Food for Chronic Colitis

[GeoDjay]

Hello everyone!
So my 1 year old Persian has chronic colitis; he gets occasional diarrhea/loose stools along with bloody stools which occur more frequently. (Blood is fresh and very small amounts, nothing medically alarming) Vets said to try probiotics, but he won’t eat his food with probiotics on top. They also suggested to try hypoallergenic or gastrointestinal veterinary diets as well as hairball diets. I tried Royal Canin Hypoallergenic and Hill’s Gastrointestinal Biome neither of which helped.
Diets that I have tried so far and didn’t work:
Hill’s Sensitive Stomach and Skin
Hill’s Perfect Digestion
Hill’s Prescription Diet Gastrointestinal Biome
Royal Canin Persian Adult
Royal Canin Hairball Care
Royal Canin Hypoallergenic (hydrolyzed protein)
Purina Pro Plan Derma Care

I also noticed that the Hill’s diets were the worst overall in terms of causing diarrhea and bloody stools.
I’m looking for other suggestions in case some of you have dealt with a similar issue. Thank you!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

As to the probiotics, I have found that you sometimes need to start with a very tiny amount, and mix it into the food rather than just sprinkle it on top. Then very gradually increase to the recommended dose. Of course, this works best with wet food. Are any of the foods you have tried wet? If not, I might also suggest you try some wet foods, with limited ingredients. Maybe something like Rawz, Koha, Feline Naturals, just research limited ingredient cat foods since the above foods don't seem to be working. And you could try giving him some Slippery Elm Bark Syrup as well. It help with digestive issues.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I realize you've been on this site long enough to probably know how to do searches, but just in case, here is a link to previous threads about colitis. I thought that maybe they might be of some benefit until more folks see your post and respond.
Search Results for Query: colitis | TheCatSite

 

[Kris107]

Not every probiotic is the same either. Some have different smells/tastes. Maybe try a different one to see if it's more tolerated. That's what helped my cat when he had colitis.

 

[lisahe]

I'm agreeing with responses from K Kris107 and mrsgreenjeens about probiotics! Starting small is very important -- some cats vomit if they get immediate full doses -- and it's easiest to mix them into wet food.

Since mrsgreenjeens also mentioned slippery elm bark, I'll add that we use Adored Beast's Feline Gut Soothe, which has probiotics as well as herbs (including slippery elm bark!) to ease inflammation. Both our cats have been getting FGS since last summer. The cat with presumptive IBD has far less vomiting problems and the cat who gets constipated is far more regular. FGS does have liver (beef, I think?) in it, which is appealing to some cats.

As for food, lots of food ingredients can cause digestives issues but our experience has been that it's often fillers and thickeners in foods that cause gut problems rather than proteins. Our previous cat, whose problems began with colitis (bloody stool), seemed to have difficulties with fish and some sort of grains in her food. Our current cats have had vomiting problems because of stuff like potato and agar-agar. We feed them a diet that's as simple as possible: maximum meat and necessary nutrients with minimal thickeners (guar gum is the only one I'll feed) and absolutely no vegetable-based protein ingredients like peas or lentils. Lots of their diet is homemade, cooked, food.

On another note, our cat who had colitis didn't have symptoms often at all, making it seem as if her problem had gone away. It never did go away, though, and most likely contributed/led to further digestive issues that were never fully diagnosed because she was so frail (at age 16 or more!) from other illnesses, including a nasty arrhythmia.

 

[GeoDjay]

As to the probiotics, I have found that you sometimes need to start with a very tiny amount, and mix it into the food rather than just sprinkle it on top. Then very gradually increase to the recommended dose. Of course, this works best with wet food. Are any of the foods you have tried wet? If not, I might also suggest you try some wet foods, with limited ingredients. Maybe something like Rawz, Koha, Feline Naturals, just research limited ingredient cat foods since the above foods don't seem to be working. And you could try giving him some Slippery Elm Bark Syrup as well. It help with digestive issues.

I apologize for the late reply; I've had some issues going on. The diets I listed are all dry food. He eats Royal Canin Adult Persian wet food, but he doesn't consume much of it to meet his daily energy requirements. (I think he just gets bored with wet food). Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[GeoDjay]

Not every probiotic is the same either. Some have different smells/tastes. Maybe try a different one to see if it's more tolerated. That's what helped my cat when he had colitis.

I have tried two types, and he didn't like either. I think I'll try adding little amounts at first as was suggested by mrsgreenjeens

 

[GeoDjay]

We feed them a diet that's as simple as possible: maximum meat and necessary nutrients with minimal thickeners (guar gum is the only one I'll feed) and absolutely no vegetable-based protein ingredients like peas or lentils.

Thanks for your reply! Do you prefer certain brands that meet these criteria?

