Lost Cat Questions

Hey everybody, I came across this site while googling some things and thought It'd be a good place to ask some questions/get opinions.

Anyways getting to the matter at hand just the other day (the 21st) our two year old little man somehow managed to ninja his way out the door as my girlfriend left for work. I assumed he had just been hiding for most of the day so it was a good four hours before I realized he was missing: thirty two hours later and 60+ dollars in posters and pet alert fees and we found the little runaway about four houses down under a neighbors porch.

Now I know everyone is going to say that we should take him to the vet right away; which I literaly had been planning on doing if/when we found him...The thing is though when we finally did find him (32 hours later) he looked like he hadn't even been outside for over a day and acted as if everything was totally normal when we brought him home. After thoroughly looking him over for bites/fleas/ticks we were unable to see anything out of the ordinary so we are trying to decide if he actually needs to go in or not (we are on a very tight budget)

My real questions are as follows though:

1-I've been watching him very closely since he came back and when he finally made stool today it was very...odd. Normally his stool is somewhat loose (which I just found out was a problem in itself, I didn't know that until all my googling today but that is a different question: Side note, our other cats stool has the "ideal look".) What was very odd about his stool was that the head of it was extremely hard but shaped right, the majority of it was loose and a little green (remember loose is normal for him, green isn't though), and then most worrisome of all was at the very end where there was a dime sized thing of what looked like congealed blood (very dark but bright red when smeared)) From everything I've read I cant tell if this is more likely stress related from just being outside (hes a total indoor cat) or if this is a more serious problem having to due with something that could have happened to him while outside. What makes it even harder to tell is the fact that hes been acting pretty normal otherwise and like I said earlier, he looked totally fine/normal when found.

2- He's also been somewhat lethargic since coming back: sleeping alot in his cat tower...except I think I might just be over worrying on that subject; afterall he didn't get the name Chubs for his active life style. Sorry for my first post being of a slightly gross nature, Im just a worried cat owner who wants to know if anyone has any past experiences similar/advice on things to maybe keep an eye out for in the next few days.

Thanks everybody! Oh, and sorry for the horrible grammar!

Its getting cold so keep cats indoors at night

Oh Im sorry, I might not have made it clear but he is completely an indoor cat. He just happened to sneak out the door for the first time ever.

I wouldn't go rushing to the vet. Keep a close eye on him and his stool.

The colour change could simply be something he ate while out but it could also be bacterial. Give it a day or two if he otherwise seems normal. The stress may have caused some constipation.

32 hours is a long time. Cats on the street don't sleep well because they have to be constantly vigilant and watching for danger. We brought in a stray and slept like the dead for almost 3 straight days.

But keep a watch. If things don't return to normal go see the vet.

On another note, one if my boys has soft (not loose) stools. Turned out the food we were feeding him had a bit too much protien for him. May not be your problem but it is a fairly easy one to look into.

Thanks for the advice April (and the words, really just good to hear someone put me at ease when Im 80% sure Im just acting crazy)

As for changing the his diet to maybe see how it effects him I've been thinking about doing just that, but at the same time am not sure how to properly feed to very jealous/greedy cats. The current food works great for our older cat: I could totally see two bowls being set out though (one of the current food, the other of the new food) only one getting emptied.

We have the same problem, I changed everyone's food. It is still a good quality food and they all seem to like it (knock on wood). Soft stool boy has firmed up, now if only I could get him to clean his butt.

Just an update!

Today Chubs was back to his normal self: and by that I mean lazily lounging around the house and rolling around in all those perfect sunny spots. His stool is also back to looking normal/no traces of blood(and by normal I mean not normal, which brings me to...)

...Any suggestions on a different foods to try? I imagine we will have to switch both our cats over (which is sad because our Older Cat really likes/is fine with what we currently use.) In the past we used a brand called Ivet but had to switch to Blue Hill adult when we moved: both brands gave our younger cat his usual "soft stools" that Im now trying to fix, which is why I never knew this was abnormal in the first place.

Also would it be worth introducing some wet food into his diet before switching hard foods to see what happens? As of now they are both on a hard food diet (we used to buy a really cool all natural soft/wet food for our Older cat but they stopped making it to my knowledge.)

Thanks for the suggestions!

The Ivet is full of corn and other fillers. I can't find Blue Hill online and have never heard of it.

Cats aren't really made to eat grains and although you don't necessarily need to go grain free, grains and corn shouldn't be in the top 5 ingredients (ingredients are listed in order from the greatest amount in the recipe to the least, so corn as #2 means that is an awful lot of corn). Try to look for foods that list meat protiens as the first ingredients.

There are some greatsites that review cat foods and tell you what to look for in a food.
http://www.catfooddispensersreviews.com/cat-food-reviews/
http://www.petfoodratings.org/cat-food-listings-reviews/

Those are just two sites, there are many more.

I hesitate to suggest foods because every cat is different. We all also have different budgets and do the best we can within those limits.

We fed Orijen but the one boy had soft, stinky stools. We switched to Boreal (a Canadian company) and the stool seems to be better. Boreal is a decent food at a slightly lower price point.

Orijen, Acana, Innova, Fromm, Go! are foods I often see recommended, but that isn't an exhaustive list.

As far as wet food goes, absolutely if your cats will eat it then feed it to them. There are many good reasons to feed wet foods but probably the most important is water. Cats don't have a very high thirst drive and most don't drink enough water. The more they drink, the less likely they are to get bladder crystals and blockages. Wet food is a good way to get more water into them.

My boys won't eat wet food but I keep trying

I hope that helps.

Also, glad to hear things are back to normal.

If kitty was stressed and constipated that could cause some irritation and the blood (think hemmerhoids in people, cats can get them too). However blood in the stool is not something that should be ignored. Watch like a hawk, but even if you see no more be sure to mention it to your vet at your next appointment.