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.
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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.

Thank you both for your advice. Much appreciated.

To add a bit more info:-
Tuna - only given it to them once.
Raw - stays down for up to 4 hours. Probably too long and something I will change. Small issue being Loki does tend to eat the raw right away, unless I sprinkle biscuits on it, and so i leave it down for her to graze on. Still, an hour or two is plenty of time.
Wormed - both of them were done on the 2nd Feb.

Loki actually got very wet poops so I made a change to their diet. We've been on the dry food now for 2 whole days & the last three days we've gone from 4 meals a day to 3. I've cut out the wet and the raw. Chicken wings are given on the evening, but they are cooked (minus bones).
Unfortunately one of the kids cleaned out the litter trays so Ive no real way of knowing how much difference its made. I should imagine by tomorrow morning I will have a good idea.

Plan is to keep them both on meals at 3 times a day and slowly re-introduce the raw part of the diet whilst keeping an eye on the poops.

Irishkitty, yours any better?

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Originally Posted by Tomiam

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Irishkitty, yours any better?

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Tomiam: Now have him back on reduced tuna and cooked chicken for his 1 p.m meal. He only gets dry food for brekkie and evening meal!
This morning was the first day I noticed a big improvement in form. Nice firm shape to it today but I think I would prefer it to be a bit more solid! :)

Irishkity, How many days did it take before your kitties poop started looking better please?

Loki getting worse sadly. Poops very wet. Thankfully she is eating and drinking well and is very alert etc. Called the vet and asked for advice as the 'dry food only' obviously isnt working.

Woodside, your advice is pretty close to that advice I was given at the vets today. They said to starve loki for 12hrs, get her off the biscuits and go for a bland diet. They advised boiled chicken meat and boiled fish.

If it gets worse / continues like this then I will take her in to see the vet as well.

I have had a cat like this before so try not to worry too much. Unfortunately, when they have extended diarrhoea it can then cause colitis, an inflammation of the intestine, and this then causes diarrhoea in itself.

First of all, starve her until tomorrow morning. Ask your vet if they have the RC sensitive pouches as they are very bland but tasty enough to get your cat to eat. Do not give biscuits at all as this is probably making the problem worse.

If not then the best thing for her is raw as it takes longer to digest and isn't going to fly through her system like the normal food. You don't want her to go for more than 24 hours without eating though as this can then cause liver issues. Maybe get some tins of applaws chicken to mix with it as this is just chicken, rice and water and is nice and bland.

I would ask the vet for some prokolin or canakur too just to settle her tummy. Have you taken her to the vet at all? Sometimes they can have an infection and your vet will prescribe an antibiotic called stormagyl, which is fantastic and very quick acting too.

It might be worth getting a sample sent off, just in case as it could be a bacterial infection or it could just be nothing but always best to get these things checked out to be on the safe side.

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Originally Posted by Tomiam

Loki getting worse sadly. Poops very wet. Thankfully she is eating and drinking well and is very alert etc. Called the vet and asked for advice as the 'dry food only' obviously isnt working.

Woodside, your advice is pretty close to that advice I was given at the vets today. They said to starve loki for 12hrs, get her off the biscuits and go for a bland diet. They advised boiled chicken meat and boiled fish.

If it gets worse / continues like this then I will take her in to see the vet as well.

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Sorry to hear this, as I know from personal experience how upsetting this is with a kitten! I am still not certain whether she actually has diarrhea though, or whether it is just very soft. When they have true diarrhea, where it is liquid, you get like a pancake in clay litter (as it does not soak in like urine). If it is more of a pile, then our vet at least does not consider that to be "diarrhea." Standard vet advice we got for diarrhea is to withhold food for 12-24hrs then restart with bland low fat meat like boiled chicken. I would do this only if the cat actually has "diarrhea" though. If the stools are just very soft, I would try adjusting foods rather than fasting.

I would try to get a stool sample and take it in to vet to look for parasites and various bacteria. (You need to do that soon because withholding food should cause her to not go for a while.) It is true though that with our cats nothing was ever found, despite it being clear from the progression that they were passing something among themselves. It certainly is possible that she could have picked up a bug. Have you also thought about taking her temp to make certain she doesn't have a fever? It isn't the easiest thing to do, but if you get one of the newer 8-10sec digital thermometers it isn't that bad (with two people). The other thing our vet suggested was the FortiFlora, and it definitely put a stop to the diarrhea in the cats that ate it. I again suggest obtaining something like that.

