| Living With IBD - Chuckie J. |
| Chuckie Jerrell - Mesa, Arizona Male, Domestic short hair Born in August, 1999 Diagnosed with IBD in November 2007 |
First Entry: January 24, 2009
It is early 2007 when I see my Chuck have diarrhea for the first time. I immediately began to worry. I had already lost two male cats to
IBD and had another 14 year old male cat that was battling it at the time and had been since he was a kitten - so you see, I already
knew the battle that would ensue if this was the beginning of yet another kitty with IBD.
I continue to watch Chuck. He has no symptoms of pain or vomiting and the diarrhea wasn't too terrible. But a few months go by now
and I can tell it's not going to improve or just stop. I give him a 10 day course of metronidazole which makes no change in his diarrhea. I
try putting fiber in his food which he refuses to eat. I know what the choice drug of veterinarians is for IBD - it is prednisolone. I used
this drug on my two male cats that passed and they both became transitory diabetics shortly after taking it and that meant that I would
no longer be able to treat them with the prednisolone because that steroid and diabetes do not work together - prednisolone causes
problems with regulating blood sugar. I also had a male cat with stomatitis who took Depo-Medrol shots - he also developed diabetes
from steroid use.
My plan would be to try everything natural I could and wait for a new drug to come along - anything but prednisolone - this drug had
been very bad for my male cats - it helped with the diarrhea, oh yes, but with a potentially fatal diabetic result! I have to say though
that I had a female cat that used prednisolone for five or six years for allergies and arthritis and she did very well on it.
It is May of 2008 and my Dusty just passed away from his 14 year struggle with IBD. And Chuck was beginning to have a lot of pain. He
would stretch and cry from cramps. He began to vomit more and more - sometimes at the litter box because he was in pain from the
diarrhea coming out. There was a lot of gas too. He was losing the ability to get to the litter box on time. I would hold him on my lap and
the diarrhea would just come out! He was losing his pride and he was no longer himself. It was killing me to watch!
I went online and found the IBD group. I saw information on B12. It said that IBD cats became depleted of this essential to life vitamin
due to the watery diarrhea. They recommended B12 shots. However, when I did some research I found B12 was best supplemented on
a daily basis. So I decided to go with oral B12 - the brand I bought is TOTAL sublingual and .10 cc a day is what I gave him. I did notice
an increase in energy initially but that would not last unfortunately but I kept giving it to him.
There was a lot of information on the site about foods to try. Luckily there was a store 10 minutes from my home that sold all these
special foods. They were expensive and Chuck did not like most of them so I threw a lot of money into the trash. But I kept on and
found one food that slightly improved the diarrhea and he liked it, EVO Turkey (not as well as his normal food which is Fancy Feast and
Friskies canned). I have a multi cat household so I also feed Science Diet Oral Health, Science Diet Hairball (for the fiber), and Iams
Maintenance dry foods mixed together for the cats to free feed. I was ever so careful to make sure that EVO turkey was the only food
he ate - a lot of work considering he wanted what all my other cats ate.
In September 2008 I asked my friend, who is a veterinarian I used to work for, what he used for his older cat that developed IBD and
he said budesonide, in liquid form, orally twice weekly and he said it worked great. But his cat died a few months later from
complications from upper respiratory disease - so he only used it a short time. I put the question to the group and received all kinds of
positive information about this steroid. Plus, to my confusion there were so many different ways to take it. But I did some research and
found that the drug has a coating on it called beaded that would protect the stomach and keep the drug from working until it reached
the intestines and that very little, if any, of the steroid would enter the bloodstream. So I was confused because people on the group said
they used it in a liquid from and it worked for them.
So I set an appointment with my veterinarian. It turned out she never heard of the drug and looked at me like I was a nut for bringing
up the thought of using this drug she never heard of in place of prednisolone. She did an exam on Chuck and said his intestines were not
thick yet from the IBD. He had begun to lose weight - which I and all my family had noticed. I left a stool sample with her and she said
she would research the drug and get back to me with what she could find out on it and with his stool sample results.
She called back and said she found giardia in his stool and to start him on 1/4 of a 250 milligram tablet of metronidazole twice a day. I
told her I used this before and it did nothing for Chuck but I said I would try it again anyway. Well you see Chuck would fight you nearly
to the death if you tried to pill him. I put the metronidazole in a gel cap so the taste would not make the pilling worse. It was a huge,
huge battle over the next ten days but I stayed the course and he took all the medication. Unfortunately it did not help his stool at all. It
made him feel worse as a matter of fact and he was very, very angry at me to top it all off and the stress from fighting him over the pills
had us both exhausted and me in tears. I read that IBD cats may not start off with giardia when their IBD begins but somehow despite
no known outside exposure will develop giardia anyway. I suspect this with Chuck because he is an inside only cat and came to me with
normal stools that stayed normal for many years before getting the IBD.
