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IBD - colitis thread

122K views 4K replies 95 participants last post by  Nyrpelo 
#1 ·
My four year old cat who has had a few problems during his life, starting with diarrhea, poor weight gain leading to a sore bum with blood and then weight loss. He has had scans and also a colonoscopy. The results of which point to ibd/colitis.

I have started the thread for others to share their experiences, what works and what does not work. What treatment you have tried and the outcome. Plus what foods have helped manage the condition.

As it is all quite new only getting the results today, the vet is suggesting steroids and ab's to reduce the inflamation. She said to keep with the hills wet d/d until it does not help with the sore bum.

I have heard that aloe Vera is meant to be good at treating colitis, has anyone tried it??

Please feel free to post your experiences ask questions as the more we can share the more we can help our cats manage their symptoms.

Thanks..
 
#2 ·
Hi, sorry to hear your cats been diagnosed with IBD/Colitis - my dog suffers from Colitis.

Something to think about / investigate further when his condition is stablilised my be adding some fibre to his diet.

I was recommended Protexin on here for Maisie and it's made a huge difference :)

There seems to be different ones for cats & dogs but came across this which is similar to what I give her http://www.amazon.co.uk/Protexin-Cystophan-For-Cats-Size/dp/B005UCP7LA/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top or Protexin Profibre 800g for dogs and cats | Protexin Healthcare

As I say, might be something to think about longer term to keep things functioning well.

Mia had terrible troubles with her tum when she was little - thankfully totally cleared up once I found a food that suited her (and have never changed it since!).

Fingers crossed things settle down soon for him.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Yup, pretty similar in all species I think (incl humans - I have Crohn's Disease which is pretty similar :().
She had some antibiotics and it settled down pretty quickly, but kept flaring up so we were at the vet every few weeks:eek:.

She was on a good quality (hypoallergenic) food that Ben had been on when I had him (he was wheat intolerant) but it did have meat (duck) in so I wondered if that might be too rich for her.

Switched her to JWB Fish & Rice (also hypoallergenic) and she's getting the protexin in and, fingers crossed she's doing really well and has had no errr explosive episodes since.:)

Hoping I can try to switch her to Skinners Salmon & Rice (gradually) as I've never been a fan of JWB but we'll see how it goes (if that's the only thing she can have, then I'll live with it!).

It can take a while to find out what the triggers are - Maisie seems to be certain meats (certainly duck, beef, rabbit don't agree with her ETA & lamb ..... just remembered what happened after she'd had that!). It's really trying to find something bland that agrees with them, letting things totally settle for quite a while and then trying a very little of one new thing and seeing what happens to try to eliminate the triggers.

Stress can also be a huge factor - she is quite highly strung and I've not had her long and it's a very different environment from where she came, so that could also be a factor.
 
#5 ·
Riley is on venison d/d at the moment, he was on the I/d. I stopped the biscuits as seemed to make his poo really hard which made his bum more sore. He also has a polyp which vet said went quite far up, which also irritates him.

I have tried duck and it made him very loose so have not given that too him again.

Interesting about the stress thing, I have wondered about stress and it making him worse with the blood from his back end.
 
#6 ·
I have no experience of IBD disease in cats, but we do have crohn's disease in our family.

Son takes anti inflammatories plus other stuff.

Steroids help humans, so maybe cats too. But they have side effects.

Diet makes a huge difference. There are definite triggers. I wonder whether this is true with cats. My son has to be dairy free and low fibre, but high calorie as he doesn't absorb well.

Not sure what diet would be best for a cat, but I would assume something bland and easy to digest, but rich in nutrients.

