Tiberius is sick :(

[cleopatras mom]

How long has he been on this food?

Sorry, I forgot. 8c

Cleo's symptoms tripled after putting her on Royal Canin and then lowered surprising amounts after taking her off it.

 

[zed xyzed]

How is Tiberius doing? 

 

[kristenann]

When I first got Tiberius from the rescue I had asked what food he ate and they told me whatever they had available. So when I brought him home I fed him a mix of Purina one and friskies wet food. When I first brought him home he did not have diarrhea, the diarrhea began to get worse and worse after a couple months to the point where it is now. When I first brought him home I noticed his tail fur had been trimmed off (which makes me suspect he had diarrhea before) and he was in poor physical condition, very skinny with poor muscle mass. The vets initially thought hyperthyroidism, I so wish that was the case.

Once the diarrhea began I switched him to Hill prescription W/D and that worked pretty well for a couple months. Then the diarrhea came back and I added probiotics, which haven't really made a difference but I figured it can't hurt so I keep giving him them. Then I tried another prescription low residue food for awhile but that was horrible so that was a short lived experiment. Back to the W/D because that had the best results but it didn't last so I wanted to try something new. May 25th I picked up the Royal Canin hp food. It might have actually made a slight improvement as his stools are less voluminous and less odorous however he is still having diarrhea around 6 times a day. 

Soon I will try switching him to the LID novel protein wet food. I might be able to pick some up this weekend. I'm honestly really afraid that if I do switch him now I won't know if the Royal Canin could work and I just didn't give it a long enough trial. So I'm thinking I might feel better having him finish the bag before I switch? The told me to try it for 2 months but doesn't it seem like if it would really help it would make a difference sooner?

I ordered the ronidazole today, that should arrive Tuesday. It was quite pricey! $50 for two weeks worth of pills.

I'll be thrilled if it works though, totally worth it. I really don't think he had parasites though.

I really hope he doesn't have cancer. If he does have severe IBD, unless I can get it under control it might be just as deadly, I fear he is starving. I tried him on steroids before and he had a horrible reaction so unfortunately that's not really a solution either.

@LisaHE  I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty, a mass is pretty much a give away.

@Handsome Kitty  That is a really good idea and I appreciate the suggestion! I have tried adding pure pumpkin into his food, unfortunately it did not help him. 

 

[cleopatras mom]

I can't really add anymore knowledge, as I understand all of the whatifs and stuff like that. x/

I just want to add my support again, and I will be popping back on here to see all the updates.

It is really frustrating with everything you are going through. x/

I am at the same ballpark, IBD or cancer.

And that is interesting about the steroids!

Cleo has been on them, and she seems to be doing better, though ho would I know if she was reacting to it, and instead think it was a 'flareup' of some sort.

And I heard pred can be chicken flavored, so I am wondering if, being on a homemade diet with no poultry, pred would mess everything up!

 

[kristenann]

I'm so glad to hear Cleo is doing better! That is so interesting about chicken flavor, I wouldn't think so but I guess I have no idea.

It was my very who made the connection to the steroids being a problem but it made sense as he became very lethargic and his belly became very swollen. It was bizarre and scary.

Yesterday I picked up 5 cans of the natural balance duck LID, 6 cans of the natural balance venison LID, and 5 cans of the natures variety 95% rabbit. I decided the dry wasn't helping and I would need some to help him transition to the wet.

So I've begun to transition him over to the all wet. He had a 1/2 can of venison last night and some dry this morning. His diarrhea this morning looked like a more normal shade of brown which I'm taking as a good sign. It was a yellowish brown before.

 

[lisahe]

So I've begun to transition him over to the all wet. He had a 1/2 can of venison last night and some dry this morning. His diarrhea this morning looked like a more normal shade of brown which I'm taking as a good sign. It was a yellowish brown before.

I'm glad you're switching him to all wet food -- that can help so much! Here's hoping that it does in Tiberius's case!

 

[zed xyzed]

How is Tiberius doing, I have a soft spot for that little guy.

 

[kristenann]

No real updates. So far he's eating some wet and some dry, I'm working on transitioning him. His stool hasn't changed but he hasn't vomited in the past couple of days so that's good.

I pick up the ronidazole tonight so I'll be staring that and I mentioned to the vet if this doesn't work I want to try ponazuril. She mentioned trying another steriod so if we don't see any improvements in these we'll go that route.

He is currently lesion free but I'm asking for a refill on the ringworm meds as this has been going on for months now.

imagejpeg_0.jpg

• kristenann
• Jun 21, 2016

 

[catwoman707]

No vomiting is a big positive, it's a good start at least.

If the ringworm has been treated for months and is still ongoing, you can actually go and buy athlete's foot cream, as long as it contains terbinafine hydrochloride, at least 1%, it will get rid of the ringworm too.

