As with many of the cats we get from shelters, we don’t know much about Little Bea (as she is known affectionately by the staff and volunteers).Bea was apparently picked up as a stray.But she is so tiny and timid that we don’t suspect she could have made it as a stray for very long.

As you can tell from the photos, Bea is just adorable.And she is just a pipsqueak of a cat, which only adds to her cuteness.From the time Bea came to us, she was plagued with bouts of diarrhea.We did not detect any parasites in her stool, but we treated her for parasites, anyway (standard practice, since parasites can be missed).

But, Bea’s diarrhea continued.So, we scheduled Bea for an ultrasound.The ultrasound showed that Bea had inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).IBD describes a group of chronic gastrointestinal disorders, characterized by inflammation of the digestive tract. The cause of IBD is unknown, but many researchers suspect that it is an auto-immune disease. IBD is often treated with steroids, but Bea didn’t respond well to this treatment and her symptoms remained.We tried many kinds of treatments, including special diets and other drugs.

We were becoming quite concerned as nothing appeared to be able to stop her diarrhea.Then one of our vets suggested we try her on the same food as our diabetic cats.Although not designed as a diet for IBD, she said that many people have had success feeding it.So, we moved Little Bea into the Sepcial Needs Suite with our diabetic cats and started her on the diet.To our delight, her diarrhea has cleared up!

Bea is a cutie and very sweet.We hope she has a chance to be adopted despite her disease.But, reality tells us that she is not likely to be adopted.Please sponsor Bea and help us to care for her as she deserves.