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I have a 15-year-old cat that was diagnosed with IBD in mid-November whose appetite is all over the map. I should preface this by saying he had blood work and an ultra-sound performed, but no biopsy so the vet cannot say for certain it's IBD and not lymphoma. He was prescribed Prednisolone, 5mg twice-a-day for two weeks and then he would begin tapering off after those two weeks. Those first two weeks on Prednisolone Lido had a ravenous appetite even eating his Hill's Science Diet Z/D (canned). After he began to taper off of the Prednisolone his appetite waned. During the 4th week when he was taking 5 mg every other day he even vomited for the first time in weeks and his appetite was worse. The vet decided to bump his dose back up to 5mg twice-a-day. This didn't seem to help as he wouldn't even touch the Hill's Science Diet anymore. He would only eat turkey slices, Fancy Feast or tuna. Last week I decided to try a raw food diet. The first night he ate all 3 ounces that I placed on his plate. The next couple of days he'd eat 1.5 ounces at a time in the morning, but less as the day went on. He started to get picky about the raw food, sometimes he'd like it warmed-up while other times he'd only eat it cold. Over the last couple days he hasn't been all that interested in the raw food, so I picked-up some Entyce from the vet. After two days of treatment, he still isn't eating as much as I'd like. He'll take a few bites and then move onto something else like turkey slices or chicken salad or pumpkin. He seems to want to eat, but his behavior is inconsistent. Last night, I blended-up raw turkey into the blender and he ate all of it. Did the same procedure tonight and wouldn't touch it. He ate some pumpkin and turkey slices.
My concern is he's not getting enough calories, especially considering he's only eating one decent sized meal per 24 hours. It's odd that his appetite returned for two weeks while on the initial high dose of prednisolone, but now that we're on round 2 of the high dose his appetite hasn't fully returned. His weight has remained steady for the past 7 weeks at around 11.2 - 11.4, but I fear it's going to drop into the 10 pound range soon if he doesn't start eating at least 175 calories a day. He's probably only taking in around 125 calories per day, even less than that this past week.
He seems like a Zombie taking all of this Prednisolone, so I'm wondering if it's causing him some undo stress, which is affecting his appetite. I understand cats can be extremely finicky eaters while suffering from IBD, but the inconsistency in his finicky eating is hard to deal with. He likes one meal one day and won't eat it the next. Is that IBD or a sign of something worse like lymphoma?
My concern is he's not getting enough calories, especially considering he's only eating one decent sized meal per 24 hours. It's odd that his appetite returned for two weeks while on the initial high dose of prednisolone, but now that we're on round 2 of the high dose his appetite hasn't fully returned. His weight has remained steady for the past 7 weeks at around 11.2 - 11.4, but I fear it's going to drop into the 10 pound range soon if he doesn't start eating at least 175 calories a day. He's probably only taking in around 125 calories per day, even less than that this past week.
He seems like a Zombie taking all of this Prednisolone, so I'm wondering if it's causing him some undo stress, which is affecting his appetite. I understand cats can be extremely finicky eaters while suffering from IBD, but the inconsistency in his finicky eating is hard to deal with. He likes one meal one day and won't eat it the next. Is that IBD or a sign of something worse like lymphoma?