Question:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I was talking to a friend today and she is worried about one of her cats. She took him to the vet  because he had been alternately refusing food and being sick, and one of the things they did was an x ray. They found this thickening and have booked him in for surgery this week for a biopsy to find out if it is IBS or something else. She is going nuts with worry and will go see the vet to ask more questions, but in the mean time I thought I would ask here.

I have had two cats who were unable to eat ordinary cat food without it causing them to be unwell.  Their names were Gemma and Thalia. My vet, husband and I decided that the best first course of treatment for them was a prescription diet called here in the UK "Sensitvity Control" and oral Prednisolone daily.  From time to time it was thought necessary to give both girls tiny doses of an antacid. For years, this treatment was the perfect answer to Gemma’s and Thalia’s problem which was recorded as IBS. Several years after starting this treatment, Gemma and Thalia began to rapidly lose weight.  As both were at that time getting on in years, my husband and I decided to not agree to their vet putting them through surgery in order to try to find out why this might be.   Gemma had a good quality of life for many months after we decided to not put her through surgery and Thalia had longer than that.  Thus my husband and I were able to think that by not putting them through exploratory surgery, we had chosen the right course of action. Sheenah

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I was talking to a friend today and she is worried about one of her cats. She took him to the vet  because he had been alternately refusing food and being sick, and one of the things they did was an x ray. They found this thickening and have booked him in for surgery this week for a biopsy to find out if it is IBS or something else. She is going nuts with worry and will go see the vet to ask more questions, but in the mean time I thought I would ask here. What else may it be? She is worried that the surgery is invasive and may cause more problems. If it is likely to be IBS what would be the usual treatment? If it is a change of diet, then surely it would make sense to try that for a while first? The vet did not mention cancer, but that is a possibility that scares her. This is not a question of cost, she would spend her last penny on this cat ( and he is insured), but she was in such a state of shock she didn’t ask all she needed to. (It is also a holiday here and the practice is closed). Any knowledgable advice and calming purrs requested please.

The other thing I know of is Not Good, so here are purrs that it turns out to be IBD/S.  It would be better by far.

Response:

Hi, I was talking to a friend today and she is worried about one of her cats. She took him to the vet  because he had been alternately refusing food and being sick, and one of the things they did was an x ray. They found this thickening and have booked him in for surgery this week for a biopsy to find out if it is IBS or something else.

Find out if the biopsy is "open" or "minimally invasive". The latter is also called endoscopic.   Minimally invasive biopsies do involve anesthesia, but no incision. Depending on the area being examined and the instruments and training available, a flexible instrument is inserted either down the throat or the anus, and threaded through the patient. It has a fiber-optic viewing system, so the examiner can see as well as in an open biopsy, and also has flexible cutting tools so small biopsy specimens can be taken. The only real recovery time is from the anesthesia. There’s even a new technique used in humans that won’t take biopsies, but will give a complete inspection from one end of the digestive system to the other. I’m not sure if it’s available or feasible for cats. It involves swallowing what might look like a capsule, but is actually a disposable video camera and miniaturized radio transmitter, which sends images to receivers temporarily strapped to the body. With people, they walk around with this for a day or two; I don’t know if either the capsule is too large for a cat to swallow, and if the receivers can be put either on a sedated cat or in a manner that the cat won’t fight effectively. Another minimally invasive technique would be CT scanning, invasive only that a contrast dye might be injected. This won’t, of course, give a biopsy. She is going nuts with worry and will go see the vet to ask more questions, but in the mean time I thought I would ask here. What else may it be? She is worried that the surgery is invasive and may cause more problems. If it is likely to be IBS what would be the usual treatment?

Lots of possibilities, and it’s hard even to guess without a technical description of the X-ray.  Was the X-ray done with contrast medium (e.g., barium)?  Is there a description of where the thickening was noticed? If it is a change of diet, then surely it would make sense to try that for a while first?

In human medicine, there are some diseases along these lines that may involve eliminating certain things from the diet, such as gluten or lactose. An analysis of a bowel movement, or even a 24 hour sample, might be important in these diseases, of the general class of malabsorption syndromes (e.g., sprue). Again in two-legged people, one of the signs of malabsorption is noticeable fat (when the stool is in water), and typically a noticeably bad smell. Many of the conditions that come to mind, however, need drug treatment, which might be an occasional course or long-term. A variety of conditions can fall under the loose description of inflammatory bowel disease. The vet did not mention cancer, but that is a possibility that scares her.

