Kitty likely has IBD -- diet recommendations?

Our vet is suspicious that our 13 year old male, Thor, has IBD. We had that suspicion even before he suggested it. Thor has been tested for hyperthyroid (we had a cat that was treated for that for years, so that was our initial guess when we noticed he was losing weight and having digestion issues), but everything checked-out fine. The only thing that is at all amiss is slight anemia, which isn't particularly abnormal in middle-aged/older cats.

I doubt our vet will go to the trouble of testing specifically for IBD. We've ruled-out most other things, like thyroid and parasites. Thor never goes outdoors, so parasites or viral stuff are not likely. When I last talked to the vet he suggested steroid treatment, if a short course of Imodium didn't help his chronic diarrhea issues--and it really hasn't.

So assuming he does go on steroids, we probably do want to find a more ideal food for our 3 furbaby boys. Currently we're feeding them PetSmart's Authority dry for sensitive systems. For years we fed them Iams, but the main ingredient in that $$ stuff is corn, which isn't really good for any animals, much less cats. And IBD is similar to Chron's, so corn would be a no-no for that reason, alone.

Lately all he tolerates is really nasty, cheap Friskies canned stuff. Hopefully once we get his symptoms under control we can convince him to eat something better. Canned would be fine. We tried Innova canned for senior cats a while back and he REALLY liked it, but he ate it too fast and it made him pretty sick. We'd happily go back to Innova if he could tolerate it better in the future. The ingredients list was not full of fillers.

Any dry suggestions (I know Blue Buffalo and Wellness are popular, but they aren't cheap and once Thor starts getting his appetite back I expect he's going to go back to his gluttonous ways--his nickname is Piggy, even though it doesn't fit him, of late) or other canned foods? Does anyone with cats who have digestive issues make food for their cats? I don't know that I would go "raw," but I'd happily boil up fish and chicken and liver and other meats if that would be suitable for him.

I think the tech in my lab has a cat with similar issues. I'll ask him what he does, though I seem to remember that their efforts don't work so well, since they have three other cats and he helps himself to their food.:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Owlie

I think the tech in my lab has a cat with similar issues. I'll ask him what he does, though I seem to remember that their efforts don't work so well, since they have three other cats and he helps himself to their food.:rolleyes:

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Anything we do we'd do "globally." I'm guessing whatever food is recommended won't be cheap, but IBD is really common and a lot of what I'm reading suggests that it's the result of us feeding cats foods with lots of grain-based fillers that aren't really a "natural" diet for carnivorous cats. I don't want to see our other cats suffer, either, so if we have to spend a lot on food to avoid having to spend a lot later on medicine I'm OK with that. They'll probably eat less if they're not eating a lot of carby junk, too...kinda like their mom person, heh.

And here is the big doofus...I love him.
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...45348473_n.jpg

I made food for my cat for years. She had been in and out of the vet's office/hospital almost monthly for a couple of years starting she was about 7 years old...suspected cancer, gallstones, liver problems (fatty liver disease)...you name it. Finally went to a holistic vet who suggested a raw food diet and I started making the food for her. She was very healthy for more than 8 years, before an actual cancer struck and after a battle it eventually took her at a ripe old age of 18.

It was a challenge for me to make it, because I am a vegetarian and it involved chicken livers and raw meat (along with other ingredients to create a balanced diet), which grossed me out, but she was my baby so I did it. It took her and my other cat a while to get used to it but eventually both the cats loved it.

I still have the recipe and would be happy to PM it to you if you think you'd like to try making it. Our local natural food stores now carry a raw food (in the freezer section) and if I'd been able to find it back then I would have paid the price to avoid grinding up all those chicken livers...

Good luck to you and your sweet kitty!

Mimi also has a recipe for raw (I think), homemade food that perhaps she'll share. PM her is she does. There are several brands of high quality canned food where meat is the primary ingredient. One of my cats can't stand those premium brands, so he eats certain higher protein varieties of canned Friskies. Canned food, in general, is better than dry. Cats need the moisture. As for dry, my cats like EVO. It's a high protein food. Be careful of how much you give them. The regular (versus weight management) is pretty caloric compared to a lot of other dry food.

No IBD here, but we've been feeding Prowl, which is considered a raw diet. I like it because it's high-quality, grain-free, and dehydrated. That means no heavy cases of cans, and I can vary the water content when I rehydrate it (if, for example, our male's urine output seems low). I also like that our female can't pick chunks of it out of the bowl and fling it on the floor to eat, as she does with canned food ;)

http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/prowl/

Prowl is intriguing--what a smart way to do that!

I will definitely be contacting you ladies for "recipes" once I've talked to the vet about our options. He'll still likely end up on steroids at least for a while, to help stop the inflammation and allow his digestive tract to heal. After that I suspect we'll be really avoiding a lot of high-grain foods and feeding him more fresh foods. He has been ALL OVER the bit of canned tuna I've given him mixed with lactose-free cat milk. We had rotisserie chicken a few nights ago, so I'm boiling up the carcass from that to give him bits of chicken and broth. Might boil up a scrambled egg in some broth, too.

