Likely Ibs, Unsure Of What To Do

[kittenmittens84]

I know this is an older thread, but just wanted to throw my two cents in as my cat Otto has IBS and we struggled to find the right food for him for YEARS before getting it right. Definitely seconding whoever said that what works for one cat won’t work for another, and that there’s nothing that’s really guaranteed to work. As far as medication goes, a low dose of prednisone when he was having a flare up definitely helped him feel better and have fewer pooping issues.

We tried all kinds of grain-free foods, everything recommended for sensitive stomachs, adding pumpkin, even home cooked at one point, but eventually what actually worked for him was Royal Canin Limited Ingredient Venison & Pea. Which is confusing, because everything I read said to avoid peas for cats with GI issues, I haven’t had much luck with veterinary diets and tend to think other things work better, but nope. Venison and pea it is. He basically never has diarrhea now and we use pred maybe once a year.

After a while (maybe 1-2 years) of no issues on the royal canin our vet said we could switch him to Natural Balance LID if we wanted to save money and not deal with the hassle of prescription food anymore, because they have a venison and pea wet food that’s very similar. We slowly switched him over a few years ago and he’s been good ever since.

 

[rubysmama]

Which is confusing, because everything I read said to avoid peas for cats with GI issues,

Interesting, as the the latest food I'm trying with Ruby, and seems to be agreeing with her, is Hill's® Prescription Diet® d/d® Feline Duck & Green Pea Formula - dry which also has peas. This is in addition to the duck based https://www.royalcanin.com/ca/en_ca...poallergenic-selected-protein-canned-cat-food she's been eating for years.

For Ruby, anything with chicken seems to bother her, even if it's a "sensitive digestive system" or "GI issues" food.

Right now, things are digesting well, and it's so nice to find normal stool in the litter box.

Hopefully things are going well with the OP's cat, Jasper.

 

[kittenmittens84]

Interesting, as the the latest food I'm trying with Ruby, and seems to be agreeing with her, is Hill's® Prescription Diet® d/d® Feline Duck & Green Pea Formula - dry which also has peas. This is in addition to the duck based https://www.royalcanin.com/ca/en_ca...poallergenic-selected-protein-canned-cat-food she's been eating for years.

For Ruby, anything with chicken seems to bother her, even if it's a "sensitive digestive system" or "GI issues" food.

Right now, things are digesting well, and it's so nice to find normal stool in the litter box.

Hopefully things are going well with the OP's cat, Jasper.

Actually it’s funny you mention that because Otto seemed to tolerate that royal canin duck one too! We just stuck with venison because he liked it better.

 

[AmyTheKittyMommy]

Apologies for vanishing and not updating you guys! Life got a little hectic. We switched Jasper to Hounds and Gatos food and he’s doing better on it. We’ve also been giving him some supplements from vitality science and he is showing improvement. His stools are slowly getting less runny, he seems less distraught, and he’s gaining a little of the weight he lost back. We’re going to keep monitoring him and working with the company to adjust his dosage as needed, but for now, he seems like he’s starting to recover.

 

[rubysmama]

That's good to hear. Thanks for the update.

 

[AmyTheKittyMommy]

A little update:
Jasper unfortunately got a little off track, but on the whole has been much better. My family went on vacation and to make it easy on the petsitter, he had dry food and none of the supplements. Dry food, as proven again here, doesn't seem to agree with him, but it didn't upset his tummy as much as usual, luckily.
After the trip, he decided he doesn't want to eat the supplements anymore, and will stubbornly boycott food he can taste them in. I'm trying to work with the company and see how to get him to take them. He doesn't mind the probiotics, so worst case I guess I can just give him those and not the other things. He's still eating Hounds and Gatos turkey, we tried to give him the beef but both he and Percy hated it and wouldn't eat it.
It's a little frustrating being away from home and not directly able to work with him, but when I'm home for spring break and summer I'm going to try some different things with him. Maybe he needs a different kind of food, maybe the supplements need different dosing/delivery methods, maybe we need to try something new and totally different. Maybe he's allergic to turkey as well as chicken.
I just want him to get better. It's hard to know he was improving a lot and has since regressed slightly, but I'm hopeful we can figure something out and get him all the way better. It's nowhere near as bad as it was before though, his poops aren't completely liquid like they used to be and he has blood in his stool much less often. They're semi solid, but I want to work with him to get them all the way solid and completely blood free.

