Please Help.. Cat with IBD and Cardiomyopathy

Question
Hi Jessica, I read with interest a response you wrote and your comment about Orbax for your cat with IBD.

I am at breaking point with an 11 year old ragdoll that has suffered for two+ years with IBD.  I have tried every intestinal diet I can find and 1 full tablet of prednizone and half tablet of immodium each day is JUST keeping her dihorea at bay.  When I say this I mean, never a solid stool, but not constantly having the runs.

This week she has taken a turn for the worse and her vet now thinks she has Cardomyopathy as well, and the list of drugs I am now shoving down her little body is endless.  It breaks my heart.

Just wondering what your experience was with your cat.  Belle is so thin, last week weighing only 2.4kilos and loosing it fast.  I can't get her to eat now and I am also trying to syringe Nutrigel in water when I can get her to swallow it.  

She has stopped a while ago grooming herself, she has stopped eating, only a mouthful or so a day it seems.  She is doing this thing with her mouth like she has something caught on her tongue.  Her eyes this week look like they have changed shape (could be through lack of oxygen with cardio problem) they look less round and more slitty than usual and now her third eyelid is often visible.  The strange thing though, and the thing that stops me putting her to sleep is she still gets up and wants to be outside, has spurts of energy, this morning jumping the fence and running... to look at her at other times you think she is going to die any second.  I am at a loss to know what to do, each time I think I should end her suffering, she seems to have a good spell.  She has been on Fortekor for a week now, prednozone every second day, I have been giving her immodum once a day (half tab).

What are your thoughts, she still seems to have fight in her.  Did your cat show these signs and what was the exact therapy for Orbax?  How long did your cat have IBD for and how bad was he/she when you started, how long did he/she live on the orbax after that, I am desperate!

Thanks in advance

Kylie

Answer
Hi Kylie.  I'm sorry to hear of your kitty's diagnosis.  My cat who was on Orbax was apparently healthy aside from the IBD at the time.  He had IBD for quite some time.  If memory serves, I would say a couple of years at least.  He had tried prednisone, special diets, sulfasalazine, metronidazole, tylosin, and all the other belly medications they try first.  He had lost about half his body weight but was still in stable condition, since he had been overweight to start with.  He didn't appear to have any other type of organ failure, etc.  But I was considering putting him to sleep just because he was in such agony all the time.  After exploratory surgery by a specialist confirmed that it was strictly IBD, he was placed on 1/2 of a 22.7mg tablet of Orbax once a day.  We noticed an improvement in his pain symptoms in about 3 days, and his stools were completely normal in a few weeks.  He continued on this same dose for the rest of his life, because when we tried to discontinue the medication, the symptoms would immediately return.  Unfortunately, he later contracted the feline leukemia virus, so he only survived for three years after beginning treatment with Orbax.  I definitely think that if prednisone isn't helping, it may be time to talk to your vet about trying something else.  Orbax may be something you could try in addition, since it's an antibiotic, not another steroid.  But this would be adding yet another pill to her list of medications.