Looking for a brand of cat food for cat's bowel problems

Hey everyone,

First time poster here. I joined because we took in a stray about two months ago. I love the little butthead but boy does he have some serious poop problems! He doesn't cover his waste, but I've read (and been told by the vet) that some cats are just like that. I can deal with that though by just cleaning the litter box more often. The major issue is that when he does poop, it is not quite solid. It's not outright diarrhea, but it isn't normal by any means. At first I thought the issue was giving him wet food because I've been told in the past that it can cause such problems even though our other cat is able to eat it without any loose bowel movements. I then eliminated the wet food from his diet. Unfortunately, that didn't help. I've tried a few different cat foods (slowly introducing each) with no luck. I've read that grain-free cat food can both lead to him pooping less (or at least in smaller amounts - no joke, his waste looks like it comes from a human) and also make his poop smell much less bad. I've been looking into the Nutro brand grain-free salmon and potato food, and it appears to have some really good reviews online. Have any of you had luck with it? This cat doesn't have any major medical problems, at least according to my vet so I am guessing the food is the main issue. I'm prepared to try just about anything at this point as his poop smells way more rotten than anything I would expect to come out of such a cute, fluffy creature. Thanks.

Nature's Variety Instinct canned food helped my cats poop problems. Also ask your vet about probiotics. 

I second @ankitty's recommendation for probiotics. Not sure about the Nutro since it has potato. "Grain free" is good because many cats have allergies to grain. But potato is carbs, and you want carbs to be low. Can you post a link to the guaranteed analysis?

Have you tried pumpkin? Not the pumpkin pie filling, but just pumpkin puree. It's good for both diarrhea and constipation. This thread discusses it:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/244415/canned-pumpkin

Digestive enzymes might be good, too.

Since he is a boy I would stick to wet grain free not dry

I agree with @Raintyger's thoughts on grain-free and low-carbs and @bonepicker's mention of wet food over dry, too. And I'm very anti-potato because one of our cats vomits from food that has it! I also avoid peas because they're starchy.

It seems that, in general, the more meat-based protein you feed a cat, the better, both for their health and for the litter box. (I'm a big fan of Dr. Pierson's Web site, catinfo.org!) Our cats eat a combination of raw food and high-protein canned foods with minimal fillers and their boxes smell so little that I don't even notice them. It's a nice change from how it smelled before we weaned them off dry food!

Good luck, @coquelicot!

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I really appreciate it. So you guys think a good brand of wet food would actually fix these problems? I've always been told wet food often causes diarrhea, but I do know that eating wet food is not the source of his problems since I've tried putting him on a diet with and without it. I thought the addition of potato to the Nutro grain-free was weird too since I thought its aim was to be low carbs, but a lot of people swear by it on Amazon. I'm going to try to find a better brand though - one that's reasonably priced. I figure I'll get some grain-free dry food for both of the cats and then give Alexei (the male) mostly grain-free wet food. Luckily my housemate is willing to split the cost of the food with me and my husband so that means we can spend more on finding something legitimately good. I will definitely pick up some pumpkin puree as I'm sure I can find that easily in the local grocery store.

My understanding is that dry foods generally have too much carbs and some cats can't digest carbs too well. Wet food itself doesn't cause diarrhea, but some ingredients might. I avoid carrageenan and guar gum, and suspecting any gums or thickener may be a problem to my cats. Nature's Variety Instinct uses therapeutic clay instead of those thickeners and it seems to have some benefit to my cats. Now they eat mostly NVI and commercial raw food, their poops are solid and very little smell. Also, if your cat was on antibiotics, you may want to restore good bacteria by giving him probiotics. I recommend getting refrigerated acidoplilus from a health food store, because I was told that non refrigerated ones have shorter shelf life, and acidophilus really worked for my cat. 

I would say adding more wet than dry would be better - if he is having bowel problems that lead to wetter than normal eliminations, you want to do all you can to replenish that hydration within his body. There are some very affordable wet foods that are grain-free, and I don't think I've come across many wet foods that contain potato as a starch (whereas it's common in dry). I'm pretty sure plain pumpkin puree is in the baking section as well; just double check the ingredients to ensure it's JUST pumpkin and no added sugar.

Two very, very affordable grain-free wet foods off the top of my head are Fancy Feast Classics pates and Grreat Choice pates (Petsmart store brand) if you want something quick and readily available just for a food trial, but these both contain carageenan and guar gum.

ankitty said:

 
My understanding is that dry foods generally have too much carbs and some cats can't digest carbs too well. Wet food itself doesn't cause diarrhea, but some ingredients might. I avoid carrageenan and guar gum, and suspecting any gums or thickener may be a problem to my cats. Nature's Variety Instinct uses therapeutic clay instead of those thickeners and it seems to have some benefit to my cats. Now they eat mostly NVI and commercial raw food, their poops are solid and very little smell. Also, if your cat was on antibiotics, you may want to restore good bacteria by giving him probiotics. I recommend getting refrigerated acidoplilus from a health food store, because I was told that non refrigerated ones have shorter shelf life, and acidophilus really worked for my cat. 

