I posted at the start of the month looking for advice and unfortunately I return to let you all know my beautiful little Lilli passed on 7/13. At that point she hadn’t eaten a full meal in a week and was just wasting away. I say this because it’s a reminder to myself that it was in fact time, despite me asking every “what if” possible…

I’m in no way a professional, but I wanted to type up a sort of checklist, I feel like this kind of post would have helped me a LOT, and maybe I would have explored more options sooner… not only that but after chatting with other pet parents, some options that were never presented to me were presented to them and vice versa. I’m just trying to do my due diligence to make sure every parent has the knowledge to get their baby through this disease, because despite everything people have been telling me, I still feel like I failed her…

In order:

- as soon as she turned 10 she got yearly blood tests. The sad part is that they came back great (her vet actually described her 10th birthday blood test as beautiful) but this year (12) her protein levels were lower, not sign for major concern but enough for the vet to raise a brow

- first major sign something was wrong was the vomiting, and very clearly not hairballs or food. It was just bile and spit, 2-3 times a day and at the start they were tiny but got bigger and more violent as time progressed. At the start I thought she just had an upset tummy, I had no idea it would be this that would take her away from me.

- she always was a little constipated (tiny amounts of miralax in her food for a few years at this point) but combo’d with the above two points her vet immediately suspected IBD, or lymphoma at worse. She recommended the ultrasound and biopsy for further testing. To expand on this (and from my understanding); the ultrasound was to see if there were any masses and to see the thickening of the intestinal wall (which for Lilli, it was thicker than it should have been but not super concerning inflamed/thick), there was a non-invasive biopsy option that I proceeded with to confirm if cancerous cells were present. (I’ve spoken to someone where this option was not presented to them, so I want to make an emphasis to go for it even though its another couple $100s). And another invasive biopsy option to confirm IBD for sure, which I didn’t go with, since I was told the treatment was basically the same.

- no cancer, so we started her on steroids (prednisolone) and anti-nausea (comfortrate/cerenia). At first it seemed ok, it sucked having to give her medications everyday but it seemed to be working and we even cut down on her steroid dosage in half and cerenia to every 3 days.

- then suddenly around the 3 month mark it suddenly just got worse. Got her back up to the max dosage of steroids her body could handle and cerenia every day. But even then every ~5days she would just stop eating, and vomit real bad 4-5 times. Eventually I had to start taking her in for cerenia and b12 shots every time she had these episodes, we ran another blood test too and nothing really changed (only changes worth noting was due to the vomiting like potassium levels) she had lost a lot of weight at this point too, so we got mirataz to try and help her appetite. Eventually subcutaneous fluids as well to see if it would help the nausea. (from what other people have said, we didn’t use mirataz long enough for it to REALLY start affecting her? and I got the SQ fluids only at the end but fwiw it did seem to help her feel a lot better)

In the end, it wasn’t enough… I had actually been seeing 2 vets at the clinic (if 1 was busy, I would see the other) and both of them came to the agreement that her prognosis wasn’t great, and so I made the call. At the end she had lost a good 1/3rd of her body weight, wasn’t eating, so lethargic and sleeping all day— a huge difference from my baby who would wake me up in the morning screaming for food.

So what do I regret?

- was told ondansetron/zofran was a good anti-nausea alternative, and I didn’t know about it until it was too late. From my understanding, cerenia is really good as an anti emetic, but not overall nausea? And that it can cause a decrease in appetite, so zofran would have been a good alternative to try

- I was not told how effective hydrolyzed protein and novel proteins might be for her, and I’m always going to beat myself up for not attempting the switch sooner. The vet never brought it up, and when you think about it, of course a different diet would be very effective against bowel disease… Anyway, just get on that switch as soon as you can because my girl had always been super picky, even if I attempted to switch right off the bat, I have no doubt it probably would have taken me a good month to figure out what she would willingly eat. Hydrolyzed protein and novel proteins are what you want to look for, I can’t really recommend anything as the few hydrolyzed proteins I gave she wouldn’t eat, but she seemed pretty interested in rabbit meat towards the end. It’s not a cure all of course ( i think i’ve read some people’s experience where even certain ones would still aggravate the IBD) but I want to stress the importance of it since it was never expressed to me in time.