Hope someone on here can help more.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Meeko was taken to the vets after being sick every couple of days for a week or so.He wasnt ill and showed no signs of anything being wrong with him,but obviously there was.
After weeks of investigations/blood tests/poo tests/xrays/scan/endoscopy and biopsy Meeko was diagnosed with suspected IBD.
It is "suspected" only because although the biopsy showed slight thickening of the tissue it would need a full thickness biopsy to confirm it.
As this means major abdominal surgery it was decided not to proceed as all it would achieve was to confirm that it was IBD .
He was treated with Famotidine (antacid)...Steroid (pred)....Mirtazapine (appetite stimulant)
We had tried to change his diet but he refused to eat it.
Hills ZD Hydrolyzed protein both wet and dry
Purina HA dry
Royal Canin (thanks to Cazzer)
None of the above worked,well I should say he refused to eat them, but he is now "stable" on Purina sensitive dry and Sheba wet :yikes:,not the best food but he eats it and it has reduced his bouts of vomiting to once every 5/6 days.He has put back at least half a kilo of weight and is nearly back to normal energy wise.
The only other thing that we tried was Slippery Elm this did seem to help at first but after it was slowly reduced and stopped there doesnt seem to be any difference.
Slippery Elm | Little Big Cat
 
#8 ·
I have no experience of IBD disease in cats, but we do have crohn's disease in our family.

Son takes anti inflammatories plus other stuff.

Steroids help humans, so maybe cats too. But they have side effects.

Diet makes a huge difference. There are definite triggers. I wonder whether this is true with cats. My son has to be dairy free and low fibre, but high calorie as he doesn't absorb well.

Not sure what diet would be best for a cat, but I would assume something bland and easy to digest, but rich in nutrients.

Hope someone on here can help more.
Thanks, it's all about sharing our experiences....interesting you say low in fibre as I've read to add fibre. The high calorie makes sense..

What side affects are there with the steroids, he has had them before for something else, but was a short course and was ok..
 
#9 ·
Meeko was taken to the vets after being sick every couple of days for a week or so.He wasnt ill and showed no signs of anything being wrong with him,but obviously there was.
After weeks of investigations/blood tests/poo tests/xrays/scan/endoscopy and biopsy Meeko was diagnosed with suspected IBD.
It is "suspected" only because although the biopsy showed slight thickening of the tissue it would need a full thickness biopsy to confirm it.
As this means major abdominal surgery it was decided not to proceed as all it would achieve was to confirm that it was IBD .
He was treated with Famotidine (antacid)...Steroid (pred)....Mirtazapine (appetite stimulant)
We had tried to change his diet but he refused to eat it.
Hills ZD Hydrolyzed protein both wet and dry
Purina HA dry
Royal Canin (thanks to Cazzer)
None of the above worked,but he is now "stable" on Purina sensitive dry and Sheba wet :yikes:,not the best food but he eats it and it has reduced his bouts of vomiting to once every 5/6 days.He has put back at least half a kilo of weight and is nearly back to normal energy wise.
The only other thing that we tried was Slippery Elm this did seem to help at first but after it was slowly reduced and stopped there doesnt seem to be any difference.
Slippery Elm | Little Big Cat
How much does Meeko weigh now? Riley at last weigh was 4.1kg, beginning of June he was 4.83..
 
#10 ·
How much does Meeko weigh now? Riley at last weigh was 4.1kg, beginning of June he was 4.83..
He dropped to 4.9kg at his worst but is back up to 5.5kg now 2 days ago (vet weighed)
Regarding steroid use ,long term use does pose potential problems....
Cat Steroids: Side Effects | eHow.com..
my vet was not happy to use them long term,Meeko was on them for about 6 weeks
 
#12 ·
Interesting about the steroids, will keep this in mind. As for Meeko, could acid reflux also contribute to his vomiting??
Sorry logged off for a bit.
The word back from the lab was that the biopsy was inconclusive as although there was pinking and thickening of the tissue "most likely caused by acid reflux", it was not clear whether acid reflux had caused the vomiting or whether the vomiting was causing the acid.
 
#13 ·
One of my cats has colitis. At the moment we're able (touch wood) to manage it through diet alone.

Colitis is irritation of the large intestine - it's a symptom not a cause and can only be 'cured' if you find out what is causing the irritation in the first place.

Unfortunately for my cat we don't know exactly what the cause is. We know he's got several interrelated food allergies and a flea allergy, so we're managing those OK. He's fine most of the time now, but still has mild flare ups now and again which suggests there's something else going on too that we're not controlling.

He's on RC sensitivity control most of the time, and boiled chicken if he has a flare up.

It's especially important that cats with colitis are wormed and de-flea'd regularly, it's important to reduce the worm burden as much as possible.
 
