Loose Stools

[tessie7]

Hello! I have a newly adopted cat (Smoke, adopted 12/16). He's 3 years old and was a former street cat until he was trapped and fixed and his trapper thought he was too sweet for the streets. She was right - he's is so sweet!

We've been feeding him Nulo wet - 1/2 can in AM and 1/2 can in PM, and Nulo dry, 1/4 cup at night. This seems to map to what they recommend for his body weight (13 lbs). His foster was feeding him Kirkland dry for the 5 weeks he was with her.

He poops regularly, thankfully, but it's not completely solid. It's not super wet, but it's somewhere in between. Given he is new to us, we don't know if this is normal or should be a concern. Could it be the food? Something else? He has a vet appointment 12/31 for a general wellness check, and I'm thinking I'll bring a sample.

Appreciate any feedback!

 

[di and bob]

I would bring the sample, even if he firms up, it is invaluable to check for parasites, etc. The looseness is most likely due to the stress of being in a new home (even if he doesn't act like it) and the change in his food. If he continues to get looser he may be allergic to something in the food. I would give him until his vet visit to see if he improves, then inform the vet. Make sure he has several bowls of water around and encourage him to drink, loose stools are very dehydrating. Make sure also he isn't getting any cow's milk products like milk, cheese, or cottage cheese, those are notorious for giving diarrhea.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

When dry food is switched in cats, it can often cause digestive issues. Normally it's to be done very slowly, mixing in the new dry food in at a ratio of about 25% new with 75% old and then see how they handle it. If all goes well, then 50/50 and so on. If this wasn't done, that could very well explain the lose stools. At this point it may be a little late, but perhaps not. Maybe you could get some of that Kirkland from his Foster? I'm sure you don't want to buy a huge bag of it, especially since that's not what you want to end of feeding him.

You might also add in some probiotics to his diet. Many people use human probiotics like Nexabiotic. Just be sure not to get anything with cow's milk in it. You can also try giving him plain yogurt. It's basically a probiotic. Oh., if you do give a probiotic, I give 1/2 capsule (per cat) in the a.m. and 1/2 in the p.m. What I do is dissolve it in a little bit of water, then mix into wet food. Some people just sprinkle it on their food. My guys are just picky

 

[stephanietx]

It's very possibly the food, especially the dry food switch. You can give the human supplement, saccharomyces boullardi to help firm up stools.

https://www.foodfurlife.com/my-cat-has-diarrhea---what-do-i-do.html#/

 

[dkb817]

I would also suggest that it very much depends on what your definition of "loose" is; What some would consider to be almost diarrhea is actually where the vet wanted my megacolon cat's stools to regularly be at, whereas there's a little more leeway with my Simon since he doesn't have digestive issues to that degree. Take a sample in to your vet (or, as gross as it seems, take a picture of it in the litterbox to show your vet what you mean by "loose"), and they will let you know if it's okay or something that needs to be adjusted.