 

[zed xyzed]

I love the picture what a cute guy!! Is he ok with eating canned? if for some reason you need to feed him dry go with Orijin. Hoping he gets better soon  

 

[kristenann]

@catwoman707  Haha I actually have done that for him! He currently doesn't have any active lesions but I'm paranoid they'll come back.

@Zed Xyzed  Thank you! He loves the can food so that's really nice, although I haven't tried the rabbit yet. According to the can he'll need 1 and a half cans of wet food a day, as of right now he's eating 1 can a day and some dry food. I'll likely need to feed him a little dry when I go away over night but I think I'll give him the prescription food then or a novel protein food if this seems to help. I've heard mixed things about Orijen and its super pricey!

 

[cleopatras mom]

So how is he now? Still no vomitting? How are his stools?

 

[kristenann]

He's doing okay. He hasn't vomited since I've introduced the wet food which is really good. BUT he has so much diarrhea. I'm losing my mind and I would welcome any suggestions anyone has on coping with the mess.

All my furniture is covered is sheets and he's not allowed in the bedroom. He has an open high sided litter box, in a nook that is covered with puppy pee pads, but still the diarrhea spreads everywhere. I vacuum twice a day to pick up the diarrhea litter chunks.

I started him on the ronidazole yesterday for a 2 week stretch.

 

[cleopatras mom]

I think wet food will help a lot in this situation. I really have no advice to give, because I am so new at this, myself.

Though I can offer suggestions,if ya want! That helps me the most, receiving all sorts of ideas, even if they will not help. It makes me feel like I covered all the basics and looked at ALL the ideas available.

I really suggest you put him in a home-made diet. By far, this had helped Cleo the most. Buy Alnutrin, beef liver, and pork. To transition him cook the pork so it is just over half-way cooked. Then half-way cook the liver, add your packet of Alnutrin, and your good to go! By far, Cleo was the pickiest cat I know, and she would ONLY eat her one type of food, and hated anything else, even treats. But she has been scarfing this down by the ounces every day. I first transitioned her with fully cooked pork and she was lik "eh", but cooking it less so it was more tender made her LOVE it.

I just feel at this point, you should go ahead and try it, If you have reached a point where you feel you have tried everything. And Ii was always afraid of trying home-prepared foods, especially with vets saying it's a no no, but truthfully, I haven't seen her so full and energetic in well over a year. I really hope you try this, as it could be a live saver!

 

[lisahe]

 
He's doing okay. He hasn't vomited since I've introduced the wet food which is really good. BUT he has so much diarrhea. I'm losing my mind and I would welcome any suggestions anyone has on coping with the mess.

All my furniture is covered is sheets and he's not allowed in the bedroom. He has an open high sided litter box, in a nook that is covered with puppy pee pads, but still the diarrhea spreads everywhere. I vacuum twice a day to pick up the diarrhea litter chunks.

I started him on the ronidazole yesterday for a 2 week stretch.

I'm glad to hear he's still not vomiting, that's a big thing. I suspect that the more you can feed him canned food only the better. Though of course it's always hard to know how cats with gastric problems will react to changes in food.

I wish I had ideas about dealing with the diarrhea. We did pretty much the same as you when our previous cat was sick with it -- the big thing was setting up a litter box on plastic with newspaper for miles around. That helped a lot but... but.

 

[kristenann]

Slight update, my vet gave the okay to try using imodium as temporary relief and it already been so much better!

I know it's not a permanent solution but it's giving us both a much needed respite. He hasn't had a solid stool, just much less diarrhea.

Today was the first day of only wet and that seems to be going okay. I picked up 70 lbs of cat litter and a 50 pack of puppy pads, I'm feeling slightly better.

In just over a week and a half we have anther vet appointment and he is going to be cultured again for ringworm.

 

[zed xyzed]

Hoping Tiberius is getting better

 

[smile123]

Have you tried going to a holistic vet?

 

[zed xyzed]

How is Tiberius ?

 

[kristenann]

Tiberius tested negative for ringworm! Woot woot! It has taken 8 months and most of my sanity but finally some improvement!

I'm ecstatic

To combat the vomiting when it gets bad I give him 1/4 tablet of pepcid which does the trick. He gets about 1.5ml of imodium daily to keep the diarrhea in check, and when he stops eating he gets 1ml of appetite stimulant.

Every other day he gets a probiotic and dasaquin for his joints. Soon he will try another steroid for the ibd. Haha I feel like he gets a literal pharmacy of meds but it's feeling more manageabile and he can sleep with me now!

He eats only wet food food nowadays. The novel protein lid thing didn't seem to help more than anything else so he mostly eats a combo of Friskies pate. He seems to be feeling better too.

He will likely continue to get weekly bathes as he starts to smell really bad with the diarrhea and doesn't excel at grooming.