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That might explain why our female cat Anya has never gotten diarrhea from wet food. We give her Fancy Feast and I just looked up the ingredients - not seeing any carrageenan or guar gum in them. I also always get the types of Fancy Feast that have all meat listed as the first few ingredients. I still want to feed them a better canned food but it looks like mixing a more expensive wet food with the Fancy Feast might do some good. I have no idea if Alexei has been on antibiotics since we found him at the grocery store only a couple months ago. I do take acidophilus myself though, and sharing's not a problem. As for the dry food I give them, couldn't find any carrageenan or guar gum in that ingredients list either but the high amount of carbs in it does bother me.

pinkdagger said:

 
I would say adding more wet than dry would be better - if he is having bowel problems that lead to wetter than normal eliminations, you want to do all you can to replenish that hydration within his body. There are some very affordable wet foods that are grain-free, and I don't think I've come across many wet foods that contain potato as a starch (whereas it's common in dry). I'm pretty sure plain pumpkin puree is in the baking section as well; just double check the ingredients to ensure it's JUST pumpkin and no added sugar.

Two very, very affordable grain-free wet foods off the top of my head are Fancy Feast Classics pates and Grreat Choice pates (Petsmart store brand) if you want something quick and readily available just for a food trial, but these both contain carageenan and guar gum.

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That works out well - I've been giving them Fancy Feast regularly. My cat who doesn't have the bowel problems HATES pates but the one who has issues will eat just about anything. I'm going to try eliminating the dry food from his diet or at least reducing it at first and feeding him more Fancy Feast at least until I settle on a new brand of food to order, then I'll probably end up mixing them.

I've had excellent success with Bear on Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea formula. His stool is perfect now. Unfortunately there is NO brand of food, wet or dry, that will get a cat to bury his waste...! I do add dehydrated pumpkin to his first feed of the day, though I think I'm going to stop that shortly and see how it goes. Its all trial and error, cats.

Chromium Blues said:

 
I've had excellent success with Bear on Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea formula. His stool is perfect now. Unfortunately there is NO brand of food, wet or dry, that will get a cat to bury his waste...! I do add dehydrated pumpkin to his first feed of the day, though I think I'm going to stop that shortly and see how it goes. Its all trial and error, cats.

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Ain't that the truth! At this point I'm just hoping that introducing him to new food will at least make his poop less stinky and large. I'd hoped that my other cat would learn to cover his waste but instead she just tries to beat him up right outside of the litterbox or glares at him when he emerges from it lol.

Has he been wormed?
Maybe start with boiled rice and chicken to make his business more solid.
You need to get another litter box so they don't have to share.

Not sure if he has, but not since we took him in at least. He's had one check-up with the vet who said he was fine, but I have another appt for him next week. I got them another litter box recently although I'm still working on finding a better place to put it so the cats have more privacy. Think I'm actually going to built a cabinet-type setup for the bathroom.

Since he was a stray, it would be a good idea to have the vet worm him. Outdoor cats pretty much always have some kind of parasite. That and high protein, low carb food and maybe a little pumpkin will be a great start to fixing the problem. Be careful about how much pumpkin you use - a little bit is great to help regulate things, but too much can end up bulking up the stool excessively. I use 1/4 - 1 tsp per day, per cat, depending on the size of the cat.

An all canned diet with water added to each serving of canned will keep him hydrated and ensure small turds.

coquelicot said:

 
Ain't that the truth! At this point I'm just hoping that introducing him to new food will at least make his poop less stinky and large. I'd hoped that my other cat would learn to cover his waste but instead she just tries to beat him up right outside of the litterbox or glares at him when he emerges from it lol.

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You've got a neatnik too?? Sylvia Rose smacks him in the head every time he comes out of the litter box. I thought I had the only cat who did that!

Chromium Blues said:

 
You've got a neatnik too?? Sylvia Rose smacks him in the head every time he comes out of the litter box. I thought I had the only cat who did that!

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Haha, yes! Our Anya is the queen bee around here (I say that, but she doesn't have a bad attitude or anything) and likes things in order. It is rather hilarious when she "beats him up," which is of course over-dramatizing it since it seems rather playful. She likes to bop Alexei up side the head when he steps out of line. It's a slow motion slap too. I think it's a motherly instinct or her just being the older cat because she also grooms him while he sleeps and seems to comfort him.

coquelicot said:

 
Haha, yes! Our Anya is the queen bee around here (I say that, but she doesn't have a bad attitude or anything) and likes things in order. It is rather hilarious when she "beats him up," which is of course over-dramatizing it since it seems rather playful. She likes to bop Alexei up side the head when he steps out of line. It's a slow motion slap too. I think it's a motherly instinct or her just being the older cat because she also grooms him while he sleeps and seems to comfort him.

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That`s lucky...Sylvia Rose genuinely despises Bear, though with time it is ebbing a bit.

Ask the vet to reworm him on his next visit.