The runny loose stool & the quest for a solid poo fixed !

[Elmo77]

Hi all , i thought i would make a post for anyone who has been in the sinking ship we were in & hopefully be of some help to others .........

lil Willow became part of the family at 13 weeks of age at which point she was being fed royal canin 36 kitten dry food and her poo's were very soft & smelt like battery acid or a kind of chemical smell at which point we introduced the royal canin babycat 34 food in an attempt to maybe help as i thought it would be milder on her stomach ,i stuck with this food for 4 weeks but with no change in the poo consistancy her monthly worm treatment ended up with horrible pools of diahorea with slight blood in them ,to say this was very frightening is an understatment ,boiled chicken and rice on several occasions during the next couple of weeks & still trying to stick with the RC babycat introducing it again slowly was the plan ..during this time we went from loose stool's to constipation but had trouble reaching a happy medium :(

I tried introducing applaws dry grain free food which she turned her nose up at & the same with hills dry food ,i finally got her to eat james wellbeloved but the poo was still loose and runny and now we had a little blood back in the deposits ,she was full of beans and still putting on weight during these times but again was very worrying :(

At 17 weeks i started giving her forti-flora which didnt seem to make any difference and started using nutri-plus gel to at least backup any nutrients that she might of been lossing during this time ,again she was still very active and putting weight on ,daily weighing became my life :S

By now i was spending 6 hours a day reading post after post on forums to try and educate myself on feline diets ,have had moggies all my life who ate anything and everything with no problems what so ever ,so started to believe it was a sensitive stomach issue ,now during this time i was nieve and thought that dry food would be the better option and giving wet food would just make matters worse ,but after reading many many posts about wet food being possibly better for cats i took another trip to pets at home to buy some wet food ,the limited choice of anything "quality" wise came down to natures menu ........willow sniffed this and looked at me as if i had offered her a bowl of hedgehog testicles ,back to square one i thought and continued with james wellbeloved...:(

A trip to tesco for weekly shop and i threw a pouch of felix wet food in the trolly not feeling very optimistic about her eating it and also giving her what most people call junk food but was starting to feel like i would try anything at this point ....introduced a little taste to her , the result was i nearly lost a finger and gave her a little more each day increasing the ammounts slowly ,then bought a box of felix kitten as good as it looks ,and slowly removed any dry food from her diet ,she goes wild for felix i dont know what is in it but almost over night her poo started to get normal and the smell was almost pleasent if there is such a thing :P

I thought OK i've got a felix cat she is happy and we have normal poo's i can live with it if that is the food she likes ,a visit to zooplus website and an order of bozita & some kitten carny wet food ,again i thought she will hate this stuff ,oh how wrong i was ........... at this point i have a cat that won't stop eating if she hears a fork or knife strike a plate she will run into the kitchen bowling over anything in her way ,she will dance for food & lick the pattern off the plate when finished ,i am struggling to try and keep her from eating too much and at 19weeks could quite easily eat 500g+ of wet food a day if i let her

Last week she had her scheduled monthly wormer ,what a difference i was expecting runny stools at least and was prepared for diahorea ,but nothing her poo didnt change at all maybe went a little softer ,and no worms present which was nice also

Fair to say i will not be going back to dry food again ,i know that for most people it works fine and there cats thrive on it but for me it was nothing but problems, i now have a very very happy cat & the weight i had on my shoulders every day has now been lifted and the daily bottom baths or fights would be a better word have ended...

Anyhow i just thought i would share my story with others maybe visiting here with same problems as me ,this forum has been a wealth of help & knowledge for me & i felt like i should give something back to the community, many thanks to Jackie & candes ,howling bob etc

many thanks

Grace & Willow

[Anji jonas]

wow thanks for sharing your trials and success!
there is a growing body of research and opinion now that cats are just not designed to digest carbohydrate, and the dry diets we offer them are often loaded with carbohydrates so we are asking for problems.

so sorry you and your baby had to suffer to find what works for you, and im so glad you found the answer.

[H&SWells]

nice to hear of your success...mine also love felix and as they have dry food to am happy to oblige them. Did have a similar issue when i changed their dry food , but only with one of them changed back after starving and fish and rice for a few days and all good now ... dont really want to keep them on kitten food all their lives tho and can see it is going to be a major head ache changing food again , but will just have to do it even slowe than i did previously in the hope that he will be okay next time.

[Elmo77]

One of the major problems i had with weaning between different dry foods was that she would just pick out the royal canin & leave the applaws or hills etc ,with the wet food diet it is so easy to add and mix the food's ,Bozita as far as im aware is an all life stage diet so i will be happy to keep her on this ,but for variety i will in time introduce some carny and possibly smilla & occasionally some trusty felix so long as her belly stays settled ,but from my experience so far weaning between wet foods is a lot less stressful on her small belly than dry food switching...

