Cat licking lips, possible IBD?

[TuxedoDaddy]

We have had an alarming health crisis with our cat. He's 10 years old and has often vomited and had hair balls. He would seem to react especially to fish. He could vomit a few times a week. But it wouldn't be anything more than what a cat does when he's hacking up a hairball. He went through a health crisis where he stopped eating as much, and got very constipated. He's been on lactulose and cisapride for years because of extreme constipation. The doctor had assumed it was because he's a snub tail. He thought maybe the nerves might be messed up. He did wonderfully on these drugs until this recent event (in October).

He got so extremely constipated that he stopped eating. Then he began puking up enormous hairballs. One was literally the size of a baby rat. We overreacted and gave him tubes of hairball remedy. We greatly increased his meds. we doubled the cisapride and gave him two to three times the lactulose. Instead of this helping him, and made him very very sick. He began vomiting in a new way. And then extremely violent, convulsive, howling, liquid pouring out of him repeatedly. Not just a gentle puke of the food he had just eaten. He would vomit like this several times throughout the day. We were getting up at all hours of the night to hold him while he was howling and puking. We took him to a vet and she believes that he has IBD. His systems are entirely consistent with it. He has always been a puker. Especially with fish foods. He's always struggled with constipation. It would alternate with diarrhea too, making it very difficult to keep him stable on his drugs. We were always having to adjust the dose. He's always had struggles with hairballs too. He's voraciously hungry. But after a month of almost constant violent puking we also started to notice that he would lick his lips quite frequently. If you're an obsessive cat owner like I am you can clearly tell the difference between a cat that is licking his lips to indicate that he's hungry, or cleaning his face, to this type of licking, which suggests something's wrong with his stomach. The doctor put him on prednisolone. This helps a fantastic amount. The vomiting has stopped for the most part. And the only time he pukes is if we give him his meds on an empty stomach, or if we have fish in his food. But that puking isn't violence, it isn't convulsive, and it isn't howling and clearly painful for him. It's a quick and easy up and out. So we believe that the prednisone did indeed stop the issue that he was having.

We feel that everything has substantiated the diagnosis of IBD. But we are wanting some feedback on people who have cats with IBD. Because he still doing two things that are very concerning. One is the licking of the lips, which can become even more frequent at times. Especially after he eats. More concerning is that he will lick his lips after vocalizing. If he meows in a normally loud voice he will instantly lick his lips. This is very unusual. He used to be a very talkative cat and now really seems to talk. When we get him to talk he licks his lips as though there's a physical problem. My belief is that, with extreme irritation and aggravation of his gastrointestinal lining, due to all the extreme laxative and the acid involved in the endless vomiting, perhaps it has eroded the gastrointestinal lining. But another concerning thing is that there are times when we pick him up and hold him like a baby, and he'll make a noise as though he's being squeezed. Sometimes in this position will get him to talk and his voice comes out as though it's being squeezed. This is most noticeable after he's eaten and has a full tummy. We would think that there's something wrong in there but the doctor felt nothing abnormal and even when we strongly push and poke his belly he shows no discomfort or pain of any kind. The vet wanted us to pay $1,000 to have him put under and have x-rays and ultrasounds and scoping. Not only is that not feasible, the trauma to him alone isn't worth having. He almost died the last time he went to a vet, because she did not know how to handle him correctly. He does not do well with people handling him. We would definitely be willing to consider these expensive procedures if it wasn't for the fact that he has an excellent appetite, is pooping and peeing well, is humping and playing and being a normal happy cat. He stretches when he's comfortable. He seems perfectly fine, except for these two concerning signs. We would like to know what you think about them and if you've experienced this with IBD or anything else.


Thanks a lot for reading through this and for any suggestions.

[Lilith]

Hi and welcome - wow, your boy's been through a lot ...

I'm no expert re IBS/D but in my experience cats lick their lips when feeling nauseous, so maybe he is still feeling sick a lot of the time. Could there be an anti-nausea remedy for cats? I know there is for humans, though the side-effects can cause confusion.

