Ibd Kitty Just Starting Prednisolone

[Cupcaketrad]

Hi everyone,
My cat just started prednisolone yesterday for probable IBD (hopefully not lymphoma--we have yet to do a biopsy). I know every cat is different, but I'm just wondering when the pred starts to provide any real relief from nausea and vomiting. Would anyone be willing to share the story of your cat's prednisolone journey? Do you remember the first stage of treatment, and what was it like?

My vet put her on 5 mg/day for 10 days, and then every other day after that. When I asked how long it would take to help her feel better, he said it may take a week, which is worrisome since her nausea is so terrible. She did get a shot of Cerenia yesterday, which helped a lot, but it is wearing off and now it is Saturday evening and the vet is closed for the weekend.

Thanks for reading!
Mittenz's worried mom

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Welcome, even though your kitty is having such troubles!

Although this first post isn't really the same situation as yours it may have useful info;
Withdrawal Symptoms After Prednisolone?

Is Anyone Treating Their Youngish Cat With Both Cerenia And Prednisolone?

 

[LTS3]

These two web sites have good info:

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Raw Feeding for IBD Cats

One of my cats has IBD. It was a good month and a half or so before his symptoms were manged with meds. He was mainly on pred with Cerenia as needed. I have a thread about my cat's IBD journey here: Ibd / Digestive Issues I haven't updated it in a long time as there were no new updates to post about. My cat finally got off pred two months ago and is doing well.

Ask the vet about using the Cerenia pills and giving it as needed. It works best if given half an hour or so before a meal.

It was discovered shortly after diagnosis that chicken causes a flare up so I stopped feeding that. I feed my IBD cat only novel proteins now, mainly rabbit. If you're currently feeding chicken, it might be helpful to feed a novel protein.

 

[Cupcaketrad]

Hi! Welcome, even though your kitty is having such troubles!

Although this first post isn't really the same situation as yours it may have useful info;
Withdrawal Symptoms After Prednisolone?

Is Anyone Treating Their Youngish Cat With Both Cerenia And Prednisolone?

Thanks! I will take a look!

 

[Cupcaketrad]

These two web sites have good info:

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Raw Feeding for IBD Cats

One of my cats has IBD. It was a good month and a half or so before his symptoms were manged with meds. He was mainly on pred with Cerenia as needed. I have a thread about my cat's IBD journey here: Ibd / Digestive Issues I haven't updated it in a long time as there were no new updates to post about. My cat finally got off pred two months ago and is doing well.

Ask the vet about using the Cerenia pills and giving it as needed. It works best if given half an hour or so before a meal.

It was discovered shortly after diagnosis that chicken causes a flare up so I stopped feeding that. I feed my IBD cat only novel proteins now, mainly rabbit. If you're currently feeding chicken, it might be helpful to feed a novel protein.

Thanks for the links and for directing me to your thread! I read the whole thing! Count me in as a Leroy cheerleader, also! Go Leroy! That's great that he is doing so well.

And yes, I will ask the vet about Cerenia tablets, but I think he told me (it's hard to remember, since I was pretty panicked when we were in his office) that it is "injection-only." I don't know why he would tell me that if it isn't true, but I will double-check. I'm just glad to have found a vet around here who even knows what IBD is. Mittenz and I live in a rural area, and when she had her first flare at the end of September, the first vet we went to discovered that she also had a UTI, and she got really focused on that and proceeded to give my kitty a Convenia shot. This was a terrible mistake. Poor Mittenz had a very bad reaction to Convenia, with violent diarrhea and the works, and we wound up going to the emergency vet, who is an hour away, in the middle of the night. And that first vet didn't seem very interested in her painful and swollen abdomen, and hypothesized that it was either hairballs or that Mittenz had ingested some UTI bacteria from cleaning herself. I eventually got Mittenz stabilized by switching to Dr. Elsey's food (from Royal Canin) and got her a new drinking fountain, which helped a lot. Mittenz did pretty well for most of November and I thought she was on the mend, and then in early December, she had another flare. I took her to a different vet who at least acknowledged that she likely has IBD and he got her going on the prednisolone.

