So confusing!! Loose stools need inexpensive dry food recommendation

Ok. This is getting really confusing. Although now I know the reason why one of my cats was having loose stools, not diarrhea. It would just get messy and he is overweight so I would have to clean his behind. Yuk

As soon as I started him on all canned it cleared up. Now I have started back adding a little dry and he has started going more often and they are getting back lose again. I am feeding Tractor supply 4Health for all stages. It must be the peas, potato, blueberries and all of that extra 'stuff' they add to grain free food.

So could anyone recommend a grain free food that doesn't have all of that  There may not be one. I have read so many ingredient lists I know even the higher priced foods have many of those added so   I don't know how to figure out what could cause the loose stools. 

I am going to keep him on part can and part dry because of the cost of an all canned diet. 

Oh and I do give him a little pumpkin almost everyday in hopes that it will control some of it. 

With dry you really have to go high quality to get foods that don't contain many fillers. This is a good list of high quality dry foods. I feed Orijen and Ziwipeak, and the small bag of Orijen would last 2 cats a pretty long time, especially if its not their primary food, so i think for the price its not bad at all. It's not on this list, but Orijen has a sister company Acana and that food is slightly cheaper but still good stuff. 

You can mix in some probiotics into their wet food and that will really help the soft stool. 

catlover100 said:

 
Ok. This is getting really confusing. Although now I know the reason why one of my cats was having loose stools, not diarrhea. It would just get messy and he is overweight so I would have to clean his behind. Yuk

As soon as I started him on all canned it cleared up. Now I have started back adding a little dry and he has started going more often and they are getting back lose again. I am feeding Tractor supply 4Health for all stages. It must be the peas, potato, blueberries and all of that extra 'stuff' they add to grain free food.

So could anyone recommend a grain free food that doesn't have all of that  There may not be one. I have read so many ingredient lists I know even the higher priced foods have many of those added so   I don't know how to figure out what could cause the loose stools. 

I am going to keep him on part can and part dry because of the cost of an all canned diet. 

Oh and I do give him a little pumpkin almost everyday in hopes that it will control some of it. 

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Are you sure you need to feed any dry? He may not be able to handle any carb load. I purchase Special Kitty cat food at Walmart for $1 for a 22oz can. That's how I feed all of mine also I feed raw. But that's another story. The 22oz cans are only sold in stores not online but they do sell cases of 13oz cans, standard dog food size, for reference and they are 70cents per can or about $8 for  a case of  12. The Turkey and Giblets pate has no grain but it does have by-product and carrageenan. Not sure if you are concerned about those or not. I am not.

nansiludie said:

 
Are you sure you need to feed any dry? He may not be able to handle any carb load. I purchase Special Kitty cat food at Walmart for $1 for a 22oz can. That's how I feed all of mine also I feed raw. But that's another story. The 22oz cans are only sold in stores not online but they do sell cases of 13oz cans, standard dog food size, for reference and they are 70cents per can or about $8 for  a case of  12. The Turkey and Giblets pate has no grain but it does have by-product and carrageenan. Not sure if you are concerned about those or not. I am not.

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Good idea!! Well maybe I should try that Special Kitty cat food. I guess I thought it was so cheap I was concerned about using it. I think it would be better than dry.

I do have this small bag of dry food I just bought but I can use it sometimes for the babies 5:00 AM feeding when they wake me up. 

I thought my two kids were grown and out of the house!! LOL!! These will never grow up.

missmimz said:

 
With dry you really have to go high quality to get foods that don't contain many fillers. This is a good list of high quality dry foods. I feed Orijen and Ziwipeak, and the small bag of Orijen would last 2 cats a pretty long time, especially if its not their primary food, so i think for the price its not bad at all. It's not on this list, but Orijen has a sister company Acana and that food is slightly cheaper but still good stuff. 

You can mix in some probiotics into their wet food and that will really help the soft stool. 

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You know I do need to try him on some probiotics. Thanks!!

Try giving him a teaspoon or two of pure canned pumpkin twice a day.

Does it have to be grain-free? Some cats do better on grain-inclusive kibbles, because sometimes the grain-free foods are actually higher in carbs :/ (just because there are no grains doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of other starches). You could try the regular 4Health kibble instead of the grain-free version.

I don't know what your monthly cat food budget is, but I just calculated that the cost of feeding a cat a 4Health grain free wet diet for 30 days would be $21.90. That's based on feeding Tractor Supply 4Health brand grain free wet food, 6 % sales tax, and assuming that the cat consumed one 5.5 oz can per day.

Thanks to the PP who recommended the Special Kitty wet food. I have 2 cats and foster as well, so I feed 3 cats an all wet diet. That sounds like a good food to get to help the budget.

Crazy4Strays said:

I don't know what your monthly cat food budget is, but I just calculated that the cost of feeding a cat a 4Health grain free wet diet for 30 days would be $21.90. That's based on feeding Tractor Supply 4Health brand grain free wet food, 6 % sales tax, and assuming that the cat consumed one 5.5 oz can per day.

Thanks to the PP who recommended the Special Kitty wet food. I have 2 cats and foster as well, so I feed 3 cats an all wet diet. That sounds like a good food to get to help the budget.

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Since I wrote this I decided it was best to keep them all on wet food. I don't think my cat with a sensitive stomach is going to be able to tolerate anything else but the main thing is I want to prevent all 3 male cats from having urinary problems. 

I bought a few cans of the grain free 4 Health canned today to gradually add it to their diet. For some reason it has more calories than other cans that size so 1 can a day is probably about enough for 2 of them. The other one that had the blockage will be on Royal Canin SO. He really is only eating one can of it. I am having to mix a little of FF or something else with it so he will keep eating it.

I'm just glad they have all adjusted to eating canned. It seems like many have problems with kitties being dry food addicts.

I appreciate all of your help and suggestions. Hope I can keep the urinary problems away and here's to the health of your kitties too!!  

Human Mom:

Daughter 27 and Son 22

Enslaved by:

Buddy, 16  Hadrian, 11

and Jack (the cat who went to college) He is too smart for his own good

RIP O'Malley, Scat, Louie, Ginger and Duchess (you are all sorely missed)

catlover100 said:

I'm just glad they have all adjusted to eating canned. It seems like many have problems with kitties being dry food addicts.

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I'm glad to hear your decision and that your cats are adjusting! And yes, we've also been through problems with a cat we fed dry food: as happened with many others on this site, I learned about cat nutrition through her health issues. That was over two years ago and I still feel sad that we didn't know how to feed her properly to keep her healthy but the bright side is that everything we learned has been very useful in feeding our current cats, who have sensitive digestive systems.

May your cats continue to enjoy their wet diet!