She called me back about the budesonide as well. She said she didn't find much but she had found a little information that the drug is
showing much promise in the treatment of IBD. And since it is used in the intestine specifically and because it is beaded that very little
would get in the blood stream and greatly reduce the chance of this steroid causing diabetes which was my main interest in the drug. I
asked her would the liquid form work and she said she did not know but would call it into the compounding pharmacy for me to try. I
picked it up and gave him one dose of the liquid form and he became very, very ill over night! He was vomiting non-stop, wouldn’t eat
and had watery, blood-tinged diarrhea and his vomit was blood-tinged as well. I was so upset. What had I done in the process of trying
to help!? I put him on Pepcid and immediately started LRS SQ. Within 24 hours he was almost back to normal. Liquid budesonide is
NOT the way to go and NOT the way this drug is intended to be used despite the fact that my veterinarian friend and some of the
people on the site had success with it.
This drug has no generic form here in The United Stated and it is about $8.00 a pill here and is called Entocort. Each pill has 3
milligrams which would make three doses for me. Cats are to have one milligram of this drug a day. On the IBD group someone
recommended getting this drug in Canada which would work for me because they could get it in the generic form from Barbados and
this would make getting this drug affordable for me as well. I had my veterinarian call in to Wal-Mart Pharmacy for three pills to hold
me over until the drug from Canada could get to me - it would take 1 to 2 weeks for it to get here after my veterinarian phoned the
prescription in. It would take two weeks for it to get to me. I found gel caps in size #4 and divided the capsule into thirds - not an easy
task! The beaded budesonide rolls everywhere and because I was using the smallest gel caps I could find I kept dropping them and
would have to start all over. After five or six pills being divided though I did develop a system that works pretty well and have the 1
milligram capsules made up in no time.
It is November 2008 now - I wanted to start out conservative so I began Chuck on 1 milligram every other day instead of every day. I
did start to see he was in a lot less pain. There was no stomach trouble in this form and he was not having accidents outside the litter
box. So I kept this going for two weeks until I started noticing an accident here and there and noticed there was only a very small
improvement in his stools. So I started him on the recommended dose. I noticed there was now absolutely no pain and no accidents and
he was starting to run around and play a lot more like before the IBD got bad in May. But I had a big scare about a week into this new
dose. He started vomiting bloody bile like vomit and started having very mucousy, bloody diarrhea and I was so very scared. But within
24 hours this passed and he was better than ever and having formed stool about a week later. It was sort of the consistency of
toothpaste. I would scream CHUCK YOU DID IT! I was so unbelievably happy for him! He still has moments of runny stools but that is
probably because I now have him back on the food he really likes - Fancy Feast and Friskies and the same dry as before and sometimes
he overeats a bit or gets something out of the sink that he shouldn't.
It is now January 2009 - The drug did take longer to work than I thought it would but I am extremely happy with how well Chuck is
doing. I was almost at the point of giving up especially with the bloody vomit/stool episode but I am so glad I stuck with it. Today Chuck
is gaining weight, he is eating the food he wants, he has no accidents outside of the box, and he is not being exposed to the risk of
diabetes as with prednisolone. He looks so healthy and he runs around like a kitten at times. He is exactly how he was before all of this
begin in 2007. We still battle over a pill every now and then but because I am using such a small gel cap (smaller than what I had to use
for the metronidazole) and some yummy butter it is going much better! I don’t know Chuck’s exact age because he came to me as a
young adult stray but I would estimate his age to be 8 1/2 years now. He is a domestic short-hair neutered male. He has always been
very healthy with an excellent appetite and very energetic. The only thing he has ever needed was a dental when he was five years old.
Update: March 17, 2009
Chuck is doing fantastic. He is stilling having an episode of runny diarrhea with gas every great now and then but he rebounds from it so
fast that it really is insignificant compared to the entire picture. Nothing has changed with his medication and he's even gained about a
pound and a half.
Update: July 1, 2009
Chuck looks fantastic. He still has minor bouts that pass quickly. He has maintained all the weight he gained back. He has a beautiful
coat of healthy fur. He is playful and silly. He still gets a little painful gas from time to time. But that does not seem to affect his appetite
which is great nor does it affect his energy level. He is very happy. He is a bright light for me!