The good news is that "thickening" is not a likely description of cancer, which usually would be in specific spots. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – This is not a question of cost, she would spend her last penny on this cat ( and he is insured), but she was in such a state of shock she didn’t ask all she needed to. (It is also a holiday here and the practice is closed). Any knowledgable advice and calming purrs requested please.

Response:

Any knowledgable advice and calming purrs requested please.

No advice to offer but lots of purrs coming for your friend and her cat. — Marina, Frank and Miranda. In loving memory of Nikki. marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

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Thanks to everone who replied, I will keep you posted. My friend will be devastated if it is anything worse. — Sandra

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No advice unfortunately, but lots of purrs and best wishes for the problem to be easily treatable, — Polonca & Soncek

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I was talking to a friend today and she is worried about one of her cats. She took him to the vet  because he had been alternately refusing food and being sick, and one of the things they did was an x ray. They found this thickening and have booked him in for surgery this week for a biopsy to find out if it is IBS or something else. She is going nuts with worry and will go see the vet to ask more questions, but in the mean time I thought I would ask here. What else may it be? She is worried that the surgery is invasive and may cause more problems. If it is likely to be IBS what would be the usual treatment? If it is a change of diet, then surely it would make sense to try that for a while first? The vet did not mention cancer, but that is a possibility that scares her. This is not a question of cost, she would spend her last penny on this cat ( and he is insured), but she was in such a state of shock she didn’t ask all she needed to. (It is also a holiday here and the practice is closed). Any knowledgable advice and calming purrs requested please. — Sandra

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Any knowledgable advice and calming purrs requested please.

Our Basho just went through pretty much the same thing. We decided to try metronidazole and diet first, but keep an eye on his weight. Tell you friend to buy an inexpensive baby scale (I got mine on ebay) to do that. We’re hoping it’s IBD because the alternative is not good. — Victor M. Martinez Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)

Response:

Hi, I was talking to a friend today and she is worried about one of her cats. She took him to the vet  because he had been alternately refusing food and being sick, and one of the things they did was an x ray. They found this thickening and have booked him in for surgery this week for a biopsy to find out if it is IBS or something else. She is going nuts with worry and will go see the vet to ask more questions, but in the mean time I thought I would ask here. What else may it be? She is worried that the surgery is invasive and may cause more problems. If it is likely to be IBS what would be the usual treatment? If it is a change of diet, then surely it would make sense to try that for a while first? The vet did not mention cancer, but that is a possibility that scares her. This is not a question of cost, she would spend her last penny on this cat ( and he is insured), but she was in such a state of shock she didn’t ask all she needed to. (It is also a holiday here and the practice is closed). Any knowledgable advice and calming purrs requested please. — Sandra

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Hi, Sandra, One of my cats, Omar, has IBD, we think (although we’ve not done a biopsy — my vet thought the symptoms were pretty definite) and I’ve found that daily metranidazole has helped alleviate his symptoms. Right now we are also adding prednisone but that is because we suspect he has some other health issues, too.  I would suggest reading online for your friend, too.  There is a yahoo newsgroup for feline IBD also.  Here are a few links that might be useful: http://www.bestfriends.org/members/health/felinflbwl.htm http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FelineIBD/ http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/health/ibd.html http://www.cat-lovers-only.com/inflammatory-bowel-disease.html hth, Christine

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I was talking to a friend today and she is worried about one of her cats. She took him to the vet  because he had been alternately refusing food and being sick, and one of the things they did was an x ray. They found this thickening and have booked him in for surgery this week for a biopsy to find out if it is IBS or something else. She is going nuts with worry and will go see the vet to ask more questions, but in the mean time I thought I would ask here. What else may it be? She is worried that the surgery is invasive and may cause more problems. If it is likely to be IBS what would be the usual treatment? If it is a change of diet, then surely it would make sense to try that for a while first? The vet did not mention cancer, but that is a possibility that scares her. This is not a question of cost, she would spend her last penny on this cat ( and he is insured), but she was in such a state of shock she didn’t ask all she needed to. (It is also a holiday here and the practice is closed). Any knowledgable advice and calming purrs requested please. — Sandra

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