As for raw food vs. dry...I personally would not be feeding raw food, whose bacterial content is unknown, to a cat that might be sick. I looked at the Food 4 Cats site and found no discussion at all about their food 's safety (e.g., do they do any bacterial testing??). Certainly humans in the US get diarrhea all the time from undercooked meat--besides occasionally dying. One of our breeders had a litter of kittens contract diarrhea from salmonella in raw food (they had to have a course of antibiotics). I would be really interested to know why people in the UK think their raw meat is safe.

We never picked up our dry food during our diarrhea issues because only one cat would be sick at a time. When they really felt bad they would not eat any, but as they felt better they would start taking a few pieces. We have never had any evidence of dry food contributing to soft stools. Our experience has always been exactly the opposite; the more dry they eat the stiffer their stools. Having said that, it is always possible that there is something in the particular dry food that is contributing to this problem (an ingredient Loki does not handle well). I would really wonder about this if removing wet food caused the stools to become softer--unless there is something else going on (like infection). Might be time to try a different dry food with her.

I have used food4-cats for a year now and many of my fellow breeders have used it for much longer without issue. All meat used in the preparation of this raw diet is of human grade and therefore very safe. Cats digestive systems are much stronger than ours which is why they can eat raw chicken etc without issue.

it is only in cats with a reduced immunity that I can see it being a problem, not just with a bit of diarrhoea.

I have weaned 4 litters of babies onto raw food without issue whatsoever and would be the first one to stop if I thought I was putting any of my kittens or cats at risk.

There is a huge amount of bacteria present in a bag of dry food that has been opened several days and most people wouldn't even think about that!

Just wanted to add that dry food would only cause the stools to be stiffer if the cat didn't have sufficient water intake and was therefore becoming dehydrated. A dry diet is not a natural diet for a carnivore, which the cat is. If you choose not to feed raw then you should feed the very best quality wet food that you can.

Let me try to respond in what I hope is a reasonable way to Woodside's post and then I will drop this, as we are unlikely to agree.

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Originally Posted by WoodsideMaineCoons

I have used food4-cats for a year now and many of my fellow breeders have used it for much longer without issue. All meat used in the preparation of this raw diet is of human grade and therefore very safe. Cats digestive systems are much stronger than ours which is why they can eat raw chicken etc without issue.

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Unfortunately "human grade" raw meat at least in the US is hardly what I would call safe. There are constant recalls of ground beef products, people sickened and even killed by undercooked meats, and testing shows relatively high levels of bacteria in food. E.g.: For its latest analysis, Consumer Reports had an outside lab test 382 chickens bought last spring from more than 100 supermarkets, gourmet- and natural-food stores, and mass merchandisers in 22 states. Among the findings:
• Campylobacter was in 62 percent of the chickens, salmonella was in 14 percent, and both bacteria were in 9 percent. Only 34 percent of the birds were clear of both pathogens.

Exactly what bacteria and what level of each bacteria is safe for cats? I have no idea and I do not know of a credible source for such information. I do know that cats (and dogs) cannot just eat anything without getting sick, so just saying their digestive systems are stronger than ours doesn't satisfy me (there are things we eat all the time that are fatal to them). If I could guarantee that my cats (and I) would not get sick from raw food, I would be interested in including it in their feeding. I do not find, however, that there is sufficient information for me to be able to be certain of this when human beings are sickened from raw meat in this country.

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Originally Posted by WoodsideMaineCoons

There is a huge amount of bacteria present in a bag of dry food that has been opened several days and most people wouldn't even think about that!

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There are bacteria that can make a cat sick? I would be very interested to see some proof that opened bags of dry food end up with bacteria capable of causing illness. Where does this bacteria appear from in a cooked food? People buy giant bags of cat food that sit around for months and it does not make their cats sick. Most dry foods contain ingredients that act as preservatives. The dry foods have sell-by dates like a year in the future, so they can sit for a year and be fine, but within a few days after opening they are somehow riddled with dangerous bacteria? Not very likely.

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Originally Posted by WoodsideMaineCoons

Just wanted to add that dry food would only cause the stools to be stiffer if the cat didn't have sufficient water intake and was therefore becoming dehydrated.