Also, if he will eat it, the Royal Canin Fibre Response dried food is a very good and gentle remedy for constipation ... I fed it to one of mine for a long time, but the little devil's gone off it though she used to love it; fed it ad-lib and it softened and bulked out her motions like anything and kept her regular ... I just keep an eye on her and have Lactulose ready if needed.

Does sound like a definite fish allergy too.

There are people on here much more clued up than me; hopefully they'll be along soon, but hope this helps, all the very best with him and give him a cuddle from me

[booktigger]

As Lilith has said, lip licking and the vocalisation you mention are signs of nausea, we have a medication called Ranatidine for it but I'm not sure what cisapride is.

[AndyMac]

My cat was recently diagnosed with IBS after an abdominal scan revealed an enlarged stomach lining. She has always been sick on and off mostly bile and I never thought anything of it until the diagnosis - she stopped eating her wet food a few months ago and was drinking more water thats when I became concerned and took her to the vet.

She had a few blood tests which showed increased liver enzymes and the vet was concerned there may be a growth on the liver so advised the abdominal scan. She was getting a mild steroid injection every 2 days for the IBS and after about 2 weeks she caught a UTI apparently the steroid injections had weakened her immune system. The vet stopped the injections and a week later she seems OK - she hasn't been sick in over a week and has not had any diarrhoea. She is eating more wet food and the vet advised to try her with cooked chicken breast.

I had her at the vet last night and her temperature is normal and she has not lost any weight - I have to take her back next week again to be weighed. The vet did not mention anything about putting her on tablets for the IBS but did mention some foods particularly Whiskas and Felix are very rich and could upset her stomach - the equivalent of me eating a chinese meal every night !!

[Antonio]

Hi TuxedoDaddy.
My cat has IBD. She has been vomiting since I had her. But in the beginning it was just an occasional episode every now and then, in the last times it was an everyday thing, so we investigated further and we found out it was an IBD related to a food intolerance.
She would throw up with poultry and fish and even with grain. So we had to remove all those ingredients from her diet and now she's on a mono-proteic wet food that gives her no trouble at all. She has never vomited again since she's on this food.
We were lucky to find the right protein at the first attempt and that she likes it.

Anyway she was also diagnosed with a pancreatitis and a cholangitis. The three things are called triaditis. The pancreatitis was treated with a two-week course of antibiotic.
Now we have to be very careful to all signs and symptoms.
She's been taking a supplement to improve her liver condition, this is a slow process, the liver might improve but it can take a long time.
In the last two-three weeks I've been giving her two shots of Ranitidine daily, because I realized that she had some stomach issues and she was eating less. The shots of Ranitidine seem to help her.
As for the constipation, I would advice you to put some psyllium seeds in his wet food. They are absolutely inexpensive, just 10-15 seeds per day in his wet food should keep her bowel movement fine and working.
The prednisolone cannot be given for a long time, you could cause further and more serious damages to your kitty. Ask your vet how to reduce and eventually suspend the cortisone.

[booktigger]

My cat was recently diagnosed with IBS after an abdominal scan revealed an enlarged stomach lining. She has always been sick on and off mostly bile and I never thought anything of it until the diagnosis - she stopped eating her wet food a few months ago and was drinking more water thats when I became concerned and took her to the vet.

She had a few blood tests which showed increased liver enzymes and the vet was concerned there may be a growth on the liver so advised the abdominal scan. She was getting a mild steroid injection every 2 days for the IBS and after about 2 weeks she caught a UTI apparently the steroid injections had weakened her immune system. The vet stopped the injections and a week later she seems OK - she hasn't been sick in over a week and has not had any diarrhoea. She is eating more wet food and the vet advised to try her with cooked chicken breast.

I had her at the vet last night and her temperature is normal and she has not lost any weight - I have to take her back next week again to be weighed. The vet did not mention anything about putting her on tablets for the IBS but did mention some foods particularly Whiskas and Felix are very rich and could upset her stomach - the equivalent of me eating a chinese meal every night !!

Just be careful with chicken breast, it isn't complete, so it can't make up more than a certain percentage of her food intake, but because most cats love it, they can get picky and only want chicken.