Lucy responded to prednisone, and gets worse with processed foods, so we concluded ibd without further testing, which I did not want to put her through. I would actually try flagyl (metronidazole) before centrine. Lucy has been on a low dose of it for almost 2 months now and has been way better-- is down to only 1.25 mg of pred every other day. Michelle In a message dated 12/26/2006 7:04:37 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> a lot of things can cause loose stool, but hair balls are probably > not one of them. they tend to cause constipation. I've only found a few references to diarrhea accompanying hairballs, but one of the places was the Anitra Frazier book. I would think she would be over it by now, if it was related to the hairball. > are you sure she has hair balls? cats with ibd (inflammatory bowel > disease), which my Lucy has, can vomit in a way that looks like > they are hacking up hair balls, and can also have loose stool on > and off. Yeah, it was definitely a nasty hairball. I've been trying to brush her more. How were you finally able to come to conclusion that Lucy has IBD? I've been reading about it, and it seems like it takes lots of trial and error. > The best thing for that seems to be home-made diets, and most of > all to be consistent and stick to one food. the most digestible > of the store-bought foods for ibd seems to be Innova EVO, which > has no grains, as grains seem to irritate ibd in cats. you might > want to try that, and not change or add any foods for a while-- > switching back and forth is the worst. Ember is on Innova EVO canned and dry, fortunately. I'm thinking about pulling back on the dry a bit. I just hate to take away food when she will eat it. She still has her appetite, and while I can't tell yet if it's normal, she certainly went up to the bowl of EVO canned tonight and attacked it like usual. I spoke to my new vet about this (my old vet retired two days after Ember's appointment last week, and my new vet is in the clinic he started). She wants me to give Ember a few doses of Centrine (one every twelve hours). I'm not a fan of that kind of medicine. We might be able to get an endoscopy in town if it comes to that, but my vet recommended going to a specialist in a city two hours away for that, as she feels they see more unusual cases and would know what they're seeing. Something needs to be done, as when I got home from work today, I found a messy, unformed poop in the box, and some pancake batter in the sink. I'm just glad that she's eating and playing normally. Lance
