Undiagnosed cat with digestive issues. Stuck and not knowing what steps to take next. We need help.

[gatinos]

There is a Facebook Group for IBD kitties.. they also have a website. Great information, and great people.. Do yourself a favor and look into it. IT is called IBDKitties...

Thank you for replying so quickly! 

I'll keep in mind your experience with Pepcid, in case he struggles when we take him off on Thursday. I'll also check in with the vet re Zofran.

I did ask the vet last night if we could lower the dose of Prednisolone but he said not for now. He had such a terrible time last week, he just wants to have him stable before reducing on the steroids. I read that a common mistake made with steroids is that the dose is too low at the beginning and/or that it's not kept for long enough. Apparently, high doses at the start are not so much an issue as having them on a high dose long term. This is just what I've read though, and, as you, I am not an expert! 

I haven't found a specialist yet. To be honest, I've been quite overwhelmed with this situation and hardly sleeping or eating myself. The time I do have is to research on what we're doing now and how to continue. I do want to see a specialist though, as soon as I can.

Yes, we're definitely staying away from chicken. In fact, we're staying away from ALL poultry right now, just in case. I'm not even trying turkey, even though it's probably his favorite. Maybe we can try when things settle down.

Lamb seems like a great option. I'm glad my other kitty, Asha, likes it. What brand are you feeding Artie at the moment, if you don't mind me asking?

When you say "that brand" is it Vital Essentials that you tried? If you have any concerns about it, I'd like to hear your thoughts, please.

I agree that having a vet that is more proactive would be a great thing. Yesterday I went by our previous vet clinic to buy some pill pockets and have another feel about the place (we moved away from them after a few mistakes during our visits and what seemed like a poor service all together) and our clinic seems wonderful compared to it. Still, there might be a better one out there. Like I said, I've just been very afraid to change or do anything while he was having his major crisis. 

Yes, I've seen the IBD kitties website, great source and amazing work inspired by a very sad story. 

Thank you for all the tips

 

[gatinos]

 
Hey great update!  Glad to hear things are settling down.  I'm sure Nene is glad, as well.

Thank you @Freedom. Yes, all of us at home we are very glad! Inevitably, it's affected us all. You can tell Nene is definitely feeling better and we're all happy for that 

 

[gatinos]

My Madison had pancreatitis which caused his liver to stop making enzymes. Once diagnosed in Texas I give enzymes on his food.

The vet told me that although we didn't yet have all of his tests results, that pancreatitis was ruled out. I asked him about starting on enzymes anyways, as I've read they have helped many kitties but he said no.

Apparently, if he doesn't have pancreatitis, he should be producing enzymes himself... I am a bit confused about this. I was just about to buy Prozyme online after reading so many good reviews about it. Any thoughts? 

Here is some info I read on littlebigcat.com:

2. Digestive Enzymes

Digestive enzymes help our pets to fully break down foods so nutrients can be efficiently absorbed and used by the body. When food is not properly digested, some particles may trigger inflammation, allergies, and other chronic health problems. Processed foods have had their native enzymes destroyed, so it is important to add them to your pet’s food. Plant- or fungal-based enzymes work in the widest range of pH and temperature. Make sure that the product you select contains at least protease, amylase, lipase, and cellulase.

 

[gatinos]

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• gatinos
• Mar 21, 2017

It's so good to see him resting again. On behalf of Nené & I: thank you!

 

[artiemom]

i was giving Artie Nature's Variety rabbit and their Pride Ritzy rabbit. 

Nature's Variety is a very good line of food. It was just not good for Artie. He suffers from constipation and possible early Megacolon, in addition to his IBD. The NV seemed to cause more constipation, due to the addition of the human grade clay they added to it. 

Many cats with IBD and diarrhea do great with this brand ~ not good for my guy.

I am currently used Hound & Gatos Lamb. These are canned foods. I am not doing raw or home cooked. 

 

[gatinos]

 
i was giving Artie Nature's Variety rabbit and their Pride Ritzy rabbit. 

I am currently used Hound & Gatos Lamb. These are canned foods. I am not doing raw or home cooked. 

Thank you for sharing the brands you've used. It's helpful to become familiar with names, ingredients and what has or hasn't worked and why. 

We tried Nature's Variety before but for some reason, it didn't settle well with our other cat. It seemed very oily and she struggled to digest it. Maybe due to the pork ingredient.

I'm glad you found something that works for Artie  

 

[gatinos]

 
Great job you are doing, and I must compliment you on not only your vigilance but your patience.

When I first got Krissy's diagnosis of IBD I was a wreck, confused, scattered, ugh so much to understand. Not one solution fits for all cats either, so trial and error, on to the next......

