There's often confusion between Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome
These are just a few articles that explain the difference, symptoms, diagnoses, treatments and diet that people might find useful.
INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE
IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
Feline Irritable Bowel Syndrome vs Feline Inflammatory Bowel Disease
The Merck Veterinary Manual has more technical information:
Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Small Animals
These are just a few articles that explain the difference, symptoms, diagnoses, treatments and diet that people might find useful.
INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE
Inflammatory bowel disease refers to the condition that results when cells involved in inflammation and immune response are called into the lining of the GI tract. This infiltration thickens the bowel lining and interferes with absorption and motility (the ability of the bowel to contract and move food). With abnormal ability to contract and abnormal ability to absorb, the bowel’s function is disrupted. Chronic vomiting results if the infiltration is in the stomach or higher areas of the small intestine. A watery diarrhea with weight loss results if the infiltration is in the lower small intestine. A mucous diarrhea with fresh blood (colitis) results if the infiltration occurs in the large intestine. Of course, the entire tract from top to bottom may be involved.
IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME
Inflammatory Bowel Disease in CatsIrritable Bowel Syndrome is a psychosomatic disease. This means that it is the activity of the mind that causes the symptoms. Most people do not have difficulty imagining having so much anxiety that diarrhea results. Chronic anxiety can similarly result in chronic diarrhea. This is basically what irritable bowel syndrome is all about. Intestinal biopsies are normal because there is nothing directly wrong with the large intestine.
The symptoms of large intestinal diarrhea can have many causes and IBS is afoot in about 10-15% of cases. It is important to rule out physical causes before blaming psychological reasons but if all tests are normal and treatment for physical problems is not yielding results, this is when a biopsy is helpful. Again, a normal intestinal biopsy rules in IBS.
Feline Irritable Bowel Syndrome vs Feline Inflammatory Bowel Disease
The Merck Veterinary Manual has more technical information:
Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Small Animals