the next chapter, where do we go from here?

[micknsnicks2mom]

 
Actually I heard about this recently, I thought they had to be mistaken telling me this treatment was done to their cat............

I have since read more about it though. Interesting to say the least! 

As far as a raw diet, I hate to sound closed minded about it, but for several reasons I doubt I can go that route.

For one, I have tried offering Kirssy raw food, she wanted no part of it, at her age, she will be 14 on April 4th, and with Simone, who is even older and is fed the same diet, it would be quite the ordeal to make that transition, also I am reading that for IBD cats, raw might not be the way to go due to bacteria. 

Then lastly, it sort of grosses me out. 

However, that is not to say that I don't believe in my heart that raw is likely the best diet for our cats, I just should have done this from the beginning, but did not have the knowledge about foods back then as I do now, and how much crap is in processed foods.

i can totally understand and respect your reasons! 

and that's the same thing i thought, when i was considering a home cooked diet for my little snick

.

'have been looking for a vet who is in to holistic AND western' -- if i'm not mistaken, this would be an 'integrative' veterinarian. how about UC Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital's Integrative Medicine Service? they have 'palliative care', which can focus on symptoms like the inflammation and vomiting your Krissy is experiencing.

 

[jcat]

Mogli was diagnosed (biopsy) with IBD almost 3 years ago; his problems were constant diarrhea and malnutrition. Vomiting occurred when he ate chicken. We had allergy tests done, and he can't tolerate that or grains of any kind, including rice.

The treatment of choice here is a Limited Ingredient Diet plus a non-prescription nutraceutical called Entero-Chronic, rather than steroids. If it's available in Canada, it's well worth a try. He was on it for several weeks and still gets it whenever he has a flare-up (thus far once or twice a year, usually after stealing food he can't tolerate). We also use Entero-Chronic at the shelter for cats with digestive problems.

Food trials revealed that the Monster can't tolerate raw food, which is way too fatty for him. It went in one end and came out the other virtually undigested. The theory is that Mogli's IBD (neutrophilic, which is rare) may have been caused by raw feeding, as he had a nasty Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli infection when we got him, and his previous owner fed raw. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of raw or the recommendation to feed it to IBD cats. It may work for some, but definitely not for all of them.

Mogli's on low-fat, single-protein grain-free canned food for life. The brand he gets (Vet-Concept, only available in German-speaking countries) has unique meats with a little (2% - 3%) potato, sweet potato or turnip. We started out with just one protein, then kept adding over the course of almost a year. He gets 7 different meats per week - horse, reindeer, kangaroo, rabbit, goat, hare and duck - with 2 more (veal or turkey) once or twice a month just for a change. Occasionally he gets a little salmon, but I'm cautious with fish. He does fine eating all those proteins, but not if they're mixed, so we stick to one protein per day. Dry food is a real problem, because most brands contain chicken or fish. I've only found two German brands that Mogli tolerates, Vet Concept Allergy (rabbit & potato) and Wildcat Badhra (horse & sweet potato), so he just gets a few pieces a day as a lunchtime snack.

 

[stephenq]

 
Thanks peeps!

Hello friend!

As you know, my experience with IBD is personal, not professional.  Ok, so in my experience, cats who are vomiting for a medical reason are almost by definition nauseous, so if the vomiting was well understood in your cats case, ie confident that it was secondary to a disease process then i don't think there is anything wrong with giving cerenia.  When given properly i have never seen a downside to it and my cat was on it for probably 15 months, much of that 7 days a week ignoring (with vet's advice) the instruction to skip a day every 5 days.

Cats who have IBD are at risk for other inflammatory problems like pancreatitis which can cause serious vomiting episodes and the best way and time to catch that is during an "attack" using the PLI test (http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pe...ancreatic-lipase-immunoreactivity-in-cats/362)

For me the biggest thing, or maybe the easiest way to tell if the IBD has become severe is to check weight and if there is weight loss the cat is in trouble.  And at a certain point, either or both the cat's discomfort and/or weight loss trumps the reluctance to start pred, and the risk of diabetes becomes secondary imo, and if it occurs, then you treat that as well.

With my cat and my vet, she did not indicate that tapering was a good idea, although I've heard that some vets think this can be done, so it might be on a case by case basis.  The question though is,  since the goal of therapy (regardless of technique or medicine) is to get the disease into remission   (not unlike cancer essentially, the concept being to get the disease to be at bay, not cured) does one want to risk having the cat come out of remission because you stopped the therapy?

So i'd be weighing my cat with a baby scale 2-3 times weekly, preferably on the same days and keeping a written log.  My first weight i would compare to the last weight taken at the vet's, and if its a little lower, then i'd take another weight a few days later and see if there really was a trend.

2 final thoughts.  With IBD, weight loss is the enemy, weight gain is the friend. And when the bowels are inflamed enough to cause all these symptoms (assuming its the IBD that is doing all this) then the cat is probably in sufficient discomfort that taking new steps is warranted from both a treatment perspective and a palliative one.

All the best to all of you!

Stephen

 

[catwoman707]

Thought it was high time to check in and give an update!

As you can tell by the date last here, it's been 4 months, and Krissy seemed to settle back in to her current diet, which she has been on from the start of this.

That being said, there are a few subtle changes, the first thing that always pops in my mind is whether this might mean that her IBD is becoming lymphoma.

If she were not my special girl, who I watch so closely as I do, it would appear all is great.

But what I've seen lately is how she is very slowly losing weight due to a bit of a smaller appetite, this is actually really good for her, she is and always has been a chunk.

So it's hard to feel bad about it!

She sure does sleep a lot, but no clue if it's just her age.

Her voice has changed.

It's less clear, almost like a person sounds when they get a bit hoarse. Sometimes, like if I'm cutting up meat for her and Simone, she starts getting anxious and rubbing all on my legs for me to hurry up it sounds better and closer to her norm, but not sure what to make of it.

I do plan on having her get a new blood panel done, but there is so much that it won't tell me too.

Hasn't vomited since the last posts here, about 4 months now except out of the blue the other night, and once.

I know nobody here has all the answers or a crystal ball (I wish) but any thoughts about any of this?

Is her voice changing from age maybe? 

I may be an expert on kittens and pretty darn good on cats, but never had senior cats before until Krissy and Simone, 14 and 16 or more.