Cat with IBD has soft stools & poor appetite. What diet or B12?

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear about Portifoy's diarrhea troubles! It's not clear from the history what sort of duration we're talking about, but it can take time (sometimes weeks) to get IBD symptoms under control. Many cats improve much faster if put on a tapering dose of steroids (often prednisolone is used), so you could talk to your vet about this. Depending on what diagnostics were performed that led to the IBD diagnosis, those symptoms could indicate IBD, but could also be consistent with a food sensitivity/allergy, or GI lymphoma, among other things. An abdominal ultrasound helps with a diagnosis, if that hasn't been done, with a GI biopsy being the ideal diagnostic (although that's also quite invasive, and your vet can help you decide if it's worth the risk). At this point, I'd recommend communicating with your vet and letting them know how Port's doing, as they may have been hoping his symptoms would improve with the medications you mentioned - but they may want to change things (such as adding a steroid, or discussing the next diagnostic step) once they know he's still having diarrhea. Feel free to request a consultation if you'd like to discuss Port's case in more detail. I hope this helps!

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

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!

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.

Hello, and thank you for your question. I'm sorry to hear that Chi has been unwell. If IBD is suspected, we should always try out a limited ingredient hypoallergenic diet (such as rabbit, venison, or kangaroo), for a minimum of 8 weeks with NO other treats or table scraps. However, since Chi's appetite is not the greatest, it will be a challenge to find a hypoallergenic diet that she likes. It sounds like the medications that were prescribed are appropriate for the suspected illness. Carafate is a gastroprotectant that is used to minimize gastric ulcers - it should not worsen diarrhea symptoms. Two other suggestions which I would discuss with your vet: 1) try a different type of anti-diarrhea antibiotic, such as tylosin. 2) consider weekly treatments of vitamin B12, as many dogs with IBD are B12-deficient. 3) try again with steroid therapy such as prednisolone, or try a different immunosuppresant such as cyclosporine. I hope this helps, and that Chi feels better soon.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Blood can definitely be seen with cases of IBD. For IBD, immunosuppression is typically the treatment of choice in severe cases. Azathioprine is an immunosuppressant drug that is commonly used along with changing the diet to something such as Royal Canin Ultamino. I would discuss this with your veterinarian for starting something such as Azathioprine in place of steroids to see if this helps more. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than willing to help you further. I would also recommend adding in a probiotic such as Purina Fortiflora, which can be purchased online or at your local pet store quite easily.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This probably just means that her IBD is no longer being controlled on the current medications and she just needs further management of her condition. I highly recommend that you have reevaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment. At the very least they can make sure to treat her symptoms so that you can get her to feel better. They can also add medications to try to get her condition under control again. Good luck!