[Yasmeen]

My vet suspects that Ra has got irritable Bowel disease as he keeps throwing up. It peaked about one month ago when the vomitting steadily increased from once per day to 3 times My poor baby was vomitting so much - there was nothing left in his tummy and he was throwing up clear frothy fluids. We did blood tests and booked him in for an Ultrasound. The day of the procedure I woke at 4am to find him vomitting clear liquid with traces of blood flecks. It was at this point in time that I then bundled him up and raced him down to the Vet ER and had him admitted early. Fortunately - the vet couldn't find any internal bleeding but they admitted him for observation anyway as his Ultrasound was still to be done later that day.

The ultrasound was inconclusive - fortunately ruling out all the bad stuff like Lymphoma's and bowel blocakages etc. The feline gastrointestinal specialist and Ra's vet (another feline specialist) reviewed his entire medical history and then found that he'd had at least one bout of vomitting almost every year since he was 1. Given that, the fact that he'd been on Royal Canin prescription Obesity control and dipping into the kitten food when mummy wasn't looking - the vets decided a food trial was the best way to go instead of cutting him open and taking biopsies of his gut and other organs. The food trial - 100% Royal Canin Sensitivity control wet and dry foods with NO access to anything else - was to continue for about 2 months before we decided it's success. On the whole - the sensitivity control has helped greatly but Ra is still throwing up a few times per week despite now having no access to anything else. I have now started trying to cut off his food access by 10pm latest every night. Having done this - I've found a marked improvement in his ability to sleep through the night without vomittimg. Perhaps that's another thing I should mention - Ra only really throws up once he's been asleep for a few hours! It's so weird, we go to bed at 22:30 together and like clockwork about 4 hrs into the night he wakes with Nausea and it's a struggle for me to get him off the bed in time before he throws up all over my blankets.

I'm now keeping a log book of his vomiting and will review with the vet again soon. We're already having weekly checkups as it is. I just want to know if any of you have experiences with something similar. Ra just turned 11 at the end of August and until this year never woke up vomitting ever before. This phenomenon started in May before his little brother Dante arrived home with us. So it certainly wasn't kitten stress related.

I'm at my wits end - I really don't want to have him cut open and "sampled" unless I'm sure we've tried everything else. The vet says he can only definately prove Irritable Bowel Disease with a gut biospy and then we could start treating him with steriods. I trust my vet - there's no question - I just don't like the idea of Ra having to go through potentially unnecessary surgery. Sorry for the long post but detail was required...

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[oriental cats]

if the diet is working to control the symptoms I would go with that and see what happens, I would also feed him dinner and then take away his food several hours before bed, but does he vomit after sleeping in the day? IBS is seeming to become more common in cats?
do cats suffer from gastric reflux?

[Yasmeen]

It's most commonly after sleeping, rarely whilst he's up and about. I started to think it could be muscular as well - like when he's fully relaxed his stomach valves fail to keep the digested food in the tummy and it spills out into other areas that cause irritation and then cause the vomiting. I will definately stay on the diet. We had a good night last night - no vomitting at all!

Haven't heard about gastric reflux in cats but they seem to be able to get everything we can - like asthma! So I expect it's possible too...

[burmeselover]

Is your vet happy to do a medication trial where you give him the medication to treat IBS and see if it works? That would avoid a surgical biopsy.
Steroids aren't dangerous (I'm a Vet Nurse) when used correctly. Just recently my male cat Jasper was on a course of steroids for a skin problem with no issues.

[kitkat_105]

Misty has what we assume is IBS. She cannot tolerate canned food, raw meat or most dry foods without having diarrhoea (often with blood in it) or vomiting. It can also be exacerbated if she is stressed. She also had a lot of weight loss, was irritable and moody. We couldn't touch her stomach even to pick her up it hurt so much. It took about 6 months to eliminate these problems for her.

We tried antibiotics, and many vet trips (which increased stress). First we tried Hills Science Sensitive stomach and that worked for a while but even that is too strong for her. Before deciding on radical surgery, we changed her exclusively to Hills Science Z/D (low allergen) dry food which we feed her now. She has had no vomiting, no diarrhoea and is a generally happier and more playful cat. She turns 12 in January and acts more like a 2 year old. The best part is, Misty who we always thought was fussy and being cheeky with food, now loves her biscuits and will scream for them!

Apparently there is also another Hills prescription diet that has even less allergens that Z/D, but we don't seem to need it yet.

I hope you can get to the bottom of this for Ra, there is nothing worse than a kitty with a sore tummy.

[maneki neko]

I too was going to suggest a trial of steroid without a biopsy. Lotus has taken budesonide for inflammatory bowel disease for the last four years, having been diagnosed by biopsy taken during surgery for a colopexy. I'm told that cats tolerate steroids well and budesonide has fewer harmful side effects than prednisolone. We used to restrict Lotus to a z/d diet, but found that the critical factor was the medication and now feed her a varied diet. When we mentioned this to her vet, he told us about some research that suggested in dogs at least IBD might be caused by an allergy to microorganisms in the gut.

[Yasmeen]

Hi all,
Thanks so much for the feedback and sharing of experiences. My vet doesn't want to start trying out the steriods on Ra before knowing for sure if it's IBS or not because he's concerned that they'd mask the problem/symptoms if it did actually happen to be something else. Hard to explain.

It's interesting that the IBS symtoms are so mild in Ra in comparison Misty for example. His tummy has never been sore to the touch and he rarely ever has diarrhea. He's on Royal Canin Sensitivity control which he loves to eat now but every couple of days he's vomitting in the middle of his sleep.

A friend of mine suggested seeing a holistic vet...anyone tried that for this particular illness?

Thanks for the moral support...

Yasmeen

[Avalon]

Hi Yasmeen
Just caught up with this post, I am so sorry Ra is having further probs, you have had a tough week with Dante and this. I cant offer any advice because I havent come accross this fingers crossed I dont. So lots of for Ra
and big hugs for you keep us posted on his progress with his probs

Hugs
Cherie