The pred seems to be helping some--we are on day three and she's sprawled on the top level of her cat tree and not hunched up, which is a big improvement. She isn't drinking much water, which is worrisome, but I am going to try to give her some by syringe and may have to take her in for sub-q fluids if she doesn't start drinking soon. The horrible Convenia shot did clear up her UTI, but I am afraid that it will come back.

Sorry for the long rant. That first vet wasn't very good and I worry that we lost a lot of time. I'm also feeling pretty stupid for not knowing that Royal Canin is a bunch of filler and by-product meal. Mittenz is seven and has eaten it her whole life until the trouble started last fall. I thought it was good stuff.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! From what I've read, royal caninn is one of the brands that used to be held in high regard, but that isn't the case any longer. Pet food consumers are often caught off guard, unfortunately.
Can you try the liquid from canned green beans? I don't know if tuna juice is ok for your baby.

 

[Cupcaketrad]

Hi! From what I've read, royal caninn is one of the brands that used to be held in high regard, but that isn't the case any longer. Pet food consumers are often caught off guard, unfortunately.
Can you try the liquid from canned green beans? I don't know if tuna juice is ok for your baby.

I don't have any canned green beans on hand, but I will head to the store. Thanks for the idea!

And yeah, Royal Canin sure took a dive. Mittenz was on their hairball formula for years with no trouble, and then last year they switched the formula with no warning. I read dozens of bad reviews and warnings on Amazon after she got sick. It was pretty eye-opening. I'm not saying my kitty's illness is their fault, but it sure didn't help. And that emergency vet put her on their Urinary S/O formula, which was a disaster, with lots of nausea and worse. We made it about 10 days on that stuff and I switched to Dr. Elsey's after learning about oxalate and UTIs.

I did give her some water with a syringe earlier, and when she peed, it smelled pretty strong. I don't suppose that happens with pred, does it? Flushing out IBD inflammation? How's that for wishful thinking? She was doing great on Dr. Elsey's just a week ago and then this flare happened. I think the novel protein route is the way to go, now that we're in the land of grain-free, high protein. But I'm afraid to give her quail or something she hasn't had before until I get her stabilized with pred. These big decisions are pretty frustrating.

Thanks for reading. Mittenz is tired of hearing about it and just wants to feel better!

 

[Furballsmom]

Mittenz, baby, hang in there .

 

[LTS3]

The Cerenia tablets are for dogs but are used off-label for cats. A cat dose is usually 1/4 to 1/2 a tablet up to twice a day. I use a bacon flavored pill dough to get pills into my cats. Both varieties of Pill Pockets contain chicken which is a no-no for Leroy.

A novel protein would be helpful but do any diet change slowly. It would be helpful to keep a daily log of everything: diet, meds, litter box use, behavior, etc.

Leroy has always eaten a raw diet. It wasn't a big deal to stop feeding chicken. Leroy doesn't seem to notice his chicken-free diet. My other cat eats the same food as Leroy. Leroy insists in licking her bowl clean

Pred can cause temporary diabetes-like symptoms. I've never noticed Leroy's pee smelling any stronger while on pred, just a noticeable increase in drinking water and peeing large amounts and increased appetite. I monitored Leroy's blood glucose levels for awhile and they were higher after being given pred before dropping back to more normal if a teeny bit elevated levels. Monitoring glucose levels isn't necessary at all.

