Soft poop

laurel · **Posted:** Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:53 am

Hi guys

looking for some help/advice

I have two cats - Clive and Indiya

Clive came to us about 3 years and had on and off soft poops. We tested him for everything and one test in early days came with Giardia, which we treated twice.
The last test we had - full profile incl for TF - came negative , and nothing was picked up

Clive continues to have on and off soft poops - sometimes its worse ( when he has few treats) , sometimes its better - when he has more of dry Royal Canine in his ratio.

Both always were fed a combination of food -
Clive - cooked meats ( chicken, beef, liver, lamb), some wet commercial foods - Felix ( i know!) and Encore (supplem). very rarely Dry Royal Canin ( as emergency food) . approx raito for him 40% meats , 60% commercial foods.

Indiya always had a good solid poops for the past 3 years.
She is fed - raw meats and commercial ( approx 50-60% meats, 40-50% commercial) , no dry Royal Canin ( she does not like it)
only recently , she started to have consistent soft poops, (no diarhea , but soft)

They do get anti fleas every 2 months on average, and anti worming ( panacur powder) every 3 months or so.
only i have to be honest, panacur powder is a struggle for us and both of them unlikely to eat full dosage, always leave behind 20-30% untouched.
This is the only thing i can think of that might cause soft poop.
I read that anti fleas does have anti worming too.
My vets think that since they do not meet with other cats , anti fleas should cover them for anti worming too. is this correct ?
They go out to the enclosed cat garden , and eat grasses/catnips.

i am at my wits, as i thought Clive causes for soft poop is his tummy plus he eats everything and loads of it at any time of the day. very often grab or lick something of our table food.
Indiya is very good at her routine and does not grab any food that is not for her.

What do i do wrong and how do i fix it.
I want my babies to have good poops .

cranberry · **Joined:** Wed Aug 28, 2013 7:42 pm **Posts:** 641

The first thing I would do would be to stop him from taking/licking human food. The rule in my house is that I don't eat their cat biscuits and they don't get to eat human food.

I found with Babbage I had the same problem- soft to running poops and had him tested for parasites, which came back negative.

In the end it came down to food and seemingly being intolerant of something that is in a lot of food. I can't tell you what because I didn't definitively find out what it was. I tried Royal Canin, Applaws, Iams and several other brands of biscuits, and came to realise that any "treats" were making the problem worse. It didn't help that initially I was feeding him a mixture of biscuits so that he'd get used to having a bit of variety and not get hung up on eating only a certain brand.

In the end, cutting out the treats ( with the exception of Cosima duck bits ) and feeding him Orijen http://www.orijen.ca/products/cat-food/?lang=en-uk solved the problem that must have been uncomfortable for him and was certainly unpleasant for me - I frequently needed to wash him clean :sad:

If it does come down to food then it will take time for things to clear up - this makes it hard to get a food that works for Clive as you'll maybe need to feed him something and that thing alone for a week or two before you see improvement, indeed, if you swap straight from one food to another instantly things may initially get worse.

laurel · **Posted:** Mon May 11, 2015 10:53 am

Tabitha · **Joined:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:11 pm **Posts:** 1196

Hi Laurel,

I have the same issue with Hendrix, can I ask which sensitive foods you've purchased? At the moment, my two are on Lily's Kitchen and Thrive for their wet foods and I give Hendrix Royal Canin Sensible dry and he also nicks Jaggers Meowing Heads but this is grain free and seems to agree with him.

I ban him from all human food and only give him Thrive treats which seems okay, but as he goes out, I still get the odd soft poop - he's always munching grass... and the other half sometimes succumbs to those pleading eyes and treats him with ham or roast chicken...

Will be interested to hear how you go with Broadline, as at the moment I'm blaming that for hair loss around Hendrix's head (at the back) and ears although can't be certain and I cant see anything on the leaflet that this might be a side effect. Thinking about it, I also started feeding them Thrive at the same time which they both love and is high meat content so I don't really want to change it. If it hasn't grown back in another couple of weeks I'll get him checked over at the vets, but he isn't scratching or grooming any more than usual and is fine in himself!

On Broadline, do your two go outside? We changed to it as I believe ticks are plentiful this year after the mild winter. Jagger managed to get one as early as March and just the thought makes my skin crawl! But he does love lying in long grass!

laurel · **Posted:** Mon May 11, 2015 11:38 am

Tabitha · **Joined:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:11 pm **Posts:** 1196

Thanks Laurel for the food links!

Yes its sticky and looks awful for quite a while, doesn't it?! I don't think it will show up in a picture but you can feel its thin when you fuss him and he isn't silky and soft. Jagger is fine and unaffected by whatever has caused it, but Hendrix is a sensitive soul! He looks like a little punk if it gets wet, whereas before it used to roll off!

I'll try to get a pic tonight though of both of the back of their heads to try and show the difference.

We have a family of foxes in our garden at the moment and I'm always wary of that as I'm convinced they are full of parasites and ticks etc. We even had a dead fox cub on our lawn one morning which was gross.

Will look at the food - we did try Royal Canin Sensitive but they both soon went off it, fussy tykes!

Tabitha · **Joined:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:11 pm **Posts:** 1196

PS re the soft poops, he'll go along for a while fine, and then suddenly it'll be soft again - he can go a good couple of months and be fine and then he'll be soft for a couple of days - but I wouldn't put it past the OH giving him something he shouldn't when I'm not looking!!

laurel · **Posted:** Mon May 11, 2015 12:18 pm

Tabitha · **Joined:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:11 pm **Posts:** 1196

Hendrix used to be a lot worse, just like Clive. Have you tried him on Royal Canin Sensible dry food? It contains easily digestible proteins for sensitive tummies. This helps a lot with Hendrix - the days he doesn't eat much of it, there is a definite difference in poops. Also, Lily's Kitchen made a big difference, but now he barely touches that, it's mainly Jagger who still eats it, Hendrix just wants Thrive.

It's amazing how different two twins can be - Jagger generally has a tummy made of iron, there is the odd soft one, but Hendrix is the recurring issue, he was soft yesterday as it happens, so I will be monitoring him again to see what he's eating that has upset him again. I know he can't have anything with lamb or liver and he is the only one who wants human food - Jagger isn't remotely interested, so I do wonder if that's the main problem. Plus, I know there is a neighbour who feeds the foxes so that would upset him if he getting hold of any of that. Ours aren't restricted to our garden unfortunately...

laurel · **Posted:** Mon May 11, 2015 1:27 pm

Tabitha · **Joined:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:11 pm **Posts:** 1196

I've been using Broadline for the last couple of months but will be switching back to Advocate for Hendrix just in case this has caused his thinner fur.

They are both vaccinated annually. Which has reminded me that Hendrix reacted to that as well and had a big lump at the vaccination site for a couple of weeks.

laurel · **Posted:** Mon May 11, 2015 2:17 pm

Tabitha · **Joined:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:11 pm **Posts:** 1196

laurel · **Posted:** Mon May 11, 2015 2:58 pm

Tabitha · **Joined:** Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:11 pm **Posts:** 1196

God if that's true, that's awful! I am very careful - I take all their bedding into the spare room, shut the door, hoover everything, open the window, spray everything and then leave it all to dry before I put everything back for them. Certainly wouldn't spray it with them around and always in a well ventilated room.

Soft poop

Who is online