IBD flareup

[guarua]

Stress is a big factor in flares. How have things been in your home recently? Has there been a change in schedule or people in and out? Has the overall stress in your home been higher? My boy flared when I went back to work after being off for several months due to building closure, which was crazy because I'd gone to work every day of his life for the past 13 years, but this triggered him.

We haven't had much change lately, the only thing I can think of is I've been home more often so the dogs have been spending less time in their crates. But he doesn't really interact with the dogs? I know that cats can be really sensitive though. His first huge IBD flareup was when we got our youngest cats and this definitely looks like that one, though not quite as bad. Usually when he's super stressed his herpes will act up which I haven't noticed.

How is your cat doing today, guarua ? I hope he's doing better and eating. Slippery elm bark syrup has been very helpful for us when Edwina wasn't eating and we couldn't get her to the vet. Then again, we're lucky she'll just lap the stuff up with a bit of freeze-dried chicken on top.

A few other random notes...


Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes! We see this with Edwina, too. Crazy though it sounds, the easiest stressor to track is the weather, including wind and barometric pressure, which has been taking huge swings in recent months. Rapid pressure changes and low pressure can cause problems for her. Head shaking is a sure sign that the pressure is affecting our cats.


Well... in our experience, problems can come up at any time. It seems sudden to us but I suspect not to the cats! Every cat is different but the Rawz food has tapioca and the Weruva food has fish, potato, and xanthan gum so those are the suspects I'd look at.

Also! I'm glad Astragal14 mentioned B12 and probiotics! We're just starting with B12; today I'll be giving Edwina a shot of the stuff. She also gets probiotics, in Adored Beast's Feline Gut Soothe, a supplement that also includes anti-inflammatory herbs. It's a huge help for her. My biggest challenge is (back to stress here!) trying to get her on an anti-stress supplement, to ease her nerves since both our cats are anxious rescues. (I do have a new candidate but won't go into that!)

He's mostly the same. He seems to have a bit more appetite though. I'm about to give him his lunch and if he still is only eating half then I'll give him some mirataz.
I'll definitely look for some slippery elm bark!! Do you know if B12 oral supplements work as well as the shots? That'd be a lot easier for me since I don't have a car so I have to rely on other people for transport to the vet. And even though he's used to a lot of vet visits, they're obviously never fun for him.

Thank you all so much for all the advice. I feel really lost when it comes to my cats' health so it's really nice to have some guidance. The vets are not as helpful as I wish they were.

 

[lisahe]

He's mostly the same. He seems to have a bit more appetite though. I'm about to give him his lunch and if he still is only eating half then I'll give him some mirataz.
I'll definitely look for some slippery elm bark!! Do you know if B12 oral supplements work as well as the shots? That'd be a lot easier for me since I don't have a car so I have to rely on other people for transport to the vet. And even though he's used to a lot of vet visits, they're obviously never fun for him.

Thank you all so much for all the advice. I feel really lost when it comes to my cats' health so it's really nice to have some guidance. The vets are not as helpful as I wish they were.

Well, "mostly the same" is better than "worse," particularly since it sounds like he's eating more! So let's call that "better"!

Slippery elm bark is great stuff.

As for B12, the vet sent me home with a kit (a bottle of B12 plus lots of needles) for doing the shots myself. You might ask your vet about it: it's not especially difficult. That said, I did very well on the first one but flailed today. It was my own stupid fault because I had a bad angle on Edwina. I knew that but was impatient so just went ahead. And the stuff just dripped. (The vet specifically said not to worry if that happens: just do it again! But better.)

Anyway, I hope things continue to go better for you!

 

[guarua]

So, I finally found something he will gobble down. Tiki Cat Indoor Dry food. He's been on dry for most of his life so maybe I'm a little naïve switching him to fully wet (he's been on 2/3 dry and 1/3 wet for a while now) when his appetite is so low. I'm still going to get some RAWZ when I can, but I've been looking at dry food too. I don't want to go with the Tiki Cat because even though it's decent for dry food, it's a lot of poultry and peas which he historically hasn't done well on.
I'm considering trying Orijen Regional Red dry food but I'm nervous because of how expensive it is.
https://www.chewy.com/dp/133953?utm_source=app-share&utm_campaign=133953
Does anyone who's a little more knowledgeable know if this is a good idea?
I'll be doing it with the Slippery Elm Bark too which I've ordered. I'm going to call the vet later today to ask about B12 injections and possibly some probiotics as well (is that overkill with the bark?). I'd prefer to get them by prescription if possible so that insurance can pay for it instead of me.