 

[Cupcaketrad]

Well, we've come from the vet and are now the proud owners of two bags of fluids to help get Mittenz through the initial high dose of pred. She perked up about an hour after the round the vet gave her kicked in. He also relented and gave us a couple of Cerenia tablets, with instructions to give her half when needed. He's pretty stingy with them, but I'm very happy to have a few doses at least. And I bet her strong-smelling pee is from dehydration. She didn't eat or drink very well for a couple of days when the flare first hit and I think the pred just made her get more and more behind on hydration. Her scruff didn't stay tented up or anything when I pinched it, but it did settle back a little more slowly than it should have. It's snapping right into place back now that she's had fluids.

And yes, we will try to change diets slowly. Do you think it's wise to wait until the pred does its thing before I start trying to get her onto rabbit or venison? She gets 5 mg every day for 10 days, and then we go to 5 mg every other day. Today is only day 4, so we've got a ways to go with this daily dose.

I'll try to upload a pic of her, just for fun. She's such a little cutie pie! I'm crushed that she's having such trouble.

 

[Timmer]

She's very sweet.
My Timmer was diagnosed around this time last year with IBD and I had him on Prednisone and also an antibiotic because he had blood in his stool. Unfortunately his colon pretty much swelled shut and within about 6 weeks I had to say goodbye. He never reacted to any medication. At first he did, but then after awhile things got worse and nothing could be done. I even had him on chemo for a short period of time. My vet said that can happen, where nothing works, just like with people.
Take it one day at a time and enjoy your baby and love her up. Hopefully medication and switching foods will help. Hang in there, OK? I know it's worrisome and it's tough. Very very hard and you feel helpless but you are doing all you can.
The prednisone you have your cat on should increase the appetite so you can always mix in water with the canned food and she can get moisture that way.

 

[LTS3]

I would slowly do a diet change now. Diet and pred together may help your cat.

There isn't any set timeline for pred. Leroy was on 4 mg twice a day for 2 months before the vet changed it to 4 mg once a day for a month, then 2 mg (half a pill) once a day for a month, then half a pill once a day every other day for a month. The dose changes were based on symptoms. We tried stopping and Leroy was fine IBD-wise before asthma kicked in We're guessing he had asthma for while but the pred controlled the symptoms. Leroy went back on pred for awhile just get the asthma under control.

Pred is available in a compounded form if your cat won't take the pills. Wedgewood Pharmacy is one popular place: https://www.wedgewoodpetrx.com/search/prednisolone.html

 

[Cupcaketrad]

She's very sweet.
My Timmer was diagnosed around this time last year with IBD and I had him on Prednisone and also an antibiotic because he had blood in his stool. Unfortunately his colon pretty much swelled shut and within about 6 weeks I had to say goodbye. He never reacted to any medication. At first he did, but then after awhile things got worse and nothing could be done. I even had him on chemo for a short period of time. My vet said that can happen, where nothing works, just like with people.
Take it one day at a time and enjoy your baby and love her up. Hopefully medication and switching foods will help. Hang in there, OK? I know it's worrisome and it's tough. Very very hard and you feel helpless but you are doing all you can.
The prednisone you have your cat on should increase the appetite so you can always mix in water with the canned food and she can get moisture that way.

Oh, that is so sad. I'm sorry to hear about your kitty. Thanks for sharing. And thank you for your encouragement and your reminder to slow down and not try to plan too far ahead. I'm still trying to come to terms with all of this and accept our new reality. I'm doing as much research as I can and am trying to stay optimistic.

And Mittenz is pretty finicky with her food but maybe I can sneak some water in there! She had an okay day and her appetite is returning, which is encouraging.

 

[Cupcaketrad]

I would slowly do a diet change now. Diet and pred together may help your cat.

There isn't any set timeline for pred. Leroy was on 4 mg twice a day for 2 months before the vet changed it to 4 mg once a day for a month, then 2 mg (half a pill) once a day for a month, then half a pill once a day every other day for a month. The dose changes were based on symptoms. We tried stopping and Leroy was fine IBD-wise before asthma kicked in We're guessing he had asthma for while but the pred controlled the symptoms. Leroy went back on pred for awhile just get the asthma under control.

