My cat has IBS symptoms. What food or diet helps with feline IBD?

Hello and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! By IBS I am assuming you may mean inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as this is common in older cats. Some prescription diets like Royal Canin Gastrointestinal canned or dry or hydrolyzed diets. The Science diet limited ingredient diets (d/d) can also be helpful. If you are looking for an over the counter diet I have had some success with Natural balance limited ingredient canned food. Canned diets are always preferred in cats so if you can feed Simon an all canned diet that would be better.

Many times cats will respond to a prescription diet using hydrolyzed protein. Both Hill's and Royal Canin carry these types, which you can discuss with your vet. If you are looking for a cat food that isn't a prescription food, you will have to do a food trial to attempt to find a diet that Junior's colon will respond to: "Another approach is the use of the novel protein diets. The idea here is that the patient cannot have an immunological reaction to a protein source it has never experienced. (It takes long-term exposure to a protein before the immune system will respond against it, so a new protein should be safe.) This means using an unusual protein such as rabbit, venison, fish (for dogs) or duck, so long as the patient has not been fed these foods before. Again, it takes about a month to see a good response." There are many great brands of cat food that you can find with these types of ingredients at the pet store. A homecooked diet is also an option, but it needs to be formulated by a veterinary nutritionist to make sure it is completely balanced with everything that Junior needs. Also, don't forget to talk to your vet about supplementing B12, if needed in Junior's case. Here is info on IBD: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=598 And here is information on a food trial (it says dogs but the same concept applies for cats!): http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2499

Just eating chicken and fish is not a complete and balanced diet for a cat. You could talk to your vet about trying him on a hypoallergenic diet, like z/d or d/d. Those diets usually work with IBD and are nutritionally balance for a cat. Otherwise, you could use a website called Balance It to make sure his diet is balanced. You pick the ingredients that you are feeding and then they formulate a supplement that is added to the food. Cats can develop diseases, like heart disease, if their diet is deficient. https://secure.balanceit.com/

If he has IBD then you should talk to your vet about trying a prescription hypoallergenic diet like d/d or z/d or possible an OTC diet like Science diet sensitive stomach. These diets are easier to digest and may help with his IBD and the smell of his stool.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. With IBD, I would also recommend using B12 supplementation such as Cobalequin. Cobalequin is available online and is easy to get. This is basically a B12 supplement and is extremely bioavailable even in the presence of GI disease such as IBD. A different diet such as a hydrolyzed protein diet (a prescription diet) may also be helpful. You will need a prescription for a hydrolyzed diet and your veterinarian can provide this for you. I would try these things and see if they help at all with the soft stool / diarrhea / poor appetite. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be happy to help you further.

Usually we do end up giving some sort of supplementation to cats with severe IBD. However if their intestines are not absorbing things normally often we have to get the supplementation as injections. This is something your veterinarian could do or even teach you how to do. I recommend contacting them to set this up.

I'm sorry to hear that Mercedes is sick. If IBD or GI lymphoma is suspected the next steps may be ultrasound or even biopsy. Biopsy is needed to confirm the diagnosis of IBD. However, I will frequently treat if it is strongly suspected on ultrasound. If IBD is confirmed it's worth doing a trial of a prescription GI diet. Although a/d is a good recovery diet it is probably not the best one to use as a maintenance diet if IBD is suspected. It would also be worth giving your veterinarian a call to see if they can give a Cerenia injection. This will help to resolve the vomiting and can be continued if necessary. Vitamin B12 injections can also be helpful when a cat is experiencing GI distress and will be needed if IBD is confirmed. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and best wishes to Mercedes!