Cat stinks, food suggestions?

tobilei · Oct 30, 2016

How are things going with him?

My little girl gets regular bouts of diarrhea (always has, even when she was formed she wasn't firm). Fish was terrible for her but even with no fish in her diet we continued to have problems. I tried so many brands out there. Her gas could clear the room as you said above and she always smelled kind of poopy. No foods seemed to help. Some were worse than others (Dine I'm looking at you) but nothing at all made the smell ease up or the poopy bottom go away. Then she got blocked anal glands twice.

In desperation I put her on an elimination diet (vet prescription food which I hated, I wanted to cry every time I fed her) but wonder of wonders her poops got solid within just 48 hours. In the whole 7 weeks I had her on it she remained gas free, solid poops and no smell any longer! I transitioned her to a prescribed gastro intestinal diet with chicken in it and within a week we were back to soft poop and a smelly bottom so our vet is thinking possible chicken sensitivity. I'm going to give chicken one more try but the vet I bought her food from the other day said some kitties just struggle with any kind of whole protein (and so far fish and chicken are off the list for her, which in Australia pretty much leaves nothing).

smidgeyy · Oct 30, 2016

It's still mostly a jelly like pate but you can see the shreds mixed in.

He has horrid teeth and I was occasionally giving him a dry piece of the RC dental food as a treat to help, though he didn't chew it anyway. Apparently it's supposed to help even if they don't chew it, so I gave it a shot. Only a year old and he's going to need a dental. /facepalm/

I couldn't imagine having to feed a prescription food all the time, it would drive me nuts! But hey... Despite being crappy food, they work wonders for a lot of pets. I think that I can definitely figure this out without resulting to a prescription diet, hopefully.

Poop still not as stinky, however he just had solid stool, with very soft spots. He did get some different dry food as a snack(mixed in with his old stuff) yesterday. So far he's been on two days of LID Merrick(half a can) at night and the Soulistic in the morning. I don't know if this is just a reaction to eating new foods entirely or if now something in the food is causing the soft stool minus the disgusting smell. It was mostly formed just with softer spots, which isn't odd for him. Butthead managed to get some on his fur though so that was a chore Lol.

I want to take a stab and say I don't think it's the protein, but I mean I could be wrong. Unfortunately I feel that FF agrees well with both their tummies and issues, but I'm determined to find something better quality that he can eat more often. I haven't tried beef so I might give that a go. Also only grabbed one can of Nutro(which they already had) because I overspent as it was Lol. Process of elimination... But I can safely say that two days without food containing cranberries and his stool lost it's terrible odor. The issue is also not fish or beef based, I know that one for a fact.

If anyone had any other suggestions, let me know! I appreciate the help, you guys are great

destinyz12 · Oct 30, 2016

Tobilei- Do you have access in any way to other types of meat such as Beef, duck, lamb, venison, or rabbit to try? Maybe somewhere online that ships to Australia?

dewaine · Oct 31, 2016

Remove all grains and veggies from his diet for a few weeks and see if there is a change.

smidgeyy · Nov 1, 2016

Do you guys have any brand recommendations with no grain, fruit or veggies? He's been eating grain free since I got him.

destinyz12 · Nov 1, 2016

what exactly is your rotation as of now? I saw that you were doing Soulistic, Merrick LID, Nutro occasionally, and FF? Did you try the Whole Earth Farms yet? The only other suggestions I can think of are a bit more pricey- Weruva and Evo. I plan on introducing those 2 to my cat when she's a bit older (Weruva is lower in calories than the other brands so I want to wait till she's fully grown, and Evo only comes in the bigger cans so I'm holding off until she can eat more in a sitting)

smidgeyy · Nov 1, 2016

I really only started feeding different brands a few days ago so I can't really say whether this is working or not. I'll need to keep him on these for a bit longer but so far I can say the smell is gone. He's had less stool overall and no odor, but it's been a bit softer now so I don't know. I'm also working on getting him on NV LID dry so I can't tell if that's the cause or not.

He's had Whole Earth Farms, and I can't find Weruva or Evo in any stores nearby. :/

He had everything just about once. Perhaps I should pick one and gradually add different brands so I know what's working and what's not. With so many new brands, it's almost impossible for me to tell. I'm just not sure what brand to go with to start haha.

destinyz12 · Nov 1, 2016

Yes, starting with one food and gradually adding the other brands is probably best. As for finding Weruva and Evo- neither is available at Petsmart or Petco, but primarily at independent stores. Weruva is also available online at Chewy.com but Evo is a little harder to find. It got bought out by another company and eliminated most of their variety, but there's still 2 canned flavors being produced and they have really healthy ingredients. I was lucky enough to find It at my local independent store. The evo website has a store locater I think, if you were interested in it. Same for weruva's website I believe.

tobilei · Nov 2, 2016

Smidgeyy said:
It's still mostly a jelly like pate but you can see the shreds mixed in.

