New With Questions About Kitty Ibs/ibd

[kittytroubles]

Hello! I am new to this site I am in desperate need of advice for helping my 9 year old cat who has developed what the vet suspects is IBD. Here is our background story-

We have 2 cats, (litter mates, brother/sister). Adopted at 4 months of age with no "stated" health issues. Great temperaments, absolutely no issues with health, behavior or otherwise is what we were told by foster mom. Having very little experience with cats, we stuck to the instructions given by the foster mom with regard to their food and litter. Within a week of their arrival, Milo (sister kitty) started having softer stools and would deposit them on the bed of our then 3 year old lab. I called in the foster mom and we worked together to get Milo back on track with the litter box. Once resolved, no further issues arose.

Fast forward to about 3 years ago, Milo (at approx 6 years old) began occasionally pooping outside the box. Regular stools though, so I suspected behavior. She loved being in my son's room with him (she had claimed him as her human shortly after their arrival) and when he would boot her out at night to get some sleep, I assumed this was her reaction. Just an assumption. I also started noticing Milo and her brother (Simba) becoming "pissy" with each other and rarely hung out near each other. This was the complete opposite of their relationship. They always slept together, bathed each other, etc.

About a year later, we moved to a new house. The occasional pooping outside of the box continued. Their relationship with each other deteriorated. But they seemed to be adjusting to the new house. Milo's stool became quite loose, however and the "floor pooping" became more than occasional. When I started seeing signs of mucous and blood in her stool, I took her in for an exam and testing. All stool tests and bloodwork came back "normal" with no parasites. The vet said he suspected IBD and said maybe I could take her to a specialist. All we saw were dollar signs though, as we had just shelled about a couple hundred bucks for a "normal" diagnosis and no help. And I didn't want to add to her stress by getting poked and prodded some more, so I haven't gone this route.

Milo does tend to be a food gulper and eats like there is no tomorrow, so I thought maybe its the food? I was switching them over to a "gentle" version of their kibble when I ran across this site and learned about kitty IBD, raw food, and probiotics. Now my head is swimming! I feel like the junky food (recommended by the foster mom years ago) has only caused poor Milo some health issues, and both of them have really gained too much weight in recent years.

I feel like I really want to try the feline comfort plus to see if it will help, but also think maybe a raw diet is the way to go to help her. Do you think it would be a bad thing to try this without seeing a vet specialist first? I would rather spend the money on their food than a doctor bill.

If you've read this far, thank you! I have nobody to talk to about this stuff and I'm sorry about the length.

 

[LTS3]

Some people forgo additional expensive testing and just manage their cats as if they had a confirmed IBD diagnosis. A bland-ish diet with few fillers can be helpful to IBD cats. Raw isn't necessary. A commercial limited ingredient diet is suitable for most cats. Wet / canned foods are preferred over dry food. Probiotics can be helpful.

Two web sites with good info:

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Feline IBD

Steroids and other medicines may be needed temporarily to control the symptoms. Talk with your vet about these.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LTS3 , I was thrilled to see you here already! I knew you would give sane, sensible and excellent advice! You and @artiemom are my go-to folks when IBD rears its ugly head.

 

[kittytroubles]

Some people forgo additional expensive testing and just manage their cats as if they had a confirmed IBD diagnosis. A bland-ish diet with few fillers can be helpful to IBD cats. Raw isn't necessary. A commercial limited ingredient diet is suitable for most cats. Wet / canned foods are preferred over dry food. Probiotics can be helpful.

Two web sites with good info:

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Feline IBD

Steroids and other medicines may be needed temporarily to control the symptoms. Talk with your vet about these.

Thank you for the quick reply! I'll try a different food first and some probiotics They refuse to eat canned. We tried the kind their foster mom gave them, and multiple others and they won't touch it. So it's always dry.

What are your thoughts on that Feline comfort plus? It sounds like something to help kick start healing? I've got to get her back on track. I can't keep cleaning up poo from the carpet on a daily basis.

