How regular should a cat be!!!

Can anyone tell me if a cat has to leave a 'stool' every day?.

The reason being, i changed Rosies food several weeks ago from IAMS DRY to another dry food.When she was on IAMS she would pass a stool practically 'everyday'. Then when i switched brands it went to her passing one every other day.

I rang the vet, who told me to put her back on IAMS, which i did, but it still seems to be every other day?

Is this OK?

She's drinking plenty, her coats glossy, eyes are bright, and as playfull as ever!

Thanks
Susan

Is Rosie an indoor cat?
My cats are outdoor so they don't use the litterbox in the house every day.
Also, they don't "go" at a certain time of day. Sometimes they do it right after meals, at other times in the middle of the night so it looks like they skipped a day.
It could also be the litter itself. I have a friend whose cat refuses to use the litterbox if the cat litter is more than a day old!
Anyway, perhaps you should observe her a few more days after switching back to IAMS. It could be just another adjustment in her system.
I hope I helped. Others here may want to give you more suggestions.Good luck!

Yayi has given you good advice, but I had a similiar problem with my 12 year old cat, Snowball, and I think he wasn't getting enough fiber in his diet. Snowball has early kidney disease, and I had to change his food to K/D out of necessity. After the change in diet, Snowball got less regular and developed problems with constipation. My vet recommended adding some wet food (also K/D) to his diet, but that didn't help much. Then I posted about it here and someone suggested adding fiber to his diet. Now I throughly crush up some high fiber ceral and mix 1/4 teaspoon of this with his wet food every morning, and it really helps!

Thanks for the replies.
Rosie is an indoor cat. The reason why she is on dry food is because when i first got her i used to give her wet food, but she used to just lick the gravy or jelly and leave the meat, which would eventually go off!!.

I also give her a small amount of tuna in the morning for breakfast and the same in the evening.
Someone did give me a tip though, but i havent tried it yet, and that was to give her tuna in olive oil?. But the only one i can find in the supermarket is in sunflower oil, but i don't know if this is ok for her?.

Susan

My cat is having similar problems with constipation...but she vomits when she eats wet food. (regurgitates)

I've just rang my vet again, who said every other day is normal.
She also said they stock a brand of food made specially for indoor cats which i'm going to give a try.

What i forgot to ask was about the tuna in sunflower oil. Anyone know if its OK??

Thanks
Susan

Sometimes Loki goes like clock work every 24 hrs - then other times he goes every 2nd day. My Vet told me that quite normal!

You can try to give her a little pumpken in a can every day . The only tuna you can give her is the tuna for cats . They can get a diffeciansie ( cant spell it sorry ) from the normal tuna becours of the oil I believe .

We dont sell pumpkin in a can here in the UK. Pumpkins are only seen here in november for halloween!.

I did'nt know you could get tuna for cats?.

The tuna i give her at the moment is in Brine?

Susan

People avoid giving their cats tuna because after a while, the cat may only recognise tuna as edible food. The potency and smell is so string that they can create an dependency on it and disreguard other wet or dry food that upi put out.

Cat tuna once a week or once every two weeks is often enough. Tuna and other fish also has high level of mercury and a can can actually go blind if they are fed too much of it. The mercury content is bad for humans too, but only if you eat about 2 cans of tuna a day regularly.

So, I would avoid that amount of tuna that you may be giving. If your kitty was licking up the gravy in her wet food...try buying a wet food that has the same consistency throughout. This way, there is no gravy to lick up and it is basically ground. My boys think that the Innova wet food is wonderful...and it is just ground up. They are juice lickers too so I have to be careful what I buy.

Good luck!

Here is some information that I copied and pasted from the internet while searching about the topic:

TUNA: Tuna is low in calcium and too high in phosphorous. It may cause vitamin E deficiency or yellow-fat disease. Plus it may increase susceptibility to "rubber jaw," a form of osteoporosis. Several problems are associated with feeding cats tuna. The first one is that it's highly addictive--cats love tuna oil! Additionally, "people" tuna lacks many of the essential amino acids and vitamins, especially taurine and vitamin A, B and E, necessary for feline health. Be aware that the high amount of mercury in some canned tuna is detrimental to your cat's health. Tuna should not be a staple of any cat's diet. Reserve it for an extra special treat.

