It was August 28th, 07, the day when my cat related problems began. My oldest cat Sammy stated leaving bloody stools all over the house and throwing up every time after eating. My whole family and I became very concerned and took him quickly to our Veterinarian. At first she suspected stomach cancer and decided to admit him to the Animal Hospital for a few days of testing.
A week later and after over $1400.00 in medical bills, my cat was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.This condition has no cure but the symptoms can be controlled through diet and medication.
He was put on Prednisone, Metronidazole and Buprenex to clear up the inflamed bowels, stop the diarrhea and the vomiting. He was also prescribed a special RX diet only food called: “Hill’s Prescription Diet Feline i/d”. Well the new diet and medicine worked quite well to fix all of my cats problems for a while.
On 11-12-2008, my cat started throwing up again. I again took him to the Veterinarian. After about $500.00 worth of diagnostic tests, the diagnosis was another attack of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. He was given Prednisone to bring down the swelling and continued on the same diet as usual. His vomiting ceased and once again, he was a healthy cat.
All was going well again until 04-02-2009 in which my cat started throwing up again. I knew what the problem was and was reluctant to take him back to the Veterinarian because I knew she was just going to do the same medical tests once again and then give him the same RX of Prednisone again.
Actually, after doing research on the internet, I found out that other Veterinarians prescribe this medication for cats with this condition for the rest of their lives. I wondered why wouldn’t our Veterinarian do the same thing instead of waiting for another attack to occur, doing un-necessary and expensive medical tests and then charging me a lot of money before giving me the medicine? I also noticed that another Veterinarian prescribed Reglan for cats whose only symptoms were throwing up.
I decided to call my Veterinarian and ask for a prescription for this medicine for my cats vomiting. To my surprise, she agreed to let me have an RX without having to bring in my cat. It worked for at least two weeks and then stopped. I asked her to increase the dosage and she did. Well, it worked well for another 5 weeks and then stopped again.
I was getting pretty distressed and discouraged around this time. I did not want to keep washing up everything my cat threw up on and keep cleaning up after him. I also did not want to take in my cat in to the Veterinarian and wind up with another $500.00 bill plus an RX for Prednisone again.
For the next few days, I did not nothing but research the Internet for answers. So far, the information available there have helped me solve various health problems for my family that even our own medical doctors have not been able to solve. However, those are stories for future blogs. I was praying hard that it would provide an answer for my pressing problem once again.
I came across many sites which said that a raw meat diet was the answer for cats like mine. However, I do not have the time for anything like this as I hardly cook these days for my family at all, most of the time we eat out. Also, during the school year, I am employed full time outside the home, therefore, that was out of the question.
I finally came across a site that sounded promising. It was the product shown here: http://www.petco.com/product/8667/Hill%27s-Science-Diet-Sensitive-Stomach-Adult-Cat-Food.aspx . I noticed that it had 23 reviews and all were favorable. I also noticed that people raved about it on other sites as well.
I got especially encouraged when I read that one person gave it to her cat diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and it worked. This is a slightly different condition than what my cat has but it it pretty close. I also noticed that it was for cats ages, 1-6 and my cat was age 8. I however read another review from an owner that gave it to her cat which was 14 years old with successful results.
I got off the computer and told my oldest son that we were headed to the nearest Petco store to buy a bag of this particular food. He was surprised but agreed to go as he also wanted to help our cat get better. We went to the store, bought the product and came home. I fed it to both of my cats and continued the Reglan. The next day, he threw up only one time. We were surprised. He has been throwing up at least 3 times per day.
My son suggested that perhaps, we could try to stop or reduce the medicine to test whether it was just the food that made the improvement or the food together with the medication. The next day, we gave the cat half of his medicine and the new food. He threw up one time only. The third day, we decided not to give the cat his medicine at all. He did not throw up at all.
Well, it has now been 8 days and my cat has not thrown up once. He loves the new food and my other cat also loves it. I feel so relaxed and relieved. I have not called my Veterinarian to tell her that I took him off of her RX and her prescribed diet food. I guess I will let her know next time I see her. I have no idea how long this period of peace for my cat and household will last but I am enjoying every minute of it for now.
So, if you have a cat with digestive problems, I urge to purchase this product for your cat before spending a lot of money on Veterinarian bills. The food is a little expensive compared to other cat food, but the results for me so far are worth it. Hope this story helps someone else who may be having similar problem with their cat.
Here is a picture of the cat food: