Need Advice -my Cat Eats Her Poop

[smilexcindy]

So my cat does not really know how to groom herself or in general, be a cat. When she was a kitten, the original family used pellets so she was not used to covering her poop and would use her claw to paw at the side of the litter box. So after I had taken her to my house (at 4 months) I use pellets and I did try to transition her from pellets to clumping litter. I would notice that after she would poop she would just scrape the side of the litter box (it is hooded) and then come out without ever covering her poop which would make the room smell so much worse. Btw she is an indoor only cat.

Lately, she's been having a semi-solid semi-diarrhea like poop but when she poops... you can hear it. I'm hoping someone can help me so I'll go into more detail. If this grosses you out you may want to stop reading. g this paragraph! So you can hear her poop it's a distinct sound and it just sounds like a juicy/watery fart. It last a couple seconds and you can hear squeezing the last bit.

Getting over that, she also tends to poop frequently. Instead of taking a good dump a couple times a day or so, she'll go poop possibly 3-6 times a day and give little poops. Since her poops are pretty watery (sorry) and she is a Highlander cat (long and fluffy fur) the poop gets stuck to her fur on her bottom. So many times I've wrestled her when she gets a clump of poop in her fur and I have to clean it but I can't always be wiping her butt. I noticed and thought about it though... she does get poop on her fur pretty frequently and she does groom herself it's not as if she has poop on herself the whole day but that means she's consuming her poop. Is there anything I should be worried about that my cat is eating her poop and poops many times a day?


Thank you for bearing with me, I really hope to gain some answers

 

[Ardina]

Since she's having diarrhea, I would recommend that you take her to the vet to figure out the cause - it could be worms, food intolerance, or something else. If you can resolve the diarrhea, solid stool won't stick to her fur as much and she'll ingest much less. The other thing you could try is asking the vet for a sanitary trim of the fur around her butt.

 

[smilexcindy]

Since she's having diarrhea, I would recommend that you take her to the vet to figure out the cause - it could be worms, food intolerance, or something else. If you can resolve the diarrhea, solid stool won't stick to her fur as much and she'll ingest much less. The other thing you could try is asking the vet for a sanitary trim of the fur around her butt.

She is an indoor only cat so I don't think it's worms. It could possibly be her food since I got multiple bag of free, high quality, food but they're 6lbs bags so every month and a half or so I keep transitioning her to a new food. How bad do you think it is if the eat their poop?

 

[Ardina]

Cats generally groom their butts, but it's probably not good for them to have to clean large amounts of stool off their fur multiple times a day. I think the diarrhea is the biggest problem - everything else is because of it. It can't be comfortable for her, and she won't absorb nutrients as well. The constant food change might be part of it, or she might not be tolerating an ingredient in one of the foods. What do you feed her?

 

[duckpond]

If she is going to the litter box that many times a day she most likely has some type of parasites, or a virus or bacterial infection. Indoor cats can get parasites. Bugs will come into almost every home, they carry parasites, fleas can find their way in on your shoes or clothing, they carry parasites. you can bring a virus home to her, or visitors can. I would highly recommend a vet visit to figure out the problem. It may be the food, but im guessing there is something else going on, unless the food is old or contaminated in some way?

Many cats also hate a covered litter box. It stresses some of them out terribly. You might try a large uncovered box and see if she is better with the covering. If the litter box is stressing her out it could also be part of the Diarrhea problem.

 

[Neo_23]

I agree, take her to the vet. It's not only abnormal for her to be pooping that much, but the fact that her poop is soft is worrisome because she can get dehydrated. It's not uncommon for kittens to have worms that are passed onto them from their mothers. Sometimes the symptoms don't show for weeks after they have been adopted. I would take a fecal sample with you to the vet for testing.

Also, I would get rid of the lid on top of the litter box, it could potentially be frustrating her and she may not want to spend a lot of time in the litter box covering her poop. Cats like to be able to see their surroundings when they go to the bathroom so that they have multiple escape routes.

 

[bklyn]

Echoing advice to take her to the vet, it definitely could be a parasite. I would start with doing a fecal exam.

Is she on a grain free diet? Grain free diets often cause looser stool, and some cats can't tolerate it well at all.

Mom cats eat their kittens' stool constantly during the first few weeks of their lives, so I'm not as worried about her cleaning herself with some stool on it (despite it being gross). Still it's not clean or ideal, but I agree the concern is much more so with her unresolving diarrhea.

 

[smilexcindy]

Unfortunately, taking her to the vet is not feasible but I can take her to the vet to at least deworm her since I didn't know indoor cats can still be getting parasites although I haven't noticed anything moving in her poop. Also taking the lid down really isn't an option since she's a sprayer and having an open container made it so the litter was scattered everywhere which is why we got an igloo type litter box. I give her a lot of water when I feed her my wet food in the morning by adding a good amount of extra water and I grab her little scrub every now and then to check for dehydration. Right now she's on the wellness indoor adult formula. I also got her dewormed when I first got her and got her vaccinations.

 

[FlawlessImperfection]

Sorry you are dealing with that, I have Shih-Tzus and I know how I would feel if I was dealing with that with all that hair. Did I read correctly that you are changing her food every six weeks or so? I’d think that would play at least some part in the loose stool, since her system is always trying to get used to a new diet. I’m sure others may know better than I, but it would be good to put her on one food for while and see if that helps. Try a limited ingredient diet, even if it’s expensive at first, if she does okay for a while and you are worried about budget, you could step down in price by adding an ingredient, and she reacts you know it’s bad. For example (just made up ingredients) start with cat food A: say it costs $20 a bag, and has chicken and water. If she does well but you can’t afford it, try cat food B. For 15$ a bag, and has chicken, water and potato. If she’s okay great! If not, maybe the potato is the problem and so on. Save receipts if you need to exchange, I’ve brought some back myself! Wish you luck!

 

[Neo_23]

Unfortunately, taking her to the vet is not feasible but I can take her to the vet to at least deworm her since I didn't know indoor cats can still be getting parasites although I haven't noticed anything moving in her poop. Also taking the lid down really isn't an option since she's a sprayer and having an open container made it so the litter was scattered everywhere which is why we got an igloo type litter box. I give her a lot of water when I feed her my wet food in the morning by adding a good amount of extra water and I grab her little scrub every now and then to check for dehydration. Right now she's on the wellness indoor adult formula. I also got her dewormed when I first got her and got her vaccinations.

Sometimes cats need to be dewormed multiple times. Also it could be a different parasite like giardia. Just curious, how come you can’t take her to the vet?

My girl scatters litter everywhere when she digs too. I just keep a cordless vacuum on hand and vacuum a lot. I personally prefer my cat to be comfortable over having to clean up litter. Or did you mean that she pees outside the box?

Also, how much is she pooping? Sometimes having small amounts of diarrhea multiple times a day actually indicates constipation.