 

[Astragal14]

So, I finally found something he will gobble down. Tiki Cat Indoor Dry food. He's been on dry for most of his life so maybe I'm a little naïve switching him to fully wet (he's been on 2/3 dry and 1/3 wet for a while now) when his appetite is so low. I'm still going to get some RAWZ when I can, but I've been looking at dry food too. I don't want to go with the Tiki Cat because even though it's decent for dry food, it's a lot of poultry and peas which he historically hasn't done well on.
I'm considering trying Orijen Regional Red dry food but I'm nervous because of how expensive it is.
https://www.chewy.com/dp/133953?utm_source=app-share&utm_campaign=133953
Does anyone who's a little more knowledgeable know if this is a good idea?
I'll be doing it with the Slippery Elm Bark too which I've ordered. I'm going to call the vet later today to ask about B12 injections and possibly some probiotics as well (is that overkill with the bark?). I'd prefer to get them by prescription if possible so that insurance can pay for it instead of me.

Probiotics and slippery elm are great additions to his diet! They do different things, so it's definitely not too much. Just be sure to keep the slippery elm separate from other supplements by a few hours. One product he may really like is Vet's Best Hairball Relief - it has a ton of great ingredients (slippery elm, marshmallow root) plus psyllium fiber too. Just be sure to add extra water/liquid to it because of the psyllium, the water content in wet food is not enough by itself. The Vet's Best doesn't have enough slippery elm for my cat, so we supplement with Animal Essentials Slippery Elm.
https://www.chewy.com/vets-best-chewable-tablets-hairball/dp/45141

I agree you may not want to give him the Tiki Cat dry for a long time, peas are very high in the ingredient list. But for now, it's great that he's doing better and responding well, so I don't think you need to make a change immediately, you have time to find other options. The Orijen is a super healthy food with a ton of great proteins, however I am probably in the minority that doesn't love it because they use so many legumes (the bulk of the ingredient list is 25% legumes). My cat is sensitive to legumes, but I'd be concerned about that much plant-based food in the ingredients list. My cats don't eat a lot of dry so we feed them Iams Indoor Weight & Hairball Control (it's not great food, but it doesn't contain any triggers so it's not a bad food). I actually don't like the dry food offerings from most of the "premium" brands like Orijen, Blue Buffalo, Merrick, etc because they use too many plant based foods that look healthy to humans (sweet potatoes, peas, legumes, and many more) but are often triggers for cats with IBD. One terrific option is to use freeze dried raw food in place of dry food, but that can quickly get expensive. Vital Essentials Raw Nibs are a great choice, but there are many brands available from Chewy.
https://www.chewy.com/iams-proactive-health-indoor-weight/dp/121260

One last note about B12: cats really need injections instead of supplements in food. Their GI tract doesn't absorb B12 well, so it really needs to be injected right into them. They only absorb a very small percentage from over the counter B12 supplements (dogs absorb a little more but still not a lot); it's not even worth it to try the supplements.

 

[guarua]

Probiotics and slippery elm are great additions to his diet! They do different things, so it's definitely not too much. Just be sure to keep the slippery elm separate from other supplements by a few hours. One product he may really like is Vet's Best Hairball Relief - it has a ton of great ingredients (slippery elm, marshmallow root) plus psyllium fiber too. Just be sure to add extra water/liquid to it because of the psyllium, the water content in wet food is not enough by itself. The Vet's Best doesn't have enough slippery elm for my cat, so we supplement with Animal Essentials Slippery Elm.
https://www.chewy.com/vets-best-chewable-tablets-hairball/dp/45141