Update: October 2, 2009
Recently we had company, my dad was staying with us. Chuck was very stressed and had a bad relapse after my dad left. I tried giving
him an extra dose of budesonide twelve hours after the first to settle his intestines. He still had a little trouble so I opened one of the
capsules I usually give 1 mg in and filled it with about eight more beads. I started him on this new slightly higher dose and now he's
doing so great, I can't tell his poop from the other cats. It's also MUCH easier to make the pills because I just fill the one longer half of
the capsule all the way up, so no more measuring to make sure three capsules have just one milligram in them. Now Chuck is doing
fantastic! He has been jumping up on my shoulder for rides, going outside with me and rolling in the dirt - he is awesome!
Update: November 23, 2009
Chuck went to his vet for his one year check since starting budesonide (the wonder drug)! The vet was amazed at how well he looked!
He had put on an extra pound and a half. She said his coat looked amazing - shiny and black and she said he looks like a panther. I told
her his bouts are fewer and fewer and last shorter and shorter. His appetite is awesome and he rarely vomits. He is pain free except for
when he is having a very short bout and even then his pain doesn't even compare to his days before budesonide. He is able to eat
whatever he wants - which makes Chuck a very happy man! The vet says she will now start using this drug on her other patients since
Chuck has done so very well! I believe with all my heart this drug saved Chuck's life and I can't think of one draw back since he has
started using it. It has given me back my cat and has given Chuck his life back!
Update: March 7, 2010
I had to start experimenting with Chucks dose of budesonide. After the last vet visit he went into a bad bout and drug changes HAD to
be made. So I started with an extra mg capsule every other evening on top of his regular dose everyday which is slightly more than 1
mg. He did very well at that point. I tried to wean him off of the extra dose but as soon as I stretched the extra dose to every three days
the diarrhea returned. So now he is regularly on the extra dose every two days in the evening. On this dose he is stable and pain free.
When his diarrhea first began he always went potty in front of me - litter box is in the bathroom - so when I went potty so did he.
Now that he is doing much better I rarely get to see him go potty anymore. I actually miss the opportunity to constantly see how his
stools look but I am taking it as a very good sign from him that all is well down there. I do believe he may have put on another half
pound as well! To me budesonide is still Chuck's lifeline. He would not have quality of life without it because the special foods (I tried
them all) made very little difference and he really did not like them. He is very happy and plays with my new kitten, Little "V", all the
time! He mostly enjoys running out the front door every chance he gets so he can make me chase him all over the place begging him to
come - he really has quite the sense of humor LOL!
Update August 15, 2010
Overall I would say Chuck is doing well. About four months ago I tried the Eaglepack Holistic Solutions powder. I actually tried it on
several of my cats. Chuck did extremely well on it. You could not tell he ever had IBD from looking at his stool. The same reaction for
my other cats too. At first, I used it everyday - just a sprinkle - for about a week and then went to twice a week. It was like a miracle
solution. Chuck had been on an extra dose of Entocort every three days but he was doing so well he went to every four and quickly to
every five days an extra dose. About three months into using this product all my cats experienced bad diarrhea - especially Chuck. I
immediately stopped the Eaglepack. They all seem to improve after a week but nowhere as good as they were before this reaction to the
Eaglepack - when the Eaglepack was working. I waited a month and decided to try the Eaglepack Transition Solutions. Chuck didn't care
for it at all and the other cats who didn't mind it showed no improvement in their stool. Chuck just would not eat it. So we are back to
our slippery sliding slope.
He has had to go back to the extra dose of Entocort every three days. He also seemed to be a little less playful and energetic so I am
increasing his B12 back up to 1 ml every week. He is stable and no vomiting but his stool is not solid - some days are better than others -
sometimes it is like pudding others like toothpaste. I am ordering a new probiotic 8 plus product from Canada. I am so hoping to get his
Entocort back down and hopefully my long term goal is to get him off the extra dose. I am afraid of reaching a point where I max the
dose of Entocort for him so I am always trying to lower how much he takes. But he is happy and energetic and playful and has a good
appetite. I would like to see about one more pound of body weight on him but he looks good and his coat is shiny. He is not gassy and
does not seem to be experiencing any cramping. I am happy at this point because of all that but always room for improvement with
unpredictable IBD.
