poop help

[isulki]

Hi everyone,

First off, let me say that my cats are on homemade ground raw. Can anyone tell me what the loose stool is suppose to look like if you don't have enough bone? Currently, their poop seems dark brown/black and smelly. When I found out my newly adopted cat had giardia and passed it to everyone I had increased the bone % to help harden the stools since giardia causes the loose stools. After the treatment I have started the new cat on probiotics to help with his random bouts of diarrhea. I had him tested a second time but the results turned out negative. Also, is it possible for the stool to turn dark brown/black after it dries? I have noticed the new cat poop light brown but when I went to clean the litterbox, later that day, all I saw was the dark brown/black. My first two cats always had the light brown color until this whole infection episode and now everything is out of wack.

As a side note, the new cat was from a foster so I didn't think to get him dewormed, etc.  

 

[mschauer]

First, if your cat has loose stools it has absolutely nothing to do with the bone content of her diet and adding bone to her diet is not the proper corrective action. This is a common misconception among raw feeders. I guess it came about because too much bone is known to cause hard, dry stools. People seemed to take that to mean that the opposite must to true, that loose stools mean too little bone.

The reason too much bone causes hard, dry stools is because the excess bone, composed mostly of minerals, is excreted resulting in stool that contains a high concentration of minerals that make it hard and dry.

When a cat has loose stools it is because food isn't being digested properly and is moving through the digestive system too quickly. This is a symptom of a medical problem or a food intolerance. A food can have absolutely no bone and the stool of a healthy cat eating it will be perfectly formed. Increasing the bone content of the diet when a cat has loose stools may well result in former stool but is just masking the problem, not correcting it.

Second, I wouldn't focus so much on the color of the stool unless it is very white. White stool is likely because of too much bone and the stool will also be hard and dry. Any other color is just a result of the color of what was eaten. 

 

[missmimz]

I agree that this sounds like a food intolerance issue not a bone content one. I would try different protein sources to see if that helps. I'd also add a good quality probiotic mixed in to help aid digestion. 

 

[isulki]

Oh, I had no idea it could be a digestive issue....Is it possible that it could be the can of tuna I put in the food? I had to add it because I made the mistake of giving them tuna before I learned about raw feeding. The two older cats were addicted to it by the time I switched them, thankfully my new cat doesn't seem to care for it..he actually took to the raw within a week of having him. If the tuna could be the culprit I'll start removing it from the mixture. Hopefully that'll solve the issue if not i'll try turkey instead of chicken. If none of that works I'll take him to the vet to get checked out. 

Thank you for your knowledge and time, Mschauer.

 

[isulki]

Thanks Missmimz, I'll start adding probiotics as well. Is the probiotics a permanent thing or temporary? 

 

[missmimz]

 
Thanks Missmimz, I'll start adding probiotics as well. Is the probiotics a permanent thing or temporary? 

It really depends. I think probiotics are excellent so i do it as a regular part of their diet. One of my cats has some IBD issues and my vet recommended it as a regular thing, i give it to everyone just to help out. I even mix it into my feral/stray cats wet food! 

 

[isulki]

Oh okay, cool! Thanks Missmimz for your knowledge and time.