 

[rubysmama]

It's good to hear that Jasper has improved since you initial post. It's frustrating, though, as what seems to agree with them for a while, can suddenly become a problem. Hopefully you can keep tweaking things, and get additional improvements.

 

[AmyTheKittyMommy]

Oh boy, do I have an update... I apologize in advance for the wall of text. I haven’t checked in for a while, but maybe now I have more of an idea of what’s going on with Jasper. It’s been beyond frustrating trying to figure this out.
The good news is: Jasper does not have IBS or IBD. The vet ran some tests around a month ago and said his malabsorption profile came back normally. He also does not appear to have diabetes, anemia, or anything else based off his tests, everything seemed normal except a little blood in his urine, but the vet said that was likely from the urine sample collection methods. It is important for me to note that he did not get tested for parasites, since the previous vet I took him to had said his parasite panel was clear, and the current vet said they wouldn’t bother with testing again, but instead just give him some anti parasite medicine because sometimes parasite panels can miss things.
Based on his recent test results, the vet said he probably had disbiota, or an imbalance of gut microbes. They gave him antibiotics for that and some anti parasite medicine “just in case” even though they had not tested him for parasites. They put him on prescription food for cats with food sensitivities to rule that out as well.
Jasper hated taking his medicine, and I could not use any sort of pill pockets since his medicine was all liquid and he was restricted to only eating his prescription food. I had to fight him just to get it in his mouth and half the time he just spit it out. I tried to get a cat grooming bag to hold him still while I gave him his meds, but he just escaped each time. It was very frustrating but I was glad he’d taken all his medicine and hopeful he would improve.
However, he did not improve. In fact, I saw no difference in the solidness of his stools, and he began to poop outside the litter box much more frequently. Usually I could find some small reason why he went outside- his brother Percy was in there when he wanted to go, the box was a little too dirty for his liking (he is very particular about it), the clean cycle was going on the litterbox when he wanted to go- but sometimes he just poops outside of the box for seemingly no reason. One day he did it four times. It’s been almost daily lately and I am at my wit’s end cleaning up his stinky, runny poops from the floor.
Today I noticed he had gone into the litterbox area so I went to check he’d not done it on the floor. He had pooped inside the box but kind of on the side, and when I looked closer I saw a small white worm crawling out of his poop and up the side of the box. It was disgusting. I got a short video of it to show the vet and I can attach it here if needed, as I am having trouble identifying the parasite but I think it was a tapeworm segment.
I immediately called the vet and left a voicemail explaining what happened and asking that they call me tomorrow when they are able. I am beyond freaked out and I feel horrible. Could this be why poor Jasper has been so sick with diarrhea this whole time? If it wasn’t IBS/IBD and the antibiotics did nothing, which seems to contradict the disbiota hypothesis, could it have been parasites making him have constant diarrhea and weight loss? How could the poor kitty have even had a parasite this long?
I am so shocked that he seems to have a parasite. It never crossed my mind again after that first negative result and the first vet never told me that sometimes parasites do not show in the panel. He is an indoor cat and never goes near mice or other cats or anything. He was given anti parasite medication as a kitten before I adopted him. He did have fleas for a bit a while back, but I treated those and didn’t even think about that he could’ve gotten a parasite from them. I feel so bad that I may have missed all the signs and that I believed the negative result of his parasite panel while thinking he had IBD. I wish I had known and solved this sooner if this is what the issue is, and I feel really bad for him. I am going to ask the vet for more anti parasite medicine for both him and his brother. I am going to learn how to clean the whole house for possible parasites, especially bedding and carpet, so if you have suggestions for this please let me know. I’ll see if I should ask my doctor about taking anti parasite medicine myself, but I’ve heard it’s rare to contract parasites from cats so hopefully I am ok.
I feel really tired of seeing Jasper struggling and trying so many things to make him well just for it not to work. I really, really hope the vet can help me solve it and he will be happy and healthy again. My poor little kitty.

