IBS in Cats

[GraceLikeRain]

I’d love some thoughts and advice from anyone who has gone through this before. Of course every animal is special, but this guy is very special to our family.

Quick backstory: My sister and I have fostering cats on and off for almost a decade. One kitten from a litter in 2013 stuck around and became a really precious member of the family. From day one he has been impressively food driven: scaling shelves to drag down food, opening cabinets, opening pantry doors, eating cups of kibble when successfully breaking into food, etc. In 2015 he had obstruction surgery after eating a ball of saran wrap because it smelled like a muffin…

Mid September 2017 he started acting like a normal cat around food. Early October he missed two meals. My sister immediately went into red alert mode and went straight for a referral to a university vet. This cat is her world and we were all convinced it was another obstruction. Multiple x-rays, hospitalizations, blood work, ultrasound, and an endoscopy later there was no sign of obstruction but his poor stomach was filled with ulcers, small intestine was inflamed. The university hospital diagnosed him with IBS and suggested diet change. My sister chose Natural Balance Duck & Green Peas but he was lack luster about the food. She then added in Fortiflora to try and support his GI track, no difference in appetite.

In December his home vet put him in 1 mL Prednisolone to try and reduce remaining inflammation and increase his appetite. He went back to his normal self within 24 hours. He’s now being tapered to 1/2 mL and the decrease in appetite has returned. Home vet has implied that he needs steroids for life, which seems dangerous and masking the underlying problem.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Are there good resources for cat IBS? Anyone found a good maintenance protocol?

[rubygirl1968]

The only thing that worked for my guy long term was Prednisolone. The rx diet worked for awhile but eventually quit. I tried raw diets, various supplements and probiotics but the prednisolone made the biggest difference. Sunny was on a much higher dose though, he needed 5mg daily for any improvement and later on he was on 10mg.

I’m sorry - I hope you find an alternative that helps your sisters little guy.

[Marshfield]

I find raw often works well for IBS cats

[oldfuzzyhorses]

Long-term prednisolone and the Hill’s prescription i/d diet worked for my girl for years. She would not eat raw food or wet food at all, or anything with a supplement in it. Without the steroids she became shockingly thin in a very short time, would not eat, was lethargic, etc. She had IBS combined with some other GI issues, and she died of kidney failure at 16, but she wouldn’t have lasted that long without prednisolone. Even my less-is-more, diet-oriented vet was more than willing to prescribe steroids for a better quality of life.

If a raw diet and probiotic supplements don’t work, I would not be afraid of the the pred - that may be the best hope. I’ve been told by several vets that cats actually handle prednisolone much better in the long term than other species. Yes, it is treating the symptom, but since nobody really knows the cause of the disease, there seem to be few options. Good luck!