I agree you may not want to give him the Tiki Cat dry for a long time, peas are very high in the ingredient list. But for now, it's great that he's doing better and responding well, so I don't think you need to make a change immediately, you have time to find other options. The Orijen is a super healthy food with a ton of great proteins, however I am probably in the minority that doesn't love it because they use so many legumes (the bulk of the ingredient list is 25% legumes). My cat is sensitive to legumes, but I'd be concerned about that much plant-based food in the ingredients list. My cats don't eat a lot of dry so we feed them Iams Indoor Weight & Hairball Control (it's not great food, but it doesn't contain any triggers so it's not a bad food). I actually don't like the dry food offerings from most of the "premium" brands like Orijen, Blue Buffalo, Merrick, etc because they use too many plant based foods that look healthy to humans (sweet potatoes, peas, legumes, and many more) but are often triggers for cats with IBD. One terrific option is to use freeze dried raw food in place of dry food, but that can quickly get expensive. Vital Essentials Raw Nibs are a great choice, but there are many brands available from Chewy.
https://www.chewy.com/iams-proactive-health-indoor-weight/dp/121260

One last note about B12: cats really need injections instead of supplements in food. Their GI tract doesn't absorb B12 well, so it really needs to be injected right into them. They only absorb a very small percentage from over the counter B12 supplements (dogs absorb a little more but still not a lot); it's not even worth it to try the supplements.

Thank you so much for all the really valuable information!! I really appreciate it. I will definitely be ordering those supplements.
I really love Vital Essentials but unfortunately that food is out of my price range 🥲 I sometimes feed my cats their toppers though! I have been looking for freeze dried foods for him, but all of them are super expensive. I kind of wish I could be blissfully ignorant about cat food again because it is so stressful. Especially since I can't afford the stuff I would prefer to feed. But let's hope things pick up soon and I can afford some higher quality foods for all my pets. I will still try the Orijen, maybe I'll supplement with some of the VE toppers if things go well. He did actually do well on Hill's Hairball Control for a while before I knew about the IBD so I'll take that into consideration if the Orijen doesn't work out.
Yeah, after I sent the message about B12 oral supplements I felt a bit silly because the whole point is they can't absorb the B12!

 

[guarua]

Probiotics and slippery elm are great additions to his diet! They do different things, so it's definitely not too much. Just be sure to keep the slippery elm separate from other supplements by a few hours. One product he may really like is Vet's Best Hairball Relief - it has a ton of great ingredients (slippery elm, marshmallow root) plus psyllium fiber too. Just be sure to add extra water/liquid to it because of the psyllium, the water content in wet food is not enough by itself. The Vet's Best doesn't have enough slippery elm for my cat, so we supplement with Animal Essentials Slippery Elm.
https://www.chewy.com/vets-best-chewable-tablets-hairball/dp/45141

I agree you may not want to give him the Tiki Cat dry for a long time, peas are very high in the ingredient list. But for now, it's great that he's doing better and responding well, so I don't think you need to make a change immediately, you have time to find other options. The Orijen is a super healthy food with a ton of great proteins, however I am probably in the minority that doesn't love it because they use so many legumes (the bulk of the ingredient list is 25% legumes). My cat is sensitive to legumes, but I'd be concerned about that much plant-based food in the ingredients list. My cats don't eat a lot of dry so we feed them Iams Indoor Weight & Hairball Control (it's not great food, but it doesn't contain any triggers so it's not a bad food). I actually don't like the dry food offerings from most of the "premium" brands like Orijen, Blue Buffalo, Merrick, etc because they use too many plant based foods that look healthy to humans (sweet potatoes, peas, legumes, and many more) but are often triggers for cats with IBD. One terrific option is to use freeze dried raw food in place of dry food, but that can quickly get expensive. Vital Essentials Raw Nibs are a great choice, but there are many brands available from Chewy.
https://www.chewy.com/iams-proactive-health-indoor-weight/dp/121260

One last note about B12: cats really need injections instead of supplements in food. Their GI tract doesn't absorb B12 well, so it really needs to be injected right into them. They only absorb a very small percentage from over the counter B12 supplements (dogs absorb a little more but still not a lot); it's not even worth it to try the supplements.

Just want to say, thank you SO MUCH for the supplement suggestion. It's almost absurd how much they have helped my other IBD cat. She was super sick and I was sure she had lymphoma because she was consistently getting worse. Within like two days of giving these supplements, she became more herself than she has been for a few months. It's ridiculous how helpful they have been and such a simple thing! The cat I made this post about has also been taking well to them and it's made me so happy! Literally no vomiting since I started them. I can't believe I hadn't tried something like this earlier and I really appreciate your advice and suggestions.

