Does your cat vomit regularly? Does your dog chronically experience loose stool along with a picky appetite? Unlike popular opinion, chronic vomiting isn't normal in cats, and dogs shouldn't have regular loose stool.
A common cause of these symptoms might be inflammatory bowel disease in dogs and cats. Learn about the cause, signs and treatment options for inflammatory bowel disease in pets.
What Is Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, often is misused in veterinary circles like a catchall term for chronic gastrointestinal diseases-not unlike when we humans say there exists a cold, but we don't know what virus causes it. True IBD is definitely an autoimmune disease brought on by inflammation in the gastrointestinal system because of an overactive immune system.
Signs of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Cats and Dogs
The signs of IBD in dogs can include:
- Weight loss
- Low energy
- Vomiting
- Excessive gas
- Loud intestinal sounds
- Diarrhea
- Nausea
- Poor appetite
Signs of IBD in cats can include:
- Large amounts of diarrhea
- Weight loss
- Vomiting
Technically speaking, there are many diseases that can cause exactly the same signs as IBD in dogs and cats. These include diseases with mouthful names like food responsive enteropathy, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Also, things like parasites, cancer, infectious diseases, chronic pancreatitis, hyperthyroidism in cats, intestinal obstructions, kidney disease and liver disease can cause exactly the same symptoms.
While many of these diseases can exhibit similar signs, they all require different treatments, and sometimes pets might have more than one disease. This is why testing for that root cause from the signs is crucial.
Diagnosing Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Cats and Dogs
If your veterinarian suspects that your dog or cat has IBD, recommended testing can include fecal testing, bloodwork and urine testing-so be sure to generate a brand new stool sample! The vet also might recommend surgery to obtain a biopsy of the small intestines or may give you the option to get an abdominal ultrasound first.
Many pet parents are unwilling to pursue the biopsy and end up receiving an abdominal ultrasound instead, which is cheaper and less invasive. The issue with this particular approach is that an abdominal ultrasound cannot give a definitive proper diagnosis of IBD.
My advice to pet parents is that this: In case your veterinarian recommends pursuing biopsy, unless your pet or cat now has wrinkles and debilitated and anesthesia is a concern, or maybe the vet has palpated full of in the abdomen, skip the ultrasound and go right to surgery.
In my experience, if your pet has IBD, the ultrasound is a waste of the money, and also the pet ends up likely to surgery anyway. Furthermore, without a proper diagnosis, veterinarians are only able to guess at the cause. In doing that, you're wasting additional time and money on trying treatments that don't work.
Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Dogs and Cats
In cats and dogs, IBD is managed, not cured, also it can take some learning from mistakes to obtain the correct strategy to your dog. Because the gut is chronically inflamed, it will require some time and testing to obtain the treatment right, so brace yourself for multiple veterinary visits-at least in the beginning. If you ever have observed any chronic GI distress yourself, then you know this well.
Treatment for IBD in dogs and cats typically consists of starting an eating plan trial for the pet. Weight loss program is a very important a part of managing IBD. The vet may prescribe a novel protein diet (like a duck or lamb), a therapeutic gastrointestinal diet (that are uniquely formulated to assist support digestion) or perhaps a hydrolyzed diet (diets in which the proteins have been broken into pieces which are so small that the immune system no more reacts for them).
Common diets recommended by veterinarians for IBD in cats and dogs include:
- Hill's Prescription Diet I/D Digestive Care cat food
- Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Gastrointestinal cat food
- Hill's Prescription Diet Z/D Skin/Food Sensitivities dog food
- Blue Buffalo Natural Veterinary HF Hydrolyzed for Food Intolerance Grain-Free dog food
- Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets HA Hydrolyzed dog food
These pet food diets are also formulated to incorporate prebiotics, that are necessary for gut health.
Note: It is important to not let your pet eat Other things while on an eating plan trial or it will mess up the results. Diet trials usually last 6-8 weeks. If you see no improvement after 14 days, however, call your veterinarian.
In addition to dietary modifications, immune-modulating medications that “turn down” inflammation from the defense mechanisms are usually necesary to deal with IBD. In these instances, Prednisone is frequently prescribed once or twice daily. Your veterinarian may also suggest a probiotic, like Proviable, to correct any bacterial imbalances inside your pet's gut. Additional treatments can vary based on your dog's specific diagnosis.
Chronic gut inflammation can be difficult to sort out. With the proper diagnosis and treatments, however, IBD in cats and dogs can be managed, as well as your pet can start the journey back to health.
