Cat continually having soft stool

46hoshi

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Hello, I'm a relatively new cat owner. I have two cats: Emi (3yrs, dom longhair) and Louie (~5yrs, dom shorthair). I've had Emi for 3 years, but adopted Louie about two months ago. Since we've got him, his stool has been really soft and really smelly. The two eat the same foods, which I alternate between wet (friskies fancy feast) and dry (purina indoor cat), and share the same litter box. 

If you refer to the image below in the spoiler box, Louie's stools look like what is "score 6" and is described as "has texture, but no defined shape; occurs as piles or as spots; leaves residue when picked up." Again, the smell is extremely bad and almost intolerable.
Because of this issue, my family is considering putting him up for adoption. We are unable to afford a vet visit, but we do love this cat.

What my family would like to know is what is wrong with our Louie? What do we need to do about this so that he can get better?

Other information:

-Louie is mainly an indoor cat, but we let him out in our fenced yard frequently.

-Louie is a larger cat: last weighed in around 16lb

-Louie will sometimes defecate outside of the box

-The litter is scooped and cleaned regularly 

Thank you and looking forward to responses,

46hoshi
 

ritz

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Louie may be allergic to something in the food, especially the dry food.  And Louie may have worms from going outside and eating something.

You say you are unable to afford a vet visit, but he really needs to go.  In the meantime, maybe you could call your vet, explain the situation, and ask if he will prescribe a de-wormer without seeing the cat.

Has Louie lost weight--some cats with continual diarrhea lose weight.

You can try to change the type of litter.  How many boxes does he have.  The rule of thumb for number of boxes is:  cats + one, so there should be at least three boxes.  In addition, some cats won't poop where they pee.

To see if Louis is allergic to something in the food, you can try this diet for a few days:  boil chicken with nothing in it except water.  Then, after the chicken is done, cook up some rice in that water.  If Louie's diarrehea lessens, then you know it's the food probably.

Good luck.
 

kittymommy

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My cat had feces like this too.  He is allergic to chicken and salmon.  I can feed him only turkey or other protiens like Duck.  Any food cannot have ANY type of chicken or salmon product in it.  It was hard to find food that he could eat that didn't have these, but finally, with my vets help, we found a food that worked for him.  It's called Natural Balance LID (Limited Ingredient Diet) in the Duck and Green Pea formula.  He was on this food (dry and wet) and his poo firmed up and his stomach stopped cramping.  He was having really bad stomach cramps from the allergy.  He was in pain almost constantly, but I didn't know.  I would never have been able to figure this all out without the help of my vet.  I know what it's like to not be able to afford the vet visit.  But, it's part of taking on the committment to that animal.  I'm sure your family doesn't want to put the cat up for adoption.  But, if that's the only way the cat can get the medical help it needs, then maybe it's the way to go.  Sorry, I know this sounds harsh, but it's also harsh to not get medical care when you need it, cats included. And I don't mean this in any kind of judgmental way, it's just that sometimes in life we can only do so much and so we just have to think about what the cat needs and see that he/she gets it even if that means giving him up.  I'm speaking from my own experience here.  Not trying to make you feel badly.

Also, depending on where you live I'd call around and get some pricing on the vets, sometimes one is quite a bit less than others.  And you could also check to see if there are any low-cost vet clinics in your area, that might help you get him/her to the vet too. 
 
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vball91

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I also think this is diet related. Diet change is something you can try without a vet visit. Try the bland chicken and rice diet Ritz recommended or a novel protein limited ingredient wet food only. Cut out all dry food because it has way too many species inappropriate ingredients that could be causing the problem. If that doesn't work, then a vet visit is in order.
 
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lifeofreilly

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My rescue kitty had the same problem. It's still not 100% cleared up but it takes a couple months for the GI tract to heal from persistent aggravation. What helped me was INSTINCT LID turkey canned & Pet Ultimates probiotics for cats. If you try those & see improvement in about 3-4 days then stick with it & as long as you can chart improvement each week and no weight loss or vomiting then you might get away with solving your problem. I am NOT advocating to forego a vet visit. My kitty had two just to be totally sure he was well from his shelter-acquired infections. Your kitty has a high probilbity of having Giardia from the sound of the the smell but if that's the case he only needs antibiotics. Anyway, you may not be able to take care of this kitty even if he only needs more expensive high quality food. I get my food from discount stores & still it's $80 a month. Please don't keep a suffering kitty you can't afford just for your own pleasure. Things will probably just get worse.
 
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