How many times do cats usually go poop a day?

trdarch

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Aug 3, 2007
Messages
8
Purraise
1
Location
Portland, OR
So I changed my cat's diet a few months ago to dry Natural Balance low calorie food because I heard they poop less on better food plus my cat is a little overweight. However, my cat seems to poop all the time! At least three times a day, maybe more. His poop is always pretty soft and wet (he doesn't cover it), and it really smells bad! Sorry to be graphic. Do you think this is normal or should I switch his food?
 

tickytat

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jul 5, 2007
Messages
432
Purraise
4
Location
Vermont, USA
Wow, just be glad your cat is pooping at all! After struggling for years with a constipated cat and seeing nothing in the litterbox, I'm happy when there's anything!


Are you feeding wet or dry food?
 

mschauer

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jun 17, 2007
Messages
6,753
Purraise
2,338
Location
Houston, Tx
I definately would not consider that normal. Once a day would be about right.

What was he eating before? Were his stools OK then?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

trdarch

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Aug 3, 2007
Messages
8
Purraise
1
Location
Portland, OR
Thanks for your reply. I am feeding him dry food.
 

beandip

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 1, 2007
Messages
2,322
Purraise
2
Location
under a pile of cats
In general, I like Natural Balance foods...but I'm not a believer in low cal food...but that's another story for another day.

The low cal foods generally achieve "low calorie" results by putting more carbs and "fluff" in the food. The more filler he/she eats, the more poop you will see in the box.
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
DItto what Beandip said..

Most cats on light food poop 4 times a day vs 1 or 2 times for those on reg...
 

tarasgirl06

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
Messages
24,676
Purraise
64,824
Location
Glendale, CATifornia
Originally Posted by trdarch

So I changed my cat's diet a few months ago to dry Natural Balance low calorie food because I heard they poop less on better food plus my cat is a little overweight. However, my cat seems to poop all the time! At least three times a day, maybe more. His poop is always pretty soft and wet (he doesn't cover it), and it really smells bad! Sorry to be graphic. Do you think this is normal or should I switch his food?
Natural Balance is a good-quality diet, as far as I know, anyway, and I feed it, along with other premium varieties. As far as toilet visits, well, cats are just like humans -- they vary according to the individual physiology and how much is eaten.
 

urbantigers

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
2,175
Purraise
7
Location
UK
I suspect that cats are like people in that how often they poop can vary a lot. Mine poop about twice a day. They are fed on good quality wet food with a small amount of good quality dry for Mosi. I think Jaffa pooped less when he had a higher proportion of dry food in his diet, but I think that's just because he eats a greater volume of food now. I also think that he may have been dehydrated on the dry food and slightly constipated.
 

kitytize

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
2,155
Purraise
2
My cats poop once a day and I agree with Sharky and Beandip about the low cal foods.
 

wildflower79

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
Messages
214
Purraise
1
Location
Brownsville,TX
Originally Posted by sharky

DItto what Beandip said..

Most cats on light food poop 4 times a day vs 1 or 2 times for those on reg...
Hmm well that's interesting...and good to know. I just took Gizmo to the vet today for his shots/exam and the doctor said he could stand lose a little weight. He suggested moving him to a light food, which I was considering but now I think I'll just cut back on his regular food and maybe add more canned and see how he does with that. The last thing I need is more pooping.
 

cbga139

TCS Member
Kitten
Joined
Jun 26, 2008
Messages
2
Purraise
1
Location
Dallas, GA
We have a cat that has just recently started pooping outside of her litter box and we're going nuts. We have 2 cats. The oldest is great and doesn't have any issues. The 4 year old, however, is really trying our patience. I took her to the vet to see what they said and the vet said she was just fine, that it was behavioral. I bought some pheromone spray and I've been using that around the areas where she poops, but she's still not getting it. No change in diet aside from her evidently eating more. Same food - Science Diet Adult Hairball Formula as both cats are long haired.

We bought another litter box, so now we have the 1st one which is a very large corner unit plus this regular sized one. She uses both boxes but still finds the need to poop in the tub, on the floor next to the box, on the carpet, wherever. We've always felt that she had something wrong with her (behavior wise) as she was always EXTREMELY skiddish and she refuses to groom herself. She will NOT let us even get near her with a comb or brush so she ends up really ratty. She's a really sweet cat and loves to sit in my lap in the evenings, but we just can't let this keep on as we have a 3 year old daughter and a 4 month old son. He's already showing signs of wanting to crawl and we just can't have him somehow getting into cat feces due to her misbehavior.

Bottom line is that I've observered her now for the last month or so going poop anywhere from 5 - 8 times a day on a normal day. At times, I've seen her go up to 12. The only thing that I can figure is that she's stressed out or something and is overeating to compensate. I'm going to check with our vet about a food change, but I just didn't want to change anything in her diet to create more of an issue.

Any suggestions? THANKS!
 

whiteforest

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 27, 2008
Messages
1,230
Purraise
11
Location
Michigan
According to our vet, a cat should poop once daily and it should be solid. When one of ours started pooping out of the box, the fact that he was pooping 2-3 times daily, it was soft, and really smelly was an indication to our vet that it was a medical problem over a behavioral problem.
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
Zoey still poops once a day

RIP Kandie pooped once or twice a day

Sylvie at 7 months is a 2 a day boy
 

wingss2fly

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
368
Purraise
1
Location
So. Cal.
Here I go again, when my kittens were on CatChow, they ate all darn day and pooped at the very least 4 times a day, per cat. I scooped poop all day. 12 days on EVO. Each cat poops once or twice per day. The house doesn't smell like old farts any more either. Cat Chow = Taco Bell.


K.
 

littleraven7726

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 1, 2002
Messages
3,339
Purraise
12
Location
Next to the World's Largest 6-pack
Mine poop once a day. One eats mostly canned and the other is maybe 50/50 wet/dry. Lately he's been eating more wet than dry with the warmer weather.

I feed my big guy regular dry, but measured amounts. He has an intolerance to many "diet" cat food ingredients, and just plain won't eat others (he actually spit out SD Light and Hill's w/d).
 

river

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Sep 16, 2005
Messages
185
Purraise
1
Location
Earth
My 4 cats that are on raw only poop once every two to three days, and they are mostly small, dry poops without much odor.
 

rone

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
259
Purraise
1
Location
Earth
Originally Posted by river

My 4 cats that are on raw only poop once every two to three days, and they are mostly small, dry poops without much odor.
Same here. Ever since they're on raw sometimes I can't even tell they pooped
.
 

kkh

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jun 5, 2008
Messages
383
Purraise
12
Location
Hawaii
My baby-cat used to poop once a day but more often these days ever since I switched her food to Hill's prescription(both dry & wet about 50/50).
I talked to my vet yesterday. I was told to cut-down on the wet as it maybe the reason she poops often(and she gets quite stinky, too...err...sorry for TMI). I reduced the amount of wet and increased dried. Now she's constipating...
 
Top