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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

Cat with ongoing, severe IBD

12 replies

MissFoodie · 05/10/2013 13:31

Has anyone got a cat who suffers from IBD?
My 4 year old has been ill for 6 months now: chronic diorrhea and bleeding, after trying paste, 3 rounds of antibiotics, vitamin B injections and doing blood/faeces tests (inconclusive) he has been on steroids for 2 weeks.

We tried Hills ZD (didnt work), ID (he refused to eat) and Royal Canin Hypoallergenic (which he ate for a month and now refuses to touch), still had diorrhea with it though.

He is now only eating boiled chicken, and is off the steroids, yesterday he did a perfect pooh (solid, dark and bloodless) but today he has diorrhea again (runny and bloody).......he has not been outside (is locked in for time being) and has only eaten chicken......

He had a scan the other night which showed nothing (we thought he might have pancreatitis) and had another blood test which was normal, a slight elevation on liver, but apparently nothing to worry about....

He was put on steroids two weeks ago because he had lost so much weight (1 kilo over 7 weeks), then he stopped eating altogether, so we started on the boiled chicken, which he is eating thankfully.

We seem to be going round and round in circles....does anyone have any suggestions? or had a similar experience that was resolved? or turned out to not be a bowel issue?

Thanks!!!

OP posts:

CatOfTheDay · 05/10/2013 14:00

Watching with interest as my two year old is having bowel issues.

At the moment he is exclusively eating boiled chicken and fish, and has some Canikur which is actually for dogs but the vet says it works well in cats!
He's not had a normal poo yet but it's only been a couple of days. We're waiting for the results on his stool sample.

cozietoesie · 05/10/2013 14:10

I appreciate the need for feeding boiled chicken and fish (as something to get down them) but I'm a little concerned about the nutrient balance of medium to long term feeding in this way - eg taurine consumption.

Does anyone know whether you can get palatable supplements of this and other essential nutrients to add to the diet?

CatOfTheDay · 05/10/2013 14:17

Our vet has recommended we just try the bland diet for a week, a hopefully the good bacteria in his stomach will balance out better with the bad!

cozietoesie · 05/10/2013 14:29

He needs food CatOf and to get his innards moving properly with something to work on - so of course. I was just thinking a little beyond that.

Lonecatwithkitten · 05/10/2013 14:54

With exclusion diets for IBD in cats you need to use them for a minimum of 12 weeks before deciding that don't work so personally I would be advising you to choose one diet and stick with it for longer. I would also steroids for much longer as well as the diet, it is not uncommon for these cats to be on steroids for the rest of life.

Original poster

MissFoodie · 05/10/2013 18:01

it's a nightmare... he is only eating boiled chicken and its running out of him.....

OP posts:

Fluffycloudland77 · 05/10/2013 20:19

Are there any probiotic supplements cats can have?

Mine was ok on RC hypo & chicken. The one thing you haven't tried, because its not the obvious choice lets face it, is raw feeding.

Now this is very popular on bengal cat forum (google) to the point that if you go on there and mention you feed tins it's like saying you purée Big Macs for you baby & give special brew in a bottle, but the ones who do it are very knowledgeable and would most likely love to help you even though you don't have a bengal.

You can't mess about with it though, taurine in cats is like Vit c to us, vital but easily destroyed and potentially fatal if its a long term deficiency.

I know what it's like though, mines intolerant to maize and cereals and no one offered me any help at my vets for ages. The lovely vet who did left too.

Lonecatwithkitten · 05/10/2013 20:24

I almost be tempted to say maybe chicken is the problem I would be looking to maybe do some blood testing check food allergies and diet wise maybe try rabbit as it tends to be a good one for cats.

Fluffycloudland77 · 05/10/2013 20:30

Venison too?

Rabbits usually quite cheap in the butchers.

cozietoesie · 05/10/2013 20:40

Venison is a real rich meat. I'd be tempted to try rabbit on dodgy innards. It's often available in supermarkets as well.

Original poster

MissFoodie · 05/10/2013 20:58

yes, guess could try rabbit?

I asked vet previously about raw meat and she said no....

He has previously been on promax, probiotic paste which solidifies pooh, but its a temporary measure, at this point its bad because he has had diorrhea for 6 months.....

will stick with chicken until monday and then speak to vet again :-/

OP posts:

Fluffycloudland77 · 05/10/2013 21:24

It can't just be any raw meat, it's got to be a mix of all the internal organs plus what we'd recognise as meat.

It's bigger in America apparently.

Rabbit doesn't need much cooking either, my mum did it for our cats once but she boiled it too much and they turned their noses up at it.

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