Update: February 27, 2011
I tried flagyl again with very bad results! Chuck can't take it anymore. He becomes very sick on it, vomits, almost stops eating and his
diarrhea gets worse! I used to do an extra dose of Entocort instead of adding more to his daily dose because I didn't want to make him
take a larger pill, he's difficult to pill to begin with. But I went ahead and got the bigger capsules and just increased his daily dose and he
began having solid stools. It took several days on this new protocol to see improvement in his stool though. He was not happy, I could
tell he was in some pain and his diarrhea was steadily getting worse - so things could have been worse - but things were not where they
should have been by any means. Oddly, when I put him on B12 weekly he did worse but this can be coincidental so I'm up in the air on
B12 protocol for him now.
He is stable for now. I have him on an increased dose of Entocort just once daily now with no extra doses. I have him on Eaglepack
Holistic Solutions every three days (just one capsule which I make myself). His coat is very full and shiny and he seems happy most of
the time too so I have to say at the moment I am pleased with where we are! Thank Goodness! But I know things can change at any
time, I am trying to enjoy this good spell as long as it is here.
Update: January 12, 2012
Chuckie doesn't like me like he used to because I am constantly trying to pill him with something and he absolutely hates to be pilled.
He will not be tricked into sprinkling anything on his food (except for Proenzyme) and if I even remotely think he will eat it with
something hidden in it I must be crazy because that will not happen. We continue to have good days and bad days with me trying every
combination imaginable. I use B12 injections, Entocort, Eaglepack and another product called iFlora Multi-Probiotic. I have not tried
pilling him with Proenzyme but am occasionally able to sneak it into his canned food but only occasionally. I have tried increasing his
Entocort but like with all steroids more is not better when not needed. Too much leaves him in pain with very watery diarrhea. Not
enough leaves him in pain with diarrhea but not as runny as with too much medication. I have tried adding an extra dose of Entocort
every so many days and it seemed to work but only for a very short time. I have tried increasing his dose to 1 1/2 mgs of and had
wonderful results but after a week he ended up with horrible runny and painful diarrhea. So I am back to the old dose of just about 1
1/4 mgs of Entocort and then I am trying an 1/8 teaspoon of Eaglepack in a gelcap along with an 1/8 a tsp of the iFlora in a gelcap given
to him together once a week and then just Eaglepack every other day.
We are now stable once again but I am sure it won't last long because it never does. I have also tried Tylan and had horrible results with
that as well (by the way had to put that nasty powdery stuff into a gelcap too). I can no longer use Flagyl because that makes him very
ill. I tried Sulfasalazine and had wonderful results for the first three days and then downhill he went and I had to take him off of that
too. Sigh, I will never give up though; no matter how discouraged I get. I'm thinking about trying to divide the dose of Entocort into an
am/pm dose (yay more pilling, as if he didn't already hate me enough as it is). Cats have a very short intestinal tract so maybe the
Entocort is out of his intestines too quickly? It's always a guessing game. I know him so well so I know from the look on his face when I
am gonna once again have to try a different combination of products or different doses. It's happening a lot more often lately. He weighs
7 pounds now and I would definitely like to see more weight on him but as long as he doesn't lose any more weight I will be happy with
that. I have put off writing this update because frankly its just distressing putting it down in words. I just wish I had something better to
report. The worst part is running this scenario through my mind; Should I have kept our relationship super close and very loving and he
have a shorter life or do what I have done which is pill him against his will and now he really isn't close with me anymore and he has a
longer life - one filled with one bad bout after the other in the hopes that one day I can find the perfect combination that can keep him
happy, pain free and stable? He doesn't vomit very much. His poop goes from looking perfect to runny within hours and back to formed
again. And sometimes even if his poop looks great he still feels painful.
Update: February 2, 2012
I know Budez is a 24 hour treatment for people but with cats having such a short digestive tract maybe it just is not in there long
enough. So I decided to try doing it twice a day - so maybe increasing the dose is not the answer but instead lowering the dose and doing
it twice a day. Now that I've started him on the new dose (twice daily instead of once daily), he's running around like a kitten - seriously
like a kitten. I haven't seen him act like this for at least two years!!!!! He did one of those mad dashes through the house and knocked a
bowl of the counter and shattered it lol. I didn't even care because I was so happy to see him happy! I took him outside and he ran after
a bird - Ive never seen him do this!
I'm scared to be excited, but I am. He has never done so well for such a long period of time; usually he does well for a few days and then
he slides back down again. I'm feeling encouraged! It figures the budez would work better in two doses because their GI tract is shorter
and the budez is out quicker than in a human. I hope this lasts!
