Well, maybe she was a little constipated? And like last time, it's taking her a few days to stop the tail between her legs behavior once she felt better? :dk: :cross: 
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Am I feeding enough
- Thread starter catnamedpanda
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I hope that is all it is.
I have a Burmese and a Heinz 57 Tortie, both at 9-10 lbs. The Burmese is 1 yr, the Tortie 3 yrs, and they get fed 3 times a day 2 oz each feeding. The Burmese, still feral but getting more acclimated, gets raw that I make. The Tortie will eat anything if you let her - she gets wet food, the junky stuff like Friskies and Fancy Feast, because that's what she was raised on before I got her. Slowly trying to transition her to better food. The Burmese is the perfect weight (raw eater) and looks great. The Tortie, who gets the same amount of food, needs to go on a diet. When she sits down she looks like a Budda. So I am slowly decreasing her portions as I try to change her diet at the same time. Since they chance each other all over the house all day (not exactly friends yet) they burn off the 6 oz of food, but the Tortie, as active as she is, can't seem to lose weight do to to many carbs.
LeiAnn
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I am new to this site but a life-long cat owner. I read your posts about Penelope, and I'm responding a week after the fact, but I know exactly what you're talking about. Let me apologize for the long response if the problem has already cleared up. If not, then please read on. I have had cats that periodically had dry, hard stool. Obviously it's not constipation, or Penelope would not be going poop at all. Dry and hard usually means that she is not getting enough water. Does Penelope drink water? Some cats don't, and it's difficult when you have multiple cats to keep track of how much each of them is actually drinking. Try your best to determine how much Penelope is drinking.
Good ways to get your cat to drink more water are: mixing one or two teaspoons of water into food you know they will eat; giving them the water from a can of tuna (tuna in water, not oil); milk formula for cats (if you do this, either get the powder formula for kittens, or if buying liquid milk you should check the ingredients to make sure there isn't a bunch of crazy stuff added); a 1/2 teaspoon of evaporated milk (you seem very health conscious about your cats, so I probably don't need to tell you to go easy with this stuff); buying a drinking fountain for cats (some like the fact that it's purified and it's moving); trying still water if you already have a drinking fountain; moving the water bowl/fountain to a separate room from the eating area (it goes against instinct to have them near each other, since food can foul the water); and lastly, you can try getting her to drink directly from a faucet, or trying to entice her with water droplets in your tub after you shower. I may as well confess that sometimes, in an effort to get my cats to drink more water, I've let them lick droplets off my calves after I shower.
I think it was LDG that suggested pumpkin on this thread. That was a really good suggestion for problems with stool hardness and softness both. Pumpkin is high in fiber, and fiber is great for helping people and pets poop regularly, and it has the added benefit of sucking up excess water. If you feed your cat a lot of pumpkin, their stool will look kind of orange. It's not abnormal to see that.
With my own cats, probably the first thing I do when I see hard, dry stool is give them milk. I have cat formula (KMR 2nd Step for my kitten and Pet-Ag Cat Slim for my adult cats- I also used to use Pet-Ag Cat Sure for my seniors when they wouldn't eat since it's dense in calories). If I am out of the cat formula, which I typically only use as a treat, I will get out the evaporated milk, or even my own organic milk if nothing else is available. The introduction of more liquid in the diet will often times cause soft or runny stool, but once your cat gets it out of her system, her poop will return to normal.
If none of the above works, my advice is to go to your vet and ask specifically for treatment for hard stool. One of my senior kitties had kidney and liver issues, and as a result he had chronic constipation and issues with hard stool. I was given an oral laxative for him that is administered with a dropper or syringe. If you have never had to give your cats medication this way, I suggest kneeling on the floor with the cat firmly between your knees, lowering yourself so that you are very lightly sitting on them, and with one hand opening their jaws, while using the other to administer the medication. It's so much easier with help, but that's the best way to do it if you don't have a second person to help you restrain the cat.
