What is my cat with IBD’s quality of life?

[Serenityinaz12]

Obviously nobody is my cat, you can’t for sure know how he is feeling but I’m trying to get a gauge and other opinions.

So Snuffy got diagnosed via ultrasound having IBD a couple months ago. Before the diagnosis his symptoms were just vomiting immediately after pooping. Never vomiting up food, just liquid or hair ball type vomits after a poop. This lasted about a month off and on then got more frequent, then it went from log poops to diarrhea. Then he started just laying around clearly not feeling good. During this time there were 3 vet visits culminating in the ultrasound and IBD diagnosis.

It’s been a couple months since then and he’s on Prednisolone now and we’ve been working to find the right dose which has been challenging. Sometimes it seems he’s cured in a way then he will vomit after pooping again a couple tiles in a row. I feel so helpless.

I don’t know what my expectation should be is this just a thing where he will occasionally still do this from time to time? How is his quality of life is he in constant pain with IBD or is it just when he poops?Besides for him vomiting when he poops he has returned to complete normal behavior wise. He eats fine, wants to play daily, good mood, interested in things, even the poops are logs again just there is that nagging thing of him doing the puke after sometimes. And the vet has said he isnt constipated it’s just the IBD.

Anyway, my overall question that I’m wondering is if he is relatively happy and feeling okay with this IBD thing? It seems so based on his normal behavior these days but I don’t know. I hope he’s not in constant pain or suffering?

 

[rubysmama]

It's so hard to know how a cat is feeling, as they're so good at hiding pain. But the fact that he "eats fine, wants to play daily, good mood, interested in things" seems like good signs.

I think with IBD there will always be flare ups, and hopefully with your vet's input you'll be able to keep the flare ups few and far between.

 

[Furballsmom]

I agree with rubysmama

You might be interested in this;
IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time

 

[tyleete]

I've got 2 with IBD. The only main worry is it can lead to scl gi. Cancer in the intestines area, untreated.
1 of mine had this happen.
Can they live a good life? Sure can!
I ended up giving both of mine cbd to help fight the nausea & inflammation
It's drastically helped both and they only take1mg twice a day, which is not much. One used to throw up every single morning and now it may happen once every 1-2weeks. The other was doing similar till my daughter moved back in and is causing her stress since she's sharing her room. But even now she is maybe once a week. I did a lot of research before I asked my vet about it & she agreed it could help.
Aside from that, I had to workout that 1 is allergic to poultry so he's on a limited ingredient Rabbit food. And he cannot eat wet food. Every time he does, he gets bad diarrhea. I tried the same food that he eats of dry, nope! So I tried Evanger's rabbit which only has 3 ingredients, nope!
My other gal since the vet believes it horned from IBD to Cancer, is also on chemotherapy (Leukeran) once a week and I've got her down to 2.5mg Prednisolone every 3rd day. She started on 2.5 twice daily, & I eventually cut it back down to only 1/2 tab every third day. If I go past that, she will throw up and have diarrhea.
It's all trial and error until we figure out what works best for them. I think you should just keep trying and hopefully find what works best. But there will also always be flare ups. Just treat it best you can.
Best of luck.

 

[artiemom]

I've got 2 with IBD. The only main worry is it can lead to scl gi. Cancer in the intestines area, untreated.
1 of mine had this happen.
Can they live a good life? Sure can!
I ended up giving both of mine cbd to help fight the nausea & inflammation
It's drastically helped both and they only take1mg twice a day, which is not much. One used to throw up every single morning and now it may happen once every 1-2weeks. The other was doing similar till my daughter moved back in and is causing her stress since she's sharing her room. But even now she is maybe once a week. I did a lot of research before I asked my vet about it & she agreed it could help.
Aside from that, I had to workout that 1 is allergic to poultry so he's on a limited ingredient Rabbit food. And he cannot eat wet food. Every time he does, he gets bad diarrhea. I tried the same food that he eats of dry, nope! So I tried Evanger's rabbit which only has 3 ingredients, nope!
My other gal since the vet believes it horned from IBD to Cancer, is also on chemotherapy (Leukeran) once a week and I've got her down to 2.5mg Prednisolone every 3rd day. She started on 2.5 twice daily, & I eventually cut it back down to only 1/2 tab every third day. If I go past that, she will throw up and have diarrhea.
It's all trial and error until we figure out what works best for them. I think you should just keep trying and hopefully find what works best. But there will also always be flare ups. Just treat it best you can.
Best of luck.

I was thinking of giving my guy CBD oil because he has SCL, IBD, and the steroid was not reacting well with him. Upon researching CBD oil, I discovered that you cannot give it to any animals or people who are taking a steroid. It caused problems with the liver..

Just be careful..

 

[iPappy]

I had a cat with IBD. He was diagnosed when he was 6, and lived to be 14. He took a few medications but overall his quality of life was good. He would go through periods where he'd have a few days where he didn't feel well (don't we all?), but everyone made sure he had his own space to hang out during those times, and not be bothered by any other pets. In that space, he had water and food available, a clean litter box, a cat tree, a special bed, etc. It was basically his "kitty sick room" and if he felt off, he would ask for us to open the door so he could have some time to himself to rest.
(Fun note. This cat was one of the most graceful creatures I've ever known. His personality, mannerisms, and attitude were confidence, but he was not aggressive or a bully. He even moved like a little cloud. When he would trot, he floated. He was beautiful! But when he got playful, he turned into the biggest bumbling doofus ever. I'd roll a tennis ball, which was his favorite toy, across the room. If he was feeling playful, he'd hunker down and watch it roll by, then gallop after it zig zagging all over the floor. He'd swat at it and miss every single time, and usually crashed into a wall. I guess we can't be graceful all the time, LOL!)
It might help to keep a notepad for him, so if he has a day he's not acting himself you can write down the date, how he's acting overall, how much he ate, note any vomiting (be sure to include what it looks like. Yeah it's gross, but it helps the vet if you tell them it's bile vs. undigested food vs. dark brown liquid) and what his stool is like. You and your vet, after some time, may notice a pattern. But for now it sounds like he's a happy little cat with a well controlled problem.

 

[DebfromPhilly]

I had a cat with IBD and it was well controlled with prednisolone. He lived happily to age 15 when he died from bone cancer on his leg. Antibiotics were the biggest problem for his IBD, and I avoided them at all cost. Toward the end of his life there was a vet that was nice enough to tell me that there was an IV antibiotic that rarely had stomach side effects, and it did work for my baby, without causing any IBD flares, so that was helpful, but I wish previous vets had told me about this as an option, because I could have had some of his teeth pulled earlier than they were pulled. It's a shame that not all vets think outside the box like that (wasn't even that far outside the box). Best wishes to you and your furbaby!! He is lucky to have such a loving parent!!

 

[tyleete]

I was thinking of giving my guy CBD oil because he has SCL, IBD, and the steroid was not reacting well with him. Upon researching CBD oil, I discovered that you cannot give it to any animals or people who are taking a steroid. It caused problems with the liver..

Just be careful..

Just did my own research and found it all very iffy. Read about the enzyme enzymes and then called my vet.
My cancer baby takes Pred every 3 days and she said shell be fine and nothing to worry about.