WE'RE TALKING TUNA: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH FOR YOUR CAT?


Several cat caretakers visiting ASPCA Pet Nutrition
online have inquired about feeding tuna to their animal companions. Mindy Bough, veterinary technician for the ASPCA Pet Nutrition and Science Advisory Service, dishes out the facts on this savory feline fave:

"An occasional tuna treat for your cat is generally harmless," says Bough. "However, if a large part of the cat's diet consists of tuna--or if the cat is fed tuna exclusively--some problems are likely to arise."

Tuna does not contain significant amounts of vitamin E, for example, so too much of the fish can lead to vitamin E deficiency, resulting in yellow fat disease, or steatitis. Symptoms include loss of appetite, fever and hypersensitivity to touch, due to inflammation and necrosis of fat under the skin. Felines who are fed too much tuna can develop other nutrient deficiencies, too, because most de-boned fish are lacking in calcium, sodium, iron, copper and several other vitamins.

Mercury, frequently present in tuna, also presents a potential danger. "At low levels, this may not be a concern," explains Bough, "but if tuna is fed nearly exclusively, it could pose significant problems."

The bottom line? "I recommend premium commercial food for domestic cats," Bough says. "These foods are formulated to meet all of a cat's dietary needs. Then you can feed an occasional tuna treat for your pet's enjoyment. And remember," she adds, "no more than five to ten percent of a cat's diet should ever be table food."

Thanks for all the advice. Its opened my eyes to Tuna i know that much!.

She's such a spoilt, fussy madam though. She even turns her nose up at fresh fish and fresh prawns!.

Some humans would kill for that never mind cats!!.

But i cant find Tuna for cats over here in the UK, so im stuck, but i am going to cut it right down until i stop altogether.

Don't want her going 'Cold Turkey' on me LOL!!!

Susan

Okay, I can relate to the lack of pumpkin in a can scenario.

Have you tried the baby food section. I've noticed pumpkin for babies in the range that they have in Australia.

Or you can cook some pumpkin on the side for your cat while you make a meal that has pumpkins in it, that's if you can get fresh pumpkin.

The pumpkin adds fibre to the diet which can help if a cat is constipated.

And about tuna for cats...I just look for a cat food tin that says tuna. Fancy Feast does one and so does Dine. It comes in a 75 g tin and I divide it in two as a treat for my cats.

Pumpkin and squash are pretty much the same thing, in fact most canned "pumpkin" that we buy in North America is mostly squash anyway. So if you can find any canned, fresh or frozen squash, you can feed it in the same way as pumpking is recommended.

I'd watch out for the baby food option, often those are highly sweetened, aren't they?

Thanks again for all the advice. I'll be looking tomorrow while im shopping!.
Susan

If you want cat tuna in the uk you can definatly get it at Morrisons supermarkets. The brand is called 'My Cat' and is the same size as a regular can of tuna and has a blue/green label. They also do a seafood platter with an orange label. I think it's about 30p a can and they recommend 1/2 to 1 tin a day. When Jeepers has it she can only manage half a tin. I know Morrisons don't have a huge amount of stores but they have taken over safeway so you may find it there as well.

As luck would have it, i shop at Morrisons!!

I'll be having a look when i'm in. Rosie only gets about a teaspoon of tuna twice a day as a treat, so i think she should be ok?, but i might as well get the tuna for cats as a safe measure.

Thanks again

Susan

Originally posted by Sammie5
Pumpkin and squash are pretty much the same thing, in fact most canned "pumpkin" that we buy in North America is mostly squash anyway. So if you can find any canned, fresh or frozen squash, you can feed it in the same way as pumpking is recommended.

I'd watch out for the baby food option, often those are highly sweetened, aren't they?

Click to expand...

Yeah, they're sweetened. I forgot to mention that.
I only add it when I really have to and in an emergency when there is no pumpkin on hand or in the shops. And it's not often that I give it to my cats.

I really forgot a lot of info. I'm sorry. Thanks Sammie5!