#3,541 ·
One of my cats has colitis. At the moment we're able (touch wood) to manage it through diet alone.

Colitis is irritation of the large intestine - it's a symptom not a cause and can only be 'cured' if you find out what is causing the irritation in the first place.

Unfortunately for my cat we don't know exactly what the cause is. We know he's got several interrelated food allergies and a flea allergy, so we're managing those OK. He's fine most of the time now, but still has mild flare ups now and again which suggests there's something else going on too that we're not controlling.

He's on RC sensitivity control most of the time, and boiled chicken if he has a flare up.

It's especially important that cats with colitis are wormed and de-flea'd regularly, it's important to reduce the worm burden as much as possible.
My boy is the same food and flea allergy. Causing skin flare ups and chronic diarreah, the only thing so far that has had any positive results is the metronidazole, he's currently on Purina pro plan HA which looks and smells disgusting but he eats it at the moment so. Eventually I would like to do some more elimination food trials but the chronic diarreah is awful I'd just like to find something nicer to keep him stable and stick to it. I had heard about the fibre thing but we found that the probiotics didn't help because again they have meat additives and reading some of the fibre products so do they so idk
 
#14 · (Edited)
My two year old NFC Karlo has IBD. His symptoms were not typical of it though. His is controlled by diet alone as my vet was very clear that he did not want to give him steroids due to his age, given the side effects. He has RC sensitivity control wet [which I am weaning him off] and he is having grau chicken with rice instead.

Remember though that the JWB is 'naturally hypoallergenic' its not a true hypoallergenic diet in comparison with the Hills, RC etc. It just means that the protein is one that the cat may still have issues with, but is of a type that a] the cat has less likely to have had b] appears to cause less problems than other proteins such as beef/chicken.

That said even the hypoalleregenic vet diets I found did not necessarily agree with the cats. When I had Sassie and Oska [both RIP] [pancreatitis] and [triaditis] we tried the RC hypoallergenic and Sassie was fine but Oska had dreadful runs.

I also find that with the RC wet Karlo is always hungry, and is full of carbs and sugar. Hence I am changing over to the Grau.

At the end of the day though it is trial and error and just finding something that works for you and Riley.
 
#15 ·
One of my cats has colitis. At the moment we're able (touch wood) to manage it through diet alone.

Colitis is irritation of the large intestine - it's a symptom not a cause and can only be 'cured' if you find out what is causing the irritation in the first place.

Unfortunately for my cat we don't know exactly what the cause is. We know he's got several interrelated food allergies and a flea allergy, so we're managing those OK. He's fine most of the time now, but still has mild flare ups now and again which suggests there's something else going on too that we're not controlling.

He's on RC sensitivity control most of the time, and boiled chicken if he has a flare up.

It's especially important that cats with colitis are wormed and de-flea'd regularly, it's important to reduce the worm burden as much as possible.
what flavour rc are you giving I have tried the duck, but that went through him, even tho I tried only a small amount mixed with the venison. What medication have you been given?

When you say flare ups is it diarrhea or is there other symptoms? Sorry for all the questions :D:D
 
#17 ·
My two year old NFC Karlo has IBD. His symptoms were not typical of it though. His is controlled by diet alone as my vet was very clear that he did not want to give him steroids due to his age, given the side effects. He has RC sensitivity control wet [which I am weaning him off] and he is having grau chicken with rice instead.

Remember though that the JWB is 'naturally hypoallergenic' its not a true hypoallergenic diet in comparison with the Hills, RC etc. It just means that the protein is one that the cat may still have issues with, but is of a type that a] the cat has less likely to have had b] appears to cause less problems than other proteins such as beef/chicken.

That said even the hypoalleregenic vet diets I found did not necessarily agree with the cats. When I had Sassie and Oska [both RIP] [pancreatitis] and [triaditis] we tried the RC hypoallergenic and Sassie was fine but Oska had dreadful runs.

I also find that with the RC wet Karlo is always hungry, and is full of carbs and sugar. Hence I am changing over to the Grau.