It is early 2007 when I see my Chuck have diarrhea for the first time. I immediately began to worry. I had already lost two male cats to
IBD and had another 14 year old male cat that was battling it at the time and had been since he was a kitten - so you see, I already
knew the battle that would ensue if this was the beginning of yet another kitty with IBD.
I continue to watch Chuck. He has no symptoms of pain or vomiting and the diarrhea wasn't too terrible. But a few months go by now
and I can tell it's not going to improve or just stop. I give him a 10 day course of metronidazole which makes no change in his diarrhea. I
try putting fiber in his food which he refuses to eat. I know what the choice drug of veterinarians is for IBD - it is prednisolone. I used
this drug on my two male cats that passed and they both became transitory diabetics shortly after taking it and that meant that I would
no longer be able to treat them with the prednisolone because that steroid and diabetes do not work together - prednisolone causes
problems with regulating blood sugar. I also had a male cat with stomatitis who took Depo-Medrol shots - he also developed diabetes
from steroid use.
My plan would be to try everything natural I could and wait for a new drug to come along - anything but prednisolone - this drug had
been very bad for my male cats - it helped with the diarrhea, oh yes, but with a potentially fatal diabetic result! I have to say though
that I had a female cat that used prednisolone for five or six years for allergies and arthritis and she did very well on it.
It is May of 2008 and my Dusty just passed away from his 14 year struggle with IBD. And Chuck was beginning to have a lot of pain. He
would stretch and cry from cramps. He began to vomit more and more - sometimes at the litter box because he was in pain from the
diarrhea coming out. There was a lot of gas too. He was losing the ability to get to the litter box on time. I would hold him on my lap and
the diarrhea would just come out! He was losing his pride and he was no longer himself. It was killing me to watch!
I went online and found the IBD group. I saw information on B12. It said that IBD cats became depleted of this essential to life vitamin
due to the watery diarrhea. They recommended B12 shots. However, when I did some research I found B12 was best supplemented on
a daily basis. So I decided to go with oral B12 - the brand I bought is TOTAL sublingual and .10 cc a day is what I gave him. I did notice
an increase in energy initially but that would not last unfortunately but I kept giving it to him.
There was a lot of information on the site about foods to try. Luckily there was a store 10 minutes from my home that sold all these
special foods. They were expensive and Chuck did not like most of them so I threw a lot of money into the trash. But I kept on and
found one food that slightly improved the diarrhea and he liked it, EVO Turkey (not as well as his normal food which is Fancy Feast and
Friskies canned). I have a multi cat household so I also feed Science Diet Oral Health, Science Diet Hairball (for the fiber), and Iams
Maintenance dry foods mixed together for the cats to free feed. I was ever so careful to make sure that EVO turkey was the only food
he ate - a lot of work considering he wanted what all my other cats ate.
In September 2008 I asked my friend, who is a veterinarian I used to work for, what he used for his older cat that developed IBD and
he said budesonide, in liquid form, orally twice weekly and he said it worked great. But his cat died a few months later from
complications from upper respiratory disease - so he only used it a short time. I put the question to the group and received all kinds of
positive information about this steroid. Plus, to my confusion there were so many different ways to take it. But I did some research and
found that the drug has a coating on it called beaded that would protect the stomach and keep the drug from working until it reached
the intestines and that very little, if any, of the steroid would enter the bloodstream. So I was confused because people on the group said
they used it in a liquid from and it worked for them.
So I set an appointment with my veterinarian. It turned out she never heard of the drug and looked at me like I was a nut for bringing
up the thought of using this drug she never heard of in place of prednisolone. She did an exam on Chuck and said his intestines were not
thick yet from the IBD. He had begun to lose weight - which I and all my family had noticed. I left a stool sample with her and she said
she would research the drug and get back to me with what she could find out on it and with his stool sample results.
She called back and said she found giardia in his stool and to start him on 1/4 of a 250 milligram tablet of metronidazole twice a day. I
told her I used this before and it did nothing for Chuck but I said I would try it again anyway. Well you see Chuck would fight you nearly
to the death if you tried to pill him. I put the metronidazole in a gel cap so the taste would not make the pilling worse. It was a huge,
huge battle over the next ten days but I stayed the course and he took all the medication. Unfortunately it did not help his stool at all. It
made him feel worse as a matter of fact and he was very, very angry at me to top it all off and the stress from fighting him over the pills
had us both exhausted and me in tears. I read that IBD cats may not start off with giardia when their IBD begins but somehow despite
no known outside exposure will develop giardia anyway. I suspect this with Chuck because he is an inside only cat and came to me with
normal stools that stayed normal for many years before getting the IBD.
