Willoughby's butt :)

My cat Willoughby has sort of a gross problem. When he poops it remains all over his butt. His poop is not the normal firm dark brown either it is much softer and light brown or tan colored. Very occationally it has a little blood in it. I have taken stool samples into the vet various times and they come back negative. He has also been dewormed a few times. I have only had him a few months now. I had his anal glands expressed just 2 weeks ago. They seem to get blocked easily. But the vet showed me how to deal with that.

So is the messy poo related to the anal gland issue? How can I firm up his poo? And can anyone tell me other causes for such awful poo?

umm could it be too much or too little fiber ???

kinda sounds like maybe a slight IBS case

What should I ask the vet to do next? He wasn't like this when I first got him. I am sure he was eating crap on the streets before I picked him up. He was really skinny. Now he has filled out really nicely. But I had his stool tested, what is next?

How old is he? You might ask your vet whether more fiber would help--soft stools seem to result in anal glands not being expressed normally, and fiber might help bulk up the stools.

What are you feeding this cat?

I'd put him on a good quality dry food like Innova or California Natural or Nature's Logic. This will give him some roughage that the wet food does not have.

I'd say that his diet is responsible for most of his problems. You might also try a new vet.

He is roughly 5 years old. He eats Premium Edge dry only for now because I thought that since my cats don't get wet food regularly, giving him some might cause diarrhea. When his poo gets really soft I have given him a tablespoon or two of yogurt to firm them up but it didn't really help.

I don't have a problem with the vet, I just haven't asked what to do next yet. I just had the stool sample done. I will definately ask about adding fiber to his diet. How exactly do you add fiber to a cat's diet? Can it just be added to his own food? He is one of 7 cats but I could just feed him seperately everyday. The rest of my cats are perfectly clean, nice stools.

Ask the vet about something like benefiber ... it is easily sprinkled on the food, it has no taste ( but this is a cat)... I had to do that with my dog for a bit to help with a mild colitis.... I actually found out I was giving her TOO MUCH fiber ...