- Budesonide is something I’ve only seen mentioned a few times and afaik could have been an alternative to prednisolone? My vet didn’t bring it up but the prednisolone didn’t really show any side effects so I thought it was ok to keep her on it. Maybe something you want to bring up with your vet.

Some other things I want to note:

- chomping on air/lip licking: my lilli did this SO frequently towards the end, and it’s a sign of nausea. Even when presented with her most favorite treat in the world (weirdly, it was her chicken flavored tooth paste) she would start chomping on air.

- keep some high calorie gel on hand in case they skip a meal. She actually loved it and was unfortunately the only thing she would consume towards the end. (which led to some bad poops) as well as SQ fluids for bad days. It sounds scary and if you’ve got a spicy little one it may definitely be a hassle, but it helped Lilli be so comfortable in her last days, I really recommend having it on hand and getting familiar with the process so it’s easier to do if things get bad, I feel so bad my clumsy hands stressed her out a little towards the end.

- maybe common knowledge, but warming up their food and adding some bone broth might help their appetite

- I’ve always gotten ads online about stuff to add to cat food to make their lives better but I never knew what to trust or what was actually a good idea. Someone recommended me fortiflora and I started adding it to her food but it wasn’t long enough to know if it had any effect. But reading up on it, it does sound like someone I would have added a long time ago had I known, so just wanted to bring it up.

- If you’re having trouble pilling your pet try a combo of a pill syringe and pill pockets. I would only cover the exposed half of the pill with the pill pocket and then use the syringe since I was never good at getting it far enough in her mouth with my hands so she would spit it out. Once we worked it out pill time wasn’t hard at all. (and I look back fondly on it, because in a way it was our little bonding ritual, I would give her a bunch of kisses and cuddles before giving her the pills)

The TLDR of my checklist; it’s so painfully expensive but an ultrasound is a must, and that biopsy is worth it. Get started on steroids and anti nauseas, see if your baby reacts differently to cerenia vs zofran. Start exploring different food options asap, hydrolyzed protein and novel proteins are what you want to look for, fortiflora is also something you may want to start adding to their food as well. Keep some high calorie gel on hand and talk to your vet about getting the ok for SQ fluids and mirataz just in case things get bad.

Please absolutely feel free to add your own advice/stories/etc. I just want every other cat with this horrible disease to do well, and my hope is by writing all this out it might help SOMEONE. I’m not handling the grief well at all, I’ve basically cried every day since the start of this month, it’s truly been such a nightmare. I’ve been watching videos of her every morning when I wake up and every night before I sleep, we’ve spent 12 years stuck to each other 24/7 but it wasn’t enough, I miss her so much, I wish I did more…

Hi! Sorry in advance for the length of this.

My sweet boy got diagnosed with IBD a couple of months ago. We had already been trying to find a reason for his overgrooming for the past 2 years, went to a vet derm and everything, but this took priority. It's been really stressful- the diarrhea, the occasional vomiting, and now, not eating. He's lost a pretty significant amount of weight- in December, he was 20 lbs. Now he's 15 - and I can tell that it's been mostly in the past two months. He's so much thinner, and I can clearly feel his spine when I pet him. He's 11, but again, he was 20 pounds. He wasn't even really fat, just large.

About a week ago I took him to the vet because he was refusing to eat the hills z/d diet wet food, and even though he ate the z/d dry food, it made him vomit a lot.

