Skinny Update

Thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear that Skinny doesn't have to take pills anymore. :) Hopefully he'll improve in time so you don't have to put him on another different diet. All fingers and paws are crossed here. Good luck. :)

Well, today when we stopped at the vet's to get more food I spoke with our vet. We are going to keep low residue food 2 more weeks. Then we go to yet another special food. :eek
I continue to give him 2x a day yogart. I forgot one dose and he returned to really runny potty, so we don't forget anymore.

Skinny would be on the new special food for 2 weeks and if no improvement would go back to the low residue. If the new special food works than he is on it for life. If what they were quoting me before it isn't cheap. However, according to vet it isn't to bad in cost. We shall see.

He is calling his condition inflammed bowel not irritable bowel. They sound the same to me.

I mentioned to our new vet, I felt like poor Skinny was being a ginnie pig and he said unfortunately this condition is hit/miss when trying to treat. Thank god he still has his lovely personality through all torture I've put him through. :)

Please keep good thoughts.

Poor Skinny! He is just having a hard time getting over this!! Glad to know that he is staying happy through the whole ordeal. Poor little guy! I hope they get this figured out soon and the food will work. You have been going through this for a long time. Good luck to you and a big THANK YOU from Skinny for taking such good care of him!!!http://petoftheday.com/talk/images/o...lies/smile.gif
Good thoughts and prayers from me and my nine!!

Prayers and positive thoughts are still on the way for Skinny. I sure hope that at least one of these diets will finally help him. Please keep us updated.

Our cat, Baby, had either inflammatory bowel disease (the human term for it which is why your vet is calling it inflammed bowel) or alimentary lymphosarcoma. Both illnesses present with the same symptoms, so be sure to ask your vet about this , he may want to do bloodwork. Unfortunately, the sarcoma can only be confirmed with an intestinal biopsy, so if Skinny is older, then your vet will not perform this procedure (as in our case). Baby did well on Purina DM for a while and then preferred beef flavored baby food towards the end which we supplemented with K/D (?) when we thought he wasn't getting enough nutrients. Also, do not use any furball preventative and no more treats as these irritate the bowel. All helped somewhat with his stool (which never went back to tootsie roll consistency by the way, but did improve), along with daily pills of prednisone along with an anti-nausea pill. Also, watch his water intake - using room temp water as opposed to cool or cold water and if you have a water softener and use salt pellets, consider changing to potassium. Hang in there because you will constantly be adjusting his diet - you have to be consistent in what you are feeding him but at the same time, once you realize that diet is no longer working, be prepared to change it again. You will constantly reassessing his diet and condition for the rest of his life. I hope in Skinny's case that it is inflammed bowel and not alimentary lymphosarcoma and that he lives a long healthy life - Inflammed bowel is manageable but don't ever expect his bowels to go back 100% to the tootsie roll form you are seeking. Best of luck to you and health to Skinny!

Thanks for great information, Baby'sMomma.
Our vet has not recommended blood workup or biposy's.
Diarrhea is his only symptom. Water I use is bottled water no refrigeration. While it's in bowls say during summer it will cool down little bit from a/c in the house but not to "chilled" temperature. I'm good on that point :)
Our vet is treating it as "inflammatory bowel disease" and not "irritable bowel disease. In reading up there is a difference, I have learned :)

Diet seems to be the key since all medications have been tried from previous vet and our new vet. He has no plans for further medications. If the venison doesnt work we go back to low residue. There is a good possibitly we are dealing with a food allergy.

Coccidia started this whole mess off. :(