[candes]

Glad things worked out for you. It is rough playing diet roulette. Been there, done that for Teddies allergies. And I know how you feel now that you got everything sorted out. Whew!!!!

Ready to get dizzier? Not feeding dry is fine if that is best for your babe. But the dry food is needed to prevent or help the gum issues pure breeds can have also. So, if you don't use dry, you have to brush their teeth. But some toothpastes have nasty chemicals in them. I recall one is toxic to humans. But no mention of cats.. So you have to pick out a good one. If you ever do go back to dry, you may want to try holistic or natural without grains.

And the weakened immune state of pure breeds makes them suseptible to allergies. Just watch and make sure you have optimal and not just better. I had that happen to me once. Teddy improved, but wasn't 100% until his diet was perfect for him. It was a lot of work to get "perfect", or what I susupect is perfect. Groan... But he is healthy and thriving so I just have to be careful of which of Sash's kitten food he may get in to.

[Elmo77]

OMG ! a toothbrush im likely to lose a limb or at best a finger :P

agreed candes i have thought about the teeth and chewing problem ,is there chews available or bones that would do a similar job ?
if not i thought of maybe introducing small amounts of dry food possibly large kibbles that she would have to work at chewing, but maybe later once she hits 1 or 2 years of age ,im just very wary of giving any dry food at present as you can imagine ..

by the way ,anyone else's xmas tree getting trashed daily ?

[Howlinbob]

Hi Elmo, thanks for updating, and I'm so glad you have resolved those persistent problems, what a relief that must be.

Re. the teeth cleaning issue, on no account go back to any dry food, in any amount. It is a myth that it cleans their teeth. It does no such thing. Think of crisps and biscuits. Same thing. And you have had such bad problems with dry food in the past.

You are right to think of bones or chews. A regular raw chicken wing (raw not cooked) is an excellent teeth cleaner. You might have to persuade your babe that it actually is food, which might take some time. But she will probably have a whale of a time chucking it around the floor until she realises she can eat it.

Alternatively, you could go down the teeth-cleaning route, which is a little more stressful.

[jckkerrison]

Brilliant that Willow is sorted out,I am a Felix person as you might have been able to pick up & hardly any biscuit,that I give in very small quantity just as a bit of a treat but as for teeth sorry may be naughty but don't do anything special about them just have a quick look now & again.China RIP went to her little grave at 13 with perfect teeth & she ate hardly any biscuit as she prefered the wet so carry on doing what is best for you & Willow,good xmas coming up in your house...xxx

[candes]

Well, as far as ongoing gum issues... Teddy Bearz goes to a vetinary dentist. And the dentist says he has to have as much kibble and crunchy dental treats as possible. And to also half cook him carrots to nibble on since he chews a lot. (Carrots since allergies) Chewing is essential for tooth and gum health. BTW, does anyone else here take their cats to a dentist for a proper opinion? What does your pets dentist say?

Oh and teeth cleaning is one of mine and Teddies snuggle luvy times. He looks forward to it. And looks up into my eyes with much love while I do it. Cats love rituals. Who knows, maybe also he knows he will not have happy gums if I don't do it. (He was not thrilled at first, but tolerated it well since he does not bite or scratch ever.) Used to hide his head under the bed like an ostirich. With big furry britches and tail sticking out. What a cute hider! Sooo darling! OMG!

[candes]

OMG ! a toothbrush im likely to lose a limb or at best a finger :P

agreed candes i have thought about the teeth and chewing problem ,is there chews available or bones that would do a similar job ?
if not i thought of maybe introducing small amounts of dry food possibly large kibbles that she would have to work at chewing, but maybe later once she hits 1 or 2 years of age ,im just very wary of giving any dry food at present as you can imagine ..

by the way ,anyone else's xmas tree getting trashed daily ?

If you feel forgoing dry is best that is fine. Just watch the gumline for a red line, and check for tarter buildup. Problem with that is once they have gingivitis the odds are that they may never be rid of it. But it could happen though, as far as getting it to a minimal standstill. There are dental chew treats, but most are not allergy friendly, so I had to skip those. If you are certain it is not allergy, you can go that route. Or even introduce them and watch carefully. Would be interesting to see what happens. Let me know if you do. Some cats are fortunate to begin with as far as gum and tooth health. But I have seen many cats 15+ with really nasty looking teeth. My moggies are both older (17 and 11 ) and no tarter or gum issues.

Almost forgot, there is science diet dental kibble too for others that may have cats with gingivitis. But I would honestly never suggest science diet. But what you feed is your option.

And at one time, humans didn't brudh their teeth either. It was "not natural" obviously since nature didn't invent the toothbrush.