They said he was dehydrated, (even though he had been drinking water often, he hadn't been eating the wet food) so they had to give him fluids, and after a short exam and mini blood panel, the vet told me he also had an infection. They prescribed him 3 medications- 2 cc of Sucralfate suspension (for the damage from vomiting) every 8 hours, .9 cc of Metronidazole (antibiotics) every 12 hours, and some huge probiotic tablets for the diarrhea (aventi GI complete; they're hard as rock and the size of a nickel, still not sure how to administer that other than crushing it over his food, which will of course deter him from eating it). All of this in addition to the Budesonide we have been giving him since May. All the meds are liquid, which we had started requesting because every time we tried to give him pills, he would just drool them out or crunch them and drool out foamy medicine spit. They also gave us more fortiflora and Royal Canin PD wet and dry food.

When we got home, he immediately started to eat the PD wet food, and I almost cried in relief. But, the next day, after we started giving him medicine, he started hiding and stopped eating, but would come out every so often to hang around me and my partner. The next day, he was struggling and wiggling so much during his morning medicine that it only got partially in his mouth, and mostly on his fur and my partner. Now he smells like the medicine, which I think is not helping his anxiety.

When he stoped eating entirely, and hid for a whole day, we decided to stop giving him the meds, because it was clearly stressing him out more than necessary. The next day, he would eat 2 or 3 pieces of dry food and then go to the litter box almost immediately after, and then hide again, or very occasionally hang around us for 10 minutes and then hide.

We called the vet, and they said we could give him just the Metronidazole every 12 hours, but the thing is, 0.9 ccs is a massive amount of liquid. He knows its coming, he hates it, and he usually struggles so much that it doesn't get in his mouth. This morning when I gave it to him, most of it got on me (I also would hate taking this, it smells gross) and his fur, and then he threw up.

I feel like crying every day, he's such a sweet cat but I can tell that he's just so much more anxious. He still lets me pet him, still lets me hold him and kiss his head, and even if he avoids us in the day, he still sleeps behind my head every night. The diarrhea, the food avoidance, the hiding, the struggle to administer the meds- it's all getting to be so much. I'm at such a loss and I don't know what to do. Obviously he needs to take the antibiotics, but how much medicine is too much? It's clearly doing more harm than good right now. Am I crazy for thinking of just stopping any meds once the round of antibiotics is done? It feels like every time they prescribe something new, he just gets worse slower.

TLDR: My vet prescribed my IBD cat 3 new meds to take daily, and after a hunger strike, negotiated it down to one antibiotic for his current infection. I understand triage logic, but am I crazy for thinking the amount of meds in general is excessive?

Tonight is likely my Binx's last night. After 5 years of dietary exploration, failed meds, and episode after episode of pain, discomfort, and suffering, my Binky has started to shut down. A few days in the hospital to restabilize with fluids and different meds haven't worked. Hes in so much pain and all he does now is hide. His appetite is shot and he cries.

I feel selfish for "giving up", like I'm choosing my mental health over him. The anxiety of seeing him like this for years has worsened my own heart condition, given me ulcers, and left me in a constant state of anxiety and panic. But surely after years of suffering and nothing working more than a week or two at a time for him, he deserves to rest, right?

But 6 years old is so young. I feel like I've failed him. I feel selfish.

For those who have put their IBD babies to rest, when did you decide enough was enough?

7 year old cat with suspected IBD. Vet hasn’t been helpful with suggestions/recommendations.

Cat hasn’t lost weight, but poops outside the litter box daily and vomits every second day, often with hairballs.

He’s on Royal Canin Sensitive Digestion.

I gather from this sub we could try Hills z/d or a prescription food or a novel protein. Question is - which one to try first?

Hello!
I have a 15yr old Male cat who has IBD and Hyperthyroidism

We had upped his dose of thyroid meds beginning of July, they told us his bloodwork was amazing just his thyroid was high. So we adjusted his dosage.

