# Kitten's Stool Not Solid?



## athomas

My kitten is just under three months. It dawned on me recently that when cleaning the liter box, I'm not cleaning out the normal stuff, it looks more like a cow patty for lack of a better term. Are kittens like humans in that regard, to where it's not that solid until they're older?

Gross question, I know...sorry but I'm concerned.


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## RowdyAndMalley

If you have recently change your kitties diet there digestive system may be going a little crazy. Make sure they are drinking lots of water because kitties dehydrate easily. You may want to try adding some http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Fruitables-Pumpkin-Digestive-Supplement/420001.aspx. This worked wonders when our little ones systems went a little haywire. If the diarrhea continues, you will want to have a vet check her out. It could be a number of different parasites, and you will want to take care of those sooner than later.


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## athomas

Well he had his deworming done before I got him.

So it should be solid? I know infant humans aren't solid. I was wondering if cats were the same way.


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## Kobster

No, thats not normal. Kittens stool should be firm and formed. Deworming is an ongoing process, you can't just deworm once and be done with it. Also, there are parasites that can cause diarrhea that aren't taken care of by traditional dewormers, like giardia and coccidia, both common in kittens. A trip to the vet is in order.


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## Mitts & Tess

Take a fresh poop sample with you when you take your kitten to your vet. Put it in a zip lock bag and refridgerate it till you leave for your appointment. Most vet offices have snap tests and can look at it under their microscopes to tell you if certain parasites are present.

dont let this go on too long. it can seriously affect the health of a kitten. If the kitten was rescued from outside it is highly likely its a parasite not its diet.


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## athomas

Well the cat has had three vet visits, four shots and been on three different medications and he still has diarrhea. He was "loaded" with roundworms. But again, it's still not solid. These vet visits are getting REALLY expensive, and I am totally out of ideas. He has TONS of energy and doesn't seem to be in pain or anything which is weird... I need help!


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## Olivers-Slave

what are you feeding him? I dunno about your cat but when I give my cats all 100% wet food they get diarrhea from it. Maybe you can mix a lil dry food if that is the case see if that helps solidify the poo. Also for my current kitty a side effect of her meds is diarrhea so if its gotten some recent meds maybe thats it  dunno just throwing out ideas


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## athomas

That Friskies seafood stuff, and Friskies wet food. I tried this high fiber stuff from the vet, and that didn't help either.


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## Olivers-Slave

ouch, wish I could help out more. My vet visits in brazil for this cat I'm taking care of are about 2 a week (now down to 1 a week) but the vet doesn't charge me for the visits, only the meds. sooooo maybe you can discuss something with your vet? I didn't suggest this to my vet but after he heard about how I got nanna suddenly my vet bill was super low lol. all depends on the vet I guess


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## athomas

Well she's starting to not be as helpful as I thought she'd be. She just keeps giving me more medicine that isn't helping, and all I'm doing is throwing away money.


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## Olivers-Slave

maybe you can take her to another vet for a second opinion?


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## athomas

Yeah, that's what I think I'm going to do. The only other ones I know of around me are "animal hospitals." I would think that a vet that only does cats would be better, guess not.


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## Olivers-Slave

yeah I can understand your frustrations. I am on week 4 of trying to get my cat healthy *hangs head* so good luck with yours!


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## athomas

Yeah this one has been sick since I got him. Had the diarrhea from the get go, along with a cold. Cold is gone which is good...but something is still wrong.


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## RowdyAndMalley

Friskies, unfortunately, is a recipe for disaster. It gave our kittens constant diarrhea. If you can get them off Friskies right away. If you are looking for reasonably priced food, and there is a Trader Joes near you, they have very very reasonably priced wet food and dry food that is pretty high in quality. Our kittens were very picky but they love this stuff. Malley had really bad diarrhea when we brought her home from the shelter, and we took her to the shelter vet 3 or 4 times in the first month, and they treated her with a plethera of things and could find nothing wrong with her. She was like your little one, plenty of energy and doesnt seem sick. Also try NaturVet this has completely eliminated any diarrhea our cats have and has also helped with the smell.


