My cat has IBS or cancer, still vomits. What are my options?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I would get a probiotic like Purina Fortiflora. If the metronidazole isn't working I would ask for tylan and Hill's i/d to help control the diarrhea. The drug can cause GI upset seen as vomiting and diarrhea. You can discuss trying a lower dose with your Vet when they call you back. Lowering the dose will make it less effective against the lymphoma. I wish you the best!

I would talk to your vet about submitting a GI panel or performing biopsies. Even with normal ultrasounds, IBD or lymphoma may not be able to be diagnosed. Empirical deworming may be indicated. Steroid trials may help. Has the thyroid level been checked? There is so much more information we need to be able to help you in this complicated case. I would recommend choosing a Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach consult so we can better evaluate what the tests and results have been to help you decide what steps should be next.

Hello. I am sorry for your concerns about Petey. The distal colon is primarily responsible for adjusting the amount of water reabsorbed from the ingesta, so if a significant amount of the colon is removed, you can wind up with Petey constantly leaking diarrhea from his rectum. If there has not been a diagnosis as to whether this is cancer or IBD, it is imperative to do a biopsy first. If it turns out to be cancer, it really is no use the remove only 1 section of the bowels because of the possibility of spread or metastasis. In this case, you have to think about doing chemo too, & this may not buy Petey much more than 6months to a year. You really have to consider what is best for him without making him miserable for what time he has left. So I would definitely consider seeing the specialist. All the best to you & Petey. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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!

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!

I'm sorry you and Oscar are going through this. My honest opinion? In talking to pet parents about cancers, intestinal cancers in cats are one of the instances where I almost always urge people to go for it, and try to treat them. Why? Because they can do so well for so long. I'm assuming your vet is thinking this is either intestinal lymphoma or inflammatory bowel disease. Those two diseases cannot be distinguished from each other on ultrasound, and we often just see thickened intestines, so biopsies are needed. IBD is very treatable, and at 5 years old that is the more likely diagnosis. Some of these guys do great with just a diet change to a hypoallergenic diet. Others need immunosuppressive therapy in addition to diet, but there is an excellent drug called budesonide that has minimal systemic side effects, and works primarily in the gut. I've managed IBD cats well for 10+ years. If it's lymphoma, those cats respond well to prednisolone therapy (another, stronger immunosuppressive drug) and sometimes the addition of a well-tolerated chemotherapeutic called leukeran. I've successfully managed cats with intestinal lymphoma for 3+ years. If it's not lymphoma, and more of an issue with a focal intestinal mass, that's a whole different ballgame, but again, treatable in many cases. And I would have expected that they would have seen a mass on ultrasound, so that seems unlikely. I think the best thing about getting biopsies is having a definitive answer, and knowing what you're dealing with. Best of luck to you and Oscar in getting this figured out.

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.