Continued chronic dry stool is definitely a symptom, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's a symptom of something really bad. It sounds like it's a reaction to her diet rather than a reaction to illness. It's important for you to try and understand why your cat is reacting this way to her food, if it's not an issue with water consumption, and to look for answers rather than just treatment. Treatment is important so that Penelope gets relief as soon as possible, but if the issue comes back, or doesn't abate, then you need to switch back to the food that Penelope was doing well with and trying to figure out why she is having this reaction to the newer food. Always consult with your veterinarian, but they are people too, and it's sometimes difficult for them to accurately diagnose your pet when they don't see them that often. My advice is to do your own research. As you come across information that looks like it could explain Penelope's symptoms, show it to your vet. Sometimes it's stuff they already know, but other times you may find treatment options they didn't know about. You can have a lot of success doing the research for yourself. My two adult cats have an intolerance to grain, which became obvious when they were kittens, but I was told by three different vets that it wasn't possible because they were so young. They were wrong, and I was able to help my cats because I did the research myself.
P.S. - I think I saw somewhere that your 9 month old kitten is only about 4 or 5 lbs? That seems kind of small to me. Are you absolutely certain about their age? I've raised several kittens, and usually by the 6th month they are about 6 lbs. Most vets will tell you that it's normal for kittens to gain about 1 lb a month. My current kitten is a week shy of 7 months. I weighed him a few weeks ago and he was 6.8 lbs. And he is one of the skinnier ones I've raised, being kind of bony. It's a little concerning that a cat who is almost a year old is so tiny. At 9 months there is very little growing left, the majority of it happening by 6 months. An average adult cat weighs between 8-12 lbs. It's not unheard of for an adult cat to be as small as 7 lbs, but lower than that is definitely abnormal unless it's a feral cat that hasn't had the proper nutrients to reach it's full size potential. Feral cats are often times smaller than indoor cats.
Good ways to get your cat to drink more water are: mixing one or two teaspoons of water into food you know they will eat; giving them the water from a can of tuna (tuna in water, not oil); milk formula for cats (if you do this, either get the powder formula for kittens, or if buying liquid milk you should check the ingredients to make sure there isn't a bunch of crazy stuff added); a 1/2 teaspoon of evaporated milk (you seem very health conscious about your cats, so I probably don't need to tell you to go easy with this stuff); buying a drinking fountain for cats (some like the fact that it's purified and it's moving); trying still water if you already have a drinking fountain; moving the water bowl/fountain to a separate room from the eating area (it goes against instinct to have them near each other, since food can foul the water); and lastly, you can try getting her to drink directly from a faucet, or trying to entice her with water droplets in your tub after you shower. I may as well confess that sometimes, in an effort to get my cats to drink more water, I've let them lick droplets off my calves after I shower.
I think it was LDG that suggested pumpkin on this thread. That was a really good suggestion for problems with stool hardness and softness both. Pumpkin is high in fiber, and fiber is great for helping people and pets poop regularly, and it has the added benefit of sucking up excess water. If you feed your cat a lot of pumpkin, their stool will look kind of orange. It's not abnormal to see that.
With my own cats, probably the first thing I do when I see hard, dry stool is give them milk. I have cat formula (KMR 2nd Step for my kitten and Pet-Ag Cat Slim for my adult cats- I also used to use Pet-Ag Cat Sure for my seniors when they wouldn't eat since it's dense in calories). If I am out of the cat formula, which I typically only use as a treat, I will get out the evaporated milk, or even my own organic milk if nothing else is available. The introduction of more liquid in the diet will often times cause soft or runny stool, but once your cat gets it out of her system, her poop will return to normal.
If none of the above works, my advice is to go to your vet and ask specifically for treatment for hard stool. One of my senior kitties had kidney and liver issues, and as a result he had chronic constipation and issues with hard stool. I was given an oral laxative for him that is administered with a dropper or syringe. If you have never had to give your cats medication this way, I suggest kneeling on the floor with the cat firmly between your knees, lowering yourself so that you are very lightly sitting on them, and with one hand opening their jaws, while using the other to administer the medication. It's so much easier with help, but that's the best way to do it if you don't have a second person to help you restrain the cat.
