Far too many cat parents accept occasional, or even chronic, vomiting and diarrhea as a fact of life with cats. Cats just do that sometimes, don’t they? Well, no. Healthy cats don’t vomit on a regular basis, nor do they have diarrhea. Chronic vomiting and diarrhea can lead to dehydration, and, if left untreated, can become life threatening.
The most common cause of gastrointestinal problems for cats is Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Although cats of all ages can be affected, it is typically seen in middle-aged or older cats. The term IBD is used for a number of chronic gastrointestinal disorders. Physiologically, it is characterized by an infiltration of inflammatory cells into the lining of the digestive tract. The location of the inflammation can help determine the specific type of IBD.
Symptoms of IBD
Symptoms most typically include chronic vomiting and diarrhea, but sometimes, constipation can also be a problem. Some cats present with weight loss as the only clinical sign.
Diagnosis of IBD
To rule out other causes of gastrointestinal problems, your veterinarian will perform diagnostic tests that may include complete blood cell counts, blood chemistry, thyroid function tests, urinalysis, fecal analysis, abdominal x-rays, and ultrasound. The most definitive way to diagnose IBD is through biopsies of small samples of the intestinal lining. These samples can be obtained through endoscopy or abdominal surgery. These procedures require general anesthesia.
Medical Treatment
IBD is usually treated with a combination of medical and dietary therapy. Corticosteroids are used for their anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant properties, and they can also serve as an appetite stimulant. However, steroid therapy carries serious longterm side-effects.
The Diet Connection
There are commercially manufactured diets available for the treatment of IBD, most of them containing so-called “novel proteins,” ie., proteins that the cat may not have been exposed to before such as rabbit, venison, and duck. (We used to call them the “Disney diets” when I still worked at a veterinary clinic – Thumper, Bambi and Donald…).
However, increasingly, holistically oriented veterinarians are seeing a connection between diet and IBD. These vets believe that commercial pet foods, especially dry foods, are a contributing factor to the large numbers of cats with chronic IBD. They also discovered that many cats improve by simply changing their diets to a balanced grain-free raw meat diet. Similar results may be achieved with a grain-free canned diet, but a raw diet seems to lead to quicker and better results.
Vomiting and diarrhea are not something you, and your cat, should learn to live with. Take your cat to a veterinarian for a thorough physical exam. After ruling out other conditions or diseases as causes, the solution might just be something as simple as changing your cat’s diet.
Photo by Kim Newberg, Public Domain Pictures
