Cat doing strange things, not sure what to make of this

I haven't posted in awhile because I moved to my new apartment on May 1st.  Pumpkin took the stress of moving better than I did.  The only part he didn't like was riding in my brother's vehicle to get to our new home.

Pumpkin is a stray that I took in before moving.  I've had him for about five months now.  He had tapeworms, so that was addressed by the vet.  They haven't been an issue since.  He had pooping issues (straining and constipation) but that was addressed too.  He's had bloodwork and xrays that turned out ok.  His ears have been checked too because I complained that he scratches them every so often.  She didn't see anything and swabbed them too.  Nothing there.

Here's what's odd:

This morning I woke up to find one piece of poop on my kitchen floor.  I cleaned his litterbox earlier and found more poop in it, so that's only one stray piece.  This happened not long before we moved.  I'm clueless as to why this happened.  Whenever I have a chance to watch him go, I don't see straining or anything.

The color and consistency of his poop seem normal.  Awhile back I saw grey in his poop off and on, but that's since disappeared.  Pumpkin used to eat a little of his clean litter that got scattered out of his box after going.  Weird thing is, ever since we moved, that hasn't been a problem.  He doesn't do that any longer.  So, I don't know if the grey in his poop while he had it was litter, or maybe it was his new dry food (Meoiw Mix hairball control), which has alot of dark pieces.

For dry food, Pumpkin eats a combination of Purina One Urinary Tract Health, Meow Mix Original Formula, Meow Mix Hairball Control and Friskies Indoor.  This combination seems to work best because when he was on all Meow Mix Original Formula, he had constipation issues.    Lately Pumpkin hasn't been touching his wet food.  He used to eat Meow Mix red label canned, but won't touch it any longer.  I'm not happy with Meow Mix canned - it could be a better quality - so I've been trying to find him something better, like Fancy Feast, Sheba, etc, etc.  So far he won't touch them at all.

I don't know the last time he had canned food.  Not long atter we moved here I imagine.  He gets crunchy treats too.  His appetite is very good.

The other issue he seems to be having is with head shaking.  From time to time every day I will see Pumpkin do this.  He still scratches at his ears.  I make a point of checking his ears on a regular basis and they are not oozing anything, don't smell, don't have dry stuff inside them, etc.  He doesn't act like he's in pain (then again, I read somewhere that cats are good at hiding that).  

Pumpkin is playful too.  He just finished playing with his catnip rats.  He's having some more breakfast (dry food) as I write this.  He's still not touching his canned food.  He's running around, meowing like crazy.  I think he wants to go outside.  Pumpkin was an outdoors cat and I've been training him to stay inside at all times.  Now that it's warm, I don't think he's happy about that.

Thoughts, anyone?  

It may be a simple matter of, he was pooping, got distracted (I swear, cats have ADD....) and ran off to investigate, leaving something behind....

You probably already know that dry food is not the best food for cats.  Fancy Feast classic is decent; have you tried crushing some dry food and putting it on top of wet?

Ritz said:

It may be a simple matter of, he was pooping, got distracted (I swear, cats have ADD....) and ran off to investigate, leaving something behind....

You probably already know that dry food is not the best food for cats.  Fancy Feast classic is decent; have you tried crushing some dry food and putting it on top of wet?

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I never thought of putting some of his dry food on top of the canned.  I'll give that a shot and see how it works.  Re. whether or not cats should eat dry food - with Pumpkin I have to give him what he will eat.  He's very picky.  I've tried chicken in the past and he turned it down.  I could try hamburger again as he ate a small bit once before.  But not since. 

Do you have any thoughts on the ear issue?  I just checked again - this time he was pretty good about it - and noticed what looked like a red scratch just inside his ear lobe.  There was one tiny speck of something, but I don't know what that was.  The rest of that ear, and the other one as well, looked fine.

I called the vets and made an appt for Saturday.  Couldn't get him in sooner as I don't have a car and have to go when my ride can take me.  I hope this isn't anything serious (re. the ear issue).

dianajune said:

I never thought of putting some of his dry food on top of the canned.  I'll give that a shot and see how it works.  Re. whether or not cats should eat dry food - with Pumpkin I have to give him what he will eat.  He's very picky.  I've tried chicken in the past and he turned it down.  I could try hamburger again as he ate a small bit once before.  But not since. 

Do you have any thoughts on the ear issue?  I just checked again - this time he was pretty good about it - and noticed what looked like a red scratch just inside his ear lobe.  There was one tiny speck of something, but I don't know what that was.  The rest of that ear, and the other one as well, looked fine.