She called me back about the budesonide as well. She said she didn't find much but she had found a little information that the drug is
showing much promise in the treatment of IBD. And since it is used in the intestine specifically and because it is beaded that very little
would get in the blood stream and greatly reduce the chance of this steroid causing diabetes which was my main interest in the drug. I
asked her would the liquid form work and she said she did not know but would call it into the compounding pharmacy for me to try. I
picked it up and gave him one dose of the liquid form and he became very, very ill over night! He was vomiting non-stop, wouldn’t eat
and had watery, blood-tinged diarrhea and his vomit was blood-tinged as well. I was so upset. What had I done in the process of trying
to help!? I put him on Pepcid and immediately started LRS SQ. Within 24 hours he was almost back to normal. Liquid budesonide is
NOT the way to go and NOT the way this drug is intended to be used despite the fact that my veterinarian friend and some of the
people on the site had success with it.
This drug has no generic form here in The United Stated and it is about $8.00 a pill here and is called Entocort. Each pill has 3
milligrams which would make three doses for me. Cats are to have one milligram of this drug a day. On the IBD group someone
recommended getting this drug in Canada which would work for me because they could get it in the generic form from Barbados and
this would make getting this drug affordable for me as well. I had my veterinarian call in to Wal-Mart Pharmacy for three pills to hold
me over until the drug from Canada could get to me - it would take 1 to 2 weeks for it to get here after my veterinarian phoned the
prescription in. It would take two weeks for it to get to me. I found gel caps in size #4 and divided the capsule into thirds - not an easy
task! The beaded budesonide rolls everywhere and because I was using the smallest gel caps I could find I kept dropping them and
would have to start all over. After five or six pills being divided though I did develop a system that works pretty well and have the 1
milligram capsules made up in no time.
It is November 2008 now - I wanted to start out conservative so I began Chuck on 1 milligram every other day instead of every day. I
did start to see he was in a lot less pain. There was no stomach trouble in this form and he was not having accidents outside the litter
box. So I kept this going for two weeks until I started noticing an accident here and there and noticed there was only a very small
improvement in his stools. So I started him on the recommended dose. I noticed there was now absolutely no pain and no accidents and
he was starting to run around and play a lot more like before the IBD got bad in May. But I had a big scare about a week into this new
dose. He started vomiting bloody bile like vomit and started having very mucousy, bloody diarrhea and I was so very scared. But within
24 hours this passed and he was better than ever and having formed stool about a week later. It was sort of the consistency of
toothpaste. I would scream CHUCK YOU DID IT! I was so unbelievably happy for him! He still has moments of runny stools but that is
probably because I now have him back on the food he really likes - Fancy Feast and Friskies and the same dry as before and sometimes
he overeats a bit or gets something out of the sink that he shouldn't.
It is now January 2009 - The drug did take longer to work than I thought it would but I am extremely happy with how well Chuck is
doing. I was almost at the point of giving up especially with the bloody vomit/stool episode but I am so glad I stuck with it. Today Chuck
is gaining weight, he is eating the food he wants, he has no accidents outside of the box, and he is not being exposed to the risk of
diabetes as with prednisolone. He looks so healthy and he runs around like a kitten at times. He is exactly how he was before all of this
begin in 2007. We still battle over a pill every now and then but because I am using such a small gel cap (smaller than what I had to use
for the metronidazole) and some yummy butter it is going much better! I don’t know Chuck’s exact age because he came to me as a
young adult stray but I would estimate his age to be 8 1/2 years now. He is a domestic short-hair neutered male. He has always been
very healthy with an excellent appetite and very energetic. The only thing he has ever needed was a dental when he was five years old.
Update: March 17, 2009
Chuck is doing fantastic. He is stilling having an episode of runny diarrhea with gas every great now and then but he rebounds from it so
fast that it really is insignificant compared to the entire picture. Nothing has changed with his medication and he's even gained about a
pound and a half.
Update: July 1, 2009
Chuck looks fantastic. He still has minor bouts that pass quickly. He has maintained all the weight he gained back. He has a beautiful
coat of healthy fur. He is playful and silly. He still gets a little painful gas from time to time. But that does not seem to affect his appetite
which is great nor does it affect his energy level. He is very happy. He is a bright light for me!
