Scratchings-and-Sniffings

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The Star of NAVC Day 2 Posted: 19 Jan 2010 07:06 PM PST I know our main theme at this year's NAVC has been "The Myth of 9 Lives in Cats" and Tom did another series of tweets from the IDEXX Symposium on "The Skinny Cat" this morning. But we got a picture of this service dog who was wandering around making friends in the exhibition hall and couldn't resist: We've collected a lot of material and more pics, plus Dr. Larry's take on the sessions, so we'll be adding posts from NAVC even after we get back. Stay toned!

Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Cats Posted: 19 Jan 2010 06:13 PM PST I sat through a really good presentation on Inflammatory Bowel Disease, or IBD, in cats today at the Feline Health Symposium sponsored by Purina at The North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando. The talk was given by Dr Debra Zoran from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M. The interesting part of the presentation was Dr Zoran's focus on the role gut micro flora, or the bacteria that normally reside in the intestine of the cat, play in the development and management of IBD. For those of you that don't know, we, and our cats, have huge numbers of bacteria that reside in our intestinal tract. We tend to think that bacteria living in our gut would make us sick and in some cases that's true. But what most of us don't know is that we have huge numbers of bacteria living in our intestines right now and not only are they not making us sick, they are keeping us healthy most of the time. have more bacteria living inside us than we have cells in all the organs and systems in out bodies. Researchers are beginning to understand that this so called "microbiota" or "normal gut micro flora" functions almost like another organ system. The numbers and  different bacterial species that make up this  gut micro flora can have a profound influence on our health. The gut micro flora is made up of a balance of so called "good" bacteria and not so good bacteria.  Species like bifidobacteria and lacto bacillus help maintain a healthy environment in the intestine and these species live in "balance" with bacteria like e-coli and clostridium that can cause disease in certain circumstances. The presence of the good bacteria provides a balance and prevents the overpopulation of bad bacteria and the development of disease. This state of balance is referred to as "eubiois" and when things are out of balance, when the e-coli and clostridium predominate, an unbalanced state of "dysbiosis" is said to exist.  Furthermore the predominance of bad bacteria and the state of dysbiosis leads to an immune response on the part of the cat and can be the trigger that causes something like IBD to rear it's ugly head. This immune response leads to the presence of large numbers of inflammatory cell types invading the lining of the intestine. This inflammatory reaction interferes with the cat's ability to digest food and can lead to the signs and symptoms associated with IBD, namely; vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia and weight loss. The level of inflammation can be so great that it causes structural changes in the lining of the intestine that further impairs digestion and worsens the symptoms. What we don't know about IBD is what causes it. We don't know what the trigger is that sets up the cascade of inflammation that leads to clinical signs. We do, however, know some things about how to shut down that inflammation. We know that in the short term we have to use corticosteroids and certain antibiotics to control the acute phase and calm things down. The important information form Dr Zoran is that this is the relatively easy part. The longer term control is more about diet and the re-establishment of intestinal "eubiosis" and that is where the real success lies.  The role of proper diet and the judicious use of probiotics is key to the successful long term management of IBD in cats. Specialized diets that are high in protein and use only highly digestible protein sources promote the conditions where the good bacteria thrive and eubiosis can exist. The addition of good strains of bacteria in the form of probiotic supplements help seed the inflamed gastro- intestinal tract with the right bacterial species to get out cats on the road to balance and eubiosis that leads to long term control of IBD. Fortunately Purina has developed the diet and probiotic supplements needed for this common form of GI disease in cats. PVD EN formula, in both canned and dry forms, provides a highly digestible diet with high levels of quality protein needed to stabilize the intestinal tract providing a optimal environment in which the supplemental probiotic stains in Forti Flora can thrive and re-colonize the recovering intestinal tract.  IBD can be a frustrating problem for vets, cats and those of us that love cats. The new information on diet and the crucial role intestinal bacteria play in the development and treatment of this disease should make it easier and more rewarding to manage.

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