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## athomas

RowdyAndMalley said:


> Friskies, unfortunately, is a recipe for disaster. It gave our kittens constant diarrhea. If you can get them off Friskies right away. If you are looking for reasonably priced food, and there is a Trader Joes near you, they have very very reasonably priced wet food and dry food that is pretty high in quality. Our kittens were very picky but they love this stuff. Malley had really bad diarrhea when we brought her home from the shelter, and we took her to the shelter vet 3 or 4 times in the first month, and they treated her with a plethera of things and could find nothing wrong with her. She was like your little one, plenty of energy and doesnt seem sick. Also try NaturVet this has completely eliminated any diarrhea our cats have and has also helped with the smell.


Yeah we have a TJ's about 3-4 miles away. I get their tuna wet food a lot, my cat LOVES it. Where do I get NaturVet at?


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## RowdyAndMalley

athomas said:


> Yeah we have a TJ's about 3-4 miles away. I get their tuna wet food a lot, my cat LOVES it. Where do I get NaturVet at?


I would recommend getting the TJ Chicken and Turkey Dinner and Turkey and Giblets dinner, here in SoCal they are 59 cents a can, which is great for the quality. As for the NaturVet, you can get it on 1800PetMeds, Petco.com Petsmart.com and on Amazon. Our cats get 1/8 of a tsp with every meal and it works wonders.


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## catloverami

Any food changes should be done very gradually, a little at a time, over the course of 4-5 days. This will help avoid digestive upsets. 

It could be the brand of food, with something like soy or wheat gluten that could be causing the diarrhea. Try her on some high protein food that has "no grains". It may cost a bit more money, but you will save $$ in the long run, as you actually have to feed less of it, tho don't restrict food with a growing kitten 

_Wellness_ and _Nature's Variety Instinct_ canned are good ones, or some dry kibble such as _Evo--The Ancestral Diet_, _Nature's Variety_ or _B.G. (Before Grains)._


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## Ducman69

For weeks and weeks I could not figure out what was wrong with Buttercup. She was very lively, putting on weight, and not dehydrated, but her stools were always soft patties.

Not a MAJOR health concern apparently, but an issue nonetheless.

Tried giving a bit of active culture pure yogurt (no additives) and added organic pumpkin to her food. No effect. Tried different wet foods, with gradual changes and again no effect, always giving a week. 

Vet says nothing is wrong, but says I may be feeding too much wet food which is low fiber. Seems odd to me, and again Wesley is making great poops.

FINALLY, I change the only consistent thing I had been doing.

We finished the bag of Blue Buffalo Chicken Kitten dry food, and so I transition her back to what I had left of the cheapo Purina Kitten dry that she was originally on.

VOILA!!! 








**** you! *shakes fist*

Something in the Blue Buffalo (supposedly quality stuff) did not agree with her. Edit: really? the "d" word is censored? lol. testing "gosh" "golly" "sufferin suckitash" "poop".


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## athomas

Ducman69 said:


> For weeks and weeks I could not figure out what was wrong with Buttercup. She was very lively, putting on weight, and not dehydrated, but her stools were always soft patties.
> 
> Not a MAJOR health concern apparently, but an issue nonetheless.
> 
> Tried giving a bit of active culture pure yogurt (no additives) and added organic pumpkin to her food. No effect. Tried different wet foods, with gradual changes and again no effect, always giving a week.
> 
> Vet says nothing is wrong, but says I may be feeding too much wet food which is low fiber. Seems odd to me, and again Wesley is making great poops.
> 
> FINALLY, I change the only consistent thing I had been doing.
> 
> We finished the bag of Blue Buffalo Chicken Kitten dry food, and so I transition her back to what I had left of the cheapo Purina Kitten dry that she was originally on.
> 
> VOILA!!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> **** you! *shakes fist*
> 
> Something in the Blue Buffalo (supposedly quality stuff) did not agree with her. Edit: really? the "d" word is censored? lol. testing "gosh" "golly" "sufferin suckitash" "poop".


