07/16 - IBD help for Civie Brother

[Wendy&Neko]

Did the ER hospital send a summary to your vet? That's common practice. My vet was willing to consult about things that happened at a specialty clinic.

How long has Carmelo been on pred? And yes, typically there is a taper period.

 

[Kobe (Dean and Lesley)]

Did the ER hospital send a summary to your vet?

If they didn't already, they would. They have in the past.

My vet was willing to consult about things that happened at a specialty clinic.

I was told no consult without the cat.

How long has Carmelo been on pred? And yes, typically there is a taper period.

10 days including hospital days. We have 11 pills left out of 20. We could do half of his current 5mg dose for X days and then every other day until gone...

Kobe only got 10 prednisolone pills.

 

[Kobe (Dean and Lesley)]

Did the ER hospital send a summary to your vet? That's common practice. My vet was willing to consult about things that happened at a specialty clinic.

The specialist that Carmelo saw almost two weeks ago has become helpful. He's doing great on the Prednisolone, BG a little elevated but not bad. You can see in his sheet. I check every couple of days so we will know if it starts going up. Appetite is good. He's putting weight back on. He's talking to us again. Specialist said we could decrease Prednisolone by 25%. So he's getting about 3/4 of a 5 mg tablet. We have 0.5 mg tiny tablets of Prednisolone Budesonide that we ordered for him before he went to the hospital. So we have those on deck if the Prednisolone raises BG to much.

Thank you for sharing all of your experience and hope with us!

 

[Kobe (Dean and Lesley)]

Carmelo still doing well on 3.75 mg of Prednisolone daily. Good consistent appetite. Got his BG today at 79. We just get to taper his Prednisolone off nice and slow. Just good calm news today.

Edit: just saw we are on page two. Next update I'll make a new post and link this one. Thanks everyone!

 

[Si am cat mom]

We got Carmelo back from the hospital this morning. The hospital vet gave us a prescription for Hill's zd. He was eating the zd at the hospital. He has had a few bites of the zd, but he seems more interested in Kobe's low carb duck from Rawz. I saw him sneak a drink of water from the fountain. I am at a loss for what to do about feeding him.

Just to be clear, Carmelo is not diabetic. The vets at the hospital are saying that he needs to be on a prescription diet. The protein in Hill's zd is hydrolyzed. We suspected that Carmelo was reacting poorly to certain ingredients in food (we suspected brewer's yeast and chicken???). So on one hand, it would make sense to feed the hydrolyzed protein.

But from this forum it is my understanding that many of the prescription diets aren't great. The carb content is concerning. It seems counterintuitive to feed a cat with an inflamed digestive tract a bunch of inflamatory carbs. the info I have seen from the IBD support crew does not seem enthusiastic about the prescription diets. It seems like raw or novel proteins???

We just got Rabbit and Duck from Rawz. He and Kobe love it.

What I am seeing right now is that Carmelo is going to his surefeeder, finding the prescription Hill's zd (carb city) and turning his nose up at it. Then he goes to Kobe's feeder (which he can't get into) and is actively trying to break into it to get the low carb Rawz Duck and Duck Liver.

I feel like I am in Bizzaro Land. Why am I not feeding my cat the duck??? Did the vets at the hospital brainwash me? Did I get hit by the Gaslight Express???

I need a REALITY CHECK. Please help!

@Wendy&Neko
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@JoM

The vet might have been trying a food trial to rule out allergies vs IBD. Hydrolized protein diets are just manipulated to try and sneak past your cats immune system so they shouldn't trigger an allergic reaction. A pet that still has issues might need a novel protein. I'd say this might not have been the best time to try and pull a fast one on your cat but....I see what they thought they were " thinking " - if that makes sense