I agree the nexabiotic can be started at half dose no prob.

Also agree with @Artiemom  about the pepcid ongoing is okay with no side effects. Your kitty may not need it continued though too, her's does, mine did not, so again it's an individual med for yours, and I am the same way, if I can get away without it, I do.

As for the homemade, freeze it in single portions and given as a change up your kitty will probably go for it. 

Thank you for saying that @catwoman707. I felt exactly as you described. Thankfully the meds have allowed me to reduce my anxiety and worry so that I can focus on his holistic healing. This has been and still is such a learning experience! 

Great to hear that re Nexabiotic. Next week I'll start both kitties on a whole pill a day. I've read that up to 2 can be given a day to an ill cat. Is that right? It sounds like a lot!

My vet agreed to stop the pepcid for a few days after the 14 day limit, and maybe starting it again if needed. This will give us one or two days to observe if he still needs it and if so, we'll go back to it.  He's gone from 2 1/4 of a 10mg pill per day of Pepcid to 1, and he's still well, so I am hopeful!

As I wean him off though, we've started him on Cerenia, just in case.

Tonight I'll also be starting him on Slippery Elm. I got some empty pills and my husband is bringing us a syringe later so that I can make the slurry and give it to him with pills. He takes pills perfectly fine with pill pockets (I couldn't be more grateful) and since he's allergic to chicken, I found these dog ones  that are allergen-free and also grain free. He absolutely LOVES them. 

Thank you for all your comments. For some reason, every time I see you've written, I feel better. You have a talent to reassure others, at least me! 

Hands up to Nené, and to all of our fighter kitties, and to those fighters who have lost the battle but their parents' love for them was so great that they are still helping others thrive   

 

[catwoman707]

Your last comments touched me, and it warms my heart to know that I have been helpful. 

Also hit home about our love being so great for those lost that we continue to help others. I'm still struggling with my loss, my soul and inspiration. 

Instant teary eyed, so moving on.......

I had to lol reading that you are starting slippery elm since last night I thought I needed to mention this to you!  

I also think that I wouldn't give more than 1 cap daily of nexabiotic, giving 2 def sounds like more than I would be comfortable giving.

I know too well the relief you are feeling now that he is finally settling down. It's all so much to take in, learn about and begin to understand, not like any other illness that can be cured with meds. It's hit and miss, trial and error, ups and downs. What works for some but not for all, and so on.

Or even the idea that lingers, is this lymphoma or IBD, will it become lymphoma? 

My thoughts on that. 

I believe the majority or better is IBD, later on some may become lymphoma, which is still the type that responds very well to treatment, but maybe has a better chance of developing when the IBD is not stabilized and/or managed well, whether due to the lack of effort from some owners who disregard IBD as being serious, or if it's purely in genetics and that individual cat's system, no telling. 

But the best start here is just what you are doing now and able to accomplish management in symptoms.

I never have found a straight answer on whether or not the thickened intestinal lining/inflammation ever goes down and can be seen via ultrasound.

I can't help but think it's part of IBD transitioning to lymphoma. But that's just my thoughts. 

I do however strongly believe that the drastic increase of IBD in the last 20 or more years is directly related to commercial food.

It angers me that this is still not regulated nearly enough. 

If the FDA can do this with human food, why not our beloved pets who are family members just as much.......

Anyway! Very glad to see things are going so well now

 

[gatinos]

Originally Posted by catwoman707  

Your last comments touched me, and it warms my heart to know that I have been helpful. 

Also hit home about our love being so great for those lost that we continue to help others. I'm still struggling with my loss, my soul and inspiration. 

Instant teary eyed, so moving on.......

I had to lol reading that you are starting slippery elm since last night I thought I needed to mention this to you!  

I also think that I wouldn't give more than 1 cap daily of nexabiotic, giving 2 def sounds like more than I would be comfortable giving.

I didn't know you'd lost your kitty! I am very sorry for your loss. Only imagining my life without Nene or Asha during our ordeal was heartbreaking. 

You sound like a terrific cat mom, I bet your kitties are the happiest and those that left had a beautiful life with you 

I made the Slippery Elm syrup last night, following all the instructions I'd read online. I gave each of my cats 1/2 a teaspoon of the syrup mixed with 1tbsp of raw goat's milk before bed time. They both ate it fine but Asha, my other cat (who has been healthy all this time) vomited twice during the night, just the syrup and nothing else. Me last night:  

I created another thread on this site to hear more about that specific issue and another user just mentioned that the same thing happened to her. I was very surprised. 