Pred is available in a compounded form if your cat won't take the pills. Wedgewood Pharmacy is one popular place: Prednisolone Medication & Information for Animals, Wedgewood Pet RX, Wedgewood Pet RX

Thanks for the link! The vet tech compounded it for us, actually, but we might need Wedgewood in the future. And that's good to know about there not being any timeline for pred. Our vet seems to think that if she doesn't respond to her lone dose of 5 mg/day (which seems very conservative compared to Leroy's) after 10 days, that she should get a biopsy. I'm not sure I want to put her through that. The recovery sounds like a tough road, and she's already not feeling good. I am happy to have finally found a vet who knows about IBD, but I might have to try to find a specialist or at least get a second opinion.

And you may be right about starting the diet change now. I'll go shopping for novel protein foods tomorrow. Fingers crossed for something without chicken or fish! Or beef--but she's never really liked that.

Mittenz says to tell Leroy hi!

 

[daftcat75]

I would start the food hunt now. It can be frustrating to find the right food because so many producers put so many garbage and inappropriate ingredients. A lot of IBD cases are idiopathic: a fancy way of saying, “who the heck knows?” But if there is a food trigger, you have to eliminate that or the pred will only do so much. How do you know if there’s a food trigger? Rotate in a new food and see if you see any improvement. Or switch diet slowly but completely to something novel.

Keep a food journal of what you fed, when you fed, how much she ate, and if she had a reaction. It’s too much to keep track of in your head. Especially if you add medicine or extra feedings to the mix. Extra feedings may be called for if she has trouble eating enough or keeping it down.

Ask about B-12 shots. They are so important for IBD. They are also easy to give at home. Especially if you already give subq fluids, a B-12 shot will be nothing. But her recovery will be limited without them.

 

[LTS3]

I did the biopsy for Leroy even though the vet was 100% certain just from an abdominal palpation that Leroy had IBD. We did an ultrasound, too. Leroy had no issues after the biopsy. He was back to his normal self the next day.

Try these LID or novel protein foods:

Blue Buffalo Basics
Merrick Limited Ingredients
Koha Limited Ingredient
Natural Balance LID
Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet | Instinct Pet Food
RAWZ | 100% Rendered Free Cat Food
Single Novel Protein Grain Free Wet (not Raw) Food? Help!
Your favorite brands of "novel protein" canned cat food
Recs For Low-carb, Grain-free Pork Without Chicken Or Fish?
Canned - Pure Vita - Natural Holistic Pet Foods
NutriSource Pet Foods

A home cooked or raw diet are also options to look into.

 

[sarah c]

My Cat did very well on prednisolone for almost a yr until his heart problem caught up with him. He started at 4mg and the vet told told us to lower after 2 weeks, but he didn't tell by how much. This was the internal specialist, and he didn't return my voicemail when I asked. We lowered him to 3, then 2.5, then 2. We did this very slowly and If I could do it over I would have done it faster. Our reg. vet recommended getting him down to 1; this was towards the end of his life when his heart had deteriorated some more - but we only got down to 1.5. (another med made him sick and we wanted him to keep eating.) My husband thought he would not eat as well when we adjusted down, but I thought he was eating enough and he would gradually adapt to the lower dose with time. Be aware that prednisolone isn't great for the heart, I didn't know this until almost the end of my cats life so I was a bit mad at myself.

I`m not trying to scare you about the heart issue, my cat was 15 and had HCM for more than a year before he started prednisolone. He was in rough shape from the IBD, went from 12.5 pounds to 10 and not eating at all to doing great on the steroid and regaining all lost weight. That said, he was very lethargic the first couple days, we were a bit worried. Your dose sounds a bit high to me, I would say experiment with how low you can go over time with your cat still eating and feeling well. Our cat mostly refused the alternate proteins/brands so the improvement was down to the steroid.

