There is an IBD for cats group on Yahoo that looks informative.
From: Nina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Subject: Re: IBD, diet and medications
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 10:45:29 -0800
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Thanks Karen for sharing your IBD experiences with Gracie, (I have a Gracie too!). I had heard about the food allergy theory, and I've put Gypsy and the rest of the family on dry Natural Balance venison. I'd made the mistake of giving her all sorts of different foods, especially since she began to lose so much weight. The only thing we could get her to eat for a while was chicken liver. Thank you for the tip about lamb baby food. The shot of methylprednisolone does seem to be helping her, at least she's acting like she feels a little better. Could you tell me more about the IVD wet food? What does IVD stand for? Is IVD the food that has the protein already broken down to make digestion easier? Where do you get it? Who makes it? Does Gracie like it? Gypsy hasn't been exposed to lamb, duck or rabbit, so I do have other options as far as food. I'm looking for a source for fresh rabbit, I'm betting she'll like that. I have resolved to feed her nothing but alternative food, no more chicken, beef or salmon. I had heard that Omega 3, 6 and 9 are good for IBD and ordered some salmon oil that should arrive any day. Now I'm wondering if I should give it to her. I did have her on acidophilus, prozyme and also tried acetylator which has acidophilous in it. Nothing has seemed to help by itself, but maybe in conjunction with the shots she'll do better. Does the B12 have to be given in a shot? Could I add it to her food instead? I heard about Budesonide from my compound pharmacy and looked it up on the web. It said that it only came in inhalant forms, I'm glad to hear that I can have it compounded into a liquid just in case the methylpred doesn't do the trick. How is Gracie doing on the new med? With all I'm being forced to learn about medical care for my angels, I sometimes I feel like I should just go back to school and become a vet!
Nina
Karen Olio wrote:
Hi Nina,
I hope that Gypsy is starting to feel better. We have a cat Gracie who has had severe IBD for several years. We have tried to look at all the things that might help her. I don't know if you have changed Gypsy's diet, but many vets think IBD is caused/made worse by food allergies. The food that we have had recommended is IVD which is a wet food, it has protiens that they are less likely to be allergic to (white fish, venision, or duck) or z/d ultra, a hard food that you have to get through a vet, that our guys love. I have also read that some number of IBD cats have a vitamin B12 difficency and require a series of B12 shots. They did not help Gracie, but I know of other cats that they have made a big difference for. We have just changed Gracie's meds from pred to a new drug that is being used for felineIBD called Budesonide. It works like pred, but is specific for the GI track. It can be compounded into a flavored liguid (use lamb flavor to avoid protiens that she might be allergic to). If we get into trouble trying to get some food into Gracie our vet suggested that we use the lamb baby food, which seems to work well for her. Lastly we have just started using acidophlius (the variety that has to be refridgerated). It can be mixed into her food and seems to have made a difference for Gracie. Hope some of these might be helpful to you and gypsy.
Karen
Thank you for the advise about Pred vs Dex, I ended up going with something else. I tried to get my vet to write another prescription for Dex to be compounded, thinking if she won't eat the one, maybe she'll eat the other, but he refused. I ordered the Pred, but then yesterday I started to panic because poor Gypsy was looking so lousy. She started to vomit (another symptom of IBD, that she hadn't shown before), and she was no longer able to make it to the litter box. I was finding bloody brown puddles all over the house. She's also lost so much weight in the last week or so, that I was afraid she was going to starve to death. I made an appointment to take her to my expensive vet, the one that was able to get me the VO, but I knew she'd have to be anesthetized for them to examine her. I called the house call vet that had been here when we had to help my dog Vixen cross, and he was nice enough to come later in the afternoon.
Thanks to the Merck website that Gloria posted about (thank you Gloria!), I found a treatment plan that I knew would ensure Gypsy got the proper dosage. It involves injections of methylprednisolone IM, (the website says SQ or IM, but my two of my vets told me that SQ causes adverse reactions), every 2 weeks for 2-3 doses, then every 2-4 weeks if needed. Gypsy's not-so-great vet wouldn't let me give her injections at home, he actually told me through the receptionist, that such a thing did not exist, and he wouldn't let me do it if it did! The house call vet, thankfully was much more understanding of my predicament and left me syringes and medicine for 5 doses, (she was way to spooked for him to actually examine her). My wonderful husband was able to hold her down while I finally got some medicine in her that might help turn things around! We should know if the med is working in a couple of days. As I write this, she's nibbling on some dry food, I haven't seen her do that in a very long time!
I think I may have unwittingly made her condition worse by adding L-Lysine and Vita C to her food along with my FeLV babies. Apparently the cortisone medicines fight IBD by suppressing the immune system. In the case of IBD, the immune system is actually "overactive" and in trying to rid the body of toxins causes diarrhea to become chronic. Great, not only do I have immune suppressed kitties, but an overactive immune system kitty too!
Nina
Nina wrote:
Hello Everyone,
I've posted before about my "feral turned house cat" Gypsy. We suspect she has Inflammatory Bowel Disease, (fecal tests showed no parasites or Giardia). The only vet that she's seen is not my favorite. He's kind of old school and is pretty annoyed at me for being so involved in her treatment. Because Gypsy can't be pilled, or brought to a vet for shots, I have to have something compounded into a liquid to mix in her food. When I asked my vet which tasted better, Prednisone or Dexamethasone, he thought Dex might. When I called my compound pharmacy, they told me to go with the Pred instead. I guess I should have looked up dosage before I had my vet write the script for Pred, because Dex is recommended at .22 mg/kg/day initially and Pred at 2.2 mg/kg/day. It seems to me that getting a smaller dose of something down her might be easier than the larger dose, even if it tastes worse. I hate having to call the vet back and beg him to change his script. Do you think I should order the Pred and cross my fingers that she'll eat it? The poor little thing has been battling chronic diarrhea for so long, I just want to get her some relief before she dies from malnutrition.
Thanks,
Nina
