cat with IBD can't keep food down (eating, weight, vomiting)

[kmste]

Hi everyone! Please help! My cat is about 6 years old. He's always been a pukey cat, but in the last couple of years, it's been worse, to the point that he was vomiting 4-5 times a day. In November, after many expensive tests (blood tests, ultrasound, X-ray and endoscopy), the vet diagnosed him with Irritable Bowel Disease and allergic lung disease. Before his diagnosis, my cat was on various medications such as prednisone and amoxyl. These meds would work for a short time, then stop working.

After diagnosis, my vet put him on predisone (5mg, 2/day) and a special diet (Prescription Diet z/d dry food, and Royal Canin duck wet cat food). For 2 glorious weeks, my cat did not vomit, then slowly started to vomit again - once a week, twice, now he's back up to 4-5 times a day. In the last 2 weeks, he started throwing up right after eating, not even finishing the little bit of wet food I would put his medication in.

My vet recently put him on budesonide, which has to be specially formulated and I should receive in the mail tomorrow.

My questions are these: I am afraid he is not eating enough and can't keep anything down. What can I give him that he might be able to eat? (I tried various kinds of wet food, tuna, and even plain yogurt. At one point I tried hamburger and rice, but he didn't like that at all.)

My cat seems to have an extreme case of IBD - what else can I do?? I am very worried that this new medication won't work either.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Karen

[Travel'r]

Karen,

First: RUN, don't walk from those vets. Look for a Holistic vet, or a cat vet who does not have a vested interest in those foods.

Read this page: Feeding Your Cat** Know the Basi
Dr. Pierson is a feline Specialist. She knows what she's talking about (and has hundreds of healthy patients -- and Diabetic cats OFF of insulin) to back it up.

THROW that food away yesterday EDIT: Get a REFUND! and get your cat CANS of food containing MEAT. They need moisture IN their (prey) food. A holistic vet will tell you the proper diet and which (good) proteins your cat can tolerate at this stage.

Cats are STRICT carnivores, and those ingredients in the food you have are the CAUSE.
Just see the ingredients.

Please read this page: Feeding Your Cat** Know the Basi
and YourDiabeticCat.com - Helping and Preventing Feline Diabetes (Dr Hodgkins, another RENOWNED feline specialist.) Her site has links, covers all the things (along with Diabetes.) She's the foremost expert -- the first to make the discovery of just WHY they get Diabetes -- in getting cats off Insulin & healthy again, hence the "wwwdiabeticcat".

If it were me, I'd print the facts from the pages and want a refund.

[Lola4]

Originally Posted by Travel'r

Karen,

First: RUN, don't walk from those vets. Look for a Holistic vet, or a cat vet who does not have a vested interest in those foods.

Read this page: Feeding Your Cat** Know the Basi
Dr. Pierson is a feline Specialist. She knows what she's talking about (and has hundreds of healthy patients -- and Diabetic cats OFF of insulin) to back it up.

THROW that food away yesterday EDIT: Get a REFUND! and get your cat CANS of food containing MEAT. They need moisture IN their (prey) food. A holistic vet will tell you the proper diet and which (good) proteins your cat can tolerate at this stage.

Cats are STRICT carnivores, and those ingredients in the food you have are the CAUSE.
Just see the ingredients.

Please read this page: Feeding Your Cat** Know the Basi
and YourDiabeticCat.com - Helping and Preventing Feline Diabetes (Dr Hodgkins, another RENOWNED feline specialist.) Her site has links, covers all the things (along with Diabetes.) She's the foremost expert -- the first to make the discovery of just WHY they get Diabetes -- in getting cats off Insulin & healthy again, hence the "wwwdiabeticcat".

If it were me, I'd print the facts from the pages and want a refund.

Nothing to add. The poster above said it all!

RUN...

[need4Trees]

I agree with Travel'r! 100%

IBD is caused from food/bad nutrition.

Before I knew about the importance of quality food for cats, that they need meat... and not dry food all day...
one of my kitties became too too skinny. and was throwing up too.
Well, Lots of tests later, lots of money later... which I was willing to do because she is my baby (one of them anyway)
feel so bad now... but she wouldn't be eating great if that didn't happen, so there is some good in this.

She had an endoscopy (too) at only 3 years old, too young anyway to have cancer in her stomach. well didn't find anything...
Except that they said to give Prednosone for a while and Pepcid AC for... indefinitely... because she had "indigestion"
Sorry to post so much, but my point being that they never mentioned any type of food... I was free feeding dry food... I did not know any better...
It was after this trauma that I did soooo much research... because she also when "coming out of the anastesia" she had "low oxygen to her brain" and then left her Blind for a while and loss of function with her back legs and some other things that are still not right from her "pre" trauma days. So she is a bit special.

