No treatments for IC are uniformly effective for all IC patients.
There are a large range of treatments, all of which help some patients
but not others.

For me, Elmiron greatly reduced my symptoms.  A recent study showed,
however, that only 27% of patients obtain relief using Elmiron which
supposedly acts to rebuild the GAG layer of the bladder.  So I am part
of the lucky 27%.

I have read many stories of IC patients who were driven to surgical
removal of the bladder to obtain relief, following countless failed
therapies.  Others find that one therapy or another provides
significant relief, while still others find that they can cope with
the illness by use of narcotic medications for pain.

I am not sure which of these therapies is available for cats, but
would urge owners to try every available therapy.

Thanks, L.    

wrote:

I am so glad that your kitties are doing well and that there are
effective treatments for cats with IC!  I have two kitties I love very
much and when I learned that cats also suffer IC sometimes I was
devastated by the thought of any kitties suffering the way I did.

I will change my plea in light of this new knowledge - do everything
possible, try every treatment out there, to help your cat with IC.  Do
not leave a cat with IC untreated.  Try everything until you find
something that works.

L.  

I recommend that ONLY in cases where every treatment has failed.  You
seem to think that I am recommending that as a first solution - I most
certainly am not.  I love cats and I am writing because I feel it
would be unconscionable of me NOT to do everything I can to tell
people what a miserable disease this is - that it's not just "no big
deal."  I want people to understand how much suffering this causes
because cats can't post for themselves in newsgroups like this one.

how

So you are saying that cats do not suffer from this disease the same
way humans do?  I hope very much that you are right, because it
horrifies me to think of cats going through the same amount of
suffering I have gone through in recent years.  Many human sufferers
of IC commit suicide to escape the pain - the suicide rate is 3-4
times the national average.  Cats don't even have THAT option of
escaping the pain.

I hope that cats do not suffer nearly as much with this disease as
humans do.  I hope that there is a higher success rate with treatments
for cats than there is for humans.

I hope that you are right, that cats do not go through what I have
gone through.

From my point of view, I am not alarmist.  I worry that cats
experience the suffering I experienced, and if they DO then I am most
certainly NOT blowing this way out of proportion.

But maybe you are right - are there studies that point out that cats
do not suffer to the same extent with this disease that humans do,
that they are better able to tolerate it?  I know that cats do heal up
from injuries, etc. much faster and better than humans do (my vet told
me that once) so maybe they don't have as hard a time with IC as we
humans do.

Put aside the boxing gloves for a minute and try to consider my point
of view - I am someone who loves cats very much and was horrified to
think that they might be suffering as I suffered, and I felt I had to
speak up to try to get people to understand that this disease is NOT
just a "no big deal" disease.

This is my last post to you - I don't feel like getting involved in
further arguments because, like you said, stress isn't good for people
or cats with IC.

You can assume the worst of me if you wish, assume I am a person who
hates cats who is trying to get people to kill their cats left and
right.

L.