[isack]

Does anyone know if cat can have irritable bowel syndrom? My cat was throwing up, became a very picky eater and has lost quite a bit of weight. He often has a noisy stomach with loud gurgling sounds and has made him a very timit eater. He eats small amounts of wet food and I wonder what could be wrong. I have made several trips to the vet, x-rays, antibiotics but this has left the vet puzzled.
Has anyone one ever experienced this with their cat? Any help would be appreciated. Issac:confused:

[bushg]

The only cat I ever saw like that was at a rescue, that use dto help me with some of the starys I picked up. She was quiet old and there were 2 little volunteer ladies that took care of her. You could stand beside and her her stomach and the gassy odor was well phew...
Hopefully someone will come along and give you an answer. Your cat is lucky to have such a caring owner. Please check back in someone may have an answer/suggestion for you.

[morgaine300]

Absolutely a cat can have IBD! I know lots of people who have such cats. I've not personally had one, and I don't know all the symptoms, but I know a little about it just from reading what other people have written about it. I don't know about all that gurgling and such, but throwing up is a symptom. Usually there's problems with diarrhea and that sort of thing. Without the diarrhea, I'm not sure if that could be IBD.

A big culprit can be food. If food is causing him problems, that might be why he doesn't want to eat. If you think that might be what it is, I would suggest first and foremost a strict diet. This means all canned/moist food. ABSOLUTELY NO GRAINS! You also might stick to just things like poultry, duck, lamb -- no beef or seafood. You must read labels carefully to find foods like this, and they can be difficult to find, though Petsmart does carry some. (If you want suggestions, you can PM and I'll look some up.)

If it's IBD or any other digestive tract problem, this should help but may not solve it. I know a lady who has a fair amount of knowledge about it -- she's busy so I don't just want to go bothering her with it all the time, but there is a Yahoo!Group for IBD and I believe she might even be on there.

But of course, it could be something else. (Although the food I described is a good, appropriate way to feed any cat anyway.) Did your vet do blood work? Whenever there's a problem, blood work and a urinalysis should be fairly routine. Throwing up, losing weight, losing appetite -- those could be signs of all kinds of things, and lab work should have been done. If this hasn't been done, get it done.

An important issue is making sure he keeps eating. And a little food is not enough. Cats can have serious problems if they don't eat, and apparently he's been eating little enough to lose weight. If he's not eating enough, let him have what he wants. Baby food is actually a good option (meat choices with NO onion product), though it doesn't have the proper supplements for a cat and is not a permanent solution, but will help get some food in him until you can figure out what's wrong. You might also see if he'll eat any regular human meat, like some chicken.

[morgaine300]

Here's something I just found:

The most common signs of inflammatory bowel disease in both cats and dogs are diarrhea and vomiting. The signs may vary depending upon the portion of the gastrointestinal involved, i.e., vomiting is more common when the stomach and upper portion of the small intestine are involved and diarrhea is more common when the colon is involved. There is an increase in the frequency of defecation, but less stool produced each time. There is often increased mucous or some blood in the stool. Sometimes stools become loose. Many times the diarrhea and vomiting may be intermittent (comes and goes). If severe, some animals become depressed, will not eat, have a fever and lose weight.

The thing that caught my attention is the upper intestines and stomach more likely cause the vomiting. So maybe lack of diarrhea doesn't mean anything. Also it specifically mentions not eating and weight loss. So it does kind of fit. It also said for IBD that a blood chemistry would come out normal. (Still might not hurt to do it, because it would be good to eliminate other things that may need attention.)

Sometimes vets give steroids for this. Please try to avoid that at all costs. Steroids are nasty, especially for cats. I'd do food trials first (and you must be patient), and if steroids are necessary, there are some that aren't as nasty as things like prednisone.

[tacointhesun]

I have a cat with the identical problem noisy stomach and projectile vomiting, very liquid like the cat drank too much water, I have been to two vets, to no avail. One of the vets did recommend changing the diet to a prescription food, only available through the vet. $$$.

[tayl9904]

My cat is 13, for the past 5 months she has desided she doesn't like "Iams indoor formula" dry food and began losing weight but I didn't actually notice until I started to feel the bones in her spine were becoming more noticeable when I'd pet her. This scared me so the vet suggested I try wet food, I've found one specific flavor she likes "ocean fish" and she will not eat anything else I've tried so far. So now its toward the end of the five months and I brought her back to the vet because she is skinny all over with a pot belly (only 5.5lbs/at her biggest she was 7lbs so she's naturally small but still she had lost weight in this time frame). The vet took an x-ray and said she looks fine aside from some fluid build up in one area of her belly. This worried me but he said he didn't think it was serious at thiq point but prescribed Prednisone for 20 days. If she didn't gain weight by then he said he'd try blood tests. I'm scarred to death for my cat :( last night was only day 2 of prednisone and she became very lethargic, salivated a bit, stayed under the table and wouldn't eat or drink and was breathing hard. This morning she ate a little bit of her ocean fish wet food and drank a lot of water. She's currently lying next to me breathing normal but I still can't help but dred what's actually wrong and whether the steroid is a good idea.

[sjoh1013]

Oh, sorry to hear of your ill cats. Cats suffer terribly from kidney problems which can cause all of these symptoms and is very common, especially in older cats, see e.g. http://www.felinecrf.org/symptoms.htm. This can only be diagnosed with a blood test.

[minxycat]

My cat had all of these symptoms as well. The vet tried everything and was ready to "pull the plug" on her. I did some internet research and discovered that cats with chronic vomiting are likely to have a gut bacteria called, hyliocobacter pylori. Broccoli sprouts contain sulforaphane which destroys this bacteria. You need to sprout broccoli seeds (buy online) and mash the 3 day old sprouts into the cat's food. This will stop the vomiting within a week. If you stop the sprouts the vomiting will return.

[minxycat]

Please try broccoli sprouts mashed up in your cat's food. It will destroy the bacteria in her stomach that is causing her to vomit. Read my post below for more info.

[Calico17]

My vet gave a Probiotic called Pro Gut Plus for my cat who has inflammatory bowel disease. This will provide the good bacteria for her gut. You can also buy similar products at pet stores. My pet store suggested Mc Intosh Proline Digestaid and The Missing Link.