Stool is supposed to be smelly, but this is ridiculous...

My 1.5 year old pastel tortie, Mrs. Walker, has had loose stools since I adopted her in August. They have always been a normal frequency, but just loose in comparison with my other cat. But in the past few weeks, the odor has been FOUL. Really, really foul. And it doesn't help that she usually forgets to cover her messes in the litter box. So off we go to the vet....

The vet takes a fecal....no parasites. But she does notice some "flea dirt" and prescribes some flagyl just in case there are tapeworms. So Mrs. Walker finished her course of flagyl a couple of days ago. And now not every stool is horrifically smelly, but pretty much every other one is still horrible. And I'm not sure if she's gassy or isn't cleaning herself well or what, but sometimes when I pick her up, a foul odor wafts up to my nose. (Revenge for all the flagyl maybe )

Any ideas? I feed her Nutro Indoor formula, and nothing else. I did switch litters a few weeks ago as well, so maybe I'm just overly sensitive and this litter isn't working as well?

Don't worry, I am taking her back to the vet next week, but I'm looking for any advice from anyone out there who has dealt with chronically smelly stools. Any food tips?

Some cats can't digest carbohydrates very well. Have you tried a high quality canned food like Wellness, Felidae, Merrick, Natural Balance, that is very low in carbs? Dry food can't be made without a substantial amount of carbs. I would wean her over to it over at least a weeks time though, since her gut is already upset. And sometimes bacterial infections cause foul stool. Flagyl will treat giardia, a protozoal parasite, but not worms. Praziquatel, Droncit, is the treatment for tape worms, the type of worm carried by fleas. Flagyl will often treat gut infections that are not specifically diagnosed, though, so maybe that is why it was prescribed. Becky

Thanks!

For some reason, I was thinking that a wet food would make her stool issue worse and not better. But as I'm reading more on fiber and its effects, I realize that I am misinformed. I switched them from Science Diet to Nutro after I got them, because everyone says its great and it makes me happy to spend extra money on my cats (If you can't spoil your cats with your money, then what good is a paycheck?)

I just pulled out my bill from my vet visit. They did give her 1 pill of Droncit while she was there, then gave me the flagyl to give to her. I was under the impression that the flagyl was for the (possible) tapeworms, but clearly I was confused!

I'll talk to the vet about a food change and see what else might be up. I don't want my little girl to be in any discomfort!

I spend so much on my cats. I feed all canned and buy only Wellness and Merrick. For my four kitties I spend $75 every two weeks on food. But I always spend more than that at the petstore because, instead of going straight to the cat food aisle, I have to go by way of kitty toy alley and I seem to find something they need every time. Last time it was a new DVD for them because they might be getting bored with the old two. You understand, don't you? Becky

Originally Posted by zanniesmom

I spend so much on my cats. I feed all canned and buy only Wellness and Merrick. For my four kitties I spend $75 every two weeks on food. But I always spend more than that at the petstore because, instead of going straight to the cat food aisle, I have to go by way of kitty toy alley and I seem to find something they need every time. Last time it was a new DVD for them because they might be getting bored with the old two. You understand, don't you? Becky

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Absolutely!!

I felt really guilty about forcing Mrs. Walker into taking the flagyl pills (she fought me tooth and nail!) that I bought her some new toys at the pet store. Then I had to get Misty, my other cat, some new toys. I haven't tried a DVD yet though. I love to indulge them.

Flagyl tastes so bad that my vet uses quarter tablets and puts them in gel caps for the kitty's sake. I had a hard time getting the capsule down, so I decided to try giving just the pill. BAD idea. Asa foamed at the mouth. I went back to poking the gel caps down his little throat. When my baby cat needed it, though, they gave her liquid, and while she didn't like it, she did take it without the dramatic production that Asa put on. Poor Mrs. Walker, Asa sends her his sympathy.
And do try a DVD. It is so funny, Asa tries to find the birds in the back of the TV and the others try to attack them through the glass. Quite entertaining for all involved. Becky

Originally Posted by zanniesmom

Flagyl tastes so bad that my vet uses quarter tablets and puts them in gel caps for the kitty's sake. I had a hard time getting the capsule down, so I decided to try giving just the pill. BAD idea. Asa foamed at the mouth. I went back to poking the gel caps down his little throat. When my baby cat needed it, though, they gave her liquid, and while she didn't like it, she did take it without the dramatic production that Asa put on. Poor Mrs. Walker, Asa sends her his sympathy.
And do try a DVD. It is so funny, Asa tries to find the birds in the back of the TV and the others try to attack them through the glass. Quite entertaining for all involved. Becky

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Tell Asa thank you from Mrs. Walker!

I did the whole wrapping her up in a blanket thing to make her take the pill. She was still mad. After the first two times, she would just squeeze her eyes shut when I wrapped her up and refuse to even acknowledge my existence. I tried telling her "there are wormies in your belly, we have to get rid of them", but she wasn't buying it....

my new kitty who had been a stray quickly developed stools that smelled so bad i would wake up in the night and on the way back from bath to bedroom not be able to breathe--it could knock you dead clear from the other end of the house. i took a stool sample in, as she had just been in for a checkup, and they found extra bacteria but nothing else, not worms or parasites, and the diet change was probably at fault, so i tried just one type of (canned) food for awhile at their recommendation, just stuck to one brand, and problem was cured. i'm sure stress at intro to new household increased bacteria as well in her case.

Hi,

I know exactly where you're coming from. Lola has had foul smelling stool since I got her in early November. We have recently confirmed that she has both giardia and coccidia. Neither are easy to detect and we had to send out a faecal sample for a special test to conclusively find them (not the usual faecal float). Just so you know, the flagyl dosage is changing.....a recent paper showed that the common dose was too low to get rid of giardia with any certainty. Lola and Sammy just had a 14 day stint on the new, higher doses of flagyl. We've already tried to treat the coccidia once, but it's still there, so we'll be starting a new treatment for that soon. Hopefully your Mrs. Walker is only reacting to food or something and will feel better soon, but definitely look into more conclusive tests for giardia/coccidia if the problem is ongoing. Good luck and keep us posted,
Leli

Thanks everyone!

The vet and I decided to try her one a new diet for awhile and see if that helps any. The vet wanted me to go with Science Diet dry, but I want to give some high quality wet food a try as well, so I'm giving her half a can of wellness each day plus the science diet dry.

The vet said to give this a try for awhile, and see how it goes. If it doesn't help any, we'll need to think about a possible bacterial infection. But just in the week that I've been doing the new food, her stools have improved considerably!