Content warning - rather unpleasant digestive issues

[PerkinWarbeck]

So Cat1, a small female rescue moggy aged about 10 has always had dodgy digestive issues. She has always vomited more than average. A few years ago the vomiting became daily. We took her to the vet, had blood, ultrasound, no abnomalities detected. She went onto a sensitive diet, but still continued to have more frequent vomiting, usually a couple of times a week, but with flare ups where she would vomit daily for a few days in a row. She's otherwise bright eyed and bushy tailed, no weight loss, so we just accepted it as a chronic functional issues.

Fast forward to a month or two ago, and she started with quite unpleasant diarrhoea - sometimes quite watery looking in the little tray. She's also, and I have no other way of saying this, sharting a bit around the house. It's grim for her and grim for us.

Again, the vet has found nothing, and I strongly suspect this will be another chronic issue. Any tips from anyone who has had a similar problem? I assume we will be on a long road of trial and error with changing her diet and seeing what's the least worst for her?

to aid any advice given, here is the little princess:

She’s lovely! Royal Canin do a “digestive” food which is supposed to be good for loose stools, but it’s risky changing diets if a cat has a sensitive tummy, I know.

A big problem with this kind of digestive issue is that they can't absorb nutrients properly - I have this problem (IBD) with Tobias and combined with his FIV is likely to prove fatal in his case.

We've just started him on steroids (usually pills but he won't take those, so injections every 6 weeks in his case) and are starting to give him probiotic powder on his meals. B12 has been a standard supplement in his diet for some months now. He was managing fine with just the B12 but with diarrhoea & wind for a couple of years, but now he's started to lose weight which is why we're trying the steroids despite them being contraindicated with his FIV.

Has your vet tried repeating the ultrasound? We used a specialist veterinary radiographer who came in to do Tobias's and she was able to pick up on thickening in his lower bowel walls. My normal vet herself admits she may have missed it, as it's almost behind the pelvis so the ultrasound was partially obscured there. Yes it costs more than my own vet doing it, but it was covered by the insurance and at least we know what the issue probably is.

There was a thread on here a while ago that raved about a specialist dry food that was intended to treat fur balls but was amazing for cats with gastric issues . I think it was Purina One but it might be worth a search ?

This is the thread if it helps https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_litter_tray/5207258-ive-discovered-a-miracle-cure-for-chronic-cat-diarrhoea

Try Royal Canin Anallergenic. It is expensive but an absolute wonder.

That must be unpleasant to deal with. If you have pet insurance or have the money to spare I'd ask the vet to refer you to a specialist. She is a beauty😍

My cat had similar issues and was ultimately diagnosed with IBD and was needing steroid tablets to manage bouts of bad symptoms. Lots of different foods tried but after reading about potential allergies to chicken and beef proteins (present in almost every food we had tried) we switched to Katkin as the pork variety is a single protein (pork) source. His stomach settled after that and a few months later (we wanted to give him chance to gain weight and be sure it was resolved) we slowly reintroduced flavours that contained chicken which he has since tolerated. His GI issues are now (touch wood) resolved.

We have continued to feed (mostly) Katkin and both him and his sister look well on it.

It's not cheap (best value is to get sent the largest pack size by adjusting your cat's weight/ activity levels) and it takes up a fair bit of freezer space but it was no more expensive than the other single protein source foods we found.

Here's a code for 2 weeks trial for £10 Katkin Referal code

This is all really helpful, thank you all. She is well insured so we can go back to the vet if needed.

I do have some reservations about longer term treatment (acute treatment is fine) as she gets so very stressed both with vet visits and being pilled. Basically she becomes terrified of us and won't go near anyone during any course of treatment, which is fine for a week or two, but would absolutely destroy her quality of life if needed daily.

I might work through a couple of the suggested dietary changes first

I had a foster cat with IBD. The turning point for him was raw food, if he hadn't started gaining weight the next step was pts, he was a walking skeleton as everything he ate ran straight through him. Eventually he stopped eating the raw food but at that stage he was happily eating a suitable dry food. If he deviates from this it's quickly obvious in his litter tray but day to day he's 100%. He also had B12 injections and steroids, which he'll be on long term.

The B12 you can get in capsule form which you open & sprinkle in their wet food, Cobalaplex is the one recommended by my vet and you can get that on Amazon.

Unfortunately for Tobias, he can't have raw food due to his FIV it's a complete no no. The steroids should in general be avoided with FIV too as can sometimes cause problems with that, but the gut issues have got to the stage where that's definitely going to carry him off soon if we don't do anything. It's a hard balance between the 2 illnesses and giving him the longest high quality of life we can, and I'm resigned to losing him at a comparatively young age (we reckon he's about 6 now maybe).

My wee foster cat also has IBD which was diagnosed from xray and ultrasound. Agreed with rescue and vet we are not doing a biopsy (which would give more detail of where in GI tract the problem is) and will treat using hydrolysed protein foods for now. It has stopped the worst of the vomiting (very infrequent now and usually hairball related) and made the stools much firmer, though still very smelly. He still goes quite frequently but always in the tray and he has no diarrhoea and no blood or mucus in the stools any more and has put on 1kg in about 6 months which he really needed - he was very weak and frail to start with.

For wet food he was on Hills Prescription Z/D - worth a try but mix it with water as the consistency is very claggy. He is now also on SPECIFIC (Dechra) FOW-HY Allergy Management Plus (brown tray) and although a bit bored with these does eat it.

I can't find any other hydrolysed protein wet food sold in the UK. Foods labelled 'sensitive' or Gastrointestinal' etc are not hydrolysed so even if they are 'novel' or single meats/proteins the gut can still react to the proteins. Vet advised to do a fully exclusive hydrolysed diet (including no treats!) for at least 3 months to see if it helped the symptoms which it has. I do let him have a few Dreamies now but more than a few at once and he tends to vomit. HE seems OK with Lick-e- Lix

As he is bored with the wet food I did try foster cat on a Catz Fine Foods Lamb & Rabbit (mixed with the Dechra) for a while and he loved it but some of the symptoms crept back so I have stopped it for now.

For dry food there is more choices for hydrolysed proteins (including ones made from soy and feathers!) and he happily eats the ones I've tried so far, including Hills Z/D, Specific Dechra and Purina Pro Plan HA Hypoallergenic. If buying anything you do have to read the ingredients lists thoroughly to ensure they are indeed hydrolysed.

Of course with a mainly dry diet you have to watch cat is drinking plenty of fluids. Luckily he loves the water fountain and that isn't a problem but it might be for some cats.

Thanks again - I really appreciate all of the suggestions. She's currently on Purina Pro Plan HA Hypoallergenic for dry food, and AVA Imuvita wet food. We could switch to just dry as she drinks plenty of water. Just wet would be harder as we have another cat who keeps irregular hours so we like to keep dry food down for that one.

@Allergictoironing I'm sorry to hear that your boy is struggling with two illnesses - that's a lot to balance. Sounds like he's in great hands.