IBD/Lymphoma

[feline03]

Has anyone had experience/dealing with your cat having been diagnosed with probable IBD or lymphoma? My cat has been vomiting after he eats nearly every day and has been on pepsid and anti nausea meds for at least a couple of weeks now with no help most days. He is on a raw diet of rabbit and turkey thighs I make myself because I have three cats and can't afford $400 a month for the royal cabin. I'm tried that too but he vomits that as well. He just started on on steroids today. They told me that either diagnosis is treated with them. I'm hoping it helps.
They wanted to do a biopsy (which what I'm told can't be definitive!) To diagnose what it is that costs $2000! I opted not to do it because if it was lymphoma I would not treat him as I wouldn't put him through that.
If anyone can share their experience, I'd greatly appreciate it. God bless

 

[Furballsmom]

I don't have experience with this, but one of our members who did referenced this site frequently;

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time

These are threads that may be helpful, some will be repetitive;

Search Results for Query: ibd

 

[FeebysOwner]

In addition to the above helpful information, I have a question to ask: when you say he vomits after he eats, is it immediately afterward, and is the food mostly undigested? There are cats who just eat too fast for their stomach to handle it and will throw up because of it. How old is this cat, and how long has this been going on?

The apparent 'go to' with vets for cats who vomit is to suggest IBD or lymphoma. But most of them have other 'symptoms' like loose stools or diarrhea, often weight loss as well. What kind of supplement are you using to make your raw diet nutritionally complete? There could be an ingredient in that which doesn't agree with your cat's digestive tract. There are also some cats who don't tolerate raw foods well. The latter one doesn't seem as likely since he also threw up with Royal Canin, but there could still be something in both kinds of food that his stomach cannot tolerate.

Biopsies are always said to be the end-all to determining either condition, but they are not always conclusive either. You could look into an ultrasound (non-invasive), which would at least tell you if there is inflammation and/or thickened intestines (a typical sign of IBD, and sometimes lymphoma). There are additional tests that are also non-invasive during an ultrasound that can be done if there is anything 'suspicious' found, which usually involves a fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology on any of the suspect tissue.

Steroids are often used for both IBD and lymphoma, so you might get a resolution through using them. Here is another web site you might be interested in too. It has a lot of information that covers more than just raw feeding and IBD.
Raw Feeding for IBD Cats - Feline IBD

 

[Margot Lane]

My cats has been on steroids & chemo pills for some time now, diagnosed w IBD/small cell lymphoma. I chose the biopsy and you are right it costs a pretty penny. One vet’s assistant was super kind though and gave me some sort of short term pet insurance (forget name) which made the procedure cost less. Anyhoo it allowed me to definitively determine he had small cell lymphoma, hence the chemo pills. You’ll find many threads on this subject on here; I find all of them to be helpful & informative. Ultrasounds do help. In my case the steroids took time to make a difference (he had runny poo, then it firmed up). What works best for your cat diet wise will be a bit of trial and error…again, the threads here are very helpful on that score.