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That is not what we observe in our cats. They drink lots of water (each pees multiple times per day), yet the more dry they eat in a day, the firmer their stools. It is very predictable and repeatable. It is certainly related to amount of moisture in the foods, but there is a vast difference between eating dry food and having a firm stool and being "dehydrated." Our experience is consistent with everything that I have ever read about dry food vs. wet, so I find your comment very surprising. Do you have actual experience feeding dry food?

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Originally Posted by WoodsideMaineCoons

A dry diet is not a natural diet for a carnivore, which the cat is. If you choose not to feed raw then you should feed the very best quality wet food that you can.

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A dry diet is not what what cats would eat in the wild (obviously) but that alone does not make it bad. There are a host of problems with people trying to theorize about what domestic cats "evolved to eat.". I personally would not feed my cats an all dry diet, but I know many people that do, and there are certainly many thousands (millions?) of people in the US that do that. Most of these cats live nice long lives. How can that be if dry is so horrible?

The Wikipedia article on raw food mentions a number of the issues and I think makes it pretty clear how unsettled the key questions are: [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_feeding"]Raw feeding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Chien_mangeant_une_pintade.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Chien_mangeant_une_pintade.jpg/220px-Chien_mangeant_une_pintade.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/1/19/Chien_mangeant_une_pintade.jpg/220px-Chien_mangeant_une_pintade.jpg[/ame].

I am sure most people on this list are trying to do the best for their cats that they can (within the confines of their money and time budgets). Unfortunately, there is simply not the kind of research that could definitively answer questions about what the absolute best diet is for our cats. I am certainly not opposed to raw food in principle and I agree it makes some sense. On the other hand, there is incontrovertible evidence of various disease causing bacteria in our meat supply, so I am not as sanguine about the safety of raw foods as some people on this site are. I do not feel that an all dry diet is probably best for cats, but I also recognize that huge numbers of cats eat such a diet and live long lives so my opinion on dry food is largely that--my opinion.

The issue of raw vs. dry came up here because of kittens with soft stools. Certainly it is possible for bacteria in raw meat to have caused this. Denying that is absurd when you have no idea what bacteria might have been in the meat and there are absolutely bacteria that cause diarrhea in cats. It is also certainly very possible the raw food had nothing to do with it and some ingredient in one of the dry or wet foods has caused this. Some cats simply do not handle certain foods well. All potential causes need to be investigated by gradually changing the diet, but also considering medical issues (it may have nothing to do with any of the foods). I hope that Tomiam can figure it out quickly.

I seriously do not have the time to go into all the research that I have done on this so I guess we have to agree to disagree.

All I am sure of is that our guidelines with regards to food over here are clearly very different and therefore feeding raw over here has taken off in a big way.

If there was an issue then it would be addressed but I have never, ever heard of a cat on raw food having diarrhoea in fact I always recommedn a raw diet to anyone who has an issue with diarrhoea in their cat and I can honestly say it has had a 100% success rate.

Raw Fed Cats You might want to take a look at this website though so you can see just how high quality the products are that go into commercial food.

And yes I do have experience feeding dry food - I have owned cats for many, many years and never thought anything of feeding dry food at all until 2 of my Maine Coons developed diarrhoea that I couldn';t clear up. I tried every kind of food, medication, holistic product out there and nothing worked until I put them on to raw. They didn't use the litter tray for 2 days and when they did it was completely solid and I have never looked back.

Dry food is not a natural diet - cats are hunters and carnivores who would not choose to eat dry biscuits in the wild. The best diet in fact is the prey diet, whole mice, chicks etc but the raw diet I have is much more convenient as it is already produced for me with the correct levels of everything they need, including heart meat for taurine. Dry food causes dental issues and dehydration in cats and they literally cannot take in enough water to compensate for the dry biscuit - the the wild, cats are traditionally desert animals who would get 90% of water from their diets.

Well.. Its more than 24 hours since we removed all dry food and went over to a 100% raw diet. As you predicted Woodside, the lamb was received very well by both Loki and Storvenn but the pork.. Storvenn was up on the counter chewing at the packet before it was opened!! Loki was more than happy to share a plate full with her brother. Might just be me, but they both seem to have more of an appetite for raw. Too early to say for sure, but its the first time Ive ever seen Loki be the last one at the plate eating and thats happened twice in the last 24hrs.

Kids and wife are off for the weekend, which is both good and bad. The good bit being that its me and me only that will be cleaning out the litter trays.