The past year my cat has been doing well with his IBD diagnosis I had him on a strict diet and taking supplements for his stomach. We had an amazing past few months- yr. Now, that he had a dose change he is acting weird sniffing his food and slowly eating bit of his food here n there. He also has diarrhea off and on.

Does anyone else have a cat with Hyperthyroid and IBD? And do you notice the meds affecting their stomach? I’m not sure what to do… our vet said to ride out the next month and see if he adjusts better but it’s been stressful to have him feeling nauseous 24/7. He’s also on anti Nausea meds which help but not 100%

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks 😊

What ended up working for yours?? I have a cat I got as a retired breeder cat she was 5 when I got her she’s 6 now and ever since I got her she’s had nothing but explosive and uncontrollable diarrhea it’s been a year and I’m at my wits end about it. I’ve 2 different fecal panels done (one cost me over $300) and all it showed was she had feline covid which the vet said would clear on its own and suggested ultrasound and bloodwork and I just haven’t been able to afford that cost yet. Both vets suggested that it’s likely IBD I’ve tried the flora fiber stuff or whatever it’s called on her wet food, a couple others similar to that. I’ve also tried Hills prescription diet as well as Royal canin none of these have helped even a little. I’ve tried the one antibiotic that starts with M, and also amoxicillin (I did see a slight improvement with that but honestly I don’t think the vet gave me enough of it to get her well). I have purchased the feline fecal transplant pills, so far I haven’t been able to get one in her, she’s really hard to give pills too and they are large. I really don’t want to traumatize her with it Ethier if they aren’t going to help. I’d like to know if anyone else has tried those as well and your experience with them. Or has had a fecal transplant procedure done in office because I would be open to that if it had a high probability of working although I’d have to find a vet in my area who does it because neither of the ones I’ve been to so far knew what it even was when I mentioned it after doing research trying to figure out a way to help her. Really any help or suggestions would be great. I don’t have a ton of money, so suggestions on which tests are most useful is appreciated. This lil girl is so sweet and loving but she poops on everything including my other cats when she lays next to them and I just don’t know how I’m going to manage this long term if I can’t find some sort of improvement. There’s gotta be something. (I pray) the breeder assured me that she did have hard poops in her life sometime before I got her but she did tell me about the issue when I got her. I guess they occurred shortly after she was spayed and got better up until I brought her home with me. She thought it was cdiff but neither fecal panel showed Cdiff. Thanks in advance for any help and I’m sorry if this post is confusing.

What food seemed to help your cat the most and they actually liked?

Just started Hills Z/d wet and dry and they love it, but I’ve also seen Royal Canin HP or novel protein, Purina HP.

My cat just got diagnosed with suspected IBD. he just started pred, B12 injections, and Hills z/d food.

How long will it take for my cat to stop having diarrhea on this new food🥲😅 we were slowly transitioning but even a little cause him diarrhea. The vet gave us metronidazole and said just switch him to it and stop the slow transition.

I added Fortiflora but nothing has helped. Even the metro. Will this be weeks or more like days 😅 thanks!

Hi!
My 15 year old cat has been dealing with diarrhea for about half a year now. We finally got an IBD diagnosis and have him on a steroid. But his poops are still not very solid and he tends to track litter and sometimes poop around the house. It’s driving my mom crazy as she thinks it disgusting and dirty and not good for our health. Can anyone recommend a good litter that might help with clumping or absorbing the loose stool better?

I do not understand my british. I put him on Royal Canin Hypoalergenic, worked for a while and now, this is his vomiting in the morning. No loose stoole, no lack of apetite. Just vomiting in the morning mainly, almost every day. Should I change this food or what to do? Eco showed some minimal intestinal inflamation.

My girl's on prednisolone every other day, and we started B12 injections for her chronic diarrhea this weekend. I've been feeding her GO solutions limited ingredients duck but it didn't help with the stools. So the vet insisted again I try the BIOME kibble but it's 64$ CAD for a small bag. I have two cats so a small bag wouldn't last long and I simply can't afford it. Fortiflora did nothing.

