Living With IBD
This is The Living With IBD section, designed to help you look at living examples of this disease and the other GI
conditions. Each cat has different dietary needs, medications, treatments, etc. As you will see, it's not an easy
road, some thrive and some have a much harder time. But the purpose of this section is to help you shed some
light as to what
possibly could have started your kitty's IBD and maybe help you find some answers and support
so that your kitty can live a long, happy and healthier life from this day forward.

If you are a veterinarian or are currently working on research for feline IBD, please take some time to examine
each case study. This section is here to provide you with knowledge outside of your practice or research center
and eventually give you some statistics as to how prevalent this disease is and the complications from it really
are.

We're looking for more cats to document on this site as a way of letting researchers, universities, veterinarians
and the public know what kind of treatments, foods, age group, etc., that these cats are falling into. If you would
like to contribute information on your cat for the Living With IBD section, please provide the proper information
and email it to us at
info@IBDkitties.net.

1) Save written information in a word or works format and include as an attachment.
2) Include your first and last name, email address and your cat's full name (first and last).
Your email address is strictly for MY records and will not be listed on the website.
3) Include your city, state, province, country, etc. Whatever information you feel
comfortable providing, as long   
     as there is some idea of your area.
4) A picture saved as a jpg. of
just that one cat. Attach separately from the documented info.
5) Your cat's approximate date of birth
6)
Each condition the cat's been diagnosed with and approximate date of diagnosis for them, not just IBD
7) A synopsis starting from when the symptoms began, how it was diagnosed, what tests were run, how it was
treated, any and all additional treatments, foods that they were eating before IBD and food changes since being
diagnosed. Medications, holistic treatments, herbs and supplements. Any and all information that you can
provide. Feel free to review each kitty's bio and choose whatever style you'd like to submit the info.

Your kitty will have his own bio page but it must be maintained. Any visits to the vet for checkups, additional
complications, tests, etc. should be sent to us to keep up the information on your cat. Any food changes,
medications, etc. And especially any good news! If your kitty was previously losing weight but is now eating well
and maintaining, even gaining weight, please send us the information and we'll be thrilled to post it on their page.
Because IBD is an ever-changing condition, we also need to include any news of downturns and setbacks. By
including your kitty on this site, you're pledging to help others find any possible treatments that might work for
their cats. And in turn, others become invested in the lives and progress of your kitty. Your participation in this
section is greatly appreciated and will benefit so many others.
Maggie had terrible diarrhea when I got her from the breeder at 4 months old. She had a bout of coccidia when
she was a baby and then tested positive for it again when I got her so she was re-treated with Albon for 10 days.

The diarrhea continued and about that same time, her "aunt" tested positive for tritrichomonas foetus.

We tested Maggie and sure enough she also had it.
She was treated for two weeks with ronidazole and later cleared of it (second PCR test was negative).

Even though she was no longer testing positive for parasites at this point, the diarrhea continued. This is when I
requested extensive testing and the results came back showing high e.coli in her stool. She was treated with a
strong antibiotic (sorry I don't remember which one now) and the vet told me that if that didn't resolve it, I
needed to move her to a one meat-only diet.

The antibiotic didn't do anything so this is when we essentially diagnosed it as IBD (although I never went back
to that vet b/c she got injured there). My new vet is a cat specialist who actually raised Abyssinians and she
agreed with this assessment. She told me that because of all of the parasite she had as a baby, her GI system is
damaged and likely scarred.

She put her on a mix of 50/50 Albon/Amforal to try to help her system heal and get it to slow down. She was
also given cyproheptadine as needed for times she refused to eat.  Soon after, the new grain-free diet had
started helping and she no longer needed any other medications with the exception of Pepcid A/C twice daily.

I also continue the B12/B1/Folate as mentioned below, usually every other to every 3 days. Her appetite has
been pretty strong lately but I find that when she starts getting overly picky, this B vitamin combo usually takes
care of that.

Current Supplements/Meds: Dr. Goodpet enzymes with food daily, slippery elm bark as needed for
inflammation, 2.5 mg Pepcid AC 2x daily, B vitamins, every other to every third day: B12/5000mg sublingually,
B1/50 mg, folic Acid/200 mcg .

Also supplementing taurine, calcium, vitamin E and salmon oil depending on how much raw meat she’s eating.