 

[Astragal14]

Just want to say, thank you SO MUCH for the supplement suggestion. It's almost absurd how much they have helped my other IBD cat. She was super sick and I was sure she had lymphoma because she was consistently getting worse. Within like two days of giving these supplements, she became more herself than she has been for a few months. It's ridiculous how helpful they have been and such a simple thing! The cat I made this post about has also been taking well to them and it's made me so happy! Literally no vomiting since I started them. I can't believe I hadn't tried something like this earlier and I really appreciate your advice and suggestions.

This is great news!! You may also want to consider adding a daily probiotic, it's very beneficial for GI issues. We give our cat a probiotic in the morning and fiber and slippery elm in the evenings.

 

[guarua]

This is great news!! You may also want to consider adding a daily probiotic, it's very beneficial for GI issues. We give our cat a probiotic in the morning and fiber and slippery elm in the evenings.

Do you have recommendations for a probiotic? I'm not super educated with this. I did just buy a few books on cat health and nutrition so I should be a bit more educated soon haha.
I was looking at this one: https://www.chewy.com/dp/307147?

 

[Astragal14]

Do you have recommendations for a probiotic? I'm not super educated with this. I did just buy a few books on cat health and nutrition so I should be a bit more educated soon haha.
I was looking at this one: https://www.chewy.com/dp/307147?

Right now you want a probiotic that has both Enterococcus faecium and Bifidobacterium bifidum because they specifically support digestive health. Proviable DC is a good option that is readily available at Chewy and other places. The one you mentioned is a good overall probiotic but it only has Bifidobacterium bifidum; it would be fine to use once the digestive issues are resolved. The veterinary nutritionist we work with for our cat recommends rotating probiotics every once in a while, so keep it in mind for later.

 

[lisahe]

We use Adored Beast's Feline Gut Soothe plus Vet's Best hairball tablets. The ingredients (slippery elm bark and marshmallow root) overlap a bit but I did some math and the vet said it's fine to give both plus a little slippery elm bark syrup to Edwina. I'm glad the Vet's Best tablets are helping. They've been a great help for both our cats.

Feline Gut Soothe has probiotics and herbs. Some probiotics (including Proviable's but not the one you mentioned on Chewy, guarua ) have inactive ingredients (like maltodextrin) in them that we generally avoid because of Edwina's many odd sensitivities. We should probably rotate Edwina's probiotics but I'm hesitant to do so because Feline Gut Soothe works nicely for her.

Whatever probiotic you buy, though, start with a tiny amount! Some cats (like Edwina!) need a very gradual introduction or they barf.

 

[Astragal14]

We use Adored Beast's Feline Gut Soothe plus Vet's Best hairball tablets. The ingredients (slippery elm bark and marshmallow root) overlap a bit but I did some math and the vet said it's fine to give both plus a little slippery elm bark syrup to Edwina. I'm glad the Vet's Best tablets are helping. They've been a great help for both our cats.

Feline Gut Soothe has probiotics and herbs. Some probiotics (including Proviable's but not the one you mentioned on Chewy, guarua ) have inactive ingredients (like maltodextrin) in them that we generally avoid because of Edwina's many odd sensitivities. We should probably rotate Edwina's probiotics but I'm hesitant to do so because Feline Gut Soothe works nicely for her.

Whatever probiotic you buy, though, start with a tiny amount! Some cats (like Edwina!) need a very gradual introduction or they barf.

lisahe have you considered trying Adored Beast's Felix's Flora? Our nutritionist loves, really LOVES this product because it has three feline-specific probiotic strains. She said it's the product she's been waiting years to see (I also think the world of our nutritionist). My cat does well with it, I was actually going to try giving him one dose of Felix's Flora and 1/2 Visbiome on a daily basis - but he's in the midst of a bad IBD flare so that experiment is on hold right now. I wonder if Edwina would benefit from a partial or full serving of FF.