At the end of the day though it is trial and error and just finding something that works for you and Riley.
What symptoms was there as it seems to be quite a broad range from vomiting, loose poo, blood, weight loss etc the vet has suggested a course of steroids to me and some more metronidazole to get the inflammation under control. Did your cat have the surgery to confirm the ibd? I said no to the vet to opening riley up....

Be interesting to see how Karlo does on the Grau..
 
#18 ·
Nicola, so sorry to hear Riley has been diagnosed with suspected IBD.:( It is a miserable disease to have., but there is a lot than can be done with diet to manage it.

I currently have one cat with IBD and years ago also had another one who suffered from it severely, so I sympathise muchly with your situation.

As Cazzer says, so much depends, I think, on finding the right food to suit your cat, & learning through trial & error what the triggers for flare-ups are. (One of which I am certain is stress).

My cat is doing well atm on RC pouches of Chicken & Rice, which fortunately he loves. He also has some Miamor Sensitive Chicken & Salmon, and Miamor Sensitive Chicken & Trout, which he also loves. But I am not sure it is a complete food, so I keep it to 20% of his diet. (Have emailed zooplus who sells it to ask them to find out for me if it is complete or not).

I found through trial and error he is allergic to beef. And he definitely
does not get on with cereals other than rice.

As for dry food, he has about 6 kibble a day as a treat! Either Applaws or Acana, or RC Sensitivity Control (I rotate them day to day, so there is less chance of an allergy developing).

I find it helps to keep him well hydrated, so I make chicken broth or turkey broth for him, which I store in the fridge as a jelly (having skimmed off the fat already), and he has a saucerful of that a day.

When he has had bad flare-ups (as recently) the vet gives him a one-off steroid injection which helps a lot. But I would not want him on long term steroids, as my previous IBD cat (to whom I referred earlier) had been on long term steroids before I adopted her (aged 15) and as a result she had developed diabetes!:(
 
#19 ·
what flavour rc are you giving I have tried the duck, but that went through him, even tho I tried only a small amount mixed with the venison. What medication have you been given?

When you say flare ups is it diarrhea or is there other symptoms? Sorry for all the questions :D:D
He's got the duck flavour, luckily he seems to like it ok! He's not on medication at the moment - he had Diarsanyl at the beginning when we couldn't control his diarrhea but nothing now. Vet doesn't want him on regular medication until we've tried all other options. He's ok at the moment, so fingers crossed!

Yeah by flare ups I mean diarrhea and mucousy poop. I can always tell if he's feeling poorly because he sleeps a lot and hides away in a box or under the bed :(
 
#20 ·
Nicola, so sorry to hear Riley has been diagnosed with suspected IBD.:( It is a miserable disease to have., but there is a lot than can be done with diet to manage it.

I currently have one cat with IBD and years ago also had another one who suffered from it severely, so I sympathise muchly with your situation.

As Cazzer says, so much depends, I think, on finding the right food to suit your cat, & learning through trial & error what the triggers for flare-ups are. (One of which I am certain is stress).

My cat is doing well atm on RC pouches of Chicken & Rice, which fortunately he loves. He also has some Miamor Sensitive Chicken & Salmon, and Miamor Sensitive Chicken & Trout, which he also loves. But I am not sure it is a complete food, so I keep it to 20% of his diet. (Have emailed zooplus who sells it to ask them to find out for me if it is complete or not).

I found through trial and error he is allergic to beef. And he definitely
does not get on with cereals other than rice.

As for dry food, he has about 6 kibble a day as a treat! Either Applaws or Acana, or RC Sensitivity Control (I rotate them day to day, so there is less chance of an allergy developing).

I find it helps to keep him well hydrated, so I make chicken broth or turkey broth for him, which I store in the fridge as a jelly (having skimmed off the fat already), and he has a saucerful of that a day.

When he has had bad flare-ups (as recently) the vet gives him a one-off steroid injection which helps a lot. But I would not want him on long term steroids, as my previous IBD cat (to whom I referred earlier) had been on long term steroids before I adopted her (aged 15) and as a result she had developed diabetes!:(
Thanks, vet has said to keep him on d/d for now, which I am inclined to do as he has improved on it. I add water to the wet to make it bit soupy to keep his stools softer, he had rock hard stools before which caused him problems. Now he has softer stools his bum is less sore, but the blood leakage after is still a problem. The vet said he had some blood in his poo when she did the colonoscopy, but I've never seen actual blood in his poo only on his bum and from his bum after, then it was without him going to toilet so took him back to vets.

