Fancy Feast

I've been feeding my cats Fancy Feast canned (only the Classic kind), and their poop STINKS. I've also been feeding them some dry food, Taste of the Wild. Not very much, because I'm trying to just stick with all wet food. I'm wondering if the smell could be from that, since I haven't noticed a smell these past couple days when I haven't put out the dry food. 

ANYWAY.

I've noticed they've been licking their butts. Like they'll be walking along and then all the sudden plop down and start licking and then get up and continue on with their cat business.

Is this normal? 

I've been researching cat food and trying to find a good brand of canned cat food, since raw is out of the question until I'm out of this house (my parents are vegan and don't want meat anywhere near their food), and freeze dried is TOOOOOO expensive. I decided on Hound and Gatos and The Honest Kitchen. 

But back to the main question, how often do cats lick their butts? I'm worried that their current food is hurting them in some way, which is why I'm wanting to switch, as much as I love the price of Fancy Feast. 

And another related incident, one time my cat had just dumped a load, and got out of the box, and turned around to bury his poo, and I noticed he had some sort of bloody mucus? Not very much. Just a bit, enough for me to be worried and go and Google it. I didn't find much, and I haven't seen anything like that since, thankfully.

Sigh.

I'm just a worried cat mother over here, only wanting the best for my cats while not going broke at the same time. 

Any tips and whatever would be appreciated. 

Sounds like colitis, I would take stool samples and go to vet to show him.
Perhaps worms or giardia, maybe antibiotic and more fiber needed.

I agree with bonepicker about the possibility of colitis: bloody mucous (an indication of inflammation) in the litter box was the first indication our previous cat had GI tract issues. Unfortunately, she was under-diagnosed and misdiagnosed for many years and developed what was most likely IBD and then lymphoma. (She lived to at least 17, though, eating pretty bad food since we were utterly clueless then, so I don't mean that to sound like a total downer! You're way ahead of us!) The good news is that you're catching this early and have more Internet resources than we did back then so can get more ideas than we could even if your vet isn't very knowledgeable on diet issues. 

In the FWIW department, I would, of course, also suggest a vet visit. I would also suggest permanently taking your cat off the dry food. Taste of the Wild has lots of pea and potato ingredients that I would avoid at all costs. (The TOTW food I found first in a search has peas as a second ingredient, after chicken meal.) Peas and potatoes are carby fillers that cats can't really digest. Some cats do fine on them but one of our cats, for example, vomits and gets horrendously disgusting-smelling gas if she eats potato. Taking all the potato foods out of her diet when she was still a kitten made her a much sweeter-smelling cat! (If I remember correctly, @Paiger8 had a similar problem that was resolved after taking potato out of her cats' diet.) To be honest, I avoid Honest Kitchen for the same reason: it's got a lot of potato and has very high carb levels. Your cats might do great on it but I'd consider it high risk. 

Cats definitely have a tendency to like to clean their butts. That said, Brooksie, our previous cat, seemed to be more of a butt cleaner than our present cats and I now suspect her butt was itchy because of her digestive issues and food sensitivities. (She also licked bare patches on her stomach... they were diagnosed as stress grooming, but, given everything that she went through and her overall relaxedness, I'm now almost sure they were a result of itching caused by her food issues.)

As for good brands of canned food, we put the priority on grain-free foods with very low carbs, without potatoes, sweet potato, peas, or carrageenan because our cats have sensitive stomachs, too. Hound and Gatos is a very good one, though cats seem to love it or hate it (our cats love the lamb but that's the only one they'll eat consistently). It's reasonably priced and worth trying. Another good one is Merrick LID: it's low-carb, lots of cats (including ours) seem to eat it up, and it's also reasonably priced. Merrick's Whole Earth Farms foods seem to be similar, though I seem to recall that some of them do have potato and/or peas, so watch those ingredient lists!

Good luck! I'm glad you're catching this problem early!

Yep, @LisaHE  is correct on the potatoes. Litter box smell basically went away when I cut out potatoes, as did the puking issues. Currently feeding Primal Freeze Dried and Merrick LID canned. I also eliminated duck, as I think that was contributing to the poop smell as well. 

Ooh, thanks for the suggestions. I didn't know that about potato... I'll see what happens when I cut that out. 

As for worms, I definitely DO NOT have money to take them to the vet. I'd rather try to avoid a visit at ALL COSTS. 

They did catch fleas from my friend's dog awhile ago. How soon after would you see symptoms of worms if they had any? I haven't seen any coming out of their butt. It's been a couple months since the fleas, I used advantage and got rid of them ASAP. I think it was only after that that I noticed smelly poop and them licking their butts. I've been feeding them dietemaceous earth, I'll feed them that until the end of this month and see if that helps....for the worms if they have any. 

As for colitis, how is that treated? Any home remedies, or is that strictly a vet visit thing? 

FurbulousBunz said:

 
Ooh, thanks for the suggestions. I didn't know that about potato... I'll see what happens when I cut that out. 

As for worms, I definitely DO NOT have money to take them to the vet. I'd rather try to avoid a visit at ALL COSTS. 

They did catch fleas from my friend's dog awhile ago. How soon after would you see symptoms of worms if they had any? I haven't seen any coming out of their butt. It's been a couple months since the fleas, I used advantage and got rid of them ASAP. I think it was only after that that I noticed smelly poop and them licking their butts. I've been feeding them dietemaceous earth, I'll feed them that until the end of this month and see if that helps....for the worms if they have any. 

As for colitis, how is that treated? Any home remedies, or is that strictly a vet visit thing? 

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Hi, unfortunately it is as far as i know. I could be wrong.  is Your cat having issues showing there 3rd eye lid?

I am going throw the same thing at the moment. I took the cat to vet. He game him a shot and antibaticics ( I know it spelled wrong) that have be given orally twice. a day. We're on day 5 this morning. I can tell he getting better but not %100..  He also recommend switching cat foods. Not to get sucked into grain free marketing and that try and feed the same brand wet and dry,  because my cat has a sensitive tummy.  He on Purina Kitten chow and fancy fest Kitten. I am looking at Royal Canin Kitten. Since his breed recommended I stay on Kitten tell nov. 

If you live in the US, you might do a search to see if there is a VCA Animal Hospital near you.  They offer a free initial visit.  It's very basic but you would only have to pay for tests and medication.   http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/offer    

Also, the following article has a lot of ideas for affording vet care, including some funds for no/low vet care:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/308171/no-money-for-vet-care-how-to-find-help-and-save-your-cats-life