Oral vs. injection: Best steroid for cat's chronic diarrhea & IBS?

Typically cats get really bad vomiting episodes with IBD and occasional diarrhea. The prednisone likely is treating for inflammation or an immune mediated condition of the gut, which can include lymphoma, IBD, or a condition called lymphocytic plasmocytic colitis. At any rate, if the prednisone is helping, then I would continue with therapy as indicated. A lot of the times you can only get a final diagnosis with gut diseases by having a surgical biopsy taken of the intesines. As you can imagine this is a very invasive procedure, so response to therapy is typically the route we taken when making suspected diagnoses. I would also highly consider getting Beau on a hypoallergenic diet to help make it easy for her gut to digest food. My top picks here are Royal Canin hypoallergeic hydrolyzed protein, Hill's Z/D, OR Royal Canin Selected protein (rabbit/potato). Ask your vet for a prescription if interested! I hope this helps and best wishes with your pet Beau and her chronic loose stools. Take care.

Poor Kitty! Since she is already 17 years old and she is having such a tough time with her inflammation in her GI tract, I think steroids will be the best choice for her. If her blood work looks okay now, then I think she can tolerate the steroids. Unfortunately, if you don't put her on steroids the lymphoma or IBD may continue to get worse. It is true the steroids will not CURE lymphoma, but it certainly give her a better quality of life right now. It could keep the IBD under control and eventually you may be able to decrease her steroid dose to a lower dose. The concerns of long term steroids are much lower since she is already geriatric. If she was 4 or 7 years old, then I would be much more worried with starting her on long term steroids at that time. At the age of 17, our goal is to give Kitty are good quality of life. If you want more options about the lymphoma and interested in seeing an oncologist, I would ask your vet for a referral for a oncology consult. I hope this helps!

You definitely seem to have done plenty of research for Zise. Well, nobody likes putting their pets or themselves on corticosteroids. As you already know, there is a long list of side effects and they can sometimes outweigh the benefits of the drugs. In this case, if IBD has been diagnosed definitively, prednisone is typically the best course of action (in combination with dietary change to a low fat, high quality protein formulation). One of the theories behind using corticosteroids in the treatment of IBD isn't only to reduce inflammation. Many researchers believe there is an autoimmune component to the disease process. Prednisone is an immunosuppressive drug, and will therefore help with this condition. I would suggest following the advise of your vet for now and seeing how things go. You can always take Zise off the drug if you feel the benefits are not outweighing the side effects. Often times, some cats will not experience any sides effect and simply benefit from the drug's effects. In terms of stem cell therapy, I don't know much about this as a treatment option for IBD. Regenerative medicine is fantastic and I have seen it work miracles on many orthopedic patients. I am sure there is definitely a way to make if work for IBD patients as well, but you would have to speak with a person who specializes in this area to find out the details. I wish the best for you and Zise. Let me know if you require any more consultation on IBD and how to manage the disease.

Prednisone is the drug of choice for irritable bowel syndrome, and it's given for at least two to four weeks. I would try it for Trixie and the vet can do blood tests as needed to check on her calcium levels. I hope this helps.

Yes all of those medications can be given together. It will be important to consider other treatment options for the IBD if he is diabetic. Steroids will make it more difficult to manage the Diabetes. There are other types of steroids and/or options for IBD if needed. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Yes there is. Talk to your vet about getting her in Budesonide instead for her IBD. This medicaiton has more of a local effect on the GI and doesn’t lead to diabetes as easily. One positive note is that cats diabetes can potentially be reversed by starting them on prescription diabetic food (ie Purina DM, Hill’s M/D). I hope this helps! Best wishes with Chiquita moving forward. Take care.

IBD and GI lymphoma can look identical on lab work and ultrasound - the only way to distinguish the two for certain is to do an intestinal biopsy. Steroids can decrease the number of inflammatory cells and make diagnosis more difficult. Both can be difficult to manage, and each cat may need a different treatment plan. Often pain medications, nausea medications, anti-inflammatories, hypoallergenic diets, probiotics, antibiotics, etc are needed.