 

[darg]

I have an IBD cat. He's 12 years old now and had his first IBD symptoms and diagnosis when he was, probably, just over a year old. He was fed dry food up until a few months ago. We fed many different dry foods over the years looking for the magic food. He did better with some of them than with others but none of them were great by any means, despite some being among the best regarded and most expensive dry foods. My vet urged switching him to canned over the years but I could never get him to eat it. I tried more than once and many different brands and different protein sources. He had been on a maintenance dose of metronidazole for many years which also helped limit the frequency and severity of his flare-ups. But he had a bad bout of vomiting a few months back and again, the vet treated symptoms and urged a switch to canned, once again.

This time I was more determined than ever and found a canned food that he would eat enough of to give me hope. I used freeze dried raw as toppers to tempt him and that helped even more. Now I have 3, quality canned foods that he will eat. They are all turkey based. I found that chicken is a problem for him (as are the starchy fillers) in dry food. He's been doing really well ever since. No more frequent vomiting, no loose stools at all. His IBD won't be cured by this, he is bound to have a flare-up but he's doing so much better that it is really night and day.

I know he still has that dry kibble imprinted in his brain because he can still get finicky with food, especially with his lunch time meal. And we have some stressors here as we watch our grandson 3 days per week ... and he doesn't like kids, he likes to hide. But the point is that if your cat has IBD, a good canned food diet is very likely to benefit his condition greatly. And, that if you persevere, you may find that you can get him switched over to canned. It can be a battle but it can be done. I tried to transition slowly in the past but this time I went cold turkey, no more dry kibble at all. It's not the recommended way to do it but slow transition failed in the past and a cold turkey approach it's what worked for our cat. He also eating some commercial frozen raw and some homemade as well now. I cannot stress how much better he looks and acts overall.

If you decide to give canned another try, be patient and persevere, it can be done.

 

[denice]

I would also continue trying canned, it is more easily digested. Stick with simple foods, one protein, liver and the necessary supplements. Try using toppers like crushed kibble, bonito flakes, crushed treats. Do you free feed? If you free feed then you want to work on getting your cat on meals first. Don't go overboard though, a cat will not eat when they get hungry enough. The rule of thumb is that the cat needs to take in at least 15 calories per pound of their ideal weight to avoid fatty liver.

My IBD kitty had his first flare when he was only 18 months old and he ended up on a steroid but some cats do well with dietary changes. Some people do swear by a raw diet when all else but medication failed. If you do decide to try it you will need to either go with a commercial raw diet or learn how to do it yourself. We have a subforum in the nutrition forum for raw and homemade diet. There are stickies there with a lot of good info along with the threads.

I have never tried the Feline Comfort plus. It looks like a combination of a probiotic, digestive enzyme, psyllium and Diamomacious Earth. It also includes beef liver. I personally would try a probiotic on it's on first. It just looks like a whole lot of ingredients I would rather try one thing at a time. I know it's a frustrating disease to deal with but one thing at a time is the best approach. That beef liver actually concerns me the most, many IBD kitties do not tolerate beef well.

 

[lisahe]

LTS3 is right that raw isn't necessarily necessary but if a cat tends not to like canned foods, it might be worth seeing if they'll eat raw (or maybe even homecooked food, made with a supplement) instead. Our cats love their homemade cooked and commercial raw foods but are pretty iffy on canned these days. I think they probably prefer the purer meatiness of the raw and homemade foods.

As I was typing, darg 's post, which contains lots of great suggestions, magically appeared with much of what I was going to say! And then denice 's, which suggests switching Milo to meals, which, in our experience, can really help prevent a cat from gulping food.

IMHO, the "starchy fillers" that darg mentioned are the first thing you want to try to cut from Milo's diet. Dry foods -- other than something like Dr. Elsey's -- are all about starchy fillers, though, since they need the starches to hold the food together so it can be extruded into kibbles. Nearly anything can cause digestive issues -- peas, potatoes, wheat, corn -- so there are lots of things to watch out for. A specific protein, like chicken for darg's cat, can also be the culprit.