 

[lisahe]

lisahe have you considered trying Adored Beast's Felix's Flora? Our nutritionist loves, really LOVES this product because it has three feline-specific probiotic strains. She said it's the product she's been waiting years to see (I also think the world of our nutritionist). My cat does well with it, I was actually going to try giving him one dose of Felix's Flora and 1/2 Visbiome on a daily basis - but he's in the midst of a bad IBD flare so that experiment is on hold right now. I wonder if Edwina would benefit from a partial or full serving of FF.

It's funny that you mention this, Astragal14 ! I almost mentioned that the probiotics in Felix's Flora and Feline Gut Soothe are the same! So yes, Edwina's already getting Felix's Flora in her Feline Gut Soothe. Both supplements also have larch arabinogalactan. Their other ingredients, of course, differ but I like the ones in FGS for both our cats. That said, Adored Beast's Healthy Gut has the same probiotic strains as FF and FGS, with other ingredients that also sound very good!

We haven't forgotten you, guarua ! I want to add that Fera has a probiotic blend with almost the exact same strains and no ingredients that I wouldn't feed. I've been giving Fera's Calm Goat Milk (with l-theanine and other ingredients, to ease anxiety/stress) to Edwina. Our vet has been enthusiastic about Fera and Adored Beast supplements and I've been very happy with both companies' quick answers to questions about dosage and the like.

 

[guarua]

It's funny that you mention this, Astragal14 ! I almost mentioned that the probiotics in Felix's Flora and Feline Gut Soothe are the same! So yes, Edwina's already getting Felix's Flora in her Feline Gut Soothe. Both supplements also have larch arabinogalactan. Their other ingredients, of course, differ but I like the ones in FGS for both our cats. That said, Adored Beast's Healthy Gut has the same probiotic strains as FF and FGS, with other ingredients that also sound very good!

We haven't forgotten you, guarua ! I want to add that Fera has a probiotic blend with almost the exact same strains and no ingredients that I wouldn't feed. I've been giving Fera's Calm Goat Milk (with l-theanine and other ingredients, to ease anxiety/stress) to Edwina. Our vet has been enthusiastic about Fera and Adored Beast supplements and I've been very happy with both companies' quick answers to questions about dosage and the like.

No worries if you want to talk about your own cats too or go on a tangent! I don't mind it at all. That's the beauty of a forum.
I will start with the Proviable for now and keep all your suggestions on a list! I really, really appreciate it and so do my cats. The Calm Goat Milk sounds intriguing, my older cat struggles a lot with anxiety.

In other news, I just started the Orijen Regional Red and the cat this thread was made for, Pangur, is doing excellent. Generally he seems to have improved a lot. However, my older cat, I will call her Poppy, has been throwing up every time I give it to her despite only putting a few kibbles in with her other food. I'm a little worried that it won't work and I'll have to find something new. It's only been a few days though so I'm not sure if I'm jumping the gun. She has a history of vomiting a lot in general. It is just very strange to me because lately I've been feeding her a lot of crap food like Fancy Feast and Sheba and this is what makes her vomit? Initially I thought it was because she was eating too fast but it happens hours after her meal. I really want this food to work so I'm a bit disappointed. Is it worth trying for a few more days or should I just accept that I need to find something else?

 

[lisahe]

No worries if you want to talk about your own cats too or go on a tangent! I don't mind it at all. That's the beauty of a forum.
I will start with the Proviable for now and keep all your suggestions on a list! I really, really appreciate it and so do my cats. The Calm Goat Milk sounds intriguing, my older cat struggles a lot with anxiety.

In other news, I just started the Orijen Regional Red and the cat this thread was made for, Pangur, is doing excellent. Generally he seems to have improved a lot. However, my older cat, I will call her Poppy, has been throwing up every time I give it to her despite only putting a few kibbles in with her other food. I'm a little worried that it won't work and I'll have to find something new. It's only been a few days though so I'm not sure if I'm jumping the gun. She has a history of vomiting a lot in general. It is just very strange to me because lately I've been feeding her a lot of crap food like Fancy Feast and Sheba and this is what makes her vomit? Initially I thought it was because she was eating too fast but it happens hours after her meal. I really want this food to work so I'm a bit disappointed. Is it worth trying for a few more days or should I just accept that I need to find something else?

Calm Goat Milk seems to be very good stuff. We're still in early days with it but it definitely seems to help.

