Hi there,
I'm sure many of you here have experience with this problem and I'm looking for some help as I'm struggling to find an answer..
I adopted a Tonkinese chap 4 weeks ago and although he seems to be a happy, energetic and otherwise completely healthy cat, since day one he has had a fairly runny tummy - not full blown watery diarrhoea but very mushy and smelly and to make matters worse, he gets it all over his back legs every time and flicks/spreads all over my flat!
His previous owner fed him whiskas kitten, both wet and dry, and so immediately I thought it was just because he was on rubbish food! (It transpires that he had been this way since she bought him.. she didnt think to tell me at the time, pfft)
I did some research and my friend also recommended getting some grain-free, high quality / high meat content food from zooplus.co.uk (I'm from UK) and so I ordered some Animonda Carny Kitten tins and some Royal Canin Kitten Digestive Health and slowly weaned him over to this.
He certainly enjoyed this more but it didnt help so I took him to the vets, and they suggested feeding him dry food only as 'some cats can't handle a lot of meat' Which to me sounded odd after what I'd read about cats being obligate carnivores.Cant say I like the idea of a dry diet only.
Nevertheless I took their advice and tried him on just the royal canin dry for a week along with some fortiflora powder, but this just made it even worse - he had proper diarrhoea with mucus and blood and was going up to 4 times a day.
So I thought, sod this, and I stopped the dry food altogether after realising that the royal canin still contained grains ..
I fed him plain boiled chicken breast for a couple of days and low and behold it completely bunged him up! I started to worry when he hadnt pooped in 2 days, thought he might have the opposite problem so i did feed him a spoonful of dry to see if it would get things moving, and right after, he did a nice small solid poo with no mess.
So I thought hurrah, I've nailed it, he obviously has a grain intolerance - Ill start giving him the animonda carny again along with the chicken breast, slowly adding it, and he should be fine..?!
But no.. it has now been a week and I have slowly removed the chicken so that hes just on the animonda carny and his tummy is getting funny again - not the pale, watery poo like before but it is quite soft and there is also some fresh blood in it
I have noted that animonda carny has a high beef content and im wondering if maybe its just too rich but what are the chances that he is both intolerant to grains AND certain meat?!
Is there a grain free cat food I can get in the UK that maybe just contains chicken or white meat ?!
If I switch back to just chicken breast surely he won't be getting everything he needs, ideally i really want him to be on an actual complete cat food and not homecooked or raw.
I should also mention that he has had several stool samples tested for parasites and infections and all have come back negative.
I spoke to the vet again today and she suggested going back to chicken breast, with potato, for a week. Then start adding vegetables in. But for me this really would be a last resort as it seems more expensive and time consuming.. its not that I wouldn't try anything for him,or that I'm too lazy or don't care, but I would much rather find a cat food that he can handle i live alone and cooking up various veggies each night as well as my own dinner would be inconvenient (im not a veggie lover lol)
Any comments or suggestions would be really appreciated. its the first time I have ever owned a cat and I have to say it has not really been a brilliant start. I just want him to be healthy and happy and not have to suffer with me cleaning his legs every time he uses the litter box as it is very stressful for him.
Thanks
Bailey
I'm sure many of you here have experience with this problem and I'm looking for some help as I'm struggling to find an answer..
I adopted a Tonkinese chap 4 weeks ago and although he seems to be a happy, energetic and otherwise completely healthy cat, since day one he has had a fairly runny tummy - not full blown watery diarrhoea but very mushy and smelly and to make matters worse, he gets it all over his back legs every time and flicks/spreads all over my flat!
His previous owner fed him whiskas kitten, both wet and dry, and so immediately I thought it was just because he was on rubbish food! (It transpires that he had been this way since she bought him.. she didnt think to tell me at the time, pfft)
I did some research and my friend also recommended getting some grain-free, high quality / high meat content food from zooplus.co.uk (I'm from UK) and so I ordered some Animonda Carny Kitten tins and some Royal Canin Kitten Digestive Health and slowly weaned him over to this.
He certainly enjoyed this more but it didnt help so I took him to the vets, and they suggested feeding him dry food only as 'some cats can't handle a lot of meat' Which to me sounded odd after what I'd read about cats being obligate carnivores.Cant say I like the idea of a dry diet only.
Nevertheless I took their advice and tried him on just the royal canin dry for a week along with some fortiflora powder, but this just made it even worse - he had proper diarrhoea with mucus and blood and was going up to 4 times a day.
So I thought, sod this, and I stopped the dry food altogether after realising that the royal canin still contained grains ..
I fed him plain boiled chicken breast for a couple of days and low and behold it completely bunged him up! I started to worry when he hadnt pooped in 2 days, thought he might have the opposite problem so i did feed him a spoonful of dry to see if it would get things moving, and right after, he did a nice small solid poo with no mess.
So I thought hurrah, I've nailed it, he obviously has a grain intolerance - Ill start giving him the animonda carny again along with the chicken breast, slowly adding it, and he should be fine..?!
But no.. it has now been a week and I have slowly removed the chicken so that hes just on the animonda carny and his tummy is getting funny again - not the pale, watery poo like before but it is quite soft and there is also some fresh blood in it
I have noted that animonda carny has a high beef content and im wondering if maybe its just too rich but what are the chances that he is both intolerant to grains AND certain meat?!
Is there a grain free cat food I can get in the UK that maybe just contains chicken or white meat ?!
If I switch back to just chicken breast surely he won't be getting everything he needs, ideally i really want him to be on an actual complete cat food and not homecooked or raw.
I should also mention that he has had several stool samples tested for parasites and infections and all have come back negative.
I spoke to the vet again today and she suggested going back to chicken breast, with potato, for a week. Then start adding vegetables in. But for me this really would be a last resort as it seems more expensive and time consuming.. its not that I wouldn't try anything for him,or that I'm too lazy or don't care, but I would much rather find a cat food that he can handle i live alone and cooking up various veggies each night as well as my own dinner would be inconvenient (im not a veggie lover lol)
Any comments or suggestions would be really appreciated. its the first time I have ever owned a cat and I have to say it has not really been a brilliant start. I just want him to be healthy and happy and not have to suffer with me cleaning his legs every time he uses the litter box as it is very stressful for him.
Thanks
Bailey