Recent poops:Not very solid and well formed!

The first week we had Winston his poops were pretty solid and well formed. However over the last week and a half I've noticed they are not as solid as they were at the beginning.
Winston is being fed with royal canine dry food twice a day morning and evening and for lunch he usually gets some wet food.

I have been using Royal Canine and Gold select, the first week I was using more tinned tuna and felt his poops were much better formed.

Anyone have any tips on getting better formed poops and is his diet responsible?
Is there something I should be concerned about?

as far as im aware it shouldn be anything to worry about usually dry fed cats have solid and wet food= not so well formed
if however diareah is present a fish rice chicken diet should sort it out, changing foods or giving anything abnormal can effect their stools but as long as its not runny etc i dont think there would be a problem but im no expert x hth

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]

This is exactly what happened with us. We got Lucius and his poos were fine for the first few days (bearing in mind he came from a raw food feeder and she gave us some raw to bring home with us). We had decided we weren't going to go for the raw food and chose a high meat content processed food (Applaws - 75%) to feed him when the raw ran out and despite working it into the new food gradually, as soon as he was purely on Applaws his poos went very soft and kept sticking to the long fur on his bum. We spoke to our breeder who suggested to keep mixing it with the raw but it didn't change. After a couple of weeks we were pretty stressed, everytime he pooed his lovely furry bum got covered, or he'd step in it, and we'd leap off the sofa to make sure he didn't tread it into the carpet, chasing him with baby wipes, poor mite, or worse taking him straight up for bath time where he would wail with a look of 'why are you doing this to me!'

We decided to go straight back to raw, using a supplier recommended by the breader called Food 4 Cats which I have mentioned before here, and his poos have been perfect ever since! The minor inconvenience of having to pre order his food and not being able to put much for us in our freezer is worth it to not have to worry all the time. His poos also hardly smell at all which is a bonus.

It slightly went wet again a few weeks ago when we changed his dry food (we give him a small amount of biscuits for some crunch) and we were using some Applaws dry which was given to us in our kitten pack, and I hate the smell, it smells like dog food! We now give him Royal Canin Beauty which is duck flavoured and he goes mad for it. After a few days his poos went back to normal, I guess once his tummy was used to it. I would thoroughly recommend that food to anyone, within 7 days his coat became wonderfully glossy and shiny and has stayed like that ever since.

So if you found the non processed food such as the tuna was better, maybe experiment with just giving him real fish and meat for a while. After all, I know if I eat processed food my digestive system can get a bit funny, why not a cat's?

Good luck x

Thank you all for some interesting feedback.
I have gone back to the tuna for the moment and will try and introduce some more raw food if I can.

There is some form to his poops .They are not runny but they are certainly much softer then they were when he arrived!
We have also had the prob of him stepping back into his poo and has had to be showered straight away after. He was not a happy kitty :sad2:

If foods alone don't do what you want, I really do recommend seeing if your vet or local pet store sells the FortiFlora or a similar probiotics product. You could just get one or two packets to try that way very easily. You could even try a bit of yogurt with live cultures, though we have found the cats will only rarely eat yogurts.

It sounds very unusual for a cat to step in the poo right after going. The only time any of our cats have ever gotten poo on their feet is when they had bad diarrhea and it ran right down the litter onto a foot while they were going. Is your litter box large enough that he can keep from stepping on it? Perhaps he is having problems in part because he has grown and doesn't fit in the same box as well. Our cats all definitely move away from the poo right after going.

Ironicaly I was going to post something very similar this morning. We're going through a 'someone has soft poops' phase.

One of ours, either Loki or Storvenn (trying to find out who) is pooping a semi wet poop (smells as bad as it sounds too...)
We've been trying to get them over to raw from the Food 4 Cats folks, but tuna appears to be the only thing they both love. I think Loki is eating a lot lot less than Storvenn as she doesnt seem to like the raw, although when I come down in the morning there is a lot less raw food left. Of course its hard to know which one of them is eating it,so maybe she is eating some at night.
Currently I cut the meat off the chicken bones and then cook it for her. This seems to be acceptable. Dry food is VERY acceptable too :)

My plan - keep going. Keep trying to work out which is them has the soft poops by checking litter tray after they have been. Try to find a food which Loki will definately eat raw (looking like Tuna chunks at the moment) and see if that will sort out the issue if it is her, which is very similar to what Irishkitty is doing too.