Current status is that Ive removed one 'normally formed' poop from the tray. WhooHooo! :)
Sadly I dont know whose it was. I did ask them both but all I got was blank stares back...

I shall continue to monitor the litter trays but its looking good, sans dry food, at the moment. **cross fingers.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback and advice.

ps: Did you spot I deliberately avoided the raw vs dry food stuff? I fact I didnt even bring it up in my post ..errr.. dammit. Never mind :)

I found this link to Lisa A. Pierson Cat info site to be very informative. For some reason the forum scrambles web links. To view the site, type the link into your browser omiting the spaces.

http:// w w w . catinfo . org/

*Roy

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Originally Posted by Tomiam

Well.. Its more than 24 hours since we removed all dry food and went over to a 100% raw diet. As you predicted Woodside, the lamb was received very well by both Loki and Storvenn but the pork.. Storvenn was up on the counter chewing at the packet before it was opened!! Loki was more than happy to share a plate full with her brother. Might just be me, but they both seem to have more of an appetite for raw. Too early to say for sure, but its the first time Ive ever seen Loki be the last one at the plate eating and thats happened twice in the last 24hrs.

Kids and wife are off for the weekend, which is both good and bad. The good bit being that its me and me only that will be cleaning out the litter trays.

Current status is that Ive removed one 'normally formed' poop from the tray. WhooHooo! :)
Sadly I dont know whose it was. I did ask them both but all I got was blank stares back...

I shall continue to monitor the litter trays but its looking good, sans dry food, at the moment. **cross fingers.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback and advice.

ps: Did you spot I deliberately avoided the raw vs dry food stuff? I fact I didnt even bring it up in my post ..errr.. dammit. Never mind :)

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That sounds like very good news - hope it carries on improving for you. Nothing worse than nasty litter trays is there, especially in a semi long haired cat!

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Originally Posted by Tomiam

Irishkity, How many days did it take before your kitties poop started looking better please?

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It took about 5 days until he did a poop with better form!
I'd post a sample pic but I don't want anybody going off their food :rofl:
Are yours still the same?

Well...
Since we went onto raw only diet we have had zero wet poops. I can not confirm with 100% certainty that Loki has stopped wet poops, as I have not seen her poop, but I can confirm that since going to a raw only diet (with some boiled chicken meat too) that:-
a) I have found no wet poops in the litter tray
b) I have found two normal poops in the litter tray
c) 3/4 of a 400g pack of pork went in a few hours this morning!

Unprovable: Both cats seem.. more energetic. Might just be them growing up, but they are definately tearing around the house a lot more than before. Ive also seen some pretty impressive jumps in last few days too. :)

ps: ...and some jumps that would have been impressive if they had been successful... ;)

I know there was / is a conversation here about the pros and cons of raw vs dry vs dry vs raw vs etc.... Each to their own, world is full of folks with different ideas, would be boring if we were all the same etc etc...

BUT. For me, going to raw food from a proper supplier has worked very quickly. I have seen Loki change in a short space of time when no other influences were apparent. I have also found a subtle change in Storvenns energy levels which I didnt expect. Both S&L have better appetities / prefer the raw / eat more than they were with dry food only.
As a result I placed a decent sized order with food 4 cats this morning (where did the tuna option go?).

So in conclusion.
a) THANK YOU for everyone who gave their honest opinions. Very much appreciated.
b) I will be / have moved over to a raw diet
c) I will continue to learn about the raw diet info (thanks for the webby link)

Tomiam: checked poop this morning and it was better again :smile:

I actually have changed over to a brand of food called "Real Nature" which is made in Germany.
As far as I know it is only available in "fressnaph" branded pet store of which we have 4 recently opened in Ireland.

Real Nature

Fressnapf - Alles für Ihr Tier - Tout pour vos animaux

I have given Winston some raw food though my breeder has advised to give him cooked chicken.
I have not tried to source raw meat (especially packaged for cats) here though of course I know you can get it in the butchers :smile:

...and setting new heights of irony.

Cats cured.
Me, just caught the sickness and diahorea bug thats going around. Not sure that a raw diet would work with me though....

Must have been from those 4 shredded wheat Tomiam ! seriously hope you feel better soon :)

Thanks HarryMC :)

1:10am. Can now confirm that Loki has normal poops :)

well that's good news for the cats... bad news for dad but...

