Suitable wet food for cat that has diarrhea

gomavs123

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Hello everybody.  my cat pumpkin has been doing pretty well- with some help from fellow forum people over the past couple threads I posted!

One of the things that have been bugging me about Pumpkin's dietary habits is that although he does well with all types of good dry food, he starts having symptoms of diarrhea- not only that, I found out it is every time when I feed any type of wet food.  

I tried conventional store brands, and then switched to trader joe fish, then even the chicken and rice can brands- all of them, although is good maybe in the beginning, after about a few days, you can see that it is causing him to get severe diarrhea, leading to running stools, sometimes even with a tiny bit of blood.  As such, he starts to poop outside the box, obviously yelling at me (figuratively) to stop feeding him those kinds.

After all that I have just been feeding him dry food for a couple months now, and as predicted, his stools are fine.  He isn't pooping outside either.

However, I know that feeding pumpkin just dry foods can cause severe problems in the future, so I want to find a good brand of wet food, FOR CATS THAT SUFFER FROM DIARRHEA based on conventional wet food brands. 

Also, back when I used to feed him wet food, I always gave one quarter of a conventional can size two times a day, and made sure to leave it out from the fridge at least an hour before feeding it to him.  

Any general advice on what to try feeding him will be great.  Although I prefer products that are affordable, at this point, I am willing to spend extra money if needed for a good wet food brand for pumpkin.

Thanks everybody in advance.
 

ankitty

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Have you tried Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet? My cats' poop became firmer since I started with this food. I also used acidophilus from a natural food store (refrigerated one) mixed with their food and it really helped. I avoid carragheenan myself because it gives me stomach problems and my cats seems to have some problems with it also. 
 

fluffybeard

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I second ankitty's advice. My cat had soft poop or diarrhea with every kind of wet food, regardless of the quality or flavor, but when I feed him Nature's Variety Instinct canned, he is perfectly fine.

After months of elemination diet detective work, the only thing I could pin it to was the gums and carrageenan that are added as binders in just about every canned cat food. Nature's Variety Instinct does not use any of that, it has flaxseed to bind the food together instead.

I have tried another cat food called Tiki Cat which has several flavors without gums or carrageenan and my cat is also fine eating that.

I don't know for sure, cause there's not a definitive test or diagnosis for a sensitivity to gums and carrageenan, and I don't know how common it is in cats, but for mine, it's my best guess as to why practically every canned food gives him the poops!
 

abbyntim

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If Pumpkin has diarrhea each time he eats canned food, I'd look at additives and try to avoid those. Most canned foods include gums and such as binders and thickeners, and those can cause problems in some kitties; mine is one of them. Like others who have posted, I also feed NVI canned because it does not contain gums or carrageenan. My cat throws up food that contain carrageenan or xantham gum. I know of others with cats that have reactions to guar gum. If your cat can eat chicken (mine cannot), you can also add Tiki Cat.
 
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