 

[Cupcaketrad]

My Cat did very well on prednisolone for almost a yr until his heart problem caught up with him. He started at 4mg and the vet told told us to lower after 2 weeks, but he didn't tell by how much. This was the internal specialist, and he didn't return my voicemail when I asked. We lowered him to 3, then 2.5, then 2. We did this very slowly and If I could do it over I would have done it faster. Our reg. vet recommended getting him down to 1; this was towards the end of his life when his heart had deteriorated some more - but we only got down to 1.5. (another med made him sick and we wanted him to keep eating.) My husband thought he would not eat as well when we adjusted down, but I thought he was eating enough and he would gradually adapt to the lower dose with time. Be aware that prednisolone isn't great for the heart, I didn't know this until almost the end of my cats life so I was a bit mad at myself.

I`m not trying to scare you about the heart issue, my cat was 15 and had HCM for more than a year before he started prednisolone. He was in rough shape from the IBD, went from 12.5 pounds to 10 and not eating at all to doing great on the steroid and regaining all lost weight. That said, he was very lethargic the first couple days, we were a bit worried. Your dose sounds a bit high to me, I would say experiment with how low you can go over time with your cat still eating and feeling well. Our cat mostly refused the alternate proteins/brands so the improvement was down to the steroid.

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm sorry you had to go through that guessing game with the dosages. Poor kitty. You tried your best, I can tell. 15 is a good, long life at least. I had a cat with kidney trouble before Mittenz, and he made it to 15. I made a lot of mistakes with him, and I was determined to do better with Mittenz, and now she's sick. I'm mad at myself for feeding her Royal Canin all of her life and not knowing any better. One thing I am learning is that we can never know enough about cat nutrition, and I need to be a lifelong student of kitty health.

I have wondered if my kitty's pred dose is high, but she only gets it once per day and then after ten days we go to every other day (she just started and today was day four), and then down from there. And I'm seeing much bigger doses--and some twice daily!--as I scroll through a lot of threads on this site, and then I wonder if her dose isn't too low. I think we will carry on with what we have and hope for improvement. Thanks for the info about the heart issues though. I knew it was rough on liver and kidneys but I didn't know about the potential for cardiac trouble. Mittenz doesn't have any cardiac issues, as far as I know, and she's only seven, so hopefully things will be okay.

 

[Cupcaketrad]

I would start the food hunt now. It can be frustrating to find the right food because so many producers put so many garbage and inappropriate ingredients. A lot of IBD cases are idiopathic: a fancy way of saying, “who the heck knows?” But if there is a food trigger, you have to eliminate that or the pred will only do so much. How do you know if there’s a food trigger? Rotate in a new food and see if you see any improvement. Or switch diet slowly but completely to something novel.

Keep a food journal of what you fed, when you fed, how much she ate, and if she had a reaction. It’s too much to keep track of in your head. Especially if you add medicine or extra feedings to the mix. Extra feedings may be called for if she has trouble eating enough or keeping it down.

Ask about B-12 shots. They are so important for IBD. They are also easy to give at home. Especially if you already give subq fluids, a B-12 shot will be nothing. But her recovery will be limited without them.

I definitely will ask about the B-12 shots! I don't know if my vet knows much about them for IBD, but I will dig around for some reliable sources and try to convince him if that's what it takes.

And yes, I will start looking for novel proteins and keeping better track of everything. I found a holistic pet food supplier about an hour away, so I will see what they have. Elk or kangaroo or quail, etc. Bison would be nifty since we're in South Dakota, but I doubt such a thing exists in a can.

I'm so glad I found this website! Lots of wonderful, smart people on here.

 

[LTS3]

There is bison canned cat food

PetKind tripeCAT Canned Cat Food
https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Calling-Canned-Cat-Food/dp/B00CVR6SSS

The vet can check B12 levels with a specific blood test. If levels are low, which in many IBD cats it is, you will need to give B12 injections.