Medicine upsets her butt and gut - Slippery Elm, Marshmallow root, or....???

[daftcat75]

Krista takes chlorambucil (generic for Leukeran) aka chemotherapy for her suspected small cell lymphoma. It is working for her as she went from liquid stools for months back to well-formed, low odor, solid stools.

However, the medicine itself wrecks her gut and butt until it’s passed through her. Her healthy stools turn to mush and more poop than she should have. She’ll have three or more trips to the boxes (two of those may hit the carpet instead) and ultimately she barfs afterwards. This will happen on both the dosing day and the day after as the medicine works its way through her. Once it’s through her, she’s good again for two days until the next dose.

What can I give her to help cushion the blow while the medicine works it’s way through her? Obviously I can’t give her Slippery Elm with the dose because she needs to absorb the medicine. But she eats small frequent meals throughout the day and night. So I think I could probably start giving her something from four hours after the dose until after her day-after poop.

Slippery Elm or Marshmallow root or any other suggestions? I’d love it if she could keep taking medicine that’s helping her without it being so rough on her.

 

[stephanietx]

I have a kitty who has a sensitive tummy and can have runny poops and diarrhea if we change his food. We give him s. boullardi to help keep his gut healthy. We started off with 1/2 capsule sprinkled and mixed into wet food twice a day. Now we do a maintenance dose of 1/4 capsule daily unless we notice any change in his poops, then we bump it up.

My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

 

[molly92]

Oof, poor thing! I don't know much about chemo, but when I gave slippery elm to my cat, it did not seem like a "gentle, natural" experience. Everything slid through her system VERY quickly and she was freaking out! I used it for constipation (so it was effective), but I don't think you want to go that route if you're having the opposite problem. That said, many have used it and liked it for their cats, but personally I don't think you're missing out.

I also think a good probiotic is your best bet. Run it by your vet first, but something loaded with S. boulardii and/or L. acidophilus might be really helpful. I'm going to guess that the chemo does a number on her intestinal microbiome, and replenishing it might help with the side effects.

 

[daftcat75]

It's not classical diarrhea. It's more like the medicine is caustic or something and just cleans her out. I call her my little sundae maker because it starts with a good solid poop, a chocolate banana, and then her bonus rounds go through soft-serve (mostly formed but probably pooped too early), and sometimes a little chocolate sauce at the end. Finally she barfs up the nut topping.

Once the medicine has passed through her, her poops return to normal again. That's why I'm looking at slippery elm to line her gut walls and cushion the blow.

I tried psyllium which made everything bigger but also firmer. It doesn't stop the barfing after. I don't think the "poop pukes" are going away until she stops having the bonus rounds.

I don't think I can get her to eat enough of the s. boulardii anymore. She ate so much of it last summer when she was getting through a clostridium infection that she's kind of sick of it now. She gets maybe an 1/8 capsule each night as part of the prednisilone wrap I make for her: half a pill smeared in food, dusted with the yeast to make it tacky, and then a bonito tuna fish flake wrapped tight around it all. She's toothless so she gums at it and swallows it. She gets three of these each night. The lovely lady pills herself!

 

[daftcat75]

catsknowme I see you have a lot of experience with SE and MR and other herbs from my forums search. Can I pick your brain here for something to try to make her dosing days and day-afters less disastrous?

 

[white shadow]

.
In my experience, the absolute all-time best advice for chronic feline conditions comes from the folks (angels, really) in the specialized online communities.........

In the case of Lymphoma, the original group started in the pre-forums era in 1998 on the Yahoo platform. After 21 years and ~4000 members there, they moved over to the "Groups.io" site last year - and there's a FB presence as well.

• group: Feline Lymphoma Support - Groups.io
• facebook: Feline Lymphoma - About - FB
• original Yahoo page Feline Lymphoma - Yahoo Groups (closed)

I doubt they'll disappoint you!
.

 

[catsknowme]

Awww, poor little kitty! Have you asked the vet about these unwanted side effects? You are right about SE and MR coating the alimentary system & affecting the absorption of medicines. For that reason. I try to dose those 2 herbs 3-5 hours separately from western medicine. Do NOT use tinctures as those are made with alcohol which is an irritant to the guts and can also interfere with pharmaceuticals. You could look into red raspberry leaf, chamomile and lemon balm teas internally and apply SE or MR to her sore rear followed by a thin, soothing coating of coconut oil. Also, I use teas & decoctions as opposed to sprinkling powdered herb onto food or into drink. I just found this article from an herbal provider:

Advice about Herb-Drug Interactions

Advice about Herb-Drug Interactions

m.napiers.net