Never seen that food around. But this is really getting ridiculous. I had to totally disinfect the bathroom this morning because he walked in his box after not covering it up. The sink and toilet were 100% brown. Took a good 20 minutes to get it clean. Argh!!!

Should I even bother calling this vet back? She hasn't done a thing for him yet aside from cure his cold...


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## vapid

Kobster said:


> No, thats not normal. Kittens stool should be firm and formed. Deworming is an ongoing process, you can't just deworm once and be done with it. Also, there are parasites that can cause diarrhea that aren't taken care of by traditional dewormers, like giardia and coccidia, both common in kittens. A trip to the vet is in order.


My kitten just turned three months old started having soft stool. It wasn't quite diarrhea yet, but it was getting soft.

Having lost a 3 month old kitten to collicia (sp) virus, I didn't take any chances. It turned out was coccidia. H has to take a weeks worth of medicine and I have to clean out each litter box twice a day. Not that big of a deal in the end of things compared to losing a kitten.

Kittens get dehyrdated quickly and can't basically turn for the worst in less than 3 days. I watched my kitten do this only to follow it by 5 days in the animal hospital (and his death).

Get that kitten to the vet ASAP


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## athomas

Well he had meds for the parasite you just mentioned, looked like earwax. Didn't help at all.


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## athomas

Bumping this.

I read on catinfo.org that dry food isn't good, and cats should have wet food twice a day. Also read that if cats have the issues that mine is having, take their food away for 12-24 hours, leaving only water, and then give them some kind of chicken/rice mix and slowly mix cat food back into it. Anyone hear of any of what I just mentioned?


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## Muzby

I would switch from the Friskies to ANY better brand canned ONLY diet. Also, NO MORE FISH FLAVOURS. No matter how much they like it. Fish causes the runs in cats because a LARGE number of cats are fish intolerant. 

DO you have a PetSmart near you? Try the canned food called "Sophisicat" it's mostly grain free, and CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!! Only .89$ for 13oz.


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## athomas

Muzby said:


> I would switch from the Friskies to ANY better brand canned ONLY diet. Also, NO MORE FISH FLAVOURS. No matter how much they like it. Fish causes the runs in cats because a LARGE number of cats are fish intolerant.
> 
> DO you have a PetSmart near you? Try the canned food called "Sophisicat" it's mostly grain free, and CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!! Only .89$ for 13oz.


Yeah Petsmart is real close. I'll check that out. That is wet food right?

I should not be giving them dry food as that website said?


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## athomas

Talked to the vet, she said to try "Iams Kitten Dry," and gave me a $4 dollar off coupon. She also said to stay away from wet food for now. Do you guys agree with this?

She also mentioned a possibility of having another parasite, can't remember the name (has the word fetus in it) but she said cats kind of just grow out of it.


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## Muzby

No, I don't agree with your vet AT ALL.

Vets are NOT trained in feline nutrition beyond a few days. They are PAID by Iams/Science Diet/etc to suggest/sell those foods.

I would do ONLY canned food, and no dry at all. Just make sure that they transition slowly. SHe may not STOP the runs the very moment you switch, because there's going to be a "transition' period for her (our cats when switching from dry to wet had awful smelling poops for about 2weeks). But once the "detox" period was over, oh my! Literally almost NO smell!!! And the poops were tiny, firm and well formed. It was lovely.


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## RowdyAndMalley

I agree with Muzby completely. My best friends dad is a Vet, and he has admitted to me many times over that he was taught nothing about nutrition in vet school. Both of his boys are now at vet school in WA and he has advised them to take as many nutrition courses as they can on their own.


