Loose stools have me confused?

white cat lover

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I have been watching as my three kitties have loose stools one day & not the next. I'm not sure I understand what is going on. I had to pick up my dog after surgery today, so I took all three cats in & a stool sample from each. The stool smaples came back negative for worms, coccidia, giardia, etc. I asked the vet about probiotics as someone on here suggested(maybe Renny?) & she doesn't carry them. She told me she would check around to see if anyone else carried them, but it is doubtful. She checked the cats physically. No bloodwork was done, though. They are all FeLV/FIV -, spayed, & UTD on vaccs.

Is there anything else I can give the kitties that would act like a probiotic? I give the dogs each a spoonful a yogurt in the morning, but I don't know if yogurt is safe for a cat. I've been doing pumpking 3x a week, one spponful for each cat.

I don't understand what could cause them to have loose stools one day & not the next. I saw some blood in Ophelia's stool yesterday, but there hasn't been any since before she got dewormed(roundworms) months ago & there wasn't any today. Twitch has completely solid stools almost all the time.

Damita & Chico, the fosters, have high concentrations of bacteria in their stools. They are on SD i/d(not the best). If I want to continue to foster them, I must feed them the i/d & now I have to put them on Albon for 7 days.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated! I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around what's going on. Thanks!
 

cearbhaill

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

Is there anything else I can give the kitties that would act like a probiotic? I give the dogs each a spoonful a yogurt in the morning, but I don't know if yogurt is safe for a cat. I've been doing pumpking 3x a week, one spponful for each cat.
Yogurt is great as long as it contains active cultures and no sugar. I prefer organic yogurt from a health food store... Dannon and similar are next to useless in this context.

There are several products available in better pet shops and health food stores like Benebac, Fastrack, Pet Flora, Animal Essentials. Just browse the aisle of digestive enzymes and choose one.

I would stop with the pumpkin as it is not working. I would feed them their food (plus probiotics) alone for at least a week- if it doesn't clear up that way then it's the food.
I had a similar situation with my three as very young kittens, and sure enough it was the food. I had to switch them to something they were all three able to tolerate. It wasn't my first choice in foods, but I had to go with what worked.
 

katiemae1277

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I was going to suggest what Cearbahill said, it might be the food, i had a kitten that had chronic runny stools, sometimes it was just awful! no parasites or anything, I finally ended up with Iams because that is the ONLY that helped... he also did the ok one day not the next thing too, it was a crapshoot (
wocka wocka
) but the Iams worked like a charm
weird that the pumpkin isn't really helping too
good luck! it seems like there's always something going on with your kitties!
 
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white cat lover

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Originally Posted by katiemae1277

it seems like there's always something going on with your kitties!
There always is! I am going to go crazy, between the 5 of them. As if the loose stools aren't enough, Ophelia has startes marking/spraying. When it was just Twitch & Lily everything was fine & dandy.....but I still don't regret keeping Ophie or fostering!


I have some Innova EVO, I might just feed that to Ophie to see how things go. Now that you've said that, when I started the Chicken Soup, I think that's when the stool issues started.... Could the wet food cause loose stools? Should I stop feeding the wet?
 

jcat

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Before trying another kitten food, you could give them plain boiled chicken and rice for about 3 or 4 days. Nothing else, except for a bit of plain yogurt, if they'll eat it. That often seems to settle upset tummies and tighten loose bowels.
 

katiemae1277

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

There always is! I am going to go crazy, between the 5 of them. As if the loose stools aren't enough, Ophelia has startes marking/spraying. When it was just Twitch & Lily everything was fine & dandy.....but I still don't regret keeping Ophie or fostering!


I have some Innova EVO, I might just feed that to Ophie to see how things go. Now that you've said that, when I started the Chicken Soup, I think that's when the stool issues started.... Could the wet food cause loose stools? Should I stop feeding the wet?
I know how you feel- the number of cats directly correlates to multiple problems!! The kitty could be fine, but add one or two more and BAM! everyone has issues
Ophelia seems to be a strange kitty, looks like you chose the right name
To be honest I myself recently started feeding my kitties Chicken Soup (dry) and it does seem to be a little more stinky than normal, I think Simon is the culprit, but the others are doing great on it. No I don't think that the wet has anything to do with it as far as it being just because it is wet, what kind of wet are you feeding? is that the Chicken Soup? I feed the Meow Mix pouches and since I started that, my kitties fur has become so shiny and soft! I never fed wet before this and I'm definitely a convert... I would just experiment with food, switching over slowly of course and see what works I truly hope you find something that makes Ophie happy, i can tell how much you care about her
 

blue ash

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White Cat Lover:
What food(s) do you feed, and what treats are you giving?
I would recommend feeding only one food, one brand, one formula at a time. I would also recommend not giving them any treats/snacks at this time either.
 
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white cat lover

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I am going to have to start writing down which foods don't work for who. I bounced ideas off my little sister & she reminded me EVO gave Ophelia icky icky poop. So, scratch the EVO.

I am feeding Ophelia Chicken Soup dry, & Meow Mix pouches. She gets 1/2 a can of Merrick 1x a week. She seems to be the one with the worst problems(of my 3). Ophelia at this point won't eat treats as I didn't get the right ones. I got the purple contained instead of green & she only likes the green. Don't ask me what they are, I just know the color of the container!
I currently have Nutro kitten, but Ophie doesn't need kitten food, EVO, & Chicken Soup for dry foods. I will have to see what I can get as far as dry around here. I know the pet store sells canidae, so they might carry felidae. They have RC, but I think those are only breed specific & have been there a looonnnngggg time. Otherwise, they sell Nutro, EVO, Chicken Soup, SD, Sensible Choice, Eukanuba, & Iams. Any reccomendations on which to try(maybe the Euk as it seems to work well on sensitive tummies-I know, I don't like it that much)? I've tried Nutro, EVO, & Chicken Soup(for Ophelia). I might have to try something that isn't so "rich". It stinks that no one here but Ophie will eat the Chicken Soup. Out of 8 3/4 outside cats, not one will eat the Chicken Soup! Oh yeah, and just so I'm sure to switch over properly, it's over 2 weeks, right? I don't know what I'd do without the help of everyone here!

Ophelia got her name because she was quite the drama queen. I knew she was going to be a very interesting cat, so she got a fitting name! I gave her the middle name Rose in case she turned out to be a "normal" cat....

jcat, I like the chicken & rice idea, but Ophie never would eat the canned food with rice in it. I don't know if I can get her to eat straight rice. It's worth a try, though.

Damita & Chico are going to be started on Panacur(not Albon) on Saturday. That aught to be fun. I always feel like a monster for sneaking up on a blind cat & cramming a syringe in her mouth(OK, so it's not that bad). Still, she can't see me coming... They are eating SD i/d still.

I haven't seen any loose stools in Twitch or Lily since I posted this thread, so I'm hoping they will continue to poop normal. Once again, my post got to be a mile long!
 

sharky

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I like sensible choice ... it is a bit more basic than nutro .... I have had good luck with there wet ...
 

katiemae1277

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Iams worked for me to correct chronic runny poo, not the best I know, but its not the worst either, but it worked!
 
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