Has anybody gone through inflammatory bowel disease with their cats?
My cat seems happy, she’s13 years old, she vomits and has bloody stools all the time. She will just go anywhere in the house, including my pillow. She will be fine and all of a sudden she’s straining in the middle of the kitchen floor. She’s now starting to urinate too all over my furniture. I don’t know what to do and have taken her to the vets and her blood work and stools are normal. The next step would be to do a biopsy of her colon and I don’t want to spend that kind of money on a 13 year old cat. What can I do?
Tagged with: biopsy • blood work • bloody stools • colon • furniture • kitchen floor • money • vets
Filed under: Colon Health Questions
Denisedds (88)
When I first went into raw feeding there were a number of people on that Yahoo group whose cats were "cured" by eating that within 24 hours. So definitely try a quality canned food. Science Diet is NOT quality food. Try Artemis, Instinct (my cat’s like this – chicken and lamb particularly), Wellness etc. Those are pretty much pure meat. You pay more for them (I don’t think they are more expensive than the Hill’s stuff) and you can eliminate a lot of expensive vet procedures by spending more on the cat’s food, plus giving your cat a more appropriate diet and improving over-all health.
I would try putting her on canned food and add in half canned Science Diet WD. I just had two cats last month that I tried this on at our kennel. One the owner had just decided after all the EXPENSIVE test and meds that her cat is just going to continue to have leakage it was awful. The other was having alternating bloody diareah then ok for a day or two.
Both owners have called and they are thrilled with such an easy fix. Both cats are doing great and no more problems and they are a little upset at the vet for not suggesting this.
Also some owners have found help by using Science diet canned ID but the most important thing is getting rid of the dry food.
Hi-
My 10 year old Beagle had this. She was desperately sick. We had her on prescription food, boiled hamburg and rice (not sure if cats should have this, ask the vet), and several medications including prednisone, Flagyl, amoxicillin, and Zantac. Her symptoms gradually got worse until I had to put her to sleep but she was pretty far along when we began medication. Maybe your cat is not as far along and would benefit from diet and medications.
The biopsy will only confirm a diagnosis of IBD but will not "cure" it. If you confirm the diagnosis you’ll still have to pay to get medications and monitor the blood work. In my case, I asked if they would treat her without doing the endoscopy and they agreed (also, my dog was too unstable to have the anesthesia for the endo.)
Ultrasound is another option (it’s still a little costly but not as bad). That would rule out a tumor and then you could just treat for IBD.
Good luck and hope the kitty feels better.
My two-year old Maine C oon has Chrone’s disease, so our problem is the constant defecation. He continually has extremely loose and wet stool. Though he goes in the litter box, there are times that it leaks out uncontrollably, and though it is not his fault, it is a terrible thing to constantly have to clean feces off of furniture, bedding, carpets, and him.
It’s gotten to the point that my father has discussed having him put to sleep, because a) he feels it is too much of a hassle; and b) the poor animal goes so often that he hardly weighs anything. He just cannot keep weight on, even though we keep dry food out constantly and feed him wet food two to three times a day. The only things that we are truly able to do for him is to mix Metamucil into his wet food and keep his rear, legs, and base of the tail shaved so that it is easier to wash him after accidents.
As far as your kitty goes — the only options you truly have are either to have the biopsy done, or to keep her relegated to a single room in your house so that she is not creating a mess throughout the home. She may only be 13, but she may have another 5 or 6 years left in her. Do you feel like she’s part of the family, or simply a cat? If it’s the former, I’d suggest spending the money. If not, you may ultimately need to put her down.
Definitly try a canned food. Make sure it only has soft food in it. It will be easier for it to travel through the intestines. Hard food may be scratching the inside of your cats intestines for some reason.