I called the vets and made an appt for Saturday.  Couldn't get him in sooner as I don't have a car and have to go when my ride can take me.  I hope this isn't anything serious (re. the ear issue).

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I think the vet on Saturday sounds fine for this.  I personally would not call this an emergency.  

Regarding the poop, I basically think if it's an isolated incident it's no big deal.  Cats get distracted as was said above, or maybe if there was already poop in the litterbox he deemed it too dirty  for whatever reason and decided to use the floor instead. It's even possible he kicked/tracked the poop to the floor in some way.  I personally would be more likely (if it really has only happened once and he is not showing other signs of distress when pooping) to chalk it up to an accident and move on (though as I said it is great you want a vet to check it out).

As for the ear, it is impossible for me to say what's going on.  A vet will be best able to let you know.  I also think this may be no big deal but it is great you want to make sure.

I am sure your kitty will be okay

I agree with tulosai, probably no big deal, but I know you will feel better if a vet checks it out.

The head shaking and ear scratching could be an ear infection or allergies. It's good you're taking him in to be checked.

As Ritz mentioned, dry food is not species-appropriate for cats. The Meow Mix in particular is terrible because it's mostly corn. There's very little meat in it which is what cats need. I can understanding feeding what the cat will eat, but feeding this long term may cause greater problems. In addition to the tip Ritz mentioned for transitioning cats to canned, there are others on this site: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

Pumpkin is still scratching at his ears and shaking his head periodically.  However, another problem came up this morning.  He had a bowel movement this morning, but not much of one.  Volume-wise, it was about half what he normally produces, and he had to strain.  Poor baby....anyway, I heard a strange noise a couple of times, not sure what it was.  Farting?  He didn't look happy when he did this.

Pumpkin is still eating his dry food and drinking.  Won't touch his canned food.  When I got back from the store I got some new canned he hadn't tried before, and also some canned chicken.  I put a small amount of the canned chicken in a dish along with most of the broth.  Pumpkin loved the broth and kept slurping it up, which made me happy.

He's back on Laxatone - two doses a day.  He used to hate taking it but now it doesn't bother him as long as I put it on my finger.  He then licks it off.  

Pumpkin is resting comfortably as I write this, but it bothers me that he's got not only a potential ear problem, but constipation again.  Maybe I'm paranoid about gut issues because of what I've been through, having had a strangulated hernia and bowel obstruction several years ago.  I just want him to get better. 

The last bowel movement he had before this small one was the day before, at least twice as much in volume.

Could the ear issue and his gut be connected?  Btw, re. the bare spots on his belly that I posted about - they appear to be getting  better, but slowly.  I hope this has nothing to do with his other issues.

Good news!  Pumpkin doesn't have an ear infection, nor does he have mites.  The vet was pleased as punch over how good his ears looked.  No fleas either.  The bare spots on his belly aren't anything to worry about either.  He believes all this is probably due to allergies, esp. since Pumpkin has been sneezing off and on.

There was some redness on the outside of his ears, and his bare spots, even though they're getting better, are still a little pink.  The vet gave Pumpkin a steroid shot to help control the urge to scratch.

He's been overgrooming himself too.  Pumpkin has a thick coat and it seemed as though no matter how long the vet groomed him, Pumpkin still had extra fur.  

Pumpkin is no longer constipated either.  I woke up at 3am to find him using the litterbox.  He's going to continue taking the Laxatone.  It really does help

This kitty mommy is very happy indeed.  I think both of us are going to get some much needed rest.  He didn't like the ride to and from the vets, and Pumpkin even went into hiding before it was time to go (he's a very smart cat!).   Pumpkin snuck into the part of my closet that has shelves and was sitting on a pile of clean drawers!  heheeeee    My brother had to retrieve him for me.

Thanks for listening!

Pumpkin seems tired this evening.  He had a little dinner earlier, and used his litterbox this afternoon.  But he refuses to play.  Is this because of the steroid shot?  I know that with some injections it's normal for cats to be tired for the first day or so afterwards.

I just want to make sure he's going to be ok.  Please advise.  Thanks.

Purfectly normal--shots and vet visits are exhausting and stressful for cats (and humans).

My cat mentor, the one who rescued Ritz (I'd never been around cats before), said as long as the cat is doing the three P's, they're fine (peeing, pooping and playing). That's a guideline I use when I think Ritz is "off" or sick.  Well, that and my 'gut' feeling.  If she's just been to the vets, then I wait a few days before worrying.

Ritz said:

Purfectly normal--shots and vet visits are exhausting and stressful for cats (and humans).