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## athomas

Muzby said:


> No, I don't agree with your vet AT ALL.
> 
> Vets are NOT trained in feline nutrition beyond a few days. They are PAID by Iams/Science Diet/etc to suggest/sell those foods.
> 
> I would do ONLY canned food, and no dry at all. Just make sure that they transition slowly. SHe may not STOP the runs the very moment you switch, because there's going to be a "transition' period for her (our cats when switching from dry to wet had awful smelling poops for about 2weeks). But once the "detox" period was over, oh my! Literally almost NO smell!!! And the poops were tiny, firm and well formed. It was lovely.


She is a small local vet, I don't think she's taking bribes, but I'll try both suggested routes. I assume Iams is the best on the market right now, as far as the cheaper foods?


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## athomas

Wanted to add a bit more information here, the cat has a HUGE appetite, and TONS of energy. So, I don't think he is sick...


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## Muzby

Small local vet or not, they ARE paid by those companies. My best friend is a tech, and I use that vet (have since before she worked there). She explains to me that the Science Diet reps and Iams reps come about once a month, they bring lunch, coupons, free bags of food for staff and "gifts" for the vetrinarian themselves as well as giving "talks" on how great their food is and how they can pitch it to clients. When I worked for PetSmart (3 years ago - for 3 years) the reps for ALL the food we carried did the SAME thing for us only it wasn't so frequent. 

Iams is crap, plain and simple. Especially the dry. I'd rather feed a crappy wet food like Sophisticat with little to no grain, than Iams wet (which HAS grains).

I don't think your kitten is sick. She's just having trouble using the food you're giving her! So switch to a grain free canned food (and cut the dry completely) and she may well stop having those loose stools. 

As someone who suffers IBS, I can tell you, sick or not - having the runs all the time is exhausting, dehydrating, and painful.


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## athomas

So the $200 or so I spent on all the worm treatment was a waste? She said he was "loaded" with roundworms. I'm going to be a little sore if I wasted $200 for nothing. Not a lot of money to me, but it's the principal of the thing... He's still "sick" and I dumped money and let him sit on his issue for a while...

I have Friskies wet food right now, that 36 pack variety mix (seafood). Is that alright?


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## catloverami

I sympathize with trying to get answers to your cat's condition. Have you had a second opinion with another vet? It doesn't sound like you're getting anywhere with your present one. If I were you I'd contact another vet and tell them you want a stool sample analyzed, and take them in a fresh sample. The usual culprits with cow-patty diarrhea is _coccidia, giardia_, or _sensitivity to grains_. If you have kitty on a good quality "no grains" (no rice, soy, corn, wheat) canned food, she should not be having the problems you describe. Did your vet test the poop for giardia or coccidia? You mention something about meds for "ear wax" ... well that sounds like he may have given meds for ear _mites_. 

The good thing is that kitten still is playing and has energy. It should be_ continually gaining weight_ as well. Is that the case or has it's growth stalled? I certainly hope you'll soon be able to get kitty's problem solved.


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## athomas

catloverami said:


> I sympathize with trying to get answers to your cat's condition. Have you had a second opinion with another vet? It doesn't sound like you're getting anywhere with your present one. If I were you I'd contact another vet and tell them you want a stool sample analyzed, and take them in a fresh sample. The usual culprits with cow-patty diarrhea is _coccidia, giardia_, or _sensitivity to grains_. If you have kitty on a good quality "no grains" (no rice, soy, corn, wheat) canned food, she should not be having the problems you describe. Did your vet test the poop for giardia or coccidia? You mention something about meds for "ear wax" ... well that sounds like he may have given meds for ear _mites_.
> 
> The good thing is that kitten still is playing and has energy. It should be_ continually gaining weight_ as well. Is that the case or has it's growth stalled? I certainly hope you'll soon be able to get kitty's problem solved.


He's growing normally. I'd estimate 6lbs by now. Last visit two weeks or so ago he was 5lb 11oz. She said he looks healthy.

He did have ear mites, those are long gone.


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## athomas

Just talked to a guy here at work that volunteers at the SPCA part time. The second that I mentioned the kitten was gassy, he said to get a high protein food. Friskies is apparently really grainy, and that messes with most cats.