This is why it took me so long to trust a vet again. Now I have a great one. She is Holistic but if need be she will use modern medicine practice, depending on the level of risk kitty is in at the time.

Anyway, I ask her, anything, she makes time for me, phone, in person, and via email. She really does care and doesn't rush me or my "kids". She does acupuncture and chiropractic care as well.

Anyway...
Food Is Everything! The links Travel'r provided are great resources for your journey and kittys journey down the road of good health.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by Travel'r

Karen,

First: RUN, don't walk from those vets.

The vet or vets in this case see you more as a cash register than a patient. My sister had a lot of success placing her overweight, vomiting cat on the "Catkins" diet (yes, really).

Probably worth a shot in this case and considerably cheaper than a prescription diet with a ton of meds.

Check out this link:

http://www.catnutrition.org/catkins.php

[Travel'r]

Originally Posted by jimboburnsy

The vet or vets in this case see you more as a cash register than a patient. My sister had a lot of success placing her overweight, vomiting cat on the "Catkins" diet (yes, really).

Probably worth a shot in this case and considerably cheaper than a prescription diet with a ton of meds.

Check out this link:

Cat Nutrition.Org

There's sufficient living proof on Anne's wonderful, lifesaving website that it; Duke's and http://www.catnutrition.org/testimonials.php stories should be forwarded to every Congressman, to make things right!!

Here's more about IBD: Cat Nutrition.Org

And here's Lynette, who first learned from Anne's website -- with even more living proof: Campaign for FDA Regulation of Pet Foods


Just one of her many cat's stories; she even has (Ralphies) test logs posted!: Ralph

Yet these marvelous stories, with before and after pictures, test logs... remain a big Intrernet secret.

I'll also wager that "vets" are not mentioning TAURINE (for the inevitable heart murmurs/issues which always accompany these health issues, either.)

[luvmycat]

I have to agree with the other posters on here...get a high quality canned food with little or no grains. (Mine love Pinnacle, Evangers & Solid Gold...Innova is also supposed to be very good, but I cant find it in my area and already have to drive an hour away to get the other 3 brands I mentioned...!) Kibble is terrible, not nearly enough moisture in it, and if he is vomiting a lot he is already losing fluid and could become severely dehydrated...if a cat is too dehydrated, the veins shrink, and it is difficult to get a catheter in to administer fluids in the event of an emergency, which could mean the difference between life and death. I also agree you should change vets, they are not giving you good solutions, they are making $ on you by keeping your cat sick with their crappy, by-product-ladden kibble and canned food, (though duck itself is not a bad idea, sometimes a different protein source works well in IBD cases.) It is VERY important to get food into this cat, or he could face fatty liver disease. (I would have the chemistry levels tested just to make sure the liver has not been compromised...if there is any issue there, do not let them give the cat prednisone, as it can not be converted into prednisilone by the liver and will put more undue stress on the organ.) I dont want to scare you, but I wish to God I had already been part of this forum when my Humphrey got sick last September, I may have been able to save him if I had known half of what I know now and had run like mad from the vet that left me broke and broken-hearted...!

[ljd1010]

Just to add some info -
IBD is Inflammatory Bowel Disease
IBS is Irritable Bowel Syndrome

IBD in humans encompasses Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, both serious chronic GI diseases. UC affects only the large intestine (colon) but Crohn's can affect anywhere in the GI tract from mouth to anus.

IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) is NOT a disease but a group of symptoms which includes constipation, diarrhea, abdominal cramping and bloating. It is treated symptomatically.

IBD, on the other hand can be very serious and is treated with a variety of medications including steroids, budesonide, mesalamines and sulfasalazine.

Not sure which your cat has but I wanted to clarify things a bit. I am by no means a vet or have much medical knowledge in the care of animals. I do know that IBS is a diagnosis of EXCLUSION, meaning other more serious ailments must be ruled out and a diagnosis then made based on symptomatology. IBD, on the other hand, needs tissue for diagnosis, obtained durning colonoscopy/endoscopy as well as specific blood tests etc.

[rural lady]

I'm hoping you already have gone to the vet. This site shows a group for this, scroll down the page, also if you get there ask other members if there is an IBD forum, rather than do the mailing lists.


Cat Nutrition.Org

[kmste]

Wow - you guys are great! I had heard about the "raw food" diet, and was hoping not to have to go that route as it seemed like a lot of work! But I am leaning more and more in that direction. This weekend I am going to get to a pet store that has commercially-prepared food. That way if my cat hates it or it doesn't help him, then at least I won't have invested a lot of money in stuff I won't use (i.e., meat grinder). Hopefully my other cat (who is not sick, but is a picky eater) will like it too.

Any idea what to expect - should I feed him just a tiny bit at a time to see if it goes down OK? Would he stop vomiting right away?

Thanks!
Karen