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- Oct 28, 2017
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Hi all, I've recently changed my cat's diet from Hill's Healthy Advantage dry and wet food to Whole Earth Farms wet only food. He's almost 6 months old.
Initially, the diet change was due not only to the fact that Hill's contains so much wheat and nasty stuff, but also, he was starting to have soft stools for about a week. So I switched over to a "grain-free" formula (I also removed the kibbles from his diet completely), and the stools didn't harden up - they stayed quite soft for about a week and then eventually went totally mush for about 5 days. So I added 1-2 Tb. of pumpkin and some ProGut powder and things finally started firming up. He's managed to have nice logs for the last 4 days, with the odd soft one every now and then.
Now, this morning, after going to the litter, I saw a string of mucus smeared on his butt with some reddish colour. The actual stool in the litterbox was quite firm though and there was no sign of mucus nor blood in it, just on his butthole.
I had a fecal test done about a month ago which was negative. The technician said they checked for Giardia, so I initially ruled that out as a possibility, but now I'm wondering whether it could've been a false negative?
I know dietary change can cause quite an upset, but can it cause blood and mucus or does this sound like more of a parasite thing? I also read that IBD can cause this, but can kittens get IBD??
My previous most amazing 13 year old cat died from complications due to an IBD - it turned into small cell lymphoma, it sucked so hard having to give her cortisone every day and watch her struggle the last year of life. I'm naturally dreading having this back in my life, so any ideas would be appreciated! I'll go to the vet, but I have a feeling they'll just end up putting him back on Hill's or Royal Canin......
Thanks in advance!
Initially, the diet change was due not only to the fact that Hill's contains so much wheat and nasty stuff, but also, he was starting to have soft stools for about a week. So I switched over to a "grain-free" formula (I also removed the kibbles from his diet completely), and the stools didn't harden up - they stayed quite soft for about a week and then eventually went totally mush for about 5 days. So I added 1-2 Tb. of pumpkin and some ProGut powder and things finally started firming up. He's managed to have nice logs for the last 4 days, with the odd soft one every now and then.
Now, this morning, after going to the litter, I saw a string of mucus smeared on his butt with some reddish colour. The actual stool in the litterbox was quite firm though and there was no sign of mucus nor blood in it, just on his butthole.
I had a fecal test done about a month ago which was negative. The technician said they checked for Giardia, so I initially ruled that out as a possibility, but now I'm wondering whether it could've been a false negative?
I know dietary change can cause quite an upset, but can it cause blood and mucus or does this sound like more of a parasite thing? I also read that IBD can cause this, but can kittens get IBD??
My previous most amazing 13 year old cat died from complications due to an IBD - it turned into small cell lymphoma, it sucked so hard having to give her cortisone every day and watch her struggle the last year of life. I'm naturally dreading having this back in my life, so any ideas would be appreciated! I'll go to the vet, but I have a feeling they'll just end up putting him back on Hill's or Royal Canin......
Thanks in advance!