TOTW = stink!

Over the course of about 2 weeks we switched Reilly and Lilah from the Science Diet the rescue had them on to Taste of the Wild. All during the mixing, things were fine, no issues, but now that we've been on straight TOTW for a little less than a week, their poop has started to smell big time!

Part of it is that we're also using feline pine, so they aren't covering extremely well, so I just go clean it out whenever I smell it, but we were using it before when we were mixing the two foods and never had a problem.

Also, I'm not sure which cat, but one of them is having fairly soft stools. Not watery or runny or anything, just when I find them later maybe 1 out of the 5 pieces is much softer.

Do we need to switch foods? Could the grain free food just be a little too rich for them?

You could always mix 2 kinds of dry food.
I always start out slow and mix any new food. I offer 2 -3 kinds of dry
food everyday, I simply mix it in advance in a glass canning jar for
freshness and store.
I just dont believe in giving the same food day in and day out.
I think this offers them variety and of course I dont believe any
one food is perfect.
I also rotate grain free's with other good quality dry's.
Just my theory.
Of course if your cat needs a RX food that would not apply.

The jump from science diet which is full of grains to a grain free like TOTW--I would imagine is going to affect their digest tracts for awhile--2 weeks isn't that long.

I would wait a few more weeks. There is a definite possibility that their poop will continue to stink--but the food is better for them so I would think that the positive's outweigh the negatives.

Don't jump the gun just yet.

Leslie

Originally Posted by Jack31

The jump from science diet which is full of grains to a grain free like TOTW--I would imagine is going to affect their digest tracts for awhile--2 weeks isn't that long.

I would wait a few more weeks. There is a definite possibility that their poop will continue to stink--but the food is better for them so I would think that the positive's outweigh the negatives.

Don't jump the gun just yet.

Leslie

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Different foods need different bacteria to aid in digestion... often the smell in changing foods is these readjusting

I agree with Jack31 and Sharky, it probably is the food but it is just as likely that it will go away over time. I would give it a few more weeks before I would think about changing. Taste of the Wild is a good food, but kitties have sensitive tummies and change often makes them gassy and odorous!

I would give it another month or so to see if it gets better. For the soft stools, feeding a bit of plain canned pumpkin would probably help (not pumpkin pie filling, just canned pumpkin). Is there any chance that the cat with soft stools has something else going on, like worms?

My cats' poop is noticeably smellier when I feed them Chicken Soup wet food. I feed it anyway because it's the healthiest food I can find here for $0.84/can (6oz size).

I had to stop using Feline Pine because of the poop smell issue. They just wouldn't cover it when they went.

I also mix 2-3 dry foods. We have a local store that has there own premium and I mix it with Chicken Soup and another one I get sometimes.

I had the same problem with TOTW and the smell, it was awful!

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll give them a few more weeks before I upset their tummies even MORE by switching foods on them again.

Originally Posted by Sakura

Is there any chance that the cat with soft stools has something else going on, like worms?

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They just went to the vet last Wednesday and had a deworming treatment, in fact that's about the time the soft stool started so we thought it might be related to that medicine, but it seems to be persisting somewhat. It's not all the time , but maybe one little piece of all his poop in a day is softer.

Some cats need a longer transition time when changing their foods. Some people do the mixture like this:

week 1 - 75% old, 25% new
week 2 - 50% old, 50% new
week 3 - 25% old, 75% new
week 4 - all new