I have a friend whose old cat is showing symptoms of IBD. Money is tight so she is trying to see if there are any ways to treat it without extensive vet tests. She has changed the cat’s food to a gastro diet and she has read about all sorts of supplements. I’m wondering if anyone has had success with any particular products that don’t require a prescription?
A blood test will show elevated inflammatory markers - such as elevated pancreatic enzymes. Treatment is steroids, fairly inexpensive. Aside from that making sure the cat stays hydrated - so feeding wet food. Cats with IBD tend to have diarrhea and that causes dehydration.
The blood test shouldn’t be that expensive.
I wish I could say yes, but unfortunately not much success with a cat that had chronic IBS-D. Took the cat to two different vets and nothing helped her. Tried all different sorts of foods even grain free (proceed with caution here). Tried various supplements like CBD oil and cosequin for inflammation.
Prescription wise steroids helped for a bit but caused a peeing issue. Metronidazole didn’t help at all. They did try to treat her for the pancreatitis but also not helpful. They did an ultrasound and nothing remarkable to say this is what’s causing it.
I always wondered if a fecal transfer would have helped but she passed away suddenly at Thanksgiving.
My friend had an older cat with the same problem and she couldn’t find anything to help him and recently put him to sleep as well because his quality of life was diminishing.
Again these are just my two experiences YMMV.
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I managed to get my IBD cat back to about 90% of normal by feeding this TOTW dry food from TSC. It took about four months, but now she only has ocasional brief periods where the severe gastric symptoms come on (and I suspect that those are caused by the chipmunks and field mice she likes to nosh on).
I’ve fed Taste of the Wild dry food to my cats for years. It was the only food I could find that all cats liked and didn’t cause diarrhea in any. Unfortunately, my oldest cat was recently diagnosed with early stage kidney disease and he’s now on a prescription diet. According to the information on Tanya’s Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease (https://felinecrf.org/dry_food_usa.htm), Taste of the Wild is high in phosphorus, protein, and sodium, which are all bad for failing kidneys.
@Weezer, it would be useful if your friend could take the cat to the vet to both get a firm diagnosis on the GI issue and do general blood work to make sure other organs are in good shape. Old cats frequently have multiple issues, and knowing for sure would help your friend make better decisions. It might also be more cost effective in the long run.
FWIW, my vet offers the Blue Buffalo renal diet, and my cats transitioned well to that from ToTW. It’s worth looking into, especially if grain free foods helped with GI issues.
Went through this with the cat that was left to us by BIL. Not much worked. Prescriptive dietary changes were such a disaster (diarrhea constanlty and vomiting) I told the vet “no more”. Cat is now maintaining well on canned tuna, MeowMix Beef flavored dry food, and an occasional course of Tylan if he has a flare. I know the diet is not the best, but he’d gone from pooping yellow water to formed stools identifiable as cat poop and he’s gained 1.75 lbs. I think stress was a factor in his flare ups. He had a rough patch before he came here, BIL had a brain tumor and things were pretty bad (“Hoarder” episode bad). Good luck with your kitty, I think IBS is a hit or miss thing with regards to what works.
This is all very interesting. Thanks for the input. The cat has gone through a recent move so maybe stress is a factor here. I don’t know anything about cats but I’ve heard they are easily stressed.
Unfortunately, you cannot differentiate IBD from Small Cell Lymphoma in cats without a biopsy. SCL is very treatable in cats, but a biopsy is required. My cat who had suspected IBD also had several other conditions including pancreatitis and CKD, and we were unable to do a biopsy. We tried doing alternate proteins and limited allergen foods before the CKD with no success. Upon necropsy it was confirmed that she has SCL, not IBD. I wish I had known. Jingles for your friend’s cat!
This is good to know, thanks. It does sound like she is going to have to go see the vet.
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