My pet has untreatable IBD. What are the end-of-life options?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Blood can definitely be seen with cases of IBD. For IBD, immunosuppression is typically the treatment of choice in severe cases. Azathioprine is an immunosuppressant drug that is commonly used along with changing the diet to something such as Royal Canin Ultamino. I would discuss this with your veterinarian for starting something such as Azathioprine in place of steroids to see if this helps more. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than willing to help you further. I would also recommend adding in a probiotic such as Purina Fortiflora, which can be purchased online or at your local pet store quite easily.

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear about Portifoy's diarrhea troubles! It's not clear from the history what sort of duration we're talking about, but it can take time (sometimes weeks) to get IBD symptoms under control. Many cats improve much faster if put on a tapering dose of steroids (often prednisolone is used), so you could talk to your vet about this. Depending on what diagnostics were performed that led to the IBD diagnosis, those symptoms could indicate IBD, but could also be consistent with a food sensitivity/allergy, or GI lymphoma, among other things. An abdominal ultrasound helps with a diagnosis, if that hasn't been done, with a GI biopsy being the ideal diagnostic (although that's also quite invasive, and your vet can help you decide if it's worth the risk). At this point, I'd recommend communicating with your vet and letting them know how Port's doing, as they may have been hoping his symptoms would improve with the medications you mentioned - but they may want to change things (such as adding a steroid, or discussing the next diagnostic step) once they know he's still having diarrhea. Feel free to request a consultation if you'd like to discuss Port's case in more detail. I hope this helps!

Couple of concerns here. Were you given an option of referral to obtain a definitive diagnosis? Differentiation of these diseases requires biopsy. Did your pet have an ultrasound? Also having a chemotherapy medication made in to a liquid is a big safety concern unless a pet has a feeding tube. Were you counseled about safe drug and urine/fecal handling with this drug? Also has your kitty had blood monitoring with this drug for safety? There are typically some other things we do with cats with GI disease but this is case dependent. Also the dosing for chlorambucil is different for different cats. What would really be best, if you feel that you need more help beyond your vet, you could request referral to a specialist (either an internist or an oncologist). I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. With IBD, I would also recommend using B12 supplementation such as Cobalequin. Cobalequin is available online and is easy to get. This is basically a B12 supplement and is extremely bioavailable even in the presence of GI disease such as IBD. A different diet such as a hydrolyzed protein diet (a prescription diet) may also be helpful. You will need a prescription for a hydrolyzed diet and your veterinarian can provide this for you. I would try these things and see if they help at all with the soft stool / diarrhea / poor appetite. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be happy to help you further.

I'm sorry to hear that Mercedes is sick. If IBD or GI lymphoma is suspected the next steps may be ultrasound or even biopsy. Biopsy is needed to confirm the diagnosis of IBD. However, I will frequently treat if it is strongly suspected on ultrasound. If IBD is confirmed it's worth doing a trial of a prescription GI diet. Although a/d is a good recovery diet it is probably not the best one to use as a maintenance diet if IBD is suspected. It would also be worth giving your veterinarian a call to see if they can give a Cerenia injection. This will help to resolve the vomiting and can be continued if necessary. Vitamin B12 injections can also be helpful when a cat is experiencing GI distress and will be needed if IBD is confirmed. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and best wishes to Mercedes!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This probably just means that her IBD is no longer being controlled on the current medications and she just needs further management of her condition. I highly recommend that you have reevaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment. At the very least they can make sure to treat her symptoms so that you can get her to feel better. They can also add medications to try to get her condition under control again. Good luck!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Yes, especially IBD and GI lymphoma. Usually GI lymphoma doesn't respond well or for long if treated as IBD. Dogs in kidney failure do not do well usually. I hope this helps!