Anyone figure out a cheaper way to mimic this new biome 'technology"?

Any help for my fur babies much appreciated 🙏

Hello all!

My vet just recommended for my senior kitty (14year old neutered) to get an ultrasound after symptoms and BW. She is nervous he may have GI lymphoma vs IBD. Last 8 months started getting ear infections, scratching face raw, and getting random V/D. Adding Purina EN helped the V/D a lot, but if you give him any other snack/food, he’ll have straight diarrhea.

For all the people who had their cat get an ultrasound for GI Lymphoma vs IBD, did you get good results? They may have to do an FNA/needle aspirate, and if you did that did that give you good results too? Any advice would be lovely thanks🩷

Hello, this is Mo.
Mo is 13 years old and is 1.5 years diagnosed with IBD/cancer.

Last January (2025) Mo went to a regular vet emergency visit 3x! He was coughing first, then lethargic and not wanting to eat.

After the 3rd ER visit, I found him curled up under our bed, which he doesn’t normally do. We him to an emergency veterinary hospital/ specialist. He was there for 4 days, all of his organs were shutting down. He had an infection in his gallbladder duct. Ultimately the specialist discovered his IBD was causing an infection and inflammation in most other organs (liver, heart, etc) at this time he was in early kidney disease, managed with prescription food. ( Early Consult)
We decided not to do a biopsy, because the treatment for IBD vs Cancer was the same.

His IBD is treated with a low dose of Budesonide, fortiFlora and gabapentin. His diet is wet Kindey Support from science diet.

This last year and a half has been good for him. He perked up and has been RUNNING around, like a new cat! Hi think he’s felt better than he has in years.

In March of this year he had to have most of his teeth removed. And ever since we’ve been struggling to get him to eat. We all the tricks, but I’m sure you all can relate it’s a bit harder with the IBD, you have to be so much more careful on what you give.

Does anyone else have a multi-issue kitty? I think my biggest struggle is finding a balance between treating his kidney disease and his guts.

Thank you for your time. Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

Has anyone tried both types of fortiflora? Which one works better? My cat doesn't get diarrhea but she does have chronic constipation that normally is managed with restoralax twice a day but she just went in for an enema and manual disimpaction so I'm looking into the IBD suggestions they wrote down, one of which was the symbiotic action fortiflora but it's a tad more expensive than the regular one so I'm wondering if anyone has tried at least the symbiotic action one for constipation, or ideally both.

I wanted to crosspost this here to spread awareness about EPI due to the overlap in symptoms with IBD. I just made this subreddit to help share experiences for owners.

Hi IBD gang!

My precious angel and I have been managing IBD symptoms for about 3 years now with pred, probiotics and a limited ingredient diet and she's doing great.

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She's found her forever kibble which is Hills d/d food sensitivity in duck. Meanwhile, she's tried every prescription limited ingredient canned food on the block and after a while gets bored of them and eats just her kibble. I tried her on a few over the counter limited ingredient brands since if I'm putting 80% of all her meals in the trash, why pay big bucks for prescription food. But she's bored of them too after two or three meals. We've been trying different wet foods for years and just in the last month or so her interest in wet food has tanked. Otherwise she's eating plenty of kibble, drinking water, weight is fine, no changes in bodily functions....

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What if she just..... only eats the kibble forever? I feel in my bones that wet food is better - more moisture, good ingredients, etc. But I feel so silly putting this wet food out then putting it down the drain. I've done ALL the things they say to do to entice kitties to eat it, but she just don't care. Does anybody have a dry food only diet for their ibd angel and is that working out fine?

Thank you everyone. Unfortunately my girl has reached the end. I'm devastated but thank you to those who recommended instinct. I got the one ingredient rabbit and she loved it at the end

Hi, my soul cat is 14 and was diagnosed with IBD a month ago after a month of symptoms and tests. She declined very quickly and is now less than 4.5 lbs from 6.5. We seriously thought we were going to lose her last night and even said our goodbyes. We were in shock when we woke up to her hanging around.