When I talk to vets after I've got his stool sample results I will ask about how long she wants to try the steroids etc.

With the stress thing, maybe I should get one of them plug in things? He gets stressed when he can't go out, like this morning as I need to collect a sample from him.....I ended up letting him out for an hour as he was getting worked up..
 
#22 · (Edited)
What symptoms was there as it seems to be quite a broad range from vomiting, loose poo, blood, weight loss etc the vet has suggested a course of steroids to me and some more metronidazole to get the inflammation under control. Did your cat have the surgery to confirm the ibd? I said no to the vet to opening riley up....

Be interesting to see how Karlo does on the Grau..
ok Karlo had no weight loss [he is somewhat rotund!], vomiting, blood, loose poo etc the usual symptoms of IBD. What he did have was a very odd walk [he was walking on his belly in short bursts and had a very rumbly tum]. The vets were at a bit of a loss initially and he was given steroids, metronidazole. He was then got better following this. He then got worse so repeated meds. He then got better only to get worse again. Scans revealed that the lymph nodes in the intestines were very inflammed. Anyway loads of tests later we hadn't found the cause of the problem so yes we did have the biopsy which confirmed IBD. I was really surprised as having had Oska and Sassie with similar problems there didn't appear to be similar symptoms.

In hind sight what I think caused the problem was cat grass. A couple of weeks before he was taken ill I sowed some seeds. Karlo went bonkers for it. It then was thrown away whilst some more grew.....he then went mad for that and so on. Needless now there is never any cat grass in my house!

Since the diagnosis Karlo has never had any problems with his walking. He does however get the runs if he manages to snaffle the other cats food which he never had prior to diagnosis.

He was on 2 and a half sachets of sensitivity control a day. He's now on one a day plus the grau and he is fine. I'm not sure whether to carry on like this or to eliminate the RC altogether but have several boxes yet to get through
 
#23 ·
If he is stressy a diffuser may help a bit - it can be anything really, as you say not being able to get out to a new cat moving into the neighbourhood and causing a bit of a stir.

I am dreading two things about to happen - trick or treating night (Maisie hates the door being knocked / bell rung) and fireworks night as she gets really stressed with loud noises. I'm going to stick a note on the door politely asking people not to knock / ring - but I bet it doesn't stop some of them :(.

I'd have done the same as you re opening him up just to get a firm diagnosis, hopefully a bland diet will help things settle and make him more comfortable in himself. It will be trial and error and can take a while to get a grip on the triggers but once you get there, it's worth it!
 
#24 ·
I was aiming to wean my cat off the RC Sensitivity pouches, but reading the link Buffie kindly posted, I am not so sure now.. The article says the most effective diet for control of IBD in cats is one with hydrolised protein or peptide, which I believe RC Sensitivity Control is. So I may keep him partly on it after all. But add on some safe foods to give him a bit of variety.
 
#25 ·
I was aiming to wean my cat off the RC Sensitivity pouches, but reading the link Buffie kindly posted, I am not so sure now.. The article says the most effective diet for control of IBD in cats is one with hydrolised protein or peptide, which I believe RC Sensitivity Control is. So I may keep him partly on it after all. But add on some safe foods to give him a bit of variety.
I think that the RC Sensitivity Control is a single protein source food.The RC Hydrolyzed is this one...........Royal Canin Hypoallergenic cat food | Royal Canin Hypoallergenic for cats

Meeko has been on Hills ZD (hydrolyzed) and Purina HA (hydrolyged) and I believe the RC in the link(kindly sent by Cazzer) but he refused point blank to eat any of them
 
#26 ·
yes Buffie is right the sensitivity control isn't hydrolysed. If anyone wants to try the z/d or wet or dry I can send them some. Oska was originally on i/d but as he was losing so much weight he was put on z/d i bought a tray/bag from medicanimal but he was PTS before it was all used. He wasn't keen on it though and much preferred the i/d
 
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