Various (related?) problems with poo!

[luds & stephanie]

Hi, I noticed that my cat doesn't seem to wash her rear end. I never had that problem with my other cats.

One possibility (I'm guessing here) is that her poo is just too stinky? Let me be clear here: It's nasty! The entire apartment smells. I've never seen anything quite like it. I can't even compare here, it stinks much more than regular human poo... Tendresse seems to be healthy, she eats Science Diet for kittens, she's regular (one large poo pretty much at the same time every day!)

I've noticed that her poo is quite... well, soft. Not diarrhea, but it's soft enough that sometimes it will stick to her rear end and she will attemt to wipe it using our carpet!!! She only seems to wash it a long time later, say a few hours... My other cats used to do this minutes later only...

Overall, do you think that these problems are related? I have to say that she seems to drink quite a lot so I don't think that it's because she doesn't drink enough, she seems to pee a few times every day,

Help me out folks!

 

[hissy]

Though it is more than likely a food problem, it could also be health related. If she is obese, it could just be that she can't get back there to clean herself anymore. Cats are fastidious creatures and they dislike being dirty and stinky. I would look at what you are feeding her and then gradually switch her to something better.

 

[jan]

I might get shouted at for this, because of the safety angle, but my sister has two Persian cats, who are very used to being bathed and brushed regularly. Because of their long hair they can leave "bumprints" on carpets, chairs etc so she (very carefully!!) trims the hair around that area. She does it very subtly, you can't really tell and her cats are so docile they just seem to go into a coma when they're being groomed. You couldn't do it with a bouncy kitty or it wouldn't be safe. Tendresse looks quite long haired on the photo - she's a sweetie!

Obviously it's not a long term solution if you have a health or food problem, but in the short term it could save furniture, carpets and make her more comfortable and less smelly.

 

[jan]

Oh that's OK then! I have Burmese - I went for just about the shortest hair possible because of asthma, I couldn't cope with all that hair!

She lavishes hours on grooming them, however, and I must admit they always do look beautiful.

 

[luds & stephanie]

anybody else has ideas?

I don't know what to do about the smell, I really thought Science Diet was good food!

And about the fact that it's so soft?

 

[turtlecat]

How old was she when she left her mum? if she was very young, she might not have been taught about washing her butt, and the importance of doing so? Another thought: as a kitten, I've noticed Ghibli's poop is not as ...concentrate as my girls poop. I think it's possibly due to the higher fat content in kitten food? Science diet is a fairly good mid-grade food, but perhaps your kitten has issues digesting some of the proteins in it.. I suggest also slowly switching to something else? Is she on wet food, or dry? if she's on wet, you may want to reduce the amount of wet, and have your kitten on about half wet and half dry? if the stool is very loose, you may want to mix a bit of pumpkin into the food to firm it up?

I find nutro kitten to be good, and Ghibli likes the wet pouches when he has to take his lysine.

 

[julya]

I would recommend taking a stool sample into your vet. You don't have to bring your kitty...just her poop. Yes, I know that it can be nasty

But, you can grab it with gloves using a paper towel and make sure to double bag it in 2 ziplock baggies. This way the vet can check her stool for any unwanted bacteria, or parasites. Sometimes, their little systems can get out of wack and a round of antibiotics will help get the bacteria back in check. You can also make her a "potty-path" like suggested in the earlier posts. If you're uncomfortable doing this, just ask your vet and they'll be able to give her a little hind-end-trim. I trim my parents 4 long hair cats' rear end all the time. If we wait too long, they end up with little "presents" around the house.

You could also try and change food. Science diet is not bad, but she could be sensitive to it. You could try ProPlan (I have luck feeding my kittens this), Nutro, Purina ONE. Just stay away from the cheaper ones as they can give cats stinky, loose stool. Good luck

 

[cloud_shade]

I would agree that you should take a stool sample to the vet. The soft stool is often caused by drinking lots of water, and excessive thirst could be a sign of a problem.

That said, my kitties often don't clean themselves right away. They usually wait until it's bath time, and then they wash themselves all over.

 

[luds & stephanie]

To answer some questions, she was probably very young when she left her mom. I bought her in an SPCA store and they told me she might have been with her mom for a few days or up to 2 weeks.

I do trim her and it does help.

I'll try the vet I guess, and maybe new food. She only eats dry food. She's still on kitten Science Diet, and I bought some other brand (don't remember the name) that I feed her with once in a while.

I really thought Science Diet was one of the best food for cats.
Is there a list of which foods are best somewhere on this site?

 

[mamacat]

Originally Posted by turtlecat

if the stool is very loose, you may want to mix a bit of pumpkin into the food to firm it up?

I thought pumpkin was for when kitty was constipated?

 

[ktlynn]

I also agree about having a stool sample checked.