Interesting. So, what foods are high in protein that I can get a PetCo/PetSmart?


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## Muzby

*sigh* If you read back, you will see suggestions to help your kitten.

I appreciate that you don't know us, and the SPCA guy may seem more credible.. but give us some credit, eh? 

If you want to go "whole hog" to so speak, try ZiwiPeak canned, EVO canned, Wellness Core canned, Merrick Before Grain canned, Trippett canned, Natures Variety canned.

If you want to go 'better than Friskies/Iams but still cheap' try Trader Joes canned food (.59cents per 5oz I think) or at Petsmart they have Sophisticat for .89cents for 13oz. NO FISH FLAVOURS!


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## Muzby

Ohm and... on the wasting $200 at the vet.

No, it wasn't a waste. If he WAS loaded with roundworms then ofcourse it was worth it!! Maybe the kitten is just ALSO allergic to the food. It happens ALL the time.


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## athomas

I'll try that next. I just got him Royal Canin dry and wet food, seems to be high protein. Fasted him for 24 hours, just fed him this morning. We'll see how it goes...


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## athomas

Looks like switching to Royal Canin helped! It's coming out solid now. Friskies = garbage food!!!


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## athomas

Gave him some wet food, and the diarrhea came back. Looks like he can't have wet food. Anyone ever hear of a cat not being able to have wet food?


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## Muzby

Wet food can cause the runs because of "detoxing" or if the cat is allergic to something in the particular food. When we switched from dry to canned, our cats had about 4ish weeks of the WORST smelling runs.  After that, it leveled out and they were fine, only got the runs if we gave them too much dry.

So it may be the particular canned food you fed him, but it's not that he "can't have wet food".


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## athomas

Muzby said:


> Wet food can cause the runs because of "detoxing" or if the cat is allergic to something in the particular food. When we switched from dry to canned, our cats had about 4ish weeks of the WORST smelling runs.  After that, it leveled out and they were fine, only got the runs if we gave them too much dry.
> 
> So it may be the particular canned food you fed him, but it's not that he "can't have wet food".


Weird, well I've tried at least three brands. Trader Joe's, Friskies, Iams...all gave him the issue.....


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## NinjaCat

I'm going to reiterate what others have said. 

Most vets don't have a clue when it comes to nutrition!!! Please take what they say with a grain of salt until you do further searching.

When you first start a cat on wet food, they are, more likely than not, going to have diarrhea for as long as up to a month. They just aren't used to it. Give them time to adjust. A lot of cats are also intolerant to fish. That can cause diarrhea as well. Dry food is bad. No question about it. I firmly believe that the majority of the health problems seen in today's dogs and cats is because of diet. Kibble should _never_ have a place in their diet. _Ever_. High quality canned or wet food is miles and miles better, but still is not the best. PMR (Prey Model Raw) is. No question about it. There are lots of myths out there that just aren't true. But if you talk to _anyone_ with a brain who feeds it you won't find _anything_ negative about it. And in all actuality, where does _cooked _chicken walk around in the wild? Where does _cooked, deboned _chicken walk around in the wild? Nowhere.


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## athomas

One month? He's been squirting for over three months from wet food. If it were going to go away, it would. Tried chicken, fish, beef, none fixed it. All that fixed it was cutting wet food. Don't have a clue about nutrition? Well I guess most vets sleep during those classes in college...


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## Nan

I'm having a litlle trouble transitioning to wet too. My cats love it, but... My opinion is you have to slowly intergrate it & I think I moved too fast. My cats were on Eagle Pack at the shelter (second ingredient corn). So I moved them over to Natural Balance Ultra (still has some grain- barley & oatmeal- I thought it might make them constipated to switch straight over to grainless) and then started giving them each 1/2 of a 3-oz can of Wellness chicken. All was fine. I increased the wet to 1/3 can of the 5 oz can. And I gave them wet at dinner time 3 nights in a row; last night let them have 1/2 can, but it was the turkey. Both of them have loose stools today. So not sure if it was the turkey or too much change too fast.