Food: Dry out at all times – Merrick’s B.G. (Before Grain) Chicken,
usually ¼ cup per day Raw: turkey or duck meat, usually 2-4 ounces per day.
Various canned depending on appetite – By Nature chicken and liver pouch,
By Nature turkey and liver/chicken and liver cans, Evangers Turkey and Butternut Squash,
EVO 95% chicken/turkey, duck and venison, Avoderm chicken chunks (mashed), usually 2-4 ounces per day.

The canned and raw are rotated depending on what she’ll eat that day.
Total food intake is usually around ¼ cup dry and 4 ounces raw/canned.

The only thing that seems to resolve her diarrhea is when she eats raw meat, even if it’s only 30-40% of her
daily intake.

She also seems to have problems with corn, grains and peas. I’m also starting to think she may have a problem
with chicken as well, but until I can convert her to a novel protein elimination diet,
I don’t know for sure.

I have not figured out what resolves her inflammation in general. Even though she has had normal stools for as
long as three weeks, her appetite and pain were still present and increasing over that time. This is why we are
working towards an elimination diet.

Here is a recipe I learned about from the chronic renal failure Yahoo group for nausea in a kitty and for getting
them to eat. I take a  tablespoon of hot water and mix it with about 1/2 capsule of Slippery Elm Bark powder. As
it starts to cool, it will thicken. Sometimes I have to add more powder and sometimes I have to add more water
to get it to a thin enough consistency that I can syringe it up. The syringe I'm using is 3ml I believe so I just
completely fill it. Then I just stick it in the back corner of her mouth and she drinks it down without complaint.
She doesn't run from me after which is how I know she doesn't mind it.

Just be sure to make it as thick as possible as it helps coat the lining of the GI tract, similar to Pepto Bismol.
They call it a "liquid bandaid" and you're supposed to give it 30 minutes apart from any food/supplements since
it can reduce absorption. However, when Maggie is ready to eat at 10 minutes I don't worry about the time
lapse. I stay pretty strict with the time when I'm giving medications though. There are some instructions I found
on the web for using 1/4 cup water and boiling it with the SEB on the stove for a couple of minutes, but I find
that this makes way too much and it doesn't keep at all. This is why I now just use my little water heater (for tea
and such) so I make only what I need at the time. It works like a charm.

These are treats that Maggie gets after she gets her pills to make sure they go down all the way. She goes
absolutely nuts over them! Pogos 100% pure rabbit treats; Bravo Oven Roasted/Dried Chicken Breast treats.

Update:
I recently started Maggie on L-glutamine, glucosamine Sulfate and MSM for her injured knee.
Unfortunately, one of these three caused some major inflammation and she is now taking 5mg of prednisolone
daily. We are hoping to work our way off of prednisolone completely once this flare-up settles.

Update January 1, 2009
After a month of limiting her food to EVO duck and Weruva/Tiki Cat chicken cans only and still having pain,
Maggie had another GI panel run to rule out pancreatitis.  Her fPLI was normal as well as her cobalamin, but her
folate levels were a little high.  The vet said this was most likely from an overgrowth of microflora.  As a result, I
am now supplementing Maggie with two different types of probiotics to try to keep any bad bacteria at bay and
eliminate the hunching she's having after a meal.  She is now getting both Primadophilus Reuteri and Solaray's
Multidophilus 12 daily.  So far these seem to be improving her symptoms and have completely resolved her
diarrhea.  I am also starting to put her on a trial of EVO duck only to see if chicken may be giving her problems
after her meals.
The glucosamine and L-glutamine were stopped due to it causing severe stomach upset. The difference between
glucosamine Sulfate and glucosamine HCL:
- glucosamine sulfate uses potassium chloride as a stabilizer, which can sometimes upset the stomach.
- glucosamine HCL uses Hydrochloride Acid as a stabilizer, which contains sulfur. She is getting Adequan shots
for her arthritis, most likely due to a vet tech dropping her. Adequan via injections versus a pill bypasses the GI
tract and is better absorbed this way causing less to no stomach upset. She also takes Pepcid A/C no sooner than
30 minutes prior to her meals and it seems to be working much better for her in alleviating the nausea and pain.

Update: March 16, 2009
I'm trying some holistic methods with Maggie now to see if they can help get things under control in a more
natural way. She is currently taking the following on a daily basis and seems to be doing very well so far:

Chinese Medicine - Central Chi, one tea pill twice daily
Azmira Yucca Intensive - one drop twice daily in chicken baby food
Papaya Enzymes - A pinch mixed with each meal

Although she still has a few bobbles now and then, she has improved greatly over the last two weeks that she's
been on these.  She is still getting the 5mg prednisolone and two doses of Pepcid daily, but these new additions
appear to be helping her even more.

