Thread: Recent poops:Not very solid and well formed!

Ooh, a cat poop discussion--now that is right up our alley! Our daughter claims that we talk about cat poop during dinner virtually every night. We have been through lots of issues since getting kitten 3 mos. ago. From what we can tell, he brought in something and the other 3 cats have gone through a few cycles of diarrhea since then. Not fun. (British spell checker here doesn't know how to *properly* spell diarrhea!!)

The cat's poos definitely vary depending on what they eat and drink. We have one girl who is very sensitive, and we now know a number of foods that give her soft to very soft stools. The girl who eats mainly dry food always has the stiffest stools--often hers ends up as half a dozen or more small pieces. The boys vary depending upon what they have eaten. Generally more canned/wet food leads to softer stools, but there are some dry foods that have given us issues (e.g., too much Science Diet TD wreaks havoc). Cats can have issues with not taking in enough fluids and can develop constipation and even megacolon (Megacolon and Constipation in Cats), so you should not wish for too hard stools. One of our breeders had megacolon develop in a large male MC of hers (cat apparently much prefers dry food so hard to get him to eat wet).

If the kitten seems to feel fine and the stools are just slightly soft rather than liquid then I wouldn't worry (i.e., they have some shape to them rather than being just a puddle in the litter). You could try some other dry food and see if that makes any difference (particularly if the Royal Canin is a higher fat kitten food). One product that seems to really work to help firm up soft stools is FortiFlora. We got it from vet during diarrhea episodes and it firmed up the sensitive female more than she has ever been. The reviews on Amazon are extremely positive. Unfortunately, we have figured out how to get only one of the four cats to just eat it, so have had to syringe it down their throats during diarrhea episodes (but this has brought those to an immediate halt). Vets charge too much for it, but here it is on Amazon: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/FortiFlora-FELINE-Box-gram-packets/dp/B00164YL22/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1265902831&sr=8-2"]Amazon.com: FortiFlora FELINE - Box of 30 (1 gram packets): Home & Garden@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IFIiB2EDL.@@AMEPARAM@@51IFIiB2EDL[/ame]