As for the Orijen Regional Red, there are a lot of ingredients there that I question. Here's the start of the ingredient list. I've bolded the ones that I wouldn't feed because I won't feed legumes:

Beef, wild boar, beef liver, whole herring, pork, beef meal, lamb meal, pork meal, sardine meal, pollock meal, whole red lentils, whole pinto beans, lamb, herring meal, beef fat, natural fish flavor, lamb liver, whole green lentils, whole navy beans, beef kidney, pollock oil, whole chickpeas, whole peas, lentil fiber, dehydrated salmon, beef tripe, pork liver, pork kidney, whole cranberries, dried kelp... <snip!>

I also don't feed fish but if your cats have been eating Fancy Feast classic pates, they're getting a little fish anyway.

We use Dr. Elsey's dry foods. Some people don't like that it has pork plasma but given our cats' oddities, that's the least of my worries!

 

[fionasmom]

We use Dr. Elsey's dry foods.

I like Dr. Elsey dry. The only glitch I ran into, which was not their fault, is that my avatar ended up with a very high allergic reaction to pork.

 

[lisahe]

I like Dr. Elsey dry. The only glitch I ran into, which was not their fault, is that my avatar ended up with a very high allergic reaction to pork.

Yes, I think they all have pork in them, albeit hydrolyzed pork. (Which should, theoretically, make it okay, I think? I'm not too familiar with hydrolyzed food!) But maybe the pork plasma was a problem?

Dr. Elsey's works really well for both our cats, even Edwina (IBD) because there are no thickeners or fillers. And she doesn't seem (knock wood!) to have problems with proteins other than possibly fish.

 

[guarua]

Calm Goat Milk seems to be very good stuff. We're still in early days with it but it definitely seems to help.

As for the Orijen Regional Red, there are a lot of ingredients there that I question. Here's the start of the ingredient list. I've bolded the ones that I wouldn't feed because I won't feed legumes:

Beef, wild boar, beef liver, whole herring, pork, beef meal, lamb meal, pork meal, sardine meal, pollock meal, whole red lentils, whole pinto beans, lamb, herring meal, beef fat, natural fish flavor, lamb liver, whole green lentils, whole navy beans, beef kidney, pollock oil, whole chickpeas, whole peas, lentil fiber, dehydrated salmon, beef tripe, pork liver, pork kidney, whole cranberries, dried kelp... <snip!>

I also don't feed fish but if your cats have been eating Fancy Feast classic pates, they're getting a little fish anyway.

We use Dr. Elsey's dry foods. Some people don't like that it has pork plasma but given our cats' oddities, that's the least of my worries!

I hadn't properly looked at Dr Elsey's dry before. It looks great but it has chicken which I'm fairly sure has caused some issues in the past. If this doesn't work out I will definitely try it, worst case, my other non-IBD cats get to enjoy some extra expensive kibble for a while. She hasn't vomited since I sent that message despite giving it again for the next few meals so I'm cautiously optimistic.
Cat food is so stressful, especially dry

 

[lisahe]

I hadn't properly looked at Dr Elsey's dry before. It looks great but it has chicken which I'm fairly sure has caused some issues in the past. If this doesn't work out I will definitely try it, worst case, my other non-IBD cats get to enjoy some extra expensive kibble for a while. She hasn't vomited since I sent that message despite giving it again for the next few meals so I'm cautiously optimistic.
Cat food is so stressful, especially dry

Yes, cat food is very stressful! Dr. Elsey's isn't cheap but on the plus side, at least it's calorie dense! It does all have chicken, though, definitely not a plus for a cat who might have a sensitivity.

 

[fionasmom]

Dr. Elsey's isn't cheap but on the plus side, at least it's calorie dense!

Very true. Even a small bag will really last. I am still disappointed that I did not feel that I could take a risk with it any longer.

 

[lisahe]

Very true. Even a small bag will really last. I am still disappointed that I did not feel that I could take a risk with it any longer.

I know what you mean -- it so hard to have to cut decent foods from the menu! I hope Edwina's problems don't include chicken because this stuff has become an important part of her diet, as a sort of heavy topper. There aren't many wet foods without thickeners that she'll eat and I don't think she'd eat homemade food full-time!