Update: October 2, 2009
Recently we had company, my dad was staying with us. Chuck was very stressed and had a bad relapse after my dad left. I tried giving
him an extra dose of budesonide twelve hours after the first to settle his intestines. He still had a little trouble so I opened one of the
capsules I usually give 1 mg in and filled it with about eight more beads. I started him on this new slightly higher dose and now he's
doing so great, I can't tell his poop from the other cats. It's also MUCH easier to make the pills because I just fill the one longer half of
the capsule all the way up, so no more measuring to make sure three capsules have just one milligram in them. Now Chuck is doing
fantastic! He has been jumping up on my shoulder for rides, going outside with me and rolling in the dirt - he is awesome!
Update: November 23, 2009
Chuck went to his vet for his one year check since starting budesonide (the wonder drug)! The vet was amazed at how well he looked!
He had put on an extra pound and a half. She said his coat looked amazing - shiny and black and she said he looks like a panther. I told
her his bouts are fewer and fewer and last shorter and shorter. His appetite is awesome and he rarely vomits. He is pain free except for
when he is having a very short bout and even then his pain doesn't even compare to his days before budesonide. He is able to eat
whatever he wants - which makes Chuck a very happy man! The vet says she will now start using this drug on her other patients since
Chuck has done so very well! I believe with all my heart this drug saved Chuck's life and I can't think of one draw back since he has
started using it. It has given me back my cat and has given Chuck his life back!
Update: March 7, 2010
I had to start experimenting with Chucks dose of budesonide. After the last vet visit he went into a bad bout and drug changes HAD to
be made. So I started with an extra mg capsule every other evening on top of his regular dose everyday which is slightly more than 1
mg. He did very well at that point. I tried to wean him off of the extra dose but as soon as I stretched the extra dose to every three days
the diarrhea returned. So now he is regularly on the extra dose every two days in the evening. On this dose he is stable and pain free.
When his diarrhea first began he always went potty in front of me - litter box is in the bathroom - so when I went potty so did he.
Now that he is doing much better I rarely get to see him go potty anymore. I actually miss the opportunity to constantly see how his
stools look but I am taking it as a very good sign from him that all is well down there. I do believe he may have put on another half
pound as well! To me budesonide is still Chuck's lifeline. He would not have quality of life without it because the special foods (I tried
them all) made very little difference and he really did not like them. He is very happy and plays with my new kitten, Little "V", all the
time! He mostly enjoys running out the front door every chance he gets so he can make me chase him all over the place begging him to
come - he really has quite the sense of humor LOL!
Update August 15, 2010
Overall I would say Chuck is doing well. About four months ago I tried the Eaglepack Holistic Solutions powder. I actually tried it on
several of my cats. Chuck did extremely well on it. You could not tell he ever had IBD from looking at his stool. The same reaction for
my other cats too. At first, I used it everyday - just a sprinkle - for about a week and then went to twice a week. It was like a miracle
solution. Chuck had been on an extra dose of Entocort every three days but he was doing so well he went to every four and quickly to
every five days an extra dose. About three months into using this product all my cats experienced bad diarrhea - especially Chuck. I
immediately stopped the Eaglepack. They all seem to improve after a week but nowhere as good as they were before this reaction to the
Eaglepack - when the Eaglepack was working. I waited a month and decided to try the Eaglepack Transition Solutions. Chuck didn't care
for it at all and the other cats who didn't mind it showed no improvement in their stool. Chuck just would not eat it. So we are back to
our slippery sliding slope.
He has had to go back to the extra dose of Entocort every three days. He also seemed to be a little less playful and energetic so I am
increasing his B12 back up to 1 ml every week. He is stable and no vomiting but his stool is not solid - some days are better than others -
sometimes it is like pudding others like toothpaste. I am ordering a new probiotic 8 plus product from Canada. I am so hoping to get his
Entocort back down and hopefully my long term goal is to get him off the extra dose. I am afraid of reaching a point where I max the
dose of Entocort for him so I am always trying to lower how much he takes. But he is happy and energetic and playful and has a good
appetite. I would like to see about one more pound of body weight on him but he looks good and his coat is shiny. He is not gassy and
does not seem to be experiencing any cramping. I am happy at this point because of all that but always room for improvement with
unpredictable IBD.