Out of curiosity, I did a bit of reading on a good diet for IBD in cats. Some of the reading indicates that because allegens can contribute to IBD in cats, feeding a diet of animal proteins that the cat has never had before (like venison or rabbit) may be helpful. It also indicated that some cats with IBD respond well to a higher fiber diet, plus lots of additional moisture. If you haven't already, I'd do some reading on it yourself so that you can have a thorough discussion with your vet about it. And keep in mind that a lot of vets (not all, but some) do not really understand cat nutrition. Many just assume that premium brand = good nutrition and ignore the fact that many of the brands that many people think of as premium (Hills, Iams and Science Diet come to mind) are high in grain and low in protein. And they don't stress the need for wet over dry food.

Isis P. Kitty can be a bit of a piggy if she's stressed. I have tried to get her to eat canned food, but she doesn't like it. (I'm not sure she's aware that it's food. She'll eat it if I mix it up with her dry food and feed it to her in chunks like a treat. I think she believes that real food is dry and crunchy.) She also doesn't care for meat, unless it's steak. :rolleyes: So she gets Blue Buffalo dry food and lots of water.

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Originally Posted by indysteel

Out of curiosity, I did a bit of reading on a good diet for IBD in cats. Some of the reading indicates that because allegens can contribute to IBD in cats, feeding a diet of animal proteins that the cat has never had before (like venison or rabbit) may be helpful. It also indicated that some cats with IBD respond well to a higher fiber diet, plus lots of additional moisture. If you haven't already, I'd do some reading on it yourself so that you can have a thorough discussion with your vet about it. And keep in mind that a lot of vets (not all, but some) do not really understand cat nutrition. Many just assume that premium brand = good nutrition and ignore the fact that many of the brands that many people think of as premium (Hills, Iams and Science Diet come to mind) are high in grain and low in protein. And they don't stress the need for wet over dry food.

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Our vet is pretty cool. He was happy a while back when we said we were feeding our boys corn-free food. He actually has an informational pamphlet in the office about the dangers of feeding corn to cats.

I had read that last night that trying a new protein source can help with allergy/digestive issues. I saw that Wellness makes a grain-free turkey & duck formula which would be high on our list of things to try. The Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers' Soul foods look interesting, too. That's what my folks feed their cats. I think they buy it from their vet.

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Originally Posted by Owlie

Isis P. Kitty can be a bit of a piggy if she's stressed. I have tried to get her to eat canned food, but she doesn't like it. (I'm not sure she's aware that it's food. She'll eat it if I mix it up with her dry food and feed it to her in chunks like a treat. I think she believes that real food is dry and crunchy.) She also doesn't care for meat, unless it's steak. :rolleyes: So she gets Blue Buffalo dry food and lots of water.

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Ha, we had cats growing up who wouldn't touch canned. Now we're having a hard time getting our boys to eat dry at all. They've all decided that they much prefer "mooshy food." It's interesting to see how much less water they are drinking now, too.

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Originally Posted by zoom-zoom

And here is the big doofus...I love him.
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...45348473_n.jpg

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Kitty! He looks very unimpressed with this particular mouse.

Our 13-year old loves dry because that's what he grew up with. It wasn't until he started to have some urinary issues that I realized that canned was better. But he doesn't understand that while he can graze on the dry, he has to eat the wet on command. So, he'll only eat a tablespoon at a time and sometimes not even that. It can be frustrating. Our younger cats loves canned, so I'm glad to have developed their palate for the stuff at a young age, but they still love dry, too. Interesting, though, two of the three cats really don't like premium canned food (like Blue Buffalo or Innova). While I'd be happy to pay more for higher quality, they prefer the cheap stuff. So, that's what they get.

Prowl sounds like an interesting option. Out of curiosity, once it's rehydrated, can it sit out at room temperature for long or does it spoil?

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Originally Posted by Owlie

Kitty! He looks very unimpressed with this particular mouse.

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Ha, I had to finally take away the mousepad, since he would not stay off of it. He thought it was his bed. Now that there's no mousepad he doesn't insist upon laying there. :p

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Originally Posted by indysteel

Interesting, though, two of the three cats really don't like premium canned food (like Blue Buffalo or Innova). While I'd be happy to pay more for higher quality, they prefer the cheap stuff. So, that's what they get.

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Ours are stupid. They all seem to get bored with foods fast. We have to rotate a few things (Authority canned, Iams canned, Friskies canned--they like the Friskies best, probably because it's like junk food). None of them have much interest in dry, anymore.

If I end up starting to cook things for them I think I will probably make several different "stews" and freeze small portions so that they're eating different things.

