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I can't get it to stop. Putting this out there as a last-ditch hope that someone has a solution.
I have a 12-1/2 year-old-cat with IBD. I had originally taken her in because of weight loss and constant diarrhea. When she was first diagnosed a few months ago, the vet put her on prednilosone, I changed her diet, gave her a probiotic, made her bone broth, and she gained back a pound and a half. The diarrhea stopped. I was so relieved. Then the vet said cut the steroid dosage in half. She went right back to diarrhea and lost a half a pound. The vet said go back to the original dose, which I did now for three weeks but nothing is working this time to stop the diarrhea, and I believe she is losing weight. I'm taking her in to get weighed today.
I have read everything I can find on the Internet about IBD and about cat diarrhea. I have tried a commercial preparation for diarrhea made for cats. I read about slippery elm, which one person claimed was the only thing that stopped his cat's diarrhea. It's been three days, and I think it's making it WORSE.
I know this IBD thing is going to get her in the end, but other than being too skinny and having diarrhea, she acts normally. The diarrhea doesn't bother HER, but the smell is so, so awful. I woke up this morning dreaming that I was standing next to a very smelly man on the subway, and it turned out that she had used the litter box (and she NEVER covers her poop) and my whole condo stunk to high heaven.
Anyone have ANY ideas? As I said, she's going to the vet today for her weigh-in, but I doubt he's going to have anything new to offer. Again, the diarrhea is mostly disturbing to ME. For now, she is OK and doing her normal things, When she comes to a point that she doesn't want to eat or be petted or scratch or whatever anymore, I will have to do what I have to do, but right now, I am at my wit's end with this stinking runny yellow poop all the time.
Join the Raw Feeding for IBD Cats group on Facebook. It's a closed group. Hundreds of people there dealing with the very same issues. Tons of resources. You will get the help you and your kitty need.
Join the Raw Feeding for IBD Cats group on Facebook. It's a closed group. Hundreds of people there dealing with the very same issues. Tons of resources. You will get the help you and your kitty need.
Thank you. I don't know if it's feasible to start raw feeding at this stage in the game, but I have seen some references to it online and will look into it.
Of course you don't have to raw feed if you don't want to, but there are still many resources you can use in their files. For instance the type of probiotic you use can make a huge difference.
The article was written by one of the founders of the IBD raw feeding group.
I would urge you to join though and start exploring the articles. You may change your mind about raw feeding as you begin to learn, but either way, there is a ton of help. Many people have found that once putting a cat on raw the diarrhea stopped immediately.
Raw feeding can be as easy as buying the meat and mixing it with a pre-mix meat completer called EZcomplete. EZc was also created by the founders of the raw feeding for IBD cats group. Superior quality product, al non GMO.
Or you can start with a commercial product such as Rad Cat.
12 years isn't that old and your girl might have many happy good quality of life years left, without diarrhea!
I am assuming you are feeding canned foods now? Things you want to avoid in canned foods are carrageenan (extremely inflammatory) any grains, and most gums, especially xanthanan and agar-agar
I am assuming you are feeding canned foods now? Things you want to avoid in canned foods are carrageenan (extremely inflammatory) any grains, and most gums, especially xanthanan and agar-agar
I really didn't want to go into it because it would start up a lot of shrieking and gnashing of teeth, but my cat does not eat ANY wet cat food, nor does she eat grains of any type because I won't buy corn-based dry food (except when she tries to go after my pizza, lol. She will also eat my mashed potatoes if I leave them alone for a minute). I do leave some grain-free dry food out because when I work I am gone for a very long day and there have been emergencies when I could not get home so I wanted them to have something to eat. It's not their primary preference, any of them. I don't know how she knows when food is cat food or human food, but there is something in canned cat food that she will not touch. She never has, EVER. If anyone feels the urge to say "oh try X brand or Y brand", I AM TELLING YOU SHE WILL NOT EAT IT. She will starve herself to death before she eats canned cat food.
Her original owner found her as a four-week-old kitten and fed her with a dropper, then fed her dry as a kitten, and when my old roommate and I took her in "temporarily" (11 years ago) she was very skinny and would barely eat. She just wanted whatever we were eating. My roommate found the only things she would eat were canned chicken, tuna, or turkey meant for humans. (The roommate is deceased and I ended up with the cats.) Over the years I ditched the tuna except for occasionally because of fear of mercury. I give her a vitamin to make up for the taurine and other stuff she isn't getting in human food. I also cook ground turkey for her, and since I no longer eat meat or poultry but do eat fish, when I make salmon for myself, I make enough for the cats (the other two do eat canned cat food.) Since she has had IBD, I added sardines occasionally. She likes them and will eat them all mashed up, and I also give her baby food turkey because it's easily digestible. I stopped giving her chicken because that seemed to make her diarrhea worse.
I was recently at a beach house vacation and brought home several types fresh fish. I did get to eat a little of it. The pointy-eared ones got more than I did.
I don't have high hopes that she will eat it, but I will look into the raw.
I do understand about the dry food preference. One of mine refused canned for what seemed forever. It could very well be that the texture of canned is disgusting to those that won't eat it -- after all, a bird or a mouse does have crunch and isn't mushy.
When any of my pets have had diarrhea issues, my go-to is oatmeal. Yes, it falls into a grain and fiber category, but oatmeal is different than other grains. Rather than being a "system flush" like other fibrous grains, oatmeal slows down the digested foods going through the intestines so that the intestines can absorb the necessary nutrients and send them throughout the body. Thus, the body gets what it needs to maintain weight.
Oatmeal isn't a go-to for all, but maybe worth a try? Perhaps mix some in with your cat's favorite foods? Maybe even try mixing it into canned food to "bulk" it up a bit and make it less mushy?
Mightyqueen801, just curious, has she been tested for Giardia?
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