Update: February 27, 2011
I tried flagyl again with very bad results! Chuck can't take it anymore. He becomes very sick on it, vomits, almost stops eating and his
diarrhea gets worse! I used to do an extra dose of Entocort instead of adding more to his daily dose because I didn't want to make him
take a larger pill, he's difficult to pill to begin with. But I went ahead and got the bigger capsules and just increased his daily dose and he
began having solid stools. It took several days on this new protocol to see improvement in his stool though. He was not happy, I could
tell he was in some pain and his diarrhea was steadily getting worse - so things could have been worse - but things were not where they
should have been by any means. Oddly, when I put him on B12 weekly he did worse but this can be coincidental so I'm up in the air on
B12 protocol for him now.
He is stable for now. I have him on an increased dose of Entocort just once daily now with no extra doses. I have him on Eaglepack
Holistic Solutions every three days (just one capsule which I make myself). His coat is very full and shiny and he seems happy most of
the time too so I have to say at the moment I am pleased with where we are! Thank Goodness! But I know things can change at any
time, I am trying to enjoy this good spell as long as it is here.
Update: January 12, 2012
Chuckie doesn't like me like he used to because I am constantly trying to pill him with something and he absolutely hates to be pilled.
He will not be tricked into sprinkling anything on his food (except for Proenzyme) and if I even remotely think he will eat it with
something hidden in it I must be crazy because that will not happen. We continue to have good days and bad days with me trying every
combination imaginable. I use B12 injections, Entocort, Eaglepack and another product called iFlora Multi-Probiotic. I have not tried
pilling him with Proenzyme but am occasionally able to sneak it into his canned food but only occasionally. I have tried increasing his
Entocort but like with all steroids more is not better when not needed. Too much leaves him in pain with very watery diarrhea. Not
enough leaves him in pain with diarrhea but not as runny as with too much medication. I have tried adding an extra dose of Entocort
every so many days and it seemed to work but only for a very short time. I have tried increasing his dose to 1 1/2 mgs of and had
wonderful results but after a week he ended up with horrible runny and painful diarrhea. So I am back to the old dose of just about 1
1/4 mgs of Entocort and then I am trying an 1/8 teaspoon of Eaglepack in a gelcap along with an 1/8 a tsp of the iFlora in a gelcap given
to him together once a week and then just Eaglepack every other day.
We are now stable once again but I am sure it won't last long because it never does. I have also tried Tylan and had horrible results with
that as well (by the way had to put that nasty powdery stuff into a gelcap too). I can no longer use Flagyl because that makes him very
ill. I tried Sulfasalazine and had wonderful results for the first three days and then downhill he went and I had to take him off of that
too. Sigh, I will never give up though; no matter how discouraged I get. I'm thinking about trying to divide the dose of Entocort into an
am/pm dose (yay more pilling, as if he didn't already hate me enough as it is). Cats have a very short intestinal tract so maybe the
Entocort is out of his intestines too quickly? It's always a guessing game. I know him so well so I know from the look on his face when I
am gonna once again have to try a different combination of products or different doses. It's happening a lot more often lately. He weighs
7 pounds now and I would definitely like to see more weight on him but as long as he doesn't lose any more weight I will be happy with
that. I have put off writing this update because frankly its just distressing putting it down in words. I just wish I had something better to
report. The worst part is running this scenario through my mind; Should I have kept our relationship super close and very loving and he
have a shorter life or do what I have done which is pill him against his will and now he really isn't close with me anymore and he has a
longer life - one filled with one bad bout after the other in the hopes that one day I can find the perfect combination that can keep him
happy, pain free and stable? He doesn't vomit very much. His poop goes from looking perfect to runny within hours and back to formed
again. And sometimes even if his poop looks great he still feels painful.
Update: February 2, 2012
I know Budez is a 24 hour treatment for people but with cats having such a short digestive tract maybe it just is not in there long
enough. So I decided to try doing it twice a day - so maybe increasing the dose is not the answer but instead lowering the dose and doing
it twice a day. Now that I've started him on the new dose (twice daily instead of once daily), he's running around like a kitten - seriously
like a kitten. I haven't seen him act like this for at least two years!!!!! He did one of those mad dashes through the house and knocked a
bowl of the counter and shattered it lol. I didn't even care because I was so happy to see him happy! I took him outside and he ran after
a bird - Ive never seen him do this!
I'm scared to be excited, but I am. He has never done so well for such a long period of time; usually he does well for a few days and then
he slides back down again. I'm feeling encouraged! It figures the budez would work better in two doses because their GI tract is shorter
and the budez is out quicker than in a human. I hope this lasts!
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