He has horrid teeth and I was occasionally giving him a dry piece of the RC dental food as a treat to help, though he didn't chew it anyway. Apparently it's supposed to help even if they don't chew it, so I gave it a shot. Only a year old and he's going to need a dental. /facepalm/

I couldn't imagine having to feed a prescription food all the time, it would drive me nuts! But hey... Despite being crappy food, they work wonders for a lot of pets. I think that I can definitely figure this out without resulting to a prescription diet, hopefully.

Poop still not as stinky, however he just had solid stool, with very soft spots. He did get some different dry food as a snack(mixed in with his old stuff) yesterday. So far he's been on two days of LID Merrick(half a can) at night and the Soulistic in the morning. I don't know if this is just a reaction to eating new foods entirely or if now something in the food is causing the soft stool minus the disgusting smell. It was mostly formed just with softer spots, which isn't odd for him. Butthead managed to get some on his fur though so that was a chore Lol.

I want to take a stab and say I don't think it's the protein, but I mean I could be wrong. Unfortunately I feel that FF agrees well with both their tummies and issues, but I'm determined to find something better quality that he can eat more often. I haven't tried beef so I might give that a go. Also only grabbed one can of Nutro(which they already had) because I overspent as it was Lol. Process of elimination... But I can safely say that two days without food containing cranberries and his stool lost it's terrible odor. The issue is also not fish or beef based, I know that one for a fact.

If anyone had any other suggestions, let me know! I appreciate the help, you guys are great

I don't have any other suggestions I'm sorry, but I do hope you figure it out! I would gladly try to figure it out with decent food if I could but there's just not that much available here unfortunately.

destinyz12 said:
Tobilei- Do you have access in any way to other types of meat such as Beef, duck, lamb, venison, or rabbit to try? Maybe somewhere online that ships to Australia?

I can access some meats. Beef is easy, duck harder, lamb easy, venison not really and rabbit I have to purchase an entire rabbit. I can't feed raw because my boy is on cortisone and unfortunately we don't get any of the additives here that make the food complete and balanced

I wish I could find somewhere that sends food to Australia but I have to apply for a permit through customs and I believe I have to ship a whole lot of it over here at once

I've asked RC and Hills to please bring some of their lines to Australia but they just tell me to leave them on the hydrolyzed. It's very frustrating! Thank you for the help!

smidgeyy · Nov 3, 2016

I had some disappointment. Bought some more cans of Soulistic and they looked completely different. My first can was a light tan like cooked chicken/turkey, the second can was pink. The textures were completely different. The first one had a lot of the jelly bits and less shreds, and the second can looked like pink shreds in some goo. It looked terrible so I tossed that can. I haven't opened my other ones yet but that one kind of put me off the brand now, I dunno. Does anyone else have any experiences with this?

He had some Nutro and WEF yesterday.

He's getting more diarrhea and I don't know what to do here. He's reacting to everything so part of me just wants to pick up a prescription diet at work and use that to stabilize his digestive system.

Perhaps I should go back to the Natural Balance. Even though it smelled horribly, he wasn't having diarrhea then. I don't know. > . <

tobilei · Nov 3, 2016

I would stick with whatever was causing the least amount of diarrhea. If you're really opposed to a vet diet (and I get it, I was too, for a year and I still am even though my babies are eating one) you could try adding psyllium husk to the food (start super small) or alternatively feeding a diet meant for hairballs, fibre will often help to bulk up the stool (as long as it's not a food intolerance or allergy you are dealing with of course). Last but not least, some people find mixing some canned pumpkin (plain not spiced) through their cats food helps as well or slippery elm.

I decided to just suck up the prescription diet. I'd been fiddling around trying everything for a year so bit the bullet and did the 8 weeks of hypoallergenic food. My girl came good. Like GOOD good. Not one bout of diarrhea, poops were firm as I'd ever seen them, no gas at all, the change was marked. It went downhill within 2 weeks of my changing her back to chicken. I am one last time trying her on chicken but I suspect it will go the same way. At least at that point I will know which is what I wanted. I wanted to know what I was dealing with once and for all and fix it. I do hope you get it sorted soon though. It's so frustrating to deal with and you have my empathy.

pit of pets · Nov 4, 2016

In my experience it's definitely the food. Something that is not working for him. I say try and experiment with different varieties, giving it a few days in between until you find that it stinks no more. My best bit is for you to find something that is pure animal protein with no vegetable/fruit sources at all. You can of course always try feeding him homemade food, but this will require some research and not everyone has the time to prepare the cat food.

Cat stinks, food suggestions?

tobilei

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smidgeyy

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destinyz12

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dewaine

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smidgeyy

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destinyz12

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smidgeyy

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destinyz12

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tobilei

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smidgeyy

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tobilei

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pit of pets

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