Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Feline Ibs

Question:
 My 8 year old cat Benny has been diagnosed with feline IBS by the vet.  He has a constantly runny stool which is mucus filled and sometimes bloody.  He is only using the litter box about 75% of the time now when he defecates.  He only weighs about 8 lbs, and cries when he goes to the bathroom.  He has been to multiple vets, and over a thousand dollars later, the last vet diagnosed him with feline IBS and gave me some medicine, which did nothing, and some prescription food, which did nothing.  He has been on a lamb and rice diet for years.  He does not use clumping litter.

Answer:
If he actually has inflammatory bowel disease, then he probably needs medication. What kind were you given and how long a trial was the cat on? But usually food allergies are ruled out before going to medicines. After all, why put an animal on a lifetime of medication if all you need to do is change their food! What prescription food was tried? For how long? When you say he's been on lamb and rice food that doesn't help; for example most commercial lamb and rice diets (especially the dry foods) also have other meats and grains, if you read the fine print. Have you tried a prescription hypoallergenic diet (they are usually something like venison or duck and rice)? Also, wet foods are much easier on their systems, as they don't have as many chemical additives,  if in fact they are allergic to something like the dyes or preservatives rather than the proteins.  I had one old cat that had bloody stools on virtually any kind of dry food, who did better on wet food and whose problem cleared up entirely once switched to a home-made diet based on beef & quinoa. My cat Farley used to have a problem with bloody stools.  The vet recommended feeding him half his regular store bought food and half prescription Science Diet Feline CD you buy from the vet.  He said if that didn't clear it up to try feeding entirely Feline CD.  The half and half worked wonders for him and he only occasionally has a bloody stool (less bloody than they used to be), but no more drips of blood on the carpet post-defecation.