Digestive Enzymes?

Hi all,

My kitty is 85 days OTJ, with an average BG of about 65 since December. He's generally a very happy cat (so much happier now than during his bad BG days), but he's had 2 episodes of vomiting a few times and then not eating for 1-2 days. We're on our second one of these... He's on a diet of Young Again Zero Mature and a few freeze dried chicken treats from time to time (but not prior to this episode).

Has anyone seen this sort of thing in OTJ kitties? Would digestive enzymes help? The last time we had a multi-puking incident, we did labs at the emergency vet and nothing in particular was indicated. We could do another set when he gets back to normal eating, I suppose...

Hopefully he'll bounce back from this second episode as well as the first. It's certainly not as bad as the last episode (only vomited a few times in 24 hours, but still... not eating).

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

You could try giving some slippery elm bark powder slurry twice a day. It is good for upset tummies..
Just keep medications 2 hours away from it as it lines the tummy and will stop the absorption of the meds..
To make the slurry........
put a teaspoon of SEBpower ( buy from a health food shop and make sure it is pure with nothing else added..) into a saucepan with 1/2 cup cold water. Mix together and heat until simmering gently stirring all the time. Cook like this for 2 minutes then remove and put into a jar. Keep in frig for up to 7 days.. give a teaspoon twice a day. Can be mixed with food..
I used it for Sheba and it was very good. Does not effect the BSLs.

 

have you considered doing the pre emptive meds?

I give my 20 year old guy cerenia 5 days on 1 off--it prevents before it even starts and at his age we try to avoid any issues.
FYI I tried YA and both my boys puked all over and they are not typically pukers. 1 hardly ever pukes and the other on cerenia had been DX with IBD and was having intermittent vomiting so we started the cerenia and ondansetron.

Pumpkin is good for digestion

this is a great pre/pro biotic -digestive enzymes and soothing tummy herbs. The vet is mainly a Eastern vet Dr Chris Beset she is amazing and she made it.
https://www.herbsmithinc.com/microflora/

 

Thank you so much! SEB is an interesting suggestion, definitely will look into that. We're going to get an ultrasound and then perhaps we might consider Cerenia

 

Marshmallow root (MMR) is also great to sooth the digestive tract. I found this product which has both SEB & MMR, it has helped Bronx from his vomiting:

http://animalessentials.com/colon-rescue-powder-phytomucil/

 

Thank you. We're back at home after an abdominal ultrasound, which of course indicated either IBD or incurable cancer in the intestine and colon. Since the "thickening" (or, inflammation?) is in multiple areas and cannot be proven to be cancer w/o chopping out a portion of intestine (plus no other signs of cancer?), we're going to treat as if it's IBD for now. No scope or needle will get to the site, so those options are out.

Anyway, got a shot of Depo Medrol steroids as well as prescription for Mirtazapine, 1/4 of a 15mg pill every 2 days. We haven't tried the Mirtazapine yet, and he's eating and drinking again, so that's good. If he doesn't return to normal eating tomorrow, we'll starting dosing the Mirtazapine. Doc. also recommended 250 mcg. of B12. Attempting to find a good version of B12... Perhaps we should start him back on Zobaline, which we used successfully for neuropathy before? But, if I'm doing the conversion properly, this looks like a boatload of B12 (3 mg = 3000 mcg?).

 

If you need to use a steroid on a regular basis I personally would consider budesonide-
Pred put my non diabetic with IBD into a diabetic. (The shot may keep BG up for a few days)
I found a dose of budesonide that keeps his Bg at a normal level---many will probably suggest cyproheptadine over mirtz @tiffmaxee can explain better why-
I did have a cat that needed mirtz and she did fine tho--I do prefer crypro but have not had a bad experience with mirtz just be cautious of giving too much might be worth trying less than 1/4 to see how it affects him. 1 honest vet admitted they really don't know the "right" dose for mirtz. It can cause serotonin syndrome and crypro is the antidote if I remember @tiffmaxee knows more about it.
My Rico got very sweet and clingy but it is a anti depressant so I wasn't too worried. He did eat we'll too!
I am not sure about the conversion for the B12 I gave a small dose when I was using it but had no neuropathy.
Glad he is eating

 

Thank you Jayla! Since R. started eating like a machine after the ultrasound, we didn't use the Mirtazapine. We'll see about steroids in the future, but I read about the side effects of Depo Medrol and didn't like what I saw at all. His BG numbers are up, but not yet problematically so. Here's hoping they get back to remission-normal in the coming days.

We'll definitely look into budesonide if we encounter this again. At this point, we're wondering if this could be a rock salt ingestion incident, as our civvie and diabetic cat both had a serial vomiting/inappetance episode back in November, when we had a major winter storm. Flash forward to now, when we had another winter storm and rock salt that got tracked in, right in the path to the litterbox. Symptoms for R. mimic exactly those from the last sudden onset incident (but no civvie involvement this time, thank God). This is purely speculation of course... So, we're firmly in "watch and wait" mode, with meticulous attention to keeping rock salt out of the house, just in case that played a role.

 

It took a day, but R.'s BG numbers spiked into the 300s after the Depo Medrol shot. He was up for 2.5 days and we gave him 1U of Lantus for 3 days... We're back in the 60s this morning (NS). So far, he's completely back to normal with his eating, drinking, etc. So, more watch and wait, I guess!

 

Hello,

This product below by herbsmith is not diabetic friendly. Maltodextrin is worse than sugar. Gotta watch the ingredients these companies try to slip in. Try Dr. Becker's formulas on Dr. Mercola's (pet section) website. Some are sold on chewy.com for faster delivery. Gotta love Dr. Becker's youtube videos. Wish she still took clients.

On a side note lesson I learned, before adding anything new try it alone while also checking the blood glucose in your cat . Then you'll know how it effects your specific cat.

My cat had a big glucose Spike from ANSWERS fermented raw goat milk. The company based out of Pennsylvania said the enzymes in the raw milk were supposed to eat the honey it was fermented in, but obviously it didn't.
My cat woke up not needing insulin and he was having great blood glucose numbers all day so I decided to give him "answers" raw goat milk as a treat. Big mistake. Luckily I was checking his numbers very often.

I was planning on giving him that milk daily since my focus is on healing the leaky gut and pancreas. I'll just stick with bone broth.

https://products.mercola.com/healthypets/digestive-enzymes-for-pet/

Below enzyme has "sugar" maltodextrin...
pre/pro biotic -digestive enzymes and soothing tummy herbs. The vet is mainly a Eastern vet Dr Chris Beset
https://www.herbsmithinc.com/microflora/[/QUOTE]