circa Wed, 4 Feb 2004 10:45:49 -0500, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
Betsy (n0spam@spam.c-0) said,

Betsy, did your vet say whether or not your cat's bowels felt
thickened?

Laura

circa Wed, 4 Feb 2004 10:45:49 -0500, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
Betsy (n0spam@spam.c-0) said,

P.S. Have you switched the cat to a food with a different (read:
unusual) protein source, such as rabbit or deer to see if it affected
his symptoms at all? This was the first thing we tried with my Alex
when the vets were trying to determine whether he had lymphoma or
IBD. Unfortunately, in Alex's case, it was lymphoma, and his
bloodwork did not show any signs indicating that he had cancer. I'm
not saying that your kitty does, just that I'm wondering if your vet
tried the alternate food route to help diagnose.

Laura

Betsy's post made me want to ask this question. I have a question because
she mentions gas. Everytime Pearl has been to the vets, she mentions that
Pearl is gassy. She asks if stool is ok, and usually it is. For a little
while there last year, she seemed to have diarrhea but everytime I see her
go, it is well formed. *I* cannot tell she has gas. She eats almost
completely premium wet catfood. What other reasons might a cat have gas? I'm
wondering if this adds to her somewhat cranky nature (it would make ME
cranky). Any ideas? The vet has even x-rayed her but seen no real
abnormalities (though that is when we found the cause of her leg problems-
arthritis).

Karen

Hi Wendy,
Have you joined the Yahoo IBD list yet?  They have some great information and
advice.

Best wishes for you and your kitty,

Lauren
________
See my cats:  http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

Ack, sorry Betsy that I referred to you in my reply as Wendy.

Lauren
________
See my cats:  http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm

I had a cat with IBD. I made him his own food. I think he was allergic to the
artificial preservatives, flavorings and colorings in processed food. I'd bake
a chicken and make some long grain rice. I'd chop the chicken up, skin, fat and
juice included and mix that 1/2 and 1/2 with the rice. I'd freeze most of it
and just defrost his food the day before. I would also suggest giving him some
Bene-bac. It's live gut glora. Sometime antibiotics and other things can kill
off the good bacteria needed to digest food. This replaces it. You can get it
at Petco. It may take a couple of days for his stools to get normal. Don't ever
give him a scrap of anything else as it could set it off again. Changing their
diet wreaks havoc on their systems.

Really dumb question...
Has he been tested for all manner of intestinal worms?

I would assume so, but I do hate to assume...

Have your vet test him for Bartonella.  If your vet doesn't know what that is,
find another vet.

M9

I'm happy to see you have lots of replies.  I wish I were an expert but as
yet, Shadow's IBD isn't under control. :(  I think it has some to do with
the FeLV status, but no one can tell me that.  

<snip>

Shadow's illness started when he stopped eating.  There was no diarrhea or
gas that led up to it. He had always been a pukey kitty, but it always
seemed to be "normal" and the vets weren't really worried about it. Up
until he stopped eating, he had a ravenous appetite and went from a scrawny
cat that was set outside by his former people who didn't want him anymore
to a full-figured cat pretty quickly. He's also always been a chickenshit,
afraid of everything. Stress maybe played a lot in his illness.

Shadow never had any of the tests that I read about now; he had bloodwork
done early on but it was all normal. He went from that to hepatic lipidosis
from not eating and already being an overweight cat, so the only test done
was a biopsy because he was going to be put under to have a feeding tube
put in, so I can't comment on some tests that others have mentioned.  An
FeLV test was also suggested and run against my better judgement since he'd
been an indoor cat for 7 years that I'd had him, and was only an outdoor
cat for a few months after the bitch neighbor put him out and I took him
in, and I had had him tested then.

I wish I could tell you more, but that sounds different from Shadow.  The
tummy med, could it have been Reglan? (metaclopramide) or maybe pepcid ac?  
I wonder if a B12 shot or a steroid injection could boost his appetite and
get him back on track?  In hindsight, Shadows regular vet said she
suspected IBD when he responded to a steroid shot and ate for about 2 weeks
afterwards but she said since she wasn't an internist she felt she didn't
know enough to actually say she suspected IBD.  

Another comment about something I wrote earlier about him always being a
"pukey kitty" but the vets always thought it was "normal".  Since changing
his diet to almost all canned food and being on Prednisone, he rarely ever
pukes now.  It doesn't help his diarrhea but maybe him always being pukey
was a sign of things to come. When I wrote that I tried to cut back his
prednisone without success, vomiting is what happens.  So while it doesn't
help the diarrhea, it helps him keep food down.  Good luck with your kitty.
You already have your hands full.