Not having a problem with them getting it on themselves at all. We have two BIG trays for them which are about 60mm deep in kitty litter.

Ok, soft poop cat = Loki.
Any suggestions welcome, but here is some info first.

Feeding time.
One bowl each - although Storvenn tends to move from his bowl to Lokis after about 30 seconds. Storvenn is also first onto the food each time.
Loki (female) and Storvenn (male) are the same age & came from the same litter.
Storvenn is huge in comparison to Loki. Possibly another 1/2 of her weight again.

Food.
(am) - Wet food. 1.5 packets of natures menu between them. Loki likes this.
(mid day) - Rabbit mince (about 1/2 usually gets eaten). Loki takes about 3 bites
(pm) - Cooked chicken, no bones. (usually gets eaten). Depends.. tonight I hand fed her 1 small piece. She ate it but then wouldnt eat from the bowl.
(nighttime) - Dry food left down until morning.

Loki will happily eat from a 'treat ball' which she knocks around the floor to get the dry food to fall out.
----------------------
Ive noticed that they 'playing' by chasing each other a lot more and its usually storvenn doing the chasing as he is the bigger / one who likes to chase things like laser pens.
What I assume is their playing, putting their jaws around each other and boxing, when they are on the sofa together looks harmless. The occassional "moew / ouch!" but nothing major.

Several schools of thought in my head.
1) Loki is a bit wary of eating the food as she feels that Storvenn is a larger cat and doesnt feel comfortable with him moving onto her bowl when Im not watching. Although she does move onto his when he does this.
2) The playing is natural and I should replace the rabbit mince / chicken with raw tuna.
3) Keep everything as it is - see if Lokis poop sorts itself out in 3-4 days.

Tomiam, your two sound totally normal. The males are just way more aggressive, about eating, playing, etc. Our male kitten goes and gets into all the big cats food if we let him. The big male has actually taken to going into the other room and waiting to be fed in there sometimes as he gets tired of this. The play sounds normal as well. They play pretty roughly, but don't bite hard. You should be able to tell if one was being hurt, as they would retreat and try to quit the play.

What I would try is eliminating each of the wet foods for a couple of days and see if it makes any difference to the girl. A cat eating a high quality (low grain) dry food should not be having soft stools, unless they have a problem with an ingredient. There are cats that do not handle fish well, for example.

You might also find that Loki has a better appetite if you vary her diet more. We have used cooked chicken breast when somebody has an upset system, but have always found that they rapidly tire of it (they might eat one or two good meals of it and then refuse it). Our cats never want the same wet foods day in and day out (though this does not seem to be an issue with dry food), and I have read that this is common for cats. (Most dogs on the other hand seem to be willing to eat the same food every day of their lives!)

I also have to wonder about the raw foods. I don't know anything about the raw foods that you guys are using in England, so maybe they are totally safe. I do know that one of our breeders quit her raw diet after a litter of kittens got diarrhea from salmonella in the raw meat. Every test I ever see of the US meat supply finds relatively high incidence of various bacteria, and most of these cause diarrhea. If I had a cat that was eating raw food and got diarrhea, I would absolutely try eliminating the raw food first--not be feeding more. Of course if they have caught something, it may not just clear up on its own.

Finally, I will put in another plug for products like FortiFlora. Read the reviews on Amazon! Our girl with a sensitive digestive system has only rarely had firm stools in the three years we have had her. Had a few doses of FortiFlora after getting diarrhea, and she has not been soft since! Really just amazing. I note on the FortiFlora webpage that it specifically lists soft stools in kittens as one of its suggested applications.

It could actually be the tuna causing it - I think too much isn't good for cats. Also, how long are you leaving the raw down for? If they don't eat it then it shouldn't be left down for more than an hour or so.

You may also find that feeding a mixture of raw and biscuits and pouches can also cause issues because they digest at different rates.

I would take away biscuits if you can and concentrate on the raw food and wet pouches...if they both like the pouches then mix some raw in with it and then gradually reduce the pouch amount.

Not all cats like rabbit so I would try the pork variety which 99% of them will go mad for and also the lamb.

If all else fails, I would get her checked out at the vet just to be safe as they may be able to give you some pro-kolin or canakur, which normally helps with sore tummies.

Have they been wormed recently? This can also cause diarrhoea in cats.