Soft stool resulting from Deli-Cat?

One of my cats, a 14 year old, has very "liquidy" poo. I've taken him to the vet for blood work, given a stool sample, and even tried medication. It evidently isn't a serious health concern, according to my vet, but the medication didn't have the desired effect. I'm starting to get the impression that it may be a result of the hard food that he eats (and eats plenty of), Deli-Cat. I found out in another thread that this isn't really the ideal hard food for cats, particularly older cats (my other cat is 19), so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a replacement hard food.

The cats can be really picky with wet food, but I've never tried giving them a different hard food, and would like to try something healthier anyway if Deli-Cat isn't ideal to begin with. Thanks for any help.

Originally Posted by streambeck

One of my cats, a 14 year old, has very "liquidy" poo. I've taken him to the vet for blood work, given a stool sample, and even tried medication. It evidently isn't a serious health concern, according to my vet, but the medication didn't have the desired effect. I'm starting to get the impression that it may be a result of the hard food that he eats (and eats plenty of), Deli-Cat. I found out in another thread that this isn't really the ideal hard food for cats, particularly older cats (my other cat is 19), so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a replacement hard food.

The cats can be really picky with wet food, but I've never tried giving them a different hard food, and would like to try something healthier anyway if Deli-Cat isn't ideal to begin with. Thanks for any help.

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Yeah, Deli-Cat is really far from ideal... But here is the question though: She is 14... for how long has she been eating this, and for how long has she had watery poop?
Has she always had this problem, or this is a recent problem?
Did you recently change the food?
Any other changes?

^Another thing to consider. If this is a more recent occurrence, it could possibly be because the manufacturer changed the formula. Many often do that to save money on their end.

To my knowledge, he's been eating Deli-Cat for about a decade. It's hard to determine if this has always been a problem because the cat, maybe a year or so ago, became an indoor cat for the first time after having been allowed to go outside whenever he pleased for several years (and during that period of time, he never used the litter box), and this has evidently been an issue for the last year.

The cats have recently moved from living with my family in their house to living in my apartment. The one with the issue (Chandler, the 14 year old) is way less particular about his food, and is also the one that eats far more of the dry food. I'd like to think they'd be okay with a change in dry food (changing the wet food is basically out of the question), but considering they just moved and are adjusting, not to mention their age, I don't wanna spring anything on them.

They'll usually just snack on the Deli-Cat throughout the day, but Chandler will binge on it while I'm asleep, and he'll use the litter box several times between when I go to bed and when I wake up, and the older cat will end up tracking it everywhere. The one day I went light on the hard food, he still went several times, and the stool was still wet, but it wasn't nearly the problem it usually is. Both cats are pretty skinny, and can get very hungry, so I don't wanna deprive them, but I don't want to be causing harm, and I don't want to be cleaning nearly as often as I do.

Eating a lot and pretty skinny... When was the last blood work? Was a senior panel done? Did you check for thyroid? Not all blood tests check for thyroid, and that sounds suspicious...

But back to the food - what stores do you have available, and where are you located? US?

Here's the other thread on the cats, Carolina, just so you can catch up to speed.

I am not a feline nutritional expert and you have senior kitties - as others have noted!

Their diet needs to be managed in conjunction with the vet, IMO.

Also - as others have said Deli-Cat is filled with junk. It's like Twinkies with vitamins. If you eat Twinkies you will be hungry more often than if you ate turkey sandwiches for instance. Which may be part of Chan's "starving" behavior. He's not getting enough out of his food.

I agree also to review the senior blood work done recently to check for hyperthyroidism. HIGH thyroid. Cats - like people - often lose body mass as they get into their elderly years... but it can also be a sign of illness, like kidney failure, etc.

He was actually checked extensively. The older cat, Zeppelin, has hyperthyroid and I give him medication for that, but Chandler is allegedly in the clear. He was actually a good deal overweight when he lived at home, but we found out that several neighbors had been feeding him, so my family decided to try and keep him inside for the last year, and then he moved here. Beyond that, I think his weight (I don't think he's still losing weight, but his current weight is still a little low) can be attributed just to how often he uses the litter box. It seriously seems like everything he eats just goes right through him (which I consulted with his vet about, but after a lot of testing he seemed to check out).

I live in LA, so I'm guessing my options are pretty extensive (Petco alone has been a godsend). Do you guys really think I should consult the vet before switching out the dry food? I figure I can only do better. I just don't want to throw them off right now since they're still kind of settling in (it's been a few weeks, so they seem mostly comfy now but it still feels a little soon to be making changes to the routine).

Yes due to age and when was last vet check and blood work?

About a month ago, when my family was still considering taking the cats with them. Honestly, and this will probably sound odd, but when I first came to this site, it was the first time I ever really grasped that 14 was considered "senior" for a cat. I mean, don't get me wrong, Chandler isn't as spry as a kitten, but other than his litter box issues, he's still up to play, he's still really curious, he still finds creative ways to get to areas I would figure are unreachable, he's got a huge appetite for love from literally everyone he meets, and I figure that if I could let him outside, he'd tear the town up.

Growing up, my family had three other cats. Tom, our first cat, lived to be 21 or 22, and even though he was kind of a bad ass and would try to pick fights with the neighborhood cats, there was never a discernible decline in his quality of life (maybe I just didn't notice it because I was younger, but I remember the day before he died he was up all night with me playing and getting loved on). Reebok was 18 before a pretty sudden decline in his health, and we had to put him down. Desmond was 14 before he had health issues, but up until that point, he had as much energy as ever.

Zeppelin is absolutely showing his age, but just out of curiosity, how old are cats generally before they start to struggle a bit?

Gee... your cats live a long life! Congrats there! that's wonderful! As far as showing their age, it depends sooooo much! They are officially considered seniors at 8, although some vets consider it at 7.

There are many many better foods in the market.... Are you feeding Deli-cats because of the price?

Do you shop at Costco?

One thing to keep in mind is that the food you are feeding is SO junk and carb filled, you need to go very slowly to not shock their systems...

Honestly, I just get Deli-Cat out of habit, it's not a price thing. My family always used Deli-Cat, so that's what these cats always had, so I didn't think anything of it really just continuing to give them that. Also, the older cat is really picky about his wet food, so I just figured the same attitude would be applied to hard food, but he eats way less of the hard food than Chan does, so I don't think it would be a big deal for him.

I shop at Costco for materials, but as far as food goes, I'll usually just pick it up with my groceries. I'd be willing to pick up hard food from Costco if I needed to, but it'd be nice if I could find a suitable one that's available at major grocery chains. That said, I'm willing to do whatever is in their best interest.

I use costco s cat food... and it is IMHO the best on the market at that price point...