Nene seemed fine although I did hear his tummy rumbling a little more than usual. Maybe I started off with too much and should go down to 1/4 of a teaspoon?

I agree with you on the Nexabiotic. The other day I bought this supplement Transcend, it's a supplement with 250 mg of CurcuWin[emoji]169[/emoji], 75 mg of Super Boswellin[emoji]169[/emoji], and 5 mg of BioPerine[emoji]169[/emoji]. 

I read Turmeric (or Curcumin) is a great anti-inflammatory and multiple tests have proven it to be incredibly powerful in the treatment of GI issues. Their website is very informative. They also have a great customer service and they emailed me right after I bought the supplement to offer their assistance with Nene. The vet that makes the supplement recommended me of course to carry on adding supplements but only in 14 day periods. So basically, not to go too quickly. So definitely 2 dosis of Nexabiotic are a no go! 

Here's some of the info on their website, in case anyone is interested:

THE INTEGRATIVE TREATMENT OF PET IBD

1) FISH OIL, FISH OIL, FISH OIL   The more Omega 3 fatty acids we can get into an IBD patient, the better they do.  It’s that simple.

2) CURCUMIN  will both prevent and treat pet IBD.  And cancer.  And allergies.  And joint pain.  Use it now, use it for life.

3) PROBIOTICS   to help normalize GI flora.  Just make sure they are DOG or CAT probiotics, not human.

4) Spirulina, or blue/green algae

5) Psyllium and other fiber products

6) Boswellia

      ….AND NOW WE HAVE COMBINED HIGHLY ABSORBABLE CURCUMIN AND BOSWELLIA INTO A NEW PILL CALLED TRANSCEND!

 

[gatinos]

 
My thoughts on that. 

I believe the majority or better is IBD, later on some may become lymphoma, which is still the type that responds very well to treatment, but maybe has a better chance of developing when the IBD is not stabilized and/or managed well, whether due to the lack of effort from some owners who disregard IBD as being serious, or if it's purely in genetics and that individual cat's system, no telling. 

But the best start here is just what you are doing now and able to accomplish management in symptoms.

I never have found a straight answer on whether or not the thickened intestinal lining/inflammation ever goes down and can be seen via ultrasound.

I can't help but think it's part of IBD transitioning to lymphoma. But that's just my thoughts. 

I do however strongly believe that the drastic increase of IBD in the last 20 or more years is directly related to commercial food.

It angers me that this is still not regulated nearly enough. 

If the FDA can do this with human food, why not our beloved pets who are family members just as much.......

Anyway! Very glad to see things are going so well now

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on lymphoma. It is, as you said, a scary lingering thought... That's what I'm focusing on right now, controlling the symptoms and while he's better, continuing to research more supplements or anything I can do to improve their health. This has really been a wake up call.

Absolutely agree with you on the food. Sadly though, even human foods are not that regulated and we all eat every day foods we shouldn't. Because Nené's supplements are all human-grade, I'm also going to start taking them and trying to take better care of myself. I like to think that everything happens for a reason and since I have my kitties, they have really taught me to be kinder to myself. This is no exception. 

Thank you for your support! 

 

[gatinos]

Today we received which I believe are our last test results and this is what our vet said:

Cobolamin is low,  we have already started treatment with the B12 injectable.

The folate is also low,  this doesn't point us in the small intestinal disease, however, it is debatable whether supplementation of folate is beneficial.

we can look into if you would like, but would involve daily pill.

The pancreatic and TLI both came back normal.

Any thoughts or experience on folate supplementation? 

I told him I was keen to go ahead and supplement, but I've read nothing about it so far.

 

[catwoman707]

Here is an excellent read about low foliate and cobolamin and IBD

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...11/02/inflammatory-bowel-disease-in-pets.aspx

 

[gatinos]

 
Here is an excellent read about low foliate and cobolamin and IBD

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site...11/02/inflammatory-bowel-disease-in-pets.aspx

Thank you! What a great source. Really appreciate it. 

 

[whiskers4me]

Your Poor baby puss.

My baby was obtained from the pound. They had to treat her FIVE times for worms, they said she must have fed on mice to survive . 

She began to scoot too. Vet said IBS and put her on $4/can soft food mixed with protein powder. She hated the stuff. And we cut out the crunchie stuff. Her ills settled, but she has a steady appetite. No more bloated look. Poops about every 2 days. 

I spotted 'bubbles' in her poo, so I saved some in the fridge (double bagged) still to the distress of others. When I got it to the vet, I was told I shouldn't have put it in the fridge (too cold).

I switched her from hard to soft and increased feedings to make up for absence of food that was always on floor for her to snack on.

She snuggles up to mommy after a poop (look what I did mommy) and relishes an abdominal massage.