 

[lisahe]

Thanks for your reply! Do you prefer certain brands that meet these criteria?

Well, the cats and I don't always agree about these things but they eat Tiny Tiger turkey/giblets pate, Nulo pouches with chicken/duck, occasional pates from Rawz, and occasional Mouser. One cat eats a fair bit of Dr. Elsey's dry food (no fillers or thickener there!) and both cats eat a lot of homemade food.

Good luck!

 

[GeoDjay]

Well, the cats and I don't always agree about these things but they eat Tiny Tiger turkey/giblets pate, Nulo pouches with chicken/duck, occasional pates from Rawz, and occasional Mouser. One cat eats a fair bit of Dr. Elsey's dry food (no fillers or thickener there!) and both cats eat a lot of homemade food.

Good luck!

Thank you!

 

[Astragal14]

Has your vet discussed using an anti-inflammatory and B12 injections? Sometimes diarrhea leads to more diarrhea, because the GI tract becomes inflamed (because of the diarrhea) and when inflamed, the GI tract can't absorb enough nutrients to heal itself properly... which leads to more diarrhea. You need to first address the inflammation and supplement with B12 before trying to manage the diarrhea though other avenues, such as diet.
Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Cats: The Role of the Gut

As for probiotics, one palatable option is Proviable DC. It's only a small amount per capsule and it must be flavorless because even my picky girl will eat it without hesitation when it's mixed into wet food. Others have mention a few great options, especially Adored Beast, but Proviable is a good way to introduce probiotics and get him used to them before moving on to something stronger.
Proviable DC

I also think you're on to something when you say his diarrhea is worse on Hill's products. Compare the ingredients between brands and see if anything jumps out at you. We tried prescription diets when one of my cats was first diagnosed with IBD - it was a wild roller coaster of symptoms until I finally compared the foods and began figuring out what his trigger foods were. For us, ingredients such as peas, potatoes and legumes are a huge NO and some of the prescription diets had far more of those than the others.

 

[GeoDjay]

Has your vet discussed using an anti-inflammatory and B12 injections? Sometimes diarrhea leads to more diarrhea, because the GI tract becomes inflamed (because of the diarrhea) and when inflamed, the GI tract can't absorb enough nutrients to heal itself properly... which leads to more diarrhea. You need to first address the inflammation and supplement with B12 before trying to manage the diarrhea though other avenues, such as diet.
Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Cats: The Role of the Gut

As for probiotics, one palatable option is Proviable DC. It's only a small amount per capsule and it must be flavorless because even my picky girl will eat it without hesitation when it's mixed into wet food. Others have mention a few great options, especially Adored Beast, but Proviable is a good way to introduce probiotics and get him used to them before moving on to something stronger.
Proviable DC

I also think you're on to something when you say his diarrhea is worse on Hill's products. Compare the ingredients between brands and see if anything jumps out at you. We tried prescription diets when one of my cats was first diagnosed with IBD - it was a wild roller coaster of symptoms until I finally compared the foods and began figuring out what his trigger foods were. For us, ingredients such as peas, potatoes and legumes are a huge NO and some of the prescription diets had far more of those than the others.

I want to talk to his vet about his colitis issues again, but he just had an eye surgery and we’ve been dealing with the postoperative recovery so his digestive issues are kind of on hold now.
We haven’t discussed anti inflammatory or B12 supplements since the vet back then didn’t think it was severe enough to warrant medications.
He is currently having constipation with bloody stools instead of diarrhea. (His condition alternates between diarrhea/loose stools and constipation). He is so picky, he refuses most dry and wet food although as a kitten he was more accepting of a variety of wet diets. This is making it difficulty to transition him to something he likes (I just got him a lamb based diet in wet and dry and he absolutely refused both).
There isn’t anything striking in the Hill’s diet vs others; most diets he had were poultry based and grain inclusive. I’m thinking it could be something in the Hill’s vitamin/mineral mix that’s worsening his symptoms.

 

[Meowmee]

For this type of issue, I recommend making a home cooked diet. I was cooking home-cooked food for my cats that had diarrhea a few years ago until I was injured last year. I started to again finally.

I cured two of them of their diarrhea by giving them that which was made with just chicken, chicken, liver and supplements from Alnutrin. Then you could add pumpkin or psyllium if that’s agreeable to him for some fiber.

 

[GeoDjay]

For this type of issue, I recommend making a home cooked diet. I was cooking home-cooked food for my cats that had diarrhea a few years ago until I was injured last year. I started to again finally.

I cured two of them of their diarrhea by giving them that which was made with just chicken, chicken, liver and supplements from Alnutrin. Then you could add pumpkin or psyllium if that’s agreeable to him for some fiber.

I don’t have the capacity to make his food myself, but I have tried a local homemade food company that ships on a weekly basis, but unfortunately he didn’t like any of the flavors available.