 

[MissClouseau]

Oh boy, do I have an update... I apologize in advance for the wall of text. I haven’t checked in for a while, but maybe now I have more of an idea of what’s going on with Jasper. It’s been beyond frustrating trying to figure this out.
The good news is: Jasper does not have IBS or IBD. The vet ran some tests around a month ago and said his malabsorption profile came back normally. He also does not appear to have diabetes, anemia, or anything else based off his tests, everything seemed normal except a little blood in his urine, but the vet said that was likely from the urine sample collection methods. It is important for me to note that he did not get tested for parasites, since the previous vet I took him to had said his parasite panel was clear, and the current vet said they wouldn’t bother with testing again, but instead just give him some anti parasite medicine because sometimes parasite panels can miss things.
Based on his recent test results, the vet said he probably had disbiota, or an imbalance of gut microbes. They gave him antibiotics for that and some anti parasite medicine “just in case” even though they had not tested him for parasites. They put him on prescription food for cats with food sensitivities to rule that out as well.
Jasper hated taking his medicine, and I could not use any sort of pill pockets since his medicine was all liquid and he was restricted to only eating his prescription food. I had to fight him just to get it in his mouth and half the time he just spit it out. I tried to get a cat grooming bag to hold him still while I gave him his meds, but he just escaped each time. It was very frustrating but I was glad he’d taken all his medicine and hopeful he would improve.
However, he did not improve. In fact, I saw no difference in the solidness of his stools, and he began to poop outside the litter box much more frequently. Usually I could find some small reason why he went outside- his brother Percy was in there when he wanted to go, the box was a little too dirty for his liking (he is very particular about it), the clean cycle was going on the litterbox when he wanted to go- but sometimes he just poops outside of the box for seemingly no reason. One day he did it four times. It’s been almost daily lately and I am at my wit’s end cleaning up his stinky, runny poops from the floor.
Today I noticed he had gone into the litterbox area so I went to check he’d not done it on the floor. He had pooped inside the box but kind of on the side, and when I looked closer I saw a small white worm crawling out of his poop and up the side of the box. It was disgusting. I got a short video of it to show the vet and I can attach it here if needed, as I am having trouble identifying the parasite but I think it was a tapeworm segment.
I immediately called the vet and left a voicemail explaining what happened and asking that they call me tomorrow when they are able. I am beyond freaked out and I feel horrible. Could this be why poor Jasper has been so sick with diarrhea this whole time? If it wasn’t IBS/IBD and the antibiotics did nothing, which seems to contradict the disbiota hypothesis, could it have been parasites making him have constant diarrhea and weight loss? How could the poor kitty have even had a parasite this long?
I am so shocked that he seems to have a parasite. It never crossed my mind again after that first negative result and the first vet never told me that sometimes parasites do not show in the panel. He is an indoor cat and never goes near mice or other cats or anything. He was given anti parasite medication as a kitten before I adopted him. He did have fleas for a bit a while back, but I treated those and didn’t even think about that he could’ve gotten a parasite from them. I feel so bad that I may have missed all the signs and that I believed the negative result of his parasite panel while thinking he had IBD. I wish I had known and solved this sooner if this is what the issue is, and I feel really bad for him. I am going to ask the vet for more anti parasite medicine for both him and his brother. I am going to learn how to clean the whole house for possible parasites, especially bedding and carpet, so if you have suggestions for this please let me know. I’ll see if I should ask my doctor about taking anti parasite medicine myself, but I’ve heard it’s rare to contract parasites from cats so hopefully I am ok.
I feel really tired of seeing Jasper struggling and trying so many things to make him well just for it not to work. I really, really hope the vet can help me solve it and he will be happy and healthy again. My poor little kitty.

It’s definitely possible the diarrhea and weight loss was about the worms. Worms steal nutrition from them.

Tapeworms are passed through swallowing a flea. As a side note they can also get heartworm through mosquitoes so even if he’s indoor-only and no animal goes outside, consider using a spot-on treatment in the summers.

 

[rubysmama]

Oh, poor Jasper. And poor you. Fingers crossed the deworming meds will make a difference.

 

[AmyTheKittyMommy]

Thank you! I spoke to the vet today and got Praziquantel ordered for both cats, as well as flea collars just in case, even though I haven’t seen so much as a single flea on them since the last time I treated them almost a year ago. I’m really hopeful this will help poor Jasper feel better and so relieved that the vet was able to help me.

 

[AmyTheKittyMommy]