My cat mentor, the one who rescued Ritz (I'd never been around cats before), said as long as the cat is doing the three P's, they're fine (peeing, pooping and playing). That's a guideline I use when I think Ritz is "off" or sick.  Well, that and my 'gut' feeling.  If she's just been to the vets, then I wait a few days before worrying.

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Pumpkin is almost back to normal.  He seemed constipated last night and had to strain to crank out three small and firm poops, but he had another bm this morning that made it clear he's feeling much better.  Pumpkin is more playful, and although I had to get him off the loveseat to play with his laser toy, he's much more active than he was this time last night.

I'm not convinced that the steroid shot helped.  He's back to scratching his ears and shaking his head.  Maybe not as much as before that shot.  

Btw, Pumpkin put on some more weight.  He's 13.7 pounds now.  At his last weigh-in, he was about 12.75 pounds.  Pumpkin is turning into a little butterball!  

His ear problem might be related to his diet. As other people have said already, dry food is terrible for cats. You might want to research for high quality, high protein and low carb diet with no corn/wheat.

Dry food tastes great to cats (because they treat it with chemicals; you will never see cats voluntarily eat corn or wheat,) it is hard to get them to eat things that are better for them. If you switch, please do it slowly. Starvation, even for a day or two, can cause liver damage. Like vball91, I recommend catinfo.org.

dianajune said:

Pumpkin is almost back to normal.  He seemed constipated last night and had to strain to crank out three small and firm poops, but he had another bm this morning that made it clear he's feeling much better.  Pumpkin is more playful, and although I had to get him off the loveseat to play with his laser toy, he's much more active than he was this time last night.

I'm not convinced that the steroid shot helped.  He's back to scratching his ears and shaking his head.  Maybe not as much as before that shot.  

Btw, Pumpkin put on some more weight.  He's 13.7 pounds now.  At his last weigh-in, he was about 12.75 pounds.  Pumpkin is turning into a little butterball!  

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I actually think the ear and gut issues may be related as it sounds like he may be allergic to the food. Foods with corn often cause allergic reactions in cats and many cats get itchy and some may have digestion problems. I have a very picky eater also and he really likes the chicken flavours of tiki cat or weruva- both of these are shredded chicken. To get a cat used to dry food eat wet food crush a topper on it- you can use his dry food, cat treats like temptations or I use the pure bites freeze dried chicken which work great. You can also try feeding him freeze dried raw which you can rehydrate. If you need to supplement with dry food during the transition here is a list of better foods (http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2011/08/best-dry-cat-foods-so-far/).

Try to get Pumpkin on wet food. It will help with the constipation, especially since you say the lactulose helps. Lactulose pulls water into the stool, making it easy to pass. However, there has to be sufficient water, so feeding wet food will probably get you there.

You might also look into Miralax. It does the same thing as the lactulose except it is OTC and cheap. Most people get better results from Miralax than lactulose. It is a sandy-textured drug, though, so it is most easily administered via wet food!

Also, the chicken broth you are feeding--make sure there is no onion or other ingredients that could have onion in it. It is common for chicken broth to have onion added. Other flavoring could be described on the ingredient list as "spices," or "natural flavoring."

OK, my bad, you said "Laxatone," not "lactulose." I'd still try to get Pumpkin on wet, though. Give your Laxatone a few hours after feeding as petroleum based hairball remedies block nutrient absorption. You could try fish or krill oil instead.

Or try egg yolk lecithin for hairballs, add to wet food.  See this thread  for an explanation as how EYL works to dissolve/prevent hairballs.

Like everyone said its might be food related most cats can't digest corn/wheat he might be allergic to it one of my cats is allergic to food dyes and meow mix and friskies has food dyes and corn in it my cats got sick on it when they at it 1'1/2 yrs ago

Try drys
Nature variety,before grain,solid gold,chicken soup for the cat lovers soul,diamond natural,canyon creek
Try these wets
Nature variety ,chicken soup for the cat lovers soul,triumph,merrick,soulistic,
I use these brands

If you're stuck with grocery store foods, Purina Cat Chow Naturals and Purinae ONE don't have food dyes. . .still have corn, wheat and soy, though :/. Those are the most common things that cats are sensitive to, and ear problems are frequently caused by food sensitivities. It's hard with a picky kitty, though. Have you tried Friskies canned food? The Classic Pate kinds don't have any corn, wheat or soy, and most flavors don't have food dyes (I think Salmon is the only one that does). Fancy Feast Classics are usually grain-free but many flavors do have food dyes.