Cat Poop color

Hello all,

I just started my cat on a wet food diet of Soulistic grain free food, since the other stuff was making her poops beyond smelly.  Also at the advice of fellow catsite members, I have her on some probiotics, to help her tummy.  It has been two weeks since the change.  Her poops no longer smell like death, but they are concerning.  They look normal in every way, except they are black!  I know this is usually a bad sign in humans, but in cats, I don't know.  Yesterday she did seem a bit blah, but that could have been because it was my weekend, and I was just being lazy all day.  She woke me up today for food, but hasn't really eaten what I have given her.  Again this may be due to the food change, I am trying all the different kinds to see what she enjoys.  She seems normal today, meowing, in fact right now she is bent in half cleaning her nether regions, as all cats like to embarrass you with and do in front of you.  She did run a bit yesterday when I threw her toys.  I am just worried that her poops look funky and something could be wrong... if you have any ideas why the poo is black, but not stinky, please let me know!  She looks fine, eyes are bright, fur feels fine, she is still play biting me... I just, you know, am an overprotective worry of my cat.

Thanks!!

What color is the food you are feeding?  Black stools can indicate intestinal or gastric bleeding.

The food looks like well.. real food, so, I guess whatever fish and chicken and shrimp are supposed to look like?  I don't eat seafood so, I really don't know!  I fed her some treats, which i do very little, and she ate those like mad.  I change the type of food that was in her dish, since the other stuff was old, and she still won't eat it.  I looked closer at her poo... it is def really dark, and maybe has some food in it, but nothing looked too wrong.  It was older, so it was firm, but it did not look like it was dry.  She seems fine in every other sense.  I even squished her belly, no reaction.  Can the probiotics be doing this?  Or should I take her first thing to a vet on monday?  (I don't have a vet in my new area yet, however if this seems like an extreme emergency, I will def look up a 24 hour vet and pay)  She is not vomiting, or frothing, or anything strange.  Just, that color is sooo dark

Ok I know this sounds like a stupid question. But are you 100% sure it's black and not just really really dark brown ??

Haha that is a great question, and I thought about that.  I guess I don't know where to draw the line between very dark brown and black haha.  All I know is that compared to her other poos in the past, this is much much darker.  I cleaned her litter box so i can't really pull out the poo to compare to something black, but next time she goes, I can do that.  Its just a little concerning to look in there and see such dark left overs. 

Update:  Kitty will not eat, and has not used the litter box for either function in a day and a half.  A trip to the vet is in order tomorrow.  I would go today, but no one is open, and with no vomiting, and showing interest in treats, I think she will be ok.  She cries for food, but shows no interest when it is put in her bowl.  I have even played with her belly to see if she gets angry, nothing out of the ordinary.  Why can't kitties get sick during normal business hours???

Have you only tried feeding her Soulistic in Gelee Fishy flavors?  Maybe she is already needing a change   I know with one of my cats, he absolutely will LOVE one food up until he absolutely HATES it.  So then I have to find something else.  You could even try some Fancy Feast CLASSICS (only buy CLASSICS as they are the only Fancy Feasts that are low carb/grain free)  Most cats really like FF.  Or, you could try some Soulistic chicken only to see if she might like that.  OR, try crushing a couple of her treats, since she is still eating a few of them, and sprinkling them on her wet food to see if she'll eat, since she appears to be hungry.

As to the color of her stools, it might be just the junk in her system getting cleared out...not sure.  BLACK would not be good if it were black and tarry, but dark brown seems pretty normal to me. And isn't it great that it doesn't stink any more 

If you can't get her to eat something else or by using some toppers, then I would definitely talk to your Vet.  YES, it seems everything healthwise always happens on a Sunday