Anyone else got a cat with IBD?

[Jxtina86]

Please tell me it gets better!

Our 1 year old cat has had runny stools for what seems like forever. They've never been great since she was a kitten but generally up and down. We did the boiled chicken route but whenever we returned to normal food the problem returned. When she was spayed earlier in the summer, there was a lot of excess fluid in her system pointing to FIP. We decided (and vet agreed) to monitor her.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when she was hospitalised for vomiting and just not being herself. She was dehydrated and again suspected FIP but after a scan, that was pushed down the list and IBD and/or bowel cancer was the possible cause.

She's much better in terms of herself and the vomiting and has been on various meds and food since. But the stools are still awful. She's on a 2 month course of vitamin B (as she has a deficiency) and has had a course of probiotic and is on hypoallergenic food but I'm at my wits end.

It's so stressful as she cannot control her bowels - she makes it to the litter tray but there's a 50-50 chance it'll end up outside the tray. She'll sometimes step in her own mess before we get a chance to clear out the tray.

She's a lovely cat and I feel awful for her and just want her to get better but it's stressing me out managing it all and nothing seems to work!

I did.

What helped were antibiotics. he had a lot of health problems and I noticed when he’d had a course for something else (ear infection, squirrel bite amongst others) his guts seemed to improve.

vet did some research and found that there had been some studies that showed IBD improvement with long term AB’s.

I think it was metronidazole they put him on. Started a month trial which became permanent after it worked very well.

Yup we've just had a course of that too but only for a week. But sadly it seemed to make things worse 😔

Has she been given cortisone? This should make her feel better - even if only for a while if it is indeed cancer. Has she been checked for pancreas problems?

No, she hasn't had that yet. But we are due back on Friday for a weight check (she's a tiny thing as it is and her weight has dropped massively) so will ask about that then. There's been so much info and I've not been to every appt (DH has) but I don't recall pancreas being mentioned. But they did a scan and her bowels were inflamed which is why they are treating it as IBD for now. When the vit B runs out at end of Sep, we need to take her back for another scan and if no different, then they will start investigating cancer further.

This sounds like my previous cat. The vet gave her cortisone and advised me that if it was actually cancer, she would certainly feel better for a while but if she were to get worse again, she wouldn‘t recover. The vet was right but the cortisone gave Mia two good months.

Ah I'm so sorry about your cat - I'm glad you got two good months with her.

DH had to take our older cat to the vet today (she'd managed to get two ingrown claws - think we've seen our vet more than anyone else recently!) And he mentioned cortisone as another option to consider - I'd asked DH to mention it after you had said on here so thanks for highlighting!

We've been given some Hills sensitive wet food which she is loving tonight and some more probiotic (give until stools are normal - not holding my breath!)

Hello OP, I had a kitty with IBD a few years ago who later developed intestinal lymphoma. Food-wise, I switched her to a raw diet and this helped greatly. I did a lot of reading on the subject as views seems to be very polarized with even the vet raising an eyebrow but I felt I had nothing to lose. It turned out to be an excellent choice for her and she thrived on it. I used an online raw food company and the food was delivered once a month, frozen in tubs. My kitty was given no more than six months at the time but went on to live for almost two years x

Have you tried the digestive foods? My cat had runny stools I was trying the paste stuff which works but he hates it with a passion then I discovered royal canin digestive which has the same stuff as the paste but in biscuit form he eats it gets solid poops happy days

We had a cat with similar issues. It's some time ago, but I recall that probiotic powder and pectin powder helped.

Thank you all. The new food really disagreed with her - she vomited twice last night. But might be because she over-ate! However she's not right in herself - she's not cleaning herself and she's now struggling to jump up. Trying to get an emergency appt to get her looked at but I think she might be heading downhill fast.

I’m so sorry she’s struggling bless her. And it’s really hard dealing with months of diarrhea. Second vote here for royal canin digestive dry food - it’s not the best nutritionally but not awful, and it has completely stopped my cat’s chronic diarrhea. If he gets hold of my other cats food we are back to diarrhea. Nothing else worked like this, we tried expensive vet prescription foods with no luck. Plus he really enjoys the royal canin. Hope you managed to get an appointment and she’s doing a bit better.

One of my cats has a inflammatory bowel condition. After trying everything, the vet prescribed steroids and my cat improved quickly. 18 months on the vet wants to try and reduce his dose and pushing me to try the special food again. My cat will not eat the hills stuff, so I am trying wet food like Harrington's which appears to have less ingredients than whiskers etc. 🤞He will do ok with this.

Thank for all the replies. Sadly she was getting worse with no signs of improvement. She ended up at the vets again last Friday and she had various injections including steroids. But unfortunately continued to go downhill on Saturday - she wasn't cleaning, was messing herself and then sitting it and we just felt it was cruel to continue. So we made the tough decision to put her to sleep. Absolutely gutted but relieved that she's not suffering. The last few weeks has been miserable and she wasn't the same playful, fluffball she once was barely a month ago.

Here she was in much happier and healthier times

I’m so sorry. She was gorgeous - such a pretty face and markings. It’s such a hard decision to make especially with such a young cat and I’m sure you are missing her so much. Sending hugs.