So far, no more problems. Try using a cat food with only a couple of main ingredients, I found some at the pe tfood store that had only lamb and duck, chicken and duck (they seemed to have alot of duck).

 

[gatinos]

 
Your Poor baby puss.

My baby was obtained from the pound. They had to treat her FIVE times for worms, they said she must have fed on mice to survive . 

She began to scoot too. Vet said IBS and put her on $4/can soft food mixed with protein powder. She hated the stuff. And we cut out the crunchie stuff. Her ills settled, but she has a steady appetite. No more bloated look. Poops about every 2 days. 

I spotted 'bubbles' in her poo, so I saved some in the fridge (double bagged) still to the distress of others. When I got it to the vet, I was told I shouldn't have put it in the fridge (too cold).

I switched her from hard to soft and increased feedings to make up for absence of food that was always on floor for her to snack on.

She snuggles up to mommy after a poop (look what I did mommy) and relishes an abdominal massage.

So far, no more problems. Try using a cat food with only a couple of main ingredients, I found some at the pe tfood store that had only lamb and duck, chicken and duck (they seemed to have alot of duck).

Thank you for your post @whiskers4me  , I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner. I never received a notification by email, and that's how I've always been notified of any posts.

I'm sorry your baby and you went through such a rough time. It really is very, very hard when you see them having such a hard time. You just want to tell them everything is going to be ok. I bet those abdominal massages got the message through  

My husband also was in a bit of a shock to have poop and pee stored in the fridge for a few hours before taking it to the vet (also double bagged and all). I think us cat moms and dads just see past all the fuss and focus on the one thing that matters to us, that our babies get well, no matter what! 

I'm very glad to hear everything is well now and I wish you many more years of health and wellbeing together.

Thank you for your advice. He is now eating a limited ingredient diet of rabbit and is definitely doing much better. 

Love, 

Silvia & Nene.

 

[gatinos]

Hello everyone!

Some news from this side of the world re Nene.

He's doing very well and is very stable. His poops are also very regular. He goes 2x a day and haven't had diarrhea or vomiting since we started on the steroids & antibiotics. 

His poops are not as hard as I expected them to be. Our other kitty has always had very hard stools so it's hard to compare them. In any case his are not liquid at all and are completely formed. Any thoughts on this? Any experience on poop condition once taking meds would be much appreciated! 

He is sleeping better, thanks to increasing the number of feedings/day. He is also in better mood thanks to that and the aggressiveness towards our other kitty has definitely gone down, although is still present.

After two weeks on 5mg of Prednisolone every 12 hrs we were able to reduce the morning dose to 2.5mg, which is to me, a success in itself! We were also able to reduce his antacid dose slowly until we were able to stop it with no negative side effects. Then we went head and started reducing the Cerenia the same way and so far, all good!

I've worked out a system in which I add a natural supplement to his regime every time I remove or reduce his meds. So right now he's taking:

1. Feline Comfort + from Vitality Science.
2. Omega 3 capsules (sorry there's no link, I bought them at Wholefoods)
3. Transcend
4. Raw goat's milk  
5. Nexabiotic

We got quite a pharmaceutical going on at home as you can see! I have a lot of faith in natural products and I really hope using them will allow us to continue reducing his steroid dose.

I'm being recommended by many, many holistic advisors to give him ENZYMES. My vet doesn't recommend giving them to him, as he has no issues with his pancreas. Another vet I spoke to thinks the same, but I don't know what to do... If it's not going to hurt, why not? We'd appreciate any advice and/or experience with this. Thank you.

With love, Silvia & Nene. Here we are, in our balcony on a beautiful spring day in NC!

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• gatinos
• Apr 8, 2017

 

[mingsmongols]

I just want to chyme in about the poop in your fridge. Lol If your going to take those samples to the vet to be tested for parasites then storing it in your fridge can kill delicate protezoa and some bacteria making the tests kinda inaccurate.

 

[gatinos]

I just want to chyme in about the poop in your fridge. Lol If your going to take those samples to the vet to be tested for parasites then storing it in your fridge can kill delicate protezoa and some bacteria making the tests kinda inaccurate.

As always thank you M mingsmongols for your input.

I was instructed by the vet to do so. I'll keep this in mind for future reference.

Thank you.

 

[missmimz]

I haven't read all the comments, but was his T4 tested and is it normal? It does sound like IBD, but hyper-t can also have some of the same symptoms as IBD. I'd recommend a raw food diet. IBD cats do amazing on raw food. Here's more info. If you're interested in raw feeding or homecooked, join our FB group.

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Raw Feeding and IBD in Cats