Science Diet used to be considered a high quality food but not anymore. Though some of their prescription foods can help specific conditions in the short term, you don't want to use the maintenance foods long term.

IMO you should feed your kitten a high quality canned food - its high water content is important for proper digestion and elimination. Dry food is highly processed and contains lots of carbs, both bad things for cats. Canned food is much closer to what a cat would naturally eat.

High quality canned foods DO NOT contain these things: by-products, artificial colors and/or preservatives, corn, wheat, so be sure to read labels. You can feed a high quality dry food as an occasional treat in small quantities. By the way, dry food does not keep teeth clean, nor does canned food cause them to decay.

Examples of quality canned foods are Innova, California Natural, Petguard, Felidae, Merrick. I believe all of these brands come in dry food as well. Whatever brand(s) you switch to, make sure to do it very gradually. Abrupt introductions of new foods can sometimes cause digestive problems.

Tendresse is adorable! How old was she when you brought her home? You mentioned you "bought" her in an SPCA "store". I've never heard of SPCA stores that sell animals. The SPCA in the US does not do this. Could you explain how that works? Do they have stores all over Canada?

 

[ash_bct]

Originally Posted by KTLynn

You mentioned you "bought" her in an SPCA "store". I've never heard of SPCA stores that sell animals. The SPCA in the US does not do this. Could you explain how that works? Do they have stores all over Canada?

Just normal SPCA's.. I know that lots of people where I am from refer to adopting their pets at the SPCA as "buying" them, because of the adoption fee, here it is $70 for a cat/kitten and $90 for a dog/puppy.
Also there are a few pet places that help out the SPCA with adoptions, Petcetera and PetSmart both do this, the animals live at the stores and you apply to adopt there and it all goes through the SPCA.
So unless Quebec is completely different than here, I think this is what she means

And if it is different I would love to know how that works too!

 

[happyscrappy!]

Originally Posted by Luds & Stephanie

I really thought Science Diet was one of the best food for cats.

Science Diet uses harmful preservatives such as BHA & BHT which can cause cancer in animals. They claim that this is not proven; however, if you do research online you will see that there is a lot more information on it. You should never give any of your pets foods or treats that contain these products.

How I found this forum was by doing research to find a better food for him. He'll be 11 next month and I currently have him on Nutro, but he's stools are not solid (like you're describing - not loose, but not solid either) the litterbox is in the office and when I'm online & Mr. Charles has to use the potty, I have nearly passed out... even my dad commented on it while he was here for Christmas & that man (God love him) is not one to talk about foul odors coming from the body! I've started using Crystal Clear Pearls Litter & that has helped tremendously with the smell & I picked him up some California Natural at the petstore. It's supposed to be good for animals with sensitive digestive tracks. Which is what I concluded is wrong with Charlie since he didn't have this problem before going to Nutro & I know Nutro is a good product, just not for him.

A good site I found to do research on foods is http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=home-tab go to the tab titled Tools & use the comparison wizard to compare the ingredients of different brands.

 

[cessena]

Not to be alarmist, but my Shinobi was doing the poop & Scoot, and she had a tape worm. (actually she's started up again, so its back to the vet for us) I would definetly get her poop checked just to be on the safe side. And just FYI my vet has switched to the "old" way of doing stool samples because apaprently the new way isn't as effective. (I don't know what either of these are) but Shinobi had only tape worm eggs in her stool, so you may want to make sure they check for those.

Your kitty is SOOO cute, I love her name too!

 

[luds & stephanie]

Thanks to everyone who replied!

Like ash_bct said, SPCA's in Canada do sell cats for about 70$. Tendresse was about 2-3 weeks when we picked her up.

I'll try some of the natura foods, and try to get some crystal clear litter.

 

[leli]

I noticed you mentioned that there was a particularly bad odour....this could be indicative of a parasite such as coccidia or giardia. These are protozoan parasites (they are only one little cell, not a worm) and can be difficult to detect in routine faecal floats. Let your vet know about the odour and ask about the possibility of these parasites. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[luds & stephanie]

Well I went to a fairly big cat food store (The Pampered Pet) in Ottawa, and I bought Tendresse some all natural food from a brand they recommended.

1 bag for kittens and 1 for cats with long fur. I mixed them up and have been giving her this for about a week now and have seen improvements.

Her stool is not as loose. She hasn't used the carpet to... clean herself for more than 2 weeks now, which is good.

I haven't been giving her kitty treats either (not that I was giving her much, maybe 5 to 10 per week, usually on week ends if she's left alone for more than a few hours...)

The only thing that remains is the terrible BO.

She's due to go to the vet in April, so I'll make sure I bring a sample and let the vet know.

Thanks to everyone who replied, and I will keep you all posted!