Your advise would be welcomed

We have two 7 month old male brothers both healthily eating, drinking and playing like ricocheting bullets. Max has soft poo, I don't think diarrhoea (hard to be sure as gets covered by the particles of the cat litter so readily, but as it more often resembles a blob rather than defined lumps it's not ideal). Sometimes Max has slightly better formed stools but not sure they have ever been as nicely dark brown and formed as his brother (can't believe I just said that!!!). We have noticed his brother Gus is slightly bigger, has more muscle. He snacks on dry food whereas we have never seen Max eat any dry food so Gus is not only eating more he is apparently digesting better accounting from his better growth. I wonder whether Max has always had a digestive issue, maybe at the breeders it would have been tricky for them to tell how much each consumed in a litter of 4?

We'll be providing two litter trays from today rather than sharing - hopefully it will prevent Gus treading in what Max does, but also assist us monitor Max's poo and act accordingly.

We give them exactly the same wet food as the breeder: Felix Kitten 'As good as it looks' (I'm in the UK) they currently have two pouches each, twice a day.

Reading a few other posts on this forum I have ordered some FortiFlora to introduce to his diet.

My question: I gather the probiotic can't do any harm as a initial intervention? How long should I wait before a visit to the vet? They're both fully vaccinated, wormed etc. so I have put it down to the settling-in period and stress rather than some bug or disease. As they groom each other it's almost certain Gus has licked Max's rear but his system seems entirely normal indicating nothing transmitted from one to the other. If you've read my other posts it has been Gus that was the more stressed / scared / slow to trust us, Max has always been a lot more chilled, blinks back at us when resting and accepts being touched so I'm now starting to question his digestive issue can be stress related any more? I'm not one for premature vet visits if he's okay in all other respects as far as we can tell, but naturally want to do the right thing.

Thanks

Hendrix has a very sensitive stomach - I add Protexin Synbiotic D-C to his breakfast every day - again a probiotic. I also feed him Royal Canin Sensible dry food alongside his wet food as that helps sensitive tummies as it contains easily digestible proteins and that made an instant improvement. I had to get Sure Flap microchip feeders to ensure Hendrix doesn't nick Jagger's dry food as that gives him runny stools and he will get blood in it as well. Unfortunately Jagger won't touch the Royal Canin Hendrix eats.

The wet food I feed my two is literally just protein and any vitamins, taurine they require etc. I feed them meowing heads hey good looking and thrive tins. You may find if Max is only eating wet and having this issue that there is something in it that disagrees with his tummy. Have a look at the ingredients and see what is actually in it. Jagger's dry food is also meowing heads, but it has seaweed, tomato, cranberry and stuff in it and I'm guessing there is something there that Hendrix's tummy can't tolerate even though he loves the food! You might want to look at a grain free food or something with a single protein - thrive are good for that. My two would both get the runs with lamb or liver when kittens so I learnt quickly to avoid anything like that!

Also check he doesn't eat anything he shouldn't around the house - ie plants etc. They get their noses everywhere!!!

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

Thanks for your experiences Tabitha

Not seen any blood

No plants left for him to eat (that was part of the catification process!)

Both wet and dry foods are just as they had at the breeders, but as they grow older I would like to start to gradually change away from the Felix brand towards higher protein wet only food / natural meat based food (read a lot of negative opinion on feeding any dry food under any circumstances and having lost our previous cat to kidney failure would aim at never repeating again)

See how the next week goes and then review

I will look into Thrive stuff

It's really hard to diagnose what may be going on here. My cat had a very soft stool this morning. He gets different types of wet food and this could have caused the problem. When a cat is sick or has a parasite, they will usually get diarrhea which causes them to use the litter box multiple times a day. My Raiden poops once a day, so when he's going three times a day, there is a problem.

Hopefully, this is just a one-time thing and not a nasty parasite that has appeared. Your cats are indoors, but doesn't necessarily mean something hasn't been "hiding" its nasty little head. And when you have TWO cats, you can get cross contamination.

A feline probiotic can't hurt a cat, although with a kitten, I would only do 1/2 a dosage at a time. You can try this and see if it help, but if the soft stool doesn't firm up, then you might want to take the cat and a sample to the vet to be checked out. It is ALWAYS better to be safe than sorry. As long as your cat is eating and drinking okay, I would keep an eye on this. If it doesn't firm up within three days, then I would definitely take the kitty to the vet. If the stool starts to firm back up, you are probably okay.

Miko has been having similar issues as Max I think. Miko's poops, pretty much ever since he has been with us, has been hard & solid for the first few nuggets and then the last 1/2 or 1/3 is always a bit softer (resembles more of a blob once its covered in litter). He has gotten fecal samples analyzed at the vet's when I first got him and no bugs or parasites found.

I have been changing his food around slightly, changed his dry food completely as he wasn't eating the old one, and slowly introducing a new wet food right now to get some more variety in his diet. He tends to get bored of his wet food sometimes (that or I'm giving him too much, as he rarely finishes the plate).

I've been doing my best to keep track of his poo's every day and they are always the same, and almost always once a day. He seems happy enough. Hopefully it's just the changes in food (although this was happening at the beginning too, when he was eating only the wet food from the breeder).

PS: What type of probiotics are good for relieving soft stool/promoting good overall stomach health?

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Matt

Matt, any probiotic that is made especially for felines (cats) will work. There are many on the market and they are available at your pet store or online. I use FlortiFora for Raiden simply because that is what the vet sold me initially. I guess Chewy.com doesn't ship to Canada? You can probably order it from Amazon Canada as well. My box aid "ProPlan Veterinary Diets" "FlortiFlora" and has a picture of a CAT on it. Comes in 30 individual packets. I pay just over $20, I believe, for a box. I know others on here use a different product. There are topics on here about probiotics, so you may want to check them out.

I've just posted on the raw feeding thread relating to the above

Suffice to say the change to raw (just mixed with regular food initially) has been a magic bullet!

Thoughts: My first guess would be a food allergy, especially since you said that it's sometimes better than others. What is their feeding routine line? Do they always get the same things? Is there a regular rotation of food?

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The little monsters 3

I'm going to take Raiden to the vet tomorrow as his stools have been soft since he had coccidia -- almost a year ago. They never hardened up. Sometimes they are mustard colored. At his wellness checkup, they weren't too concerned. I give him FlortiFlora daily and it hasn't helped. I know he isn't allergic to food as he has been eating the same stuff for several years. He has also been losing weight, so I am going to have them check his thyroid. I also hope to change his food to a sensitive stomach formula, however, he is super particular and will just refuse to eat.

A soft stool usually means the food is traveling through the digestive system too quickly. When my cat gets a parasite, he gets lethargic and vomits as well as has severe diarrhea. He still only poops once a day. But, I'm tired of the mush, so will see what the vet thinks. The last time he went, he saw a replacement vet (two female vets were on maternity leave) and she couldn't even hear his heart murmur. So, it's time to head back and see if the other gals are back.

Hi again,

A few months on and I can confirm that raw diet has completely fixed any 'problem' whatever it could have been. Seems one of my two brothers simply must have a more delicate digestive system?

Currently still feeding a raw and premium cat food mixture approx 70% raw, but suspect will transition to complete raw diet before long.

Their coats are shiny silky smooth and still putting on weight so everyone's happy. I just hang around and watch them move sometimes just to admire their coat / physique & they oblige with show-off wrestling and 'chase your brother' games!

Is there a connection between a longer post-breakfast sleep and raw diet - more substantial needing longer digesting?

I had the same issue with my kitten, FortiFlora totally worked for her. I took about 3 weeks giving a packet daily.