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## NinjaCat

athomas said:


> One month? He's been squirting for over three months from wet food. If it were going to go away, it would. Tried chicken, fish, beef, none fixed it. All that fixed it was cutting wet food. Don't have a clue about nutrition? Well I guess most vets sleep during those classes in college...



You didn't try wet food _consistantly._ You kept taking the kitten off of it. You need to slowly integrate it and give it time.

Seriously? Have you not heard anything anyone has said? They do get nutrition classes. But they're given by representatives of companies like Iams, Purina etc. Companies that create pure junk food. If most conventional vets know so much about nutrition, then how come most of the foods they recommend are causing such a wide variety of issues? And it's not their natural diet.


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## doodlebug

The tone of this thread needs to be taken down a notch or two, it's starting to get a bit combative.


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## doodlebug

All this switching and changing cannot be helping this cat. Royal Canin is a better food than Friskies, but it's still not a good food. 

At this point I would suggest one more switch...to Natural Balance Duck & Green Pea. I don't care if you use wet or dry...the goal is to get the diarrhea under control for a couple months and then make some gradual controlled changes to see if you can figure out the real culprit. When it's time to make those changes it needs to be to high quality foods, not Iams, Science Diet, Pro Plan, Royal Canin etc. We can help with some choices when the time comes. 

If the NB food doesn't help (and you need to give it 2-3 weeks and feed absolutely nothing else...no treats or table food of any sort), then I would recommend the T. Foetus test. This parasite can become inactive on it's own over time as your vet stated, however the time can be up to 2 years. So if your cat has this parasite, I would recommend treating it.


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## NinjaCat

doodlebug said:


> All this switching and changing cannot be helping this cat. Royal Canin is a better food than Friskies, but it's still not a good food.
> 
> At this point I would suggest one more switch...to Natural Balance Duck & Green Pea. I don't care if you use wet or dry...the goal is to get the diarrhea under control for a couple months and then make some gradual controlled changes to see if you can figure out the real culprit. When it's time to make those changes it needs to be to high quality foods, not Iams, Science Diet, Pro Plan, Royal Canin etc. We can help with some choices when the time comes.
> 
> If the NB food doesn't help (and you need to give it 2-3 weeks and feed absolutely nothing else...no treats or table food of any sort), then I would recommend the T. Foetus test. This parasite can become inactive on it's own over time as your vet stated, however the time can be up to 2 years. So if your cat has this parasite, I would recommend treating it.


I have a question; are there other limited ingredient canned or dry foods besides the NB? I know that peas are a high allergen for cats.


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## doodlebug

There are other limited ingredient foods but they all have some sort of ingredient that are much more likely to be an allergen than peas (which from what I've read isn't a common allergen at all). 

For dry foods: 

California Natural has a chicken and rice...chicken is a very common allergen. And they have a herring and sweet potato, but we all know about fish.

Nature's Variety has some unique proteins but all varieties have either chicken and/or fish in them.

Before Grain has a chicken with no fish, they're other varieties have fish.

Basically of all the possibilities, peas are the least likely to be an issue.

For wet foods, the EVO 95% meat and Instinct foods are limited ingredient without fish or grains. The BG canned foods are good as well. More ingredients in something like Wellness, but the fish free ones shouldn't be an issue when trying to solve an allergy issue. 

Basically I would avoid chicken, fish and grains. I recommend NB to start since it's likely to be a significant departure from anything else a cat has been eating.


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## sephi

i have a suggestion for you, looks like you have tried a lot of things and not a lot of luck. i have been giving my cats purina Naturals Plus *Vitamins* and Minerals which comes in green bag. this product has done wonders for my cat, they love it and appetite is great and it is well balanced nutrition with no artificial flavors. i have been giving them for 3 years and i have not seen any problem except if it causes by other sickneses.
it won't hurt to try it. it is not very expensive. you can do a little more research about this product online if you like.


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