Our cats don't have IBD but they have quirky digestive issues and we feed them mostly raw and homemade foods because we can avoid the starchy vegetables and the chemicals in canned foods that often contribute to GI problems. Some canned foods -- like Fancy Feast and Sheba pates or certain Weruva foods -- work well but the cats don't like many of the canned foods that would be best for them! Although I can't say I thoroughly enjoy making their food, those are the best, purest foods they eat so I'm more than happy to spend the time on that instead of vet visits, cleaning up, or attempting to get them to eat more healthy canned foods! In the end, whatever works works.

 

[LTS3]

I have never tried the Feline Comfort plus. It looks like a combination of a probiotic, digestive enzyme, psyllium and Diamomacious Earth.

I've never heard of Feline Comfort Plus but if it's just a combo of probiotics, etc you can just buy those separately. Probiotics and digestive enzymes seem to be helpful to many IBD cats so start with those. There's info on probiotics here with some suggested brands: Prebiotics & Probiotics for Cats: Healing Inflammation and gut dysbiosis

What are your thoughts on that Feline comfort plus? It sounds like something to help kick start healing? I've got to get her back on track. I can't keep cleaning up poo from the carpet on a daily basis.

Ask the vet if a steroid or other medicine would be helpful to calm the inflammation down. Diet, probiotics, etc are all great but oftentimes medicine is also needed as well. Many IBD cats are sensitive to chicken so you should try eliminating that from the diet to see if that helps the poop.

 

[daftcat75]

Hello! I am new to this site I am in desperate need of advice for helping my 9 year old cat who has developed what the vet suspects is IBD. Here is our background story-

We have 2 cats, (litter mates, brother/sister). Adopted at 4 months of age with no "stated" health issues. Great temperaments, absolutely no issues with health, behavior or otherwise is what we were told by foster mom. Having very little experience with cats, we stuck to the instructions given by the foster mom with regard to their food and litter. Within a week of their arrival, Milo (sister kitty) started having softer stools and would deposit them on the bed of our then 3 year old lab. I called in the foster mom and we worked together to get Milo back on track with the litter box. Once resolved, no further issues arose.

Fast forward to about 3 years ago, Milo (at approx 6 years old) began occasionally pooping outside the box. Regular stools though, so I suspected behavior. She loved being in my son's room with him (she had claimed him as her human shortly after their arrival) and when he would boot her out at night to get some sleep, I assumed this was her reaction. Just an assumption. I also started noticing Milo and her brother (Simba) becoming "pissy" with each other and rarely hung out near each other. This was the complete opposite of their relationship. They always slept together, bathed each other, etc.

About a year later, we moved to a new house. The occasional pooping outside of the box continued. Their relationship with each other deteriorated. But they seemed to be adjusting to the new house. Milo's stool became quite loose, however and the "floor pooping" became more than occasional. When I started seeing signs of mucous and blood in her stool, I took her in for an exam and testing. All stool tests and bloodwork came back "normal" with no parasites. The vet said he suspected IBD and said maybe I could take her to a specialist. All we saw were dollar signs though, as we had just shelled about a couple hundred bucks for a "normal" diagnosis and no help. And I didn't want to add to her stress by getting poked and prodded some more, so I haven't gone this route.

Milo does tend to be a food gulper and eats like there is no tomorrow, so I thought maybe its the food? I was switching them over to a "gentle" version of their kibble when I ran across this site and learned about kitty IBD, raw food, and probiotics. Now my head is swimming! I feel like the junky food (recommended by the foster mom years ago) has only caused poor Milo some health issues, and both of them have really gained too much weight in recent years.

I feel like I really want to try the feline comfort plus to see if it will help, but also think maybe a raw diet is the way to go to help her. Do you think it would be a bad thing to try this without seeing a vet specialist first? I would rather spend the money on their food than a doctor bill.

If you've read this far, thank you! I have nobody to talk to about this stuff and I'm sorry about the length.

Feline Comfort Plus and Pet Flora. Buy them both from Vitality Science.
Gastrointestinal-stomach-intestines Natural remedies for cats-Vitality Science

The Feline Comfort Plus should help heal and seal her gut and the Pet Flora is a probiotic that will help her rebuild her microbiome inside. These will help but you'll also need to figure out if she has food sensitivies. Doctors can't really help you here unless you wanted to put her on a hydrolyzed protein diet. Not many cats enjoy this though.

