Persistent bloody, soft stools

My Scottish Fold kitty (11 months old) was on Royal Canin dry food before we got him, after which we switched to good quality wet food, with raw food on some evenings or weekends. Before we changed his diet, my kitty had solid stools. After he started eating wet food, soft, bloody stools was the norm (once every 2-3 days), even though I get the best quality wet food (no unnecessary additives, less processing, extremely low on carbs) that I can find. He had solid stools with raw food but 1) we work and we cannot leave the raw food out for long, due to food safety issues, and 2) he was still getting blood in his stools anyway, perhaps because of constipation brought on by too much protein and insufficient fibre.

Bozita wet food in particular gave him severe diarrhoea, although many cats do not appear to have a problem with it and we had to "reset" his digestive system with probiotics after that. The vet suggested that my kitty may have a food intolerance or allergy issue, since his ears were a little pinker and warmer than usual; so, she suggested a Hill's prescription diet but I noted the level of carbs in their wet food and decided to try introducing one single protein per week instead, in an effort to determine if my kitty is allergic/intolerant to any particular protein.

Problems faced so far:

- Although I have been buying single-source protein wet food, I can rarely match the type of protein in his treats and toothpaste to his main meals. But, I reasoned that the treats and toothpaste are minimal and so hopefully, this slight deviation should not have too big an effect on him.

- I have stopped feeding raw food temporarily, as it is mainly wet food that has this negative effect on him and I need to find out what is causing all this.

- I add VetPlus's Synoquin EFA joint supplement, 1/3 of a sachet of Protexin's Pro-Kolin Enterogenic powder and no more than 1/2 tsp Zoetis's Pancreatic Enzyme for Cats and Dogs to his food, daily. 

- Since I feed complete wet foods to him, I do not know if the other ingredients are the cause of his digestive problems. It is worth nothing that all the ingredients in his food are 100% natural and species-appropriate, as far as wet food go. (Brands: GranataPet, Mac's, Om Nom Nom, RopoCat, etc.)

- He continues to get soft, bloody stools. I've put him on beef, lamb, chicken, bovine heart and liver, chicken and chicken hearts, venison.

- He's never cleaned himself immediately after each visit to the litter box. Indeed, if he's got a messy bum (which is often), he leaves it exactly that way until I discover him and clean him with baby wipes. I've been wiping him down since we first got him but I would really like him to stop getting messy butt syndrome and to start cleaning himself (and not only after I ave cleaned him, which is currently the case).

Queries:

- Am I introducing too many different proteins in too short a space of time?

- I assumed that, since I am switching between different wet foods, I did not have to go through that slow introduction process. Am I wrong? Should I slowly switch over to different brands/types of protein over 5 days (this does result in a lot of stale cat food, though)?

- What could be causing his problems? I understand that the high fat content in lamb and beef could trigger his soft stools but why is he getting soft stools with venison and chicken too?

- Why would he continue to get blood in his solid stools when he eats raw food, aside from insufficient fibre (I gave him cat grass in the form of pill-shaped treats and a tiny bit of olive oil but although it eliminated the constipation, he continued to get blood in his stools)? He is strictly an indoor cat, I am almost obsessively clean and I have had him dewormed twice (to eliminate the possibility of worms causing the blood), since I got him.

- How do I get him to clean himself, immediately after going to potty? He even gets pee and wet litter all over his primordial pouch but is happy to leave it there, along with the poop on his butt and tail, until we get home and clean him. I have tried lightly spraying his butt and bits after wiping him but he just leaves those areas wet and I get wet prints everywhere.

My furbaby is still  generally happy and healthy but I really worry about him (and my beleaguered furniture). Please help; I am at my wit's end. Many thanks in advance.

Just to add: he's not overweight, according to the vet. A tiny bit chubby in my books but able to reach his bits, as far as I've noticed. He's purely an indoor cat. TIA.

I think you may be cycling through the proteins too quickly and not seeing what is actually the issue.  Maybe two-three week trial periods?  That would give his GI system time to calm down.  Have you looked at all of the foods to see if there are any other common ingredients?

He may also have IBD and need treatment for that.  He may clean himself more when he's feeling better.

Thanks so much for your advice, I'll give it a go, once I've completed 6 weeks of this Hills Prescription Diet. I gave in and bought some, after I found a gigantic, soft, incredibly smelly stool (the rest of his poop was in the litter box) in the middle of my kitchen floor on my return home, one day. I understand that he gets dingleberries but the word itself implies small cling-ons. A whole sausage is quite another matter.

I did check his food ingredients thoroughly before buying them and the only common theme is the nutritional additives (vitamins, minerals). I really hope that he doesn't have IBD. Poor baby.

I'll update you, after reintroducing proteins to him. Thanks again.

The problem's completely sorted! My cat has had normal stools and regular bowel movement for months now. This is what I did:

1) Hill's z/d allergy and skin diet (wet food)  - I essentially had no choice and fed my baby this for 1.5 months. Although I know that this food is crap (on a separate note, the food in one tin had spoiled and I found tiny flakes of metal in a couple of other tins), I also knew that it'd calm my kitty's digestive system down, if his bowel problems stemmed from allergies/food intolerance. His fur got rough and dull but his bowel movements stabilised and his stools achieved a good consistency. He lost weight too - bonus. Note: I mixed his food with around 30-40ml of water, at every meal.

2) I then started reintroducing top quality, grain-free, low-to-no-carb single-source animal protein wet food  from brands like Lily's Kitchen and Thrive (one protein source per week). There were no vegetables and such in his food, and his stools remained fine. I tried to feed novel protein like rabbit, venison and quail, because these seem to agree with my baby, most. I was careful not to overdo chicken, in case my kitty became allergic to it in the long run and I also noted that my kitty tended to have looser stools on high-fat foods like lamb. Note: I mixed his food with around 30-40ml of water, at every meal.

My kitty's fur started to regain its pre-Hill's-diet softness and shine. 

Note: He didn't react poorly to any particular animal protein. Just a touch of softness in his stools, when on high-fat meats.

3) Raw food  from Purrform, Nature's Menu and Natural Instinct - I slowly reintroduced pure raw food (every type of animal) to my kitty. No more loose stools, period. I continued to mix his food with around 30-40ml of water (he's used to it now - when he was little, I only mixed a lot of water with foods about which I knew he was crazy, and that was how I got him used to eating watery food), because he doesn't really bother with drinking water.

4) Water and cat grass  - I ensure that my kitty gets nearly his full RDA of water (260ml) by mixing water into all his meals. (Caution: if we're talking about a type of food that your kitty isn't terribly enthusiastic about, don't mix water in with it. Mine wouldn't touch the bowl after I did this with a food he felt so-so about.) I mix tap water with some leftover tuna water from tinned tuna in spring water  (important: I specifically check that the tuna has no added salt and isn't tuna in brine but is ONLY tuna in spring water).

I cut some fresh cat grass and mix it into my cat's food, from time to time, for maintenance of a clear digestive tract. I also keep some cat grass treats handy.

4) On the very rare occasion that he gets constipated, I give him a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil (I give 2 teaspoons, if he's pretty backed up; ie. more than a day without pooping) and he'll go to potty in a couple of hours. It's an all-natural method that works really well for my cat.

Brands:

Some of the brands above are English. I'm not very familiar with U.S. brands but I know that Orijen (Canadian, I think) makes great 100% animal protein snacks and there're other good European brands like Almo Nature, Terra Faelis, Om Nom Nom and Mac's.