Hi. I'm a first-time poster on this site, having lurked off and on since I got my new-for-me kitty a couple of months ago. He's an abandoned stray that's been hanging around our apartment building. I took him in towards late December as I didn't want him to freeze, even though animals aren't allowed in my building.
Several of my neighbors (at least three of them, besides me) was feeding him whenever he came over to visit. One of them told me he was hanging out at a nearby warehouse where people drop off unwanted animals.
Anyway, the first time my baby pooped here it was one piece, kind of small and on the hard side. Up to this point he was eating dry food only. I was told by one of my neighbors that this cat doesn't eat canned food. He didn't know what he was talking about. When I switched to a combination of canned food and dry, my cat didn't have any more pooping problems.
He started pooping about twice a day, and it wasn't too hard and he wasn't straining.
When I got him, I put my cat on dry Meow Mix (original formula), then added Meow Mix canned. He seems to like the juice in canned Meow Mix. He'll suck it all up but leave most of the can behind!
Not long ago I found he had tapeworms, so I made sure I got him to the vets. She gave him the medication that is applied to their skin and it worked. Haven't seen any tapeworms since. This med is good for other kinds of worms too. She also advised me to put him on Purina One dry food (urinary tract health) and gave me a list of recommended foods for my kitty.
I couldn't find Purina One urinary tract health dry food at first, so I put him on a combination of Meow Mix dry food and Purina One Healthy Metabolism dry food. The vet's list had a number of recommended canned food, inc. Fancy Feast and other brands. That list said it's best to avoid fish-based foods, and ones with fillers, by-products etc. Try telling that to my cat. He is very finicky, and as far as canned food is concerned he will only touch Meow Mix.
Mixing both that and a recommended brand per the vet's instructions didn't seem to help. He wants Meow Mix canned and doesn't care for Fancy Feast, et al.
Anyway, after I put him on Meow Mix canned food and dry, he started pooping twice a day w/o any problems like I said before. But now that he's had the tapeworm medication and I've been trying to switch him to something healthier, my cat will only poop about once a day, and it seems to be on the firm side. It seems as though he's going back to what he was doing when I took him in.
Pumpkin is not acting like he's in any kind of distress. I know what it feels like to have severe constipation and complications from it as I've had a strangulated hernia/bowel obstruction. I guess you could say because of this I can be obsessed about pooping! If he was in any kind of pain because of this, I think I would know.
He has plenty of water on hand. Pumpkin always has his dry food available to munch on whenever he wants it, along with his canned food. What could be causing this problem?
Did the tapeworm medication have something to do with this? His poop seems to be a lighter shade of brown since he had it (sorry about the tmi). It doesn't seem to smell as bad as before (again, sorry about the tmi).
Could the addition of the Purina One dry food be another reason? I'm mixing it with the Meow Mix and so far he seems to like the combination. I think he's drinking enough water.
Sometimes his backside seems a little pink. I don't know if it's from straining or something else. Sometimes it doesn't look like that.
Pumpkin is about 3-4 years old according to the vet. He weighs nearly 13 pounds. When I took him to the vet's for his tapeworm meds and first checkup, he also had his feline leukemia and FIV tests (passed those, thank God) and had his rabies and distemper shots. He needs to go for his distemper booster next week.
Re. the canned Meow Mix, I found a small bone in one several days ago. I go through each can meticulously before giving it to him and would switch him to the Fancy Feast or something else if he would eat it. I find he seems to poop more when he eats Meow Mix canned. Yesterday he pooped twice, but today (so far) it's been only once and a small amount at that.
Sorry this is so long. Thoughts, anyone? I want to make sure that Pumpkin is ok. He's grooming himself like usual. Pees ok. Doesn't play as much with his laser light toy and catnip rats as he used to, but I figured that he's getting bored with them. Doesn't act sick at all.
Thanks for listening!
Several of my neighbors (at least three of them, besides me) was feeding him whenever he came over to visit. One of them told me he was hanging out at a nearby warehouse where people drop off unwanted animals.
Anyway, the first time my baby pooped here it was one piece, kind of small and on the hard side. Up to this point he was eating dry food only. I was told by one of my neighbors that this cat doesn't eat canned food. He didn't know what he was talking about. When I switched to a combination of canned food and dry, my cat didn't have any more pooping problems.
He started pooping about twice a day, and it wasn't too hard and he wasn't straining.
When I got him, I put my cat on dry Meow Mix (original formula), then added Meow Mix canned. He seems to like the juice in canned Meow Mix. He'll suck it all up but leave most of the can behind!
Not long ago I found he had tapeworms, so I made sure I got him to the vets. She gave him the medication that is applied to their skin and it worked. Haven't seen any tapeworms since. This med is good for other kinds of worms too. She also advised me to put him on Purina One dry food (urinary tract health) and gave me a list of recommended foods for my kitty.
I couldn't find Purina One urinary tract health dry food at first, so I put him on a combination of Meow Mix dry food and Purina One Healthy Metabolism dry food. The vet's list had a number of recommended canned food, inc. Fancy Feast and other brands. That list said it's best to avoid fish-based foods, and ones with fillers, by-products etc. Try telling that to my cat. He is very finicky, and as far as canned food is concerned he will only touch Meow Mix.
Mixing both that and a recommended brand per the vet's instructions didn't seem to help. He wants Meow Mix canned and doesn't care for Fancy Feast, et al.
Anyway, after I put him on Meow Mix canned food and dry, he started pooping twice a day w/o any problems like I said before. But now that he's had the tapeworm medication and I've been trying to switch him to something healthier, my cat will only poop about once a day, and it seems to be on the firm side. It seems as though he's going back to what he was doing when I took him in.
Pumpkin is not acting like he's in any kind of distress. I know what it feels like to have severe constipation and complications from it as I've had a strangulated hernia/bowel obstruction. I guess you could say because of this I can be obsessed about pooping! If he was in any kind of pain because of this, I think I would know.
He has plenty of water on hand. Pumpkin always has his dry food available to munch on whenever he wants it, along with his canned food. What could be causing this problem?
Did the tapeworm medication have something to do with this? His poop seems to be a lighter shade of brown since he had it (sorry about the tmi). It doesn't seem to smell as bad as before (again, sorry about the tmi).
Could the addition of the Purina One dry food be another reason? I'm mixing it with the Meow Mix and so far he seems to like the combination. I think he's drinking enough water.
Sometimes his backside seems a little pink. I don't know if it's from straining or something else. Sometimes it doesn't look like that.
Pumpkin is about 3-4 years old according to the vet. He weighs nearly 13 pounds. When I took him to the vet's for his tapeworm meds and first checkup, he also had his feline leukemia and FIV tests (passed those, thank God) and had his rabies and distemper shots. He needs to go for his distemper booster next week.
Re. the canned Meow Mix, I found a small bone in one several days ago. I go through each can meticulously before giving it to him and would switch him to the Fancy Feast or something else if he would eat it. I find he seems to poop more when he eats Meow Mix canned. Yesterday he pooped twice, but today (so far) it's been only once and a small amount at that.
Sorry this is so long. Thoughts, anyone? I want to make sure that Pumpkin is ok. He's grooming himself like usual. Pees ok. Doesn't play as much with his laser light toy and catnip rats as he used to, but I figured that he's getting bored with them. Doesn't act sick at all.
Thanks for listening!