She is still getting monthly Adequan shots for her arthritis and I had her on GNC's Natural Brand Spirulina for a
bit. It's allergy free (no dairy, soy, gluten, etc.) and full of B vitamins. I removed it to start the Chinese herbs as
not to overwhelm her system but plan to add it again within the next week as she was doing very well on that
also.

Update: June 30, 2009
After a few months I have revised and simplified Maggie's routine even further. I tried the Central Chi for
several weeks, but then decided to switch her Chinese herbs to the Four Gentlemen formula based on a friend's
recommendation. She gets one teapill twice daily. I stopped the yucca intensive since it was more of a burden to
give than it seemed to be worth for her and I also switched her to a more inclusive digestive enzyme supplement
called Total-Zymes.   

Maggie's diet has been simplified as well. I noticed that her nausea was happening most often when she hadn't
had food for a long period of time. So, I gave in and decided that she needed to have a very simple dry food out
for when I'm not home to give her canned. I decided to go with California Natural Chicken and Rice as it was the
most simple formula I could find. Since it contains rice and dry is harder to digest than wet food, I add a scoop of
Total-Zymes to each cup of food and keep a bowl filled for her at all times. She is also limited to just a couple of
different wet foods which includes Wilderness Turkey and By Nature Chicken Fricassee bowls.

The revised supplements and food has been really helpful for her IBD. In fact, two months ago I started
reducing her prednisolone and she has continued to do very well. She dropped from 5 mg to 2.5 mg for a month
and is now on 2.5 mg every other day. I will try taking her off of the prednisolone completely in another few
weeks. She does still get Adequan shots for her knee, but since her prednisolone has been reduced the pain has
started to return. She will be re-evaluated by the orthopedic surgeon in the next couple of weeks to determine
what the next step is for her knee.

Update: October 12, 2009
After our last visit to the orthopedic surgeon, Maggie is no longer on the Adequan shots. She was formally
diagnosed with a torn ligament, but since she no longer limps, we decided the shots weren't worth the trouble.
Everything has remained the same for her IBD treatment and although we do still go through a few days of flare-
ups, overall she is continuing to do extremely well.

Update: February 10, 2010
Maggie has been doing very well lately. She has been off of her prednisolone for months now and only requires
the pepcid and Four Gentlemen teapills. She continues to eat both her usual wet foods and the Cal Natural dry,
but I've since added some Purina "Sensitive Stomach" dry to her routine. She was starting to really get picky
with the Cal Natural and since she does better when she can eat small meals often, I wanted to offer another dry
out at all times. She has been doing well on this food.

Unfortunately, she developed a terrible upper respirator infection in January. For over three days I had to hand
feed both her and my other cat. She was on an antibiotic for ten days and has recovered nicely. In fact, I'm
actually noticing that she has more energy and a better appetite since her recovery. I'm not sure if this is a
result of the antibiotic or the new dry food. Either way I just hope she continues to do as well as she is currently.

Update: June 10, 2010
Maggie is continuing to do great! So well in fact, that I've discontinued the Four Gentlemen teapills and she's now
just taking the pepcid twice daily. I rotate all of her wet food so that she never starts associating one variety with
any nausea she might be having. She's eating wet food so well, that she really eats very little dry food these days.
When she does, it's primarily the California Natural still. We just had her first check-up at the vet in quite some
time and the vet said she looked great. All of her labs were normal and there were no IBD "sounds" coming from
her tummy when she listened. Unfortunately, she's had some problems with allergies this year and as a result,
has been losing her voice some. She's been taking an antihistamine, chlorpheniramine, and doing pretty well on
it. Hopefully things will be back to normal there once seasonal allergies die down around here.

Here are the foods she currently eats:
EVO Duck (this is her primary diet)
Soulistic (the two chicken varieties)
Blue Wilderness Turkey
Feline Pride Turkey
Maggie DuPree - Texas
Born November 20, 2007
Diagnosed with IBD in September of 2008
Copyright © IBD Kitties 2008-2010, all rights reserved. Contact us at info@ibdkitties.net
Maggie D.
To see Maggie in action and how healthy she is today, click here:
http://s84.photobucket.com/albums/k29/tamgirl99/Maggie/?action=view&current=IMG_0118.flv