Probably my last entry into this thread but Id like to post this so that anyone reading it will know what my thoughts are five days after starting a raw only diet. Maybe it will help someone.

*** NOTE: All raw food I have fed my MCs has been from a reputable supplier which breeders & owners currently use. Food 4 Cats. ***

Appetites: Both Loki and Storvenn have definately gained bigger appetites. Yesterday we went through 400g of raw and 300g of cooked chicken fillet + some kitten milk. Loki is confidently eating about twice as much as before.

Poops: All good . They are pooping less than before. When I do see poop it is normal formed and.. here is the bonus.. it doesnt smell! No more coming home from work, opening the door and thinking "ahhhh.. think Id better clean the litter tray right now!".

Weight: A noticeable difference in Lokis weight. Even in just 5 days shes filling out and looks more solid. Storveen was growing like mad anyway so hard to tell if its any difference with him.
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Non scientific test: Wife & kids have been away for 4 out of the last 5 days. I picked them up from train station and they asked how Loki had gotten on with raw only. I said it was going well but would like them to tell me what they thought when they saw both Loki and Storvenn.
When we got to the glass front door both cats came running and my wife + kids immediately commented on how much larger Loki looked.


So if anyone wants a fair amount of Pro Plan Kitten dry food and is willing to pick it up from Bristol, then you are more than welcome to come and have it for free. :)

That's an interesting Tomiam....

I'm thinking of feeding a mix of dry and raw and dropping all tinned food. I want to keep feeding dry as that is what my cats are currently used to and I know that Gryfn is being fed that too atm.

I might end up changing in the future but.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tomiam

Probably my last entry into this thread but Id like to post this so that anyone reading it will know what my thoughts are five days after starting a raw only diet. Maybe it will help someone.

*** NOTE: All raw food I have fed my MCs has been from a reputable supplier which breeders & owners currently use. Food 4 Cats. ***

Appetites: Both Loki and Storvenn have definately gained bigger appetites. Yesterday we went through 400g of raw and 300g of cooked chicken fillet + some kitten milk. Loki is confidently eating about twice as much as before.

Poops: All good . They are pooping less than before. When I do see poop it is normal formed and.. here is the bonus.. it doesnt smell! No more coming home from work, opening the door and thinking "ahhhh.. think Id better clean the litter tray right now!".

Weight: A noticeable difference in Lokis weight. Even in just 5 days shes filling out and looks more solid. Storveen was growing like mad anyway so hard to tell if its any difference with him.
-------------
Non scientific test: Wife & kids have been away for 4 out of the last 5 days. I picked them up from train station and they asked how Loki had gotten on with raw only. I said it was going well but would like them to tell me what they thought when they saw both Loki and Storvenn.
When we got to the glass front door both cats came running and my wife + kids immediately commented on how much larger Loki looked.


So if anyone wants a fair amount of Pro Plan Kitten dry food and is willing to pick it up from Bristol, then you are more than welcome to come and have it for free. :)

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So glad you have gotten through this, although I am not surprised as I already said the same happened with us, as soon as we went raw, Lucius was absolutely fine on the poop front thank goodness as it was really stressing us out!

We didn't have much Applaws left over, but if we had we were going to try and donate it to the cats protection league...just a thought...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IrishKitty

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:

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This is happening with Simba now too. His poos were solid when we got him and now they are soft, just slightly formed and he is stepping back into it a lot.

Did this resolve it's self Dee? I feed Simba a mixture of royal canin kitten (which he was fed on with his breeder) and Applause kitten - both dry. He is also getting Felix as Good as it looks kitten wet pouches 3 x a day. I think it may be this. His breeder gave him this too but she said he didn't eat it much but now he loves it and wolfs it down. I might try giving him tuna or cooked chicken I think. Can't face the raw food but don't mind cooking it for him.

Felix kitten food is not good at all - 4% meat products and the rest is fillers and rubbish to make it up.

The kitten biscuit can also become a bit rich for them too.

I would suggest gradually changing over to an adult biscuit and changing to a better quality wet food such as almo nature or applaws. If you can cut out the biscuit altogether, that would be better as this can cause diarrhoea in cats. James Wellbeloved is quite a good dry biscuit too and this one is complete.

Sometimes it is just a case of swapping about and seeing what suits your cat best.

I would always recommend a raw diet with nothing else but I'm not going to get into that particular discussion again!