Update:
The vet techs had to help me medicate both Jasper and his brother Percy with the Praziquantel to treat tapeworms (I could not get them to take the pills on my own). They had their dose on 6/24. They both have flea collars on even though there is no sight of fleas, just to ensure they’re good and don’t get more wormy visitors.
Jasper went about a week free of any errant poops and seemed livelier and to slowly be approaching a better weight. However, yesterday he had two poops outside of the litter box, and today he pooped on the couch, which he has never done before. This was very, very upsetting to my family. It’s one thing if it’s on the floor in the garage where you can wipe it right up, and it’s another if it’s on the couch where it is a nightmare to clean. I’m incredibly frustrated with the situation. The only good news here is his couch poop appeared to be slightly more solid than his past poops, so maybe he’s getting better.
I’m going to reach out to the vet about his pooping outside of the box. I wondered if perhaps surviving worms are causing the litter box avoidance, and if he may need to be treated for worms again at a later date... but the medication he took said it is a single dose and then it’s done. I don’t know how to explain his behavior this morning and I’m incredibly unsure of what to do. The first vet I worked with had no explanation for Jasper’s pooping outside the box, and I can’t come up with anything either. The box is clean, he and his brother share it nicely and as it is self cleaning it shouldn’t cause territorial disputes, and he is definitely able to hold his poop for long enough to decide where to go.
This got sort of long and rambly. I am just so confused and frustrated by Jasper’s pooping outside the box and my family is threatening to rehome him if this doesn’t stop, which is making me super anxious. I was so helpful the medication would cure him, but now he’s back to his same old poops all over and I don’t know what to do.

 

[rubysmama]

Sorry to hear of the latest "incident". I understand, of course, your family being upset about that. I would be too. But rehoming him would be difficult with his "issues", unless they're caused by him wanting to be an only cat. Does he get along ok with his brother? You only have the 1 litter box, right. Could you get a 2nd one. It might help.

 

[AmyTheKittyMommy]

Thank you for the reply.
I agree that rehoming him is a poor idea, for the reasons you mentioned and also because I can’t bear to do it. He’s my little baby and I’d miss him terribly. His brother and him are also very close, so I think rehoming him would devastate them both. They are littermates and get along great, always snuggling and cuddling and play fighting. I’ve only seen them have a few rare, very mild disagreements over one of them playing too rough, but this happened more when they were kittens. They always resolve their issue quickly and never seem to dislike each other.
I can try to get another box, but the current box is in the only spot my family will allow a litterbox. Their box is a Litter-Robot, which we saved up to get specifically so Jasper would always have a clean box since it cleans itself after every use. I figured an impeccable box might encourage him to have less accidents, but even after having it for a few months he still misses the box. I can try to put a normal litterbox next to it, I suppose?
Jasper unfortunately pooped on the couch two more times last night, despite it being treated with enzymatic cleaner where he went last. My family also found two places where he peed outside of the box as well. I am not home at the moment to help, so my family is very upset and has decided Jasper has to stay in a crate all night. I don’t think that’s nice or a good idea, but they say he is acting out and can’t be trusted to be out at night anymore. My family is frustrated with me and says I need to discipline Jasper more, but when I read about cat behavior before I adopted him as a kitten I remember reading that punishment isn’t good and doesn’t work. The only negative reinforcement I ever did with Jasper was to yelp/hiss/say no if he played using claws on people’s hands or bit anyone, and as a kitten he’d go on time out for a while immediately after he bit someone (he used to love play biting). It seemed to work because he learned exactly what behavior was getting playtime stopped, and now he doesn’t play bite or scratch. However, I don’t know if he will understand why he’s being locked up all night because it’s long enough after his bad behavior that he may not connect the dots. I’m worried it’ll just stress him more and exacerbate whatever is making him poop outside the box. Yesterday he was locked up for half the day in a bedroom with food and water and toys over his first couch poop, until he and his brother were too upset and had to be reunited. In my opinion this was really unkind and didn't accomplish anything except possibly stressing him enough that he pooped twice on the couch overnight.
I really don’t know what to do. I’m at a loss for why Jasper does this, my family is fed up and pressuring me to “discipline him”, and I have no idea how to correct a behavior if I don’t even know why he’s doing it. My family insists it is him acting out when he doesn’t get his way about being fed on time and that he’s upset I’m gone for a while, but I have no clue. I hope the vet can help.

 

[daftcat75]

Disciplining him absolutely will not work. You’re more likely to create a new problem than to solve this one if you introduce discipline. Discipline doesn’t work with cats. Ask your family to repeat that as many times as it takes to get it through to them.

Has he been to the vet? Sometimes inappropriate bathroom behaviors have nothing to do with the bathroom. My Krista peed my walls for months despite trying everything to correct her behavior including taping tarps and pee pads to the walls to limit the damage. I eventually took her into the vet for some unrelated reason. I mentioned the peeing. The vet popped open her mouth and said, “looks like she’s been trying to get your attention.” She had a few teeth going bad. We removed the problem teeth and the inappropriate peeing stopped. I’m not saying it will be this simple for Jasper. But you should always rule out physical illness before you tackle behavioral problems. In the meantime, maybe a couple of small uncovered litter boxes might give him a more appealing target than the couch. Not all cats are crazy about the Litter Robot or automatic cat boxes. Or even covered cat boxes. It might be stressing him out. I’m sure a litter box or two that you promise to keep immaculate will be preferable to the couch. Once you have him using the litterboxes again, you can likely eliminate one and put the other one somewhere more acceptable like next to the robot. If he’s not totally freaked out by the robot.