Continued chronic dry stool is definitely a symptom, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's a symptom of something really bad. It sounds like it's a reaction to her diet rather than a reaction to illness. It's important for you to try and understand why your cat is reacting this way to her food, if it's not an issue with water consumption, and to look for answers rather than just treatment. Treatment is important so that Penelope gets relief as soon as possible, but if the issue comes back, or doesn't abate, then you need to switch back to the food that Penelope was doing well with and trying to figure out why she is having this reaction to the newer food. Always consult with your veterinarian, but they are people too, and it's sometimes difficult for them to accurately diagnose your pet when they don't see them that often. My advice is to do your own research. As you come across information that looks like it could explain Penelope's symptoms, show it to your vet. Sometimes it's stuff they already know, but other times you may find treatment options they didn't know about. You can have a lot of success doing the research for yourself. My two adult cats have an intolerance to grain, which became obvious when they were kittens, but I was told by three different vets that it wasn't possible because they were so young. They were wrong, and I was able to help my cats because I did the research myself.
P.S. - I think I saw somewhere that your 9 month old kitten is only about 4 or 5 lbs? That seems kind of small to me. Are you absolutely certain about their age? I've raised several kittens, and usually by the 6th month they are about 6 lbs. Most vets will tell you that it's normal for kittens to gain about 1 lb a month. My current kitten is a week shy of 7 months. I weighed him a few weeks ago and he was 6.8 lbs. And he is one of the skinnier ones I've raised, being kind of bony. It's a little concerning that a cat who is almost a year old is so tiny. At 9 months there is very little growing left, the majority of it happening by 6 months. An average adult cat weighs between 8-12 lbs. It's not unheard of for an adult cat to be as small as 7 lbs, but lower than that is definitely abnormal unless it's a feral cat that hasn't had the proper nutrients to reach it's full size potential. Feral cats are often times smaller than indoor cats.
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Penelopes poop seems normal still. I have not been giving her NV except for a small amount. She gets it with other brands. I have been giving her natures logic and primal as well. While the tail thing continues to confuse me. She will have a happy perky tail but latter in the day I will notice it is curled under her again.
@ nicolle55- yes, my girls are small. I am positive on their age because I have had them since they were only a few weeks old. They came from a malnourished mom and then they became very sick. Delilah the smaller of the two, came very close to dying. It was a long battle to get them back to health.
Here are a few links if you want to read their whole story. This one is about the whole litter. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/243831/kittens-not-growing and this one is about Delilahs battle in particular http://www.thecatsite.com/t/244457/kitten-with-sores-where-swelling-is-going-down-pictures-included
@ nicolle55- yes, my girls are small. I am positive on their age because I have had them since they were only a few weeks old. They came from a malnourished mom and then they became very sick. Delilah the smaller of the two, came very close to dying. It was a long battle to get them back to health.
Here are a few links if you want to read their whole story. This one is about the whole litter. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/243831/kittens-not-growing and this one is about Delilahs battle in particular http://www.thecatsite.com/t/244457/kitten-with-sores-where-swelling-is-going-down-pictures-included
Last edited:
:heart2: Is that better than before? Did she hold it under all the time for a while?
I wonder what's going on with the little baby girl..... :rub:
I wonder what's going on with the little baby girl..... :rub:- Thread Starter Thread Starter
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That is better than before. Before it was constantly under her, or occasionally it would just be down but curled against the back of her legs, no mater what she was doing, even playing. I can't seem to notice anything that is triggering her to tuck her tail. It just seems completely random.
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I should add that she seems much happier than she was when this started. She was not playing or snuggling before. She is back to her normal self other than the confusing tail. She does seem less happy when her tail is tucked though.
:heart2: Well, it seems whatever the problem is, it's getting better....
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Well it took a little longer but Penelope has had a happy tail all day yesterday and all day today. Not sure what was bothering her but she seems better. I tried to get a good picture of her, but she was too busy being silly and running around.
YAY!!!!!!!!!!! 
Aw, that's great! 
Aw, that's great! 