Dang, I don't put this much effort into what WE eat! :p

Our cats are also on a raw food diet (ground chicken). The older cat was addicted to kitty crack (dry kibble) at the time we started making the switch, but over the course of a few months, she gradually went 100% raw food. The vet was not thrilled at first - she wanted us to cook the food - but after their first year on the new diet she said that she could not deny that they were thriving. PM me if you want the recipe.

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Originally Posted by indysteel

Prowl sounds like an interesting option. Out of curiosity, once it's rehydrated, can it sit out at room temperature for long or does it spoil?

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Nothing edible lasts that long in our house, so I've not had the opportunity to find out about spoilage ;) To be safe, I would treat it like canned food and not leave it out for too long.

Just got the results from a stool sample dropped-off at the vet's office. Thor has no signs of parasites or other infection, so it's looking increasingly likely that IBD will be the diagnosis. The vet is gone until the weekend, so I probably won't hear from him until Sat. or Mon. to figure out what the next step is. I know he had wanted to try their cat-specific probiotics, too.

Interesting thing. I stopped by PetSmart to look at food and found that they have a new natural store brand (Simply Nourish)...all ingredients that I would eat and it was located in the aisle with all of the super premium brands like Blue and Wellness (but for about 2/3 the price). I bought a bag of one of the dry varieties (the canned were not a bad price, but I didn't like the amount of packaging--each can was inside a little cardboard sleeve...wasteful). Turkey is the main ingredient + steel cut oats, sweet potatoes, cranberry. I realized it was their brand when I got home and opened it and saw that the pieces were shaped exactly like their Authority brand (which we had been feeding our cats, until they all decided they were too good for dry and would only eat canned).

I opened the bag and they went nuts. I put a bit on top of their existing dry food (that they are barely picking at, now) and they inhaled it, picking around their old food. Cats are dumb. :p

So, the only way to definitively diagnose IBD in cats is to do an intestinal biopsy. Before you jump to that, I would recommend a GI panel. I'm sure your vet has one available where you live, but if he's got the time, have him send it to the GI lab at Texas A&M. I have found that most older cats are very low on their cobalamin levels and simple B12 injections on a weekly basis for a while has cleared A LOT of their issues up before we jumped to invasive surgery. If you are ok with injecting your cat at home, most vets will draw up the 6 doses you need for you, I certainly would! B12 also acts as an appetite stimulant for some of these guys too.

As far as good goes - grain/soy free and low-carb are what I suggest. Often, those foods that leave out corn or soy just fill the diet full of wheat or another plant-based protein. Cats need animal protein, and plant protein is far from equivalent. The food I feed my kitties is EVO (www.evopet.com), which is the lowest carbohydrate dry food out there on the market. Keep in mind with these low carb, high protein foods that the initial cost up front is significantly higher than with other brands. BUT they are WAY more calorically dense - often twice as much as other major brands - so make sure you read the back of the bag carefully. Most kitties need about 180-220 kcal/day, depending on their frame size, which in EVO is about 1/3-1/2 cup per day. The canned food I like best is Wellness CORE, which is the lowest carb canned food out there too, I believe. Sometimes IBD is more of a carbohydrate maldigestion issue than the ingredients themselves.

HTH.

Thanks! A GI panel does sound like the best next step, though he already seems in love with this new PetSmart brand "Simply Nourish" food. I like the ingredients...it's still mostly meat and no corn. The vet suspected that some of his diarrhea issues could be related to canned food and the start of his diarrhea did sort of coincide with us starting canned foods. Our old, late female got to where she couldn't easily digest dry and when we switched her to canned the boys went nuts for it. Eventually it got to where they turned-up their noses at dry, entirely. It was love at first bite with this new food, so we'll see if that makes a difference. Thor definitely seems brighter-eyed and less on-edge, today. Perhaps he's back on the road to his usual old behavior of eating and napping and eating and napping. Lately he'd been harassing us for food, sleeping less, and tense (for him).

It makes sense that the more nutritionally dense the food, the less a cat has to eat to be satisfied. That works for us, too. The better I eat, the less I eat. If only healthy stuff could taste like junk food...I am a major junk food junkie! :o

If we ended up having to give him B12 injections I'm not sure if we'd be able to do that ourselves. Our female was such a doll and so tolerant of shots, but Thor is really strong and does not deal well with that, at least not at the vet's office.

Out of curiosity, has your cat been on antibotics in the recent past? The reason I ask is that they can often induce diarrhea that, at least in my experience, often will not resolve itself without the use of probiotics. We use a paste called Pro-Pectalin anytime our cats are on an oral antibiotics. I just wanted to throw that out that as a possibility, remote though it may be.

I don't think he's ever been on antibiotics, otherwise I'd suspect that first, too. We've been breaking a 6-strain probiotic capsule into some lactose free cat milk for a couple of weeks and it doesn't seem to be doing anything. Our next move is to try one from the vet to see if that has better results.