 

[rubysmama]

I can try to get another box, but the current box is in the only spot my family will allow a litterbox. Their box is a Litter-Robot, which we saved up to get specifically so Jasper would always have a clean box since it cleans itself after every use. I figured an impeccable box might encourage him to have less accidents, but even after having it for a few months he still misses the box. I can try to put a normal litterbox next to it, I suppose?

It's really, really worth a shot, as it's possible he's connecting the Litter Robot box with his discomfort from the worms. So I would definitely try it and see what happens.

And, you're right, cats don't understand or respond to discipline, which means there's little you can do, other than try to figure out why Jasper is stressed.

 

[AmyTheKittyMommy]

Thank you both so much for your responses. I’ve booked him a vet appointment for as soon as I’m back home and will have them check on him. Last time he went to the vet, maybe two months ago, they ran a lot of tests and found nothing wrong, other than noting some plaque and gingivitis that needs to be dealt with. I don’t think that’s severe enough to be causing his accidents, but I’ll ask the vet about it.
I’ll see about getting one or two uncovered litter boxes and putting them somewhere. Maybe the downstairs bathroom by my room will be ok for them to put one there, but I’ll have to work it out.
I will repeat again to my family for the hundredth time that discipline doesn’t work. No matter how many times I say it, they always insist he just needs discipline even when I explain cat psychology is entirely unlike human psychology. Maybe I’ll get through to them this time, I don’t know. Hopefully I can at least persuade them to quit locking him up.

 

[rubysmama]

I will repeat again to my family for the hundredth time that discipline doesn’t work. No matter how many times I say it, they always insist he just needs discipline even when I explain cat psychology is entirely unlike human psychology. Maybe I’ll get through to them this time, I don’t know. Hopefully I can at least persuade them to quit locking him up.

Maybe try sending them the link to this TCS article:
Cat Behavior Problems [What to do and what not to do] – TheCatSite Articles

 

[AmyTheKittyMommy]

I apologize about bringing back an older thread, but all the context about Jasper's illness is here and it makes it easier to not have to rehash it all.
He is still sick. Diarrhea, bright red blood in his stools, straining/pain when he goes to the bathroom, pooping outside of the box, poor appetite, struggling to keep a healthy weight.
I'm at a loss at this point. We have tried multiple prescription foods and probiotics at the vet's suggestion. He's had antibiotics and anti-parasite meds. We tried a steroid in case it was IBD/IBS, but it didn't entirely help and made him extremely fatigued. Most things seem to help for a while and then his symptoms return. Currently he is on Royal Canin Adult Hydrolized Protein Dry food, and he does have some normal stools, but he still has liquidy/bloody stools as well and goes outside of the box.
We paid for blood tests and diagnostic panels. I'm not even sure we got an official diagnosis of anything based on his test results, but it's sort of all a stressful blur at this point. I'm going to get his records sent to me again so I can go over them one more time and share those results here as context.
We recently moved and have decided to take him to an internal medicine specialist vet nearby. We're sick of seeing him suffer and it seems that regular vets haven't been able to figure it out. The specialist is going to do a consultation and an ultrasound. It's extremely expensive, but I want him to get better, so I'm going to make it work budget wise.
Long term, I know he'll probably need more treatment and medicine and all sorts of things, so I looked into pet insurance to help me cover his costs. I'm a college student and paying for my schooling doesn't exactly leave me swimming in cash. However, since he's had ongoing GI issues, I was told pet insurance will not cover any GI related bills/treatments/medications. The Trupanion representative I spoke to said to try CareCredit, but I can't figure out how that works and I'm currently too overwhelmed to deal with looking into it after spending all morning getting a specialist appointment when most places are booked out or not taking new patients.
The gist of it is that I'm frustrated and sad to see him sick still. I want him to get better and get to be his happy, loving self without discomfort. If anyone advice or has gone through something similar, please let me know.

 

[rubysmama]

I'm so sorry to read that Jasper is still having such serious issues. I hope when you see the internal medicine specialist vet they will be able to figure out what's causing Jasper's troubles, and prescribe a treatment that will help. Good luck.