Another option is the Introductory Diet. Since you are already considering raw, this might be a better place to start. Make a meat stock by boiling meaty bones until the meat drips off the bone. Reserve the liquid including and especially the fat drippings. Let it cool and serve only that to your cat for as many days as it takes for the symptoms to clear up. This happens quickly. Maybe a week? Then slowly introduce some of the meat from your meat stock. If she's alright with that, you can try to introduce other raw foods.

It's discussed about halfway down this page.
Feline Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Nature and Treatment

I would stay away from commercial raw right now unless you can find a boneless option. The bone content of commercial raw food can be challenging for IBD cats. The only one I'm aware of is Stella and Chewy's Selects. Depending on where you are, there may be more local options that don't have distribution and that's why I am not aware of them. There's a number of supplement premixes you can add to boneless meat to make a balanced and complete raw food for cats. Alnutrin, EZ Complete, TCFeline, Better In The Raw are a few. It may be trial and error finding the one your cats like (why not feed them both raw?) or you may get lucky on the first one. Most of these will either send a free sample or let you buy a small sample pack.

If the Rawz brand is available where you are, that's not raw, but it's pretty close. Also most of their recipes are single protein, no gums or fillers. It makes it really easy to do food trials when you might not have the time, energy, money, patience, courage, etc to leap directly into homemade boneless raw. It's always good to have a canned option backup anyway in case there is supply issues with your boneless meat.

Couple more notes and links.

Dry food and IBD are pretty much incompatible. At least a first good step would be to transition to wet food. Something with a good clean recipe like Rawz, Tiki Cat, Hound and Gatos, First Mate/Kasiks, or Pure Vita. The last one has agar agar which is challenging to some cats (my Krista crouches in pain.)

Bio-Inappropriate: The Dangers of Dry Cat Food

B-12 replacement is going to be crucial to her recovery as well. Talk to your vet about buying the supplies and learning how to give these shots at home. They aren't difficult. They go under the skin, not into a vein. Done right, the cat won't even notice.

The Importance of B12 – IBDKitties

 

[AbbysMom]

K kittytroubles I'm so sorry you are dealing with this. I have an IBD cat. It can be a roller coaster.

You've gotten some great advice here on how to try transitioning her to canned food again. This article may help also -

Transitioning Your Cat From Kibble To A New Type Of Food (canned, Raw, Or Homemade)

I do have to stress that while you have been getting a lot of advice in this thread, please do consult with your vet before trying anything, even if it is an over the counter product. None of us know your cat and what works for one of our cats could cause serious harm to your cat. We don't know about underlying conditions, etc. None of us is a veterinarian and can not diagnose or prescribe over the internet. No one here is an expert on your cat.

Good luck!

 

[kittytroubles]

Wow, thank you all so much! It's interesting to read all of your strategies and things you do with your cats. I will call our vet again tomorrow and ask about a probiotic and for advice on wet food. I did not pick up on the Comfort plus being a combo of this and other ingredients, so I'll ask them about this as well.
Since I left my first posting, I have started to combine their regular dry food with the gentle version of the same brand and her poo has started to firm up a bit (some of the time, not every time though-so maybe its coincidence?).

At any rate, I do thank you all. I'll keep reading the articles you've posted and learning what I can.

 

[LTS3]

Every cat is different so what works for one cat may not work for another My IBD cat is doing well on just raw diet these days (he's always eaten raw, just had to stop feeding him chicken) and probiotics and a digestive supplement. I have no idea if the probiotics or digestive supplement helps but it's not hurting either. He also gets B12 monthly.

Read up on IBD in cats and discuss treatment options with your vet. Here are some veterinary articles about IBD:

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.864.4840&rep=rep1&type=pdf
https://www.winnfelinefoundation.or...-inflammatory-bowel-disease-2015.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Abdominal Ultrasonography: The Basics
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4300/4d42e5a0b1e0543a36221e7f1fa3d991d0ff.pdf