Indy’s Differential Diagnosis: Detox Or Auto-Immune?
AnimalCare 
Nov 23, 2019 
AnimalCare, NGOs 
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Ten days ago, I did a differential diagnosis for Indy and came up with 5 possible causes for his condition: https://myanimalcare.org/2019/11/13/feline-trichomonosis-and-differential-diagnosis-for-indy/
We have since ruled out giardiasis, coccidiosis and possibly even trichomonosis, all of which would have been caused by different protozoas. Of these three, trichomonosis is still possible but it usually happens to cats of a median age of 1 (one). Indy is 11 years old but Indy IS a little non-textbook (ie. weird). There is only one drug for trichomonosis (Ronidazole) and it is toxic, so that is completely out of the question. In many cases, the condition resolves by itself but can take up to 2 years of chronic diarrhoea.
The vet suggests that Indy’s condition is an immune-mediated large bowel disease.
Aut0-immune!
An autoimmune disease is a condition in which your immune system mistakenly attacks your own body.
And I’ve been reading up, if the immune system targets the intestines, it can cause diarrhoea, loose stools and related gastrointestinal problems. And Indy does have a very colourful medical history of gastrointestinal problems. Maybe he was born with a weak gut? He also had a bad start in life; was rescued with an infected bladder, infected Eustachian tube and an infected eye.
Indy is now on steroids to address possible inflammation in his gut due to a suspected auto-immune condition.
On Day 6 of the steroids, he had formed stools and on Day 8, he had firm stools.
So, are the steroids working?
Today is Day 1o and there are quite a few more days to go (the vet extended the medication).
If indeed it is an auto-immune condition, I checked and the first recommendation to address such a condition is:
1. Heal Your Gut
Your gut is your gateway to health. It houses 80 percent of your immune system, and without a healthy gut it is nearly impossible to have a healthy immune system.
In fact, we now know that having a leaky gut is one of the primary causes, and probably even a prerequisite, for developing an autoimmune disease. If your gut has become leaky it means the the tight junctions that usually hold the walls of your intestines together have become loose, allowing undigested food particles, microbes, toxins, and more to escape your gut and enter your bloodstream, causing a huge rise in inflammation that triggers or worsens any autoimmune condition.
Fortunately, the cells in your gut turn over very quickly, so you can heal your gut in as little as thirty days, by following functional medicine’s 4R Program:
- Remove the Bad — Remove inflammatory foods, toxins, and stress that damage your gut, as well as gut infections from yeast, parasites, or bacteria
- Restore the Good — Replenish enzymes and acids necessary for proper digestion
- Reinoculate with Healthy Bacteria — Make sure you have plenty of friendly bacteria to support your immune system
- Repair the Gut — Provide the nutrients and amino acids needed to build a healthy gut lining
Secondly:
2. Optimize Your Diet
The foods you eat play a major role in two key components of autoimmune disease — gut health and inflammation. Unfortunately, our modern diets are full of foods that have a negative impact on the two.
Thirdly:
3. Reduce Your Toxic Burden
It’s no secret that we’re exposed to a huge number of toxic chemicals on a daily basis. Between the pollution in our air, the contaminants in our water, the pesticides in our food, and the cocktail of chemicals in our products, our bodies are barraged by toxins day in and day out. These toxins aren’t just being washed off or rinsed away, they are absorbed by your body.
Fourthly: Heal your infections. Fifthly: Relieve your stress.
Let’s look at what we are doing for Indy with regard to the first three, which I think, is very applicable.
(1) Healing the gut: Indy is taking bone broth for gut-healing. I’m also giving him probiotics and digestive enzymes where possible. He is already on raw food which contains natural digestive enzymes.
Bone broth recipe: https://tailblazerscopperfield.com/bone-broth-a-superfood-for-dogs-cats/
(2) Optimizing the diet: Indy is already on raw food, which is the biologically appropriate food for cats. Now, he is back on Cubgrub, which is completely balanced and prepared with the highest hygiene standards.
(3) Reduce toxins: Nothing much we can do with the pollutants in the air or water, I suppose, but Indy is already, again, on raw food. Plain and simple raw food with no additives or flavourings.
Some of the previous differential diagnosis which we have not ruled out are:
* Poor gastrointestinal health since young. GI tract messed up by being fed kibble and canned. Needs time to adjust to raw now. This would be the detox hypothesis.
* Food intolerance – but of what? Chicken? Fish oil? Egg yolk? I think we may be able to rule this out already. Indy has only been eating chicken. I also cannot get him to eat any other proteins.
With the above analysis, we now come back to just two possibilities:
1 An auto-immune condition
2 Detoxing
Which is it, Indy?
Huh? What? I want to play!!!
*Zoooooom,….!!!*
Source: https://myanimalcare.org/2019/11/23/indys-differential-diagn..
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