Raw Food-Big Poops

My kitty has been eating raw for a few months now, but due to her history of prolapse and constipation she has always been on medicine or other additives. She recently had a Coloplexy (early January) we had a few more incidents with her and are now feeding just raw and salmon oil. On the contrary to what most cat owners say about the raw she's been having really big poops, they dont smell very bad, and they aren't really soft or rearly firm, but they are bigger then what I expect. Any idea or reason why?

Is shr still pooing on a normal schedule? Maybe shes pooing less but having bigger poos?

Are you feeding commercial or home made raw?  One of my cats only eats commercial raw which contains 5% vegetables and fruits. His poops are much larger than the other two cats poops who only eat home made raw (with no veggie and fruit). The fiber in the food may cause the different size.  I think there is nothing to worry about as long as he has a normal pooping schedule.

How is her weight and appetite? Is her weight stable or is there weight loss and / or no weight gain and increased appetite? Did the vet mention anything about possible malabsorption, post-coloplexy?

I would discuss with the vet to see if the larger stools are a result of the procedure. Otherwise if you are feeding commercial raw with veggies, as nuieng mentioned, it may be the vegetable matter.

kittyluv387 said:

Is shr still pooing on a normal schedule? Maybe shes pooing less but having bigger poos?

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She's been going pretty regular, she has a big poop and then doesn't poop for 2 days, and then has another big poop so on and so forth.

nuieng said:

Are you feeding commercial or home made raw?  One of my cats only eats commercial raw which contains 5% vegetables and fruits. His poops are much larger than the other two cats poops who only eat home made raw (with no veggie and fruit). The fiber in the food may cause the different size.  I think there is nothing to worry about as long as he has a normal pooping schedule.

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I'm feeding her Primal Raw Pork which is 97% meat and 3% produce. But she has been on a normal schedule.

Okay it's not abnormal for cats who are on raw to poo every other day.  And also their intestines are used to being fuller from eating processed dry food and wet food.  When you feed them commercial raw they will naturally have smaller poos due to the small amount of filler so it might take a little bit for the cats intestines to get used to not being so full!  So that's why shes going every other day but having bigger poos.  

LisaMarie12 said:

How is her weight and appetite? Is her weight stable or is there weight loss and / or no weight gain and increased appetite? Did the vet mention anything about possible malabsorption, post-coloplexy?

I would discuss with the vet to see if the larger stools are a result of the procedure. Otherwise if you are feeding commercial raw with veggies, as nuieng mentioned, it may be the vegetable matter.

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She's had lost 1 lbs since her original upset of problems which was in September. We have been in contact with the vet that did her coloplexy and they said that everything seemed to be normal, this change in the size of her stool only recently started since we had to bring her back to the vet for another prolapse after the coloplexy. That was almost 2 weeks ago now. Our regular vet wants her to gain that pound that she lost back so I've been feeding her more for weight gain. No more prolapse issyes since then. She's had a normal appetite and been pretty regular with her poop so I'm not super worried just a little thrown off by the size.

kittyluv387 said:

Okay it's not abnormal for cats who are on raw to poo every other day.  And also their intestines are used to being fuller from eating processed dry food and wet food.  When you feed them commercial raw they will naturally have smaller poos due to the small amount of filler so it might take a little bit for the cats intestines to get used to not being so full!  So that's why shes going every other day but having bigger poos.  

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She's been eating raw since October now, but I'm guessing since she always had wet added, or some sort of medicine until now that her intestines are getting used to only raw now. That's make sense thank you.

You could try to help ease her into all raw by giving her a little bit of pure canned pumpkin.  No pie mix of course.

nuieng said:

Are you feeding commercial or home made raw?  One of my cats only eats commercial raw which contains 5% vegetables and fruits. His poops are much larger than the other two cats poops who only eat home made raw (with no veggie and fruit). The fiber in the food may cause the different size.  I think there is nothing to worry about as long as he has a normal pooping schedule.

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I stand corrected, I actually looked at the bag and it's 93% meat and 7% produce and supplements.

kittyluv387 said:

You could try to help ease her into all raw by giving her a little bit of pure canned pumpkin.  No pie mix of course.

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She's had been on pumpkin the first few months that I was feeding raw, in addition to a grain free wet food.

Katthedork said:

I stand corrected, I actually looked at the bag and it's 93% meat and 7% produce and supplements.

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Possibly the veggies in Primal.  My Mikey was on Primal for  awhile and then I switched him over to RC, his stool size was greatly reduced on RC.

LisaMarie12 said:

Possibly the veggies in Primal.  My Mikey was on Primal for  awhile and then I switched him over to RC, his stool size was greatly reduced on RC.

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RC? I've never heard of that brand.

Katthedork said:

RC? I've never heard of that brand.

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RC is Rad Cat. Another brand of commercial raw. My cats like this one more than any other kind.

http://www.radfood.com/

Kat0121 said:

 
RC is Rad Cat. Another brand of commercial raw. My cats like this one more than any other kind.

http://www.radfood.com/

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Ditto for our cats!

Agree with everyone else it's probably the Primal because it has veggies in it. When mine eat mostly raw i make/RC their have much smaller stools then if they're eating more canned/FD/kibble. 

Kat0121 said:

RC is Rad Cat. Another brand of commercial raw. My cats like this one more than any other kind.

http://www.radfood.com/

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How much do you normally pay for it. I'm a college student so I buy Primal from the cat boarding facility I work at because I get a discount. I can't afford to buy anything very expensive.

Katthedork said:

How much do you normally pay for it. I'm a college student so I buy Primal from the cat boarding facility I work at because I get a discount. I can't afford to buy anything very expensive.

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It's definitely not cheap but it's worth it. If I could afford to feed it exclusively I would.

The price will depend on where you get it. When I buy it, it's from a local independent pet store. Some online retailers carry it but there's going to be a ridiculous shipping charge involved. The pet store near me sells the 8 oz for $5.99, the 16 oz for $9.99 and the 24 oz for $13.99 which is the same price as one of the online retailers without the super expensive shipping.

Kat0121 said:

 
It's definitely not cheap but it's worth it. If I could afford to feed it exclusively I would.

The price will depend on where you get it. When I buy it, it's from a local independent pet store. Some online retailers carry it but there's going to be a ridiculous shipping charge involved. The pet store near me sells the 8 oz for $5.99, the 16 oz for $9.99 and the 24 oz for $13.99 which is the same price as one of the online retailers without the super expensive shipping.

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Woah you can get it for $13.99 for 24oz?! I pay $22 for the beef and venison!   

Only Natural Pet sells it for a few bucks cheaper but that doesn't count the shipping charges so for me it wouldn't be worth ordering from them. What other online retailers sell it for that cheap?