Hello. My 11 year old cat has had quite soft stools for over 2 years off and on. He has had 5 or so visits to the vet about this issue and one emergency vet visit. I cannot afford the ultrasound that the vet recently recommended. My cat loves wet food of any kind and doesn't like dry that much but will eat it. I have watched him closely for a long time and when he ate only Royal Canin Gastro dry his stools became normal again. I don't remember if the wet version caused soft stools. Another problem is that he always grooms himself alot and seems itchy. I slowly switched his food over to Natural Balance Venison and Green Pea dry to see if he's itchy and has the soft stools from a food allergy. He's been on just this food and the wet version of it for about a week now. To soon to see if his grooming habit stops from the food change. His stools are normal when he eats just the dry N. Balance but if he has more than a tsp. of this wet food, maybe less sometimes, his stools are soft. It seems he only gets soft stools with wet cat food. What ingredient could be in wet food that isn't in dry that could make him allergic/or give him soft stools? At one point, I had slowly introduced Friskies Chicken Pate wet food into his diet and he got soft stools. Same thing when he was given Ultra Performatrin Chicken Stew wet. Since he loves can cat food so much I can't give him only dry food for the rest of his life! That seems cruel! He is always meowing at me for more can cat food and I can't give it to him. Not sure what to do cause he doesn't like the taste of the dry N.B cat food that much, and he's already skinny. I would hate to have to change his food again right away. I wouldn't ever consider a raw food diet for him so please don't suggest this.
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Can Cat Food Issues
- Thread starter snowyowl1
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It could possibly be the gums in the wet food that he has a sensitivity to, which is somewhat common among cats. There are a few brands without gums that you could try and test out, but the only brand I can think of is Tiki Cat.
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He could just have a sensitivity to a certain protein like chicken or fish.
My cat has soft stools when he eats anything with chicken
My cat has soft stools when he eats anything with chicken
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Have you tried giving him a canned food that is just beef or turkey, no chicken in the ingredients?
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So good to have a possible answer to his problem. Thankyou for posting. I will take a look at the ingredient lists of the wet foods he's eaten before to see if gums are in all and check his past dry foods too for gums. I've mostly fed him Friskies wet different varieties and a dry food for much of his life without noticing him getting sick like this. I'm sure the bad smell he makes in the litter box now probably would have alerted me in the past too if it had happened frequently. I've heard that cats can develop allergies suddenly to something very familiar to them like a food ingredient or dust.
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Thanks for your reply. I have slowly switched him over to just a venision and green pea dry and wet formula for now to see if he'll improve. Right now he seems to still be sick but I don't know for sure if it's because I have also been giving him small amounts of the v. and green pea wet too or just the new type of food in general. Maybe I should stop with the wet food for a while again. If he's allergic to say chicken in the wet food that I'm feeding him then wouldn't he be allergic to the chicken in the dry food too? When I fed him just Royal Canin gastro dry only, for a 2 week period according to vet's instructions, he was back to normal again after a day or two. When I added a bit of Friskies Chicken pate wet he developed the soft stool problem again. I tried the same thing, only this time giving him only the R.C. dry for a few days and then I added a bit of another wet food he had been eating, Performatrin Ultra Chicken Stew. Again he only got soft stools after reintroducing a wet food. I think that this dry and the forementioned wet foods all have chicken and rice and all have other grains. I won't give up yet on stopping wet foods for him indefinitely cause he loves wet foods so much.
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I think destinyz12 made a good point about the gums. I'd also like to add that the Nature Balance Venison & Green Pea wet contains carrageenan, which can also act as a digestive irritant in cats. Both carrageenan and gums are used in wet, not dry, so that might explain why the dry version of Nature Balance doesn't bother him.
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Yes, if he has a sensitivity to chicken it would present itself in both wet and dru food. But like some other people have said, it could be the gums or the grains or the rice could be irritating his stomach.
Id try a grain free wet food first; fancy feasts classic pates are around the same price as friskies but are grain free.
If that doesnt work, I'd start trying to narrow down what protein may be causing it. I eventually figured out my cat has a chicken sensitivity and now he has no chicken in his diet at all. Hes doing much better
Id try a grain free wet food first; fancy feasts classic pates are around the same price as friskies but are grain free.
If that doesnt work, I'd start trying to narrow down what protein may be causing it. I eventually figured out my cat has a chicken sensitivity and now he has no chicken in his diet at all. Hes doing much better
~ I too have used Tiki Cat for a treat . It's one of the few "fancy" foods I ever tried .
Could you grind up some grain free dry food and add it to the wet food ? I notice my cats sometimes like this mix of dry with hard .
Best of luck to you !
Could you grind up some grain free dry food and add it to the wet food ? I notice my cats sometimes like this mix of dry with hard .
Best of luck to you !
Here is a thread discussing carageenan and guar gum free foods: Canned food without Carrageenan or Guar Gum?
With an older male cat you run the risk of blockages on an all dry diet, not sure that's a good idea, both my cats eat canned only grain free, carrageenan free. They are 9 years old. Their stools are not hard. They are healthy. I buy large dog size bag of purebites freeze dried chicken(chewy.com) This acts as a dry food satisfies the crunch and forms the stool. I just break it up and sprinkle a bit on top of their food.
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Thanks spadekitty. I would be a little nervous switching him over to an all wet food right now. Is there dry versions of the wet varieties? Timone has had wet and dry foods all his life and is not used to eating at set times. Eating a big meal all at once might be hard on his stomach. Then again, if it's the right food for him it might be a good option to think about. I take it that fancy feast wet has no gums or carrageenan then?
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Thanks. Good to know.
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Thankyou.
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- #19
Thanks for your reply. Currently, in wet food I'm giving him a venison and green pea formula. I've read that if a cat could be allergic to chicken that it would be best to eliminate all birds for a while.
Unfortunately Fancy feast does have Guar Gum in it. Most brands of wet food have some kind of gum in it. The only ones I am aware of that don't, are Tiki Cat, Feline Natural, and Ziwipeak, which are sold at some independent pet stores and online. They are on the expensive side too, with Tiki cat being around $1.50 per 3 oz can, and the other 2 brands around $2.00 per 3 oz can, but they all have very healthy ingredients at least.