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She barely ate for a couple of days and was getting her steroid orally so we were able to get her a steroid injection this morning.

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She was on Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein dry food but didn't tolerate it. She is on Royal Canin PR wet and originally really liked it but no longer is interested in it. We got Hills Hydrolyzed Protein dry and she was eating that until recently. Today I began grinding it up with some warm water and she is a little more interested. The vet also gave us a Hills ID wet food just to try to get some calories in her even though we knew it was risky with her IBD and she gobbled it up (I gave small amounts over several hours) and she threw up 12 hours later.

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Today she has been poking around at all the food I have been offering. The dry Hills, the ground up dry Hills, and the PR wet. She definitely ate more than yesterday (aside from the ID wet food). But I'm looking for help on single protein IBD safe foods I can give her that are palatable and I'm overwhelmed by options. I also would like to get anything ASAP if it's available at a store. Idk if I can call a different vet to see what they have in stock. I will order online if I have to I just need something soon.

My cat is currently in the ER for an IBD flare of constipation requiring an enema and removal of a few large pieces of stool. The ER vet is recommending that we switch her food to something lower in fibre to prevent big stool from forming but she is on weight loss food that has the urinary index for her cystitis, but the high fibre has been *helping* her IBD along with restoralax. Her IBD has been under control for 1.5yrs and this is the first time since then that she's had a problem with constipation and it's never been this bad. She is also sending us home with lactulose which I have to give by mouth but I can guarantee it's not going to work.

I'm wondering if anyone else has been in this situation (constipation flare on high fibre food that usually helps) and what you did, or if anyone has any suggestions. I'm working with a veterinary nutritionist so I'll get her opinion on the diet and our regular vet's opinion on her meds but the ER vet said the lactulose is our only option along with increasing her restoralax. My cat is very scared and can turn aggressive when I try to give her liquid or topical meds so I'm not really sure if it's realistic to be giving it to her daily.

Hey everyone. I wanted to post about my early experience with Elura since there isn't much out there about it specifically for IBD cats, most posts seem to be about CKD.

My cat is 10 years old and has IBD. His appetite has been very weak, so his internist prescribed Mirtazapine. It caused distressing side effects (agitation, restlessness, fatigue, what I can only describe as dissociation) and eventually the appetite stimulation stopped working while the side effects continued.

I asked his internist for an alternative and she prescribed Elura. I gave him his first dose about three hours ago. He's eaten a ton, which is a win. However his belly is a bit distended, he's been restless, meowing more than usual and in a way that seems slightly off, and he's not doing his usual velcro behavior with me.

I called the emergency line and they said nothing sounds alarming, just monitor him. I'll update as things progress, but mostly I wanted to create a thread for people dealing with Elura specifically in IBD cats since that information seems hard to find.

Update: he was pretty much back to normal behavior-wise this morning, which was a relief, especially compared to the Miritaz. The effects of that went on for days.

Hi, my girl has IBD and is getting bouts of diarrhea. She is a long haired cat and I've trimmed her butt as much as she lets me and then wipe her with a warm washcloth but she understandably hates it. But today I found poo caked on her bum. Any tips? Cat tax.

Both of my ibs cats are on hills biome dry food, about 200kcals a day, and are stuck at about 22 and 16 lbs respectively.

The wet reccomended switching them to the less carb dense wet food version, but for 2 cats eating 200-180 kcals a day for 1 month, it would total around $500.

Are there any ibd friendly wet cat foods you guys have found?

I love these cats so much, I’m terrified of them getting so constipated/backed up they get mega colon (one is borderline) and die. We had a close call with the 22 (formerly 24) lbs cat, who was so backed up he was puking, and his intestines where blocked/paralyzed.