High Fiber Cat Food

[Gizmobius]

A bit of background: I first got Gizmo when he was 10 weeks old from a shelter. He's always had soft loose stool that would be mucus-y for 4-5 days and then firm back up to being about 80% normal. With my vet's recommendation we treated it as a food allergy and he went on Hill's I/D food but that didn't make a difference. He eats a wet food diet with some freeze dried raw, no dry, and mostly stuck with the same brands his entire kittenhood into adult life (he is now a year old.) He currently eats Primal pork, rabbit, and duck, Weruva chicken and beef, Against the Grain chicken and pumpkin, Against the Grain chicken and cheese, Halo guinea hen, Nutro turkey chunky loaf, and Under the Sun turkey and turkey liver. He also has Hound & Gatos lamb (which he doesn't like), and Hound and Gatos trout and duck liver (which he only gets on weekends.) He has been on probiotics, pumpkin, slippery elm, and s. boulardii with no results.

Just today he got his results back from my sending out a stool sample for the PCR diarrhea panel and it came back completely negative. My vet suggested we try a high fiber diet as our first option before going to option #2 which is a steroid, but she hasn't gone into detail over which steroid as she wants us to try the high fiber diet first. Her suggestion was Royal Canin. I'm a little iffy on that brand just because of the carrageenan, guar gum, and rice flour.

If you've read this far, thank you! Long story short, do any of you have suggestions for a good quality high fiber wet food?

 

[Neo_23]

My kitten also had soft stool issues and RC gave him constipation. It wasn't until I put him on a wet food with no gums, carageenan, potatoes, or peas that his poops have been normal. Have you tried limiting the brands of foods you feed to a couple of brands with good ingredients to see if it helps? Or what about a homemade diet?

 

[Gizmobius]

My kitten also had soft stool issues and RC gave him constipation. It wasn't until I put him on a wet food with no gums, carageenan, potatoes, or peas that his poops have been normal. Have you tried limiting the brands of foods you feed to a couple of brands with good ingredients to see if it helps? Or what about a homemade diet?

None of his wet food has ever had potatoes, peas or carrageenan but honestly, I've thought about getting EZ Complete or Alnutrin and doing my own homecooked diet. I've wondered if he's got a sensitivity to the gums in foods, actually. I'm just in the stages now where I'm trying to figure out where to even begin! I was actually really banking on him having giardia or something so I could treat it with a medication but now that's not the case! Obviously wet food is more convenient but if I have to do the homecooked or straight up freeze-dried raw diet, I'll do it.

 

[Neo_23]

I was thinking it might be gums too. Have you tried any gum free cans like Instinct or Rawz? I think Hound and Gatos is gum free too right?

 

[Gizmobius]

I was thinking it might be gums too. Have you tried any gum free cans like Instinct or Rawz? I think Hound and Gatos is gum free too right?

Hound and Gatos is gum free, but it does have agar-agar. Unfortunately he's not a big fan of the lamb and I don't intend to feed the trout anymore than once a week. He was on Ziwipeak, which at the time was also only agar-agar, for 12 entire cans but that was back when he was about 4-5 months old so that only lasted two seconds. Couldn't really tell if it helped. I'm in a small-ish town and can't find Rawz anyway near me, though if I travel an hour away I could probably find it.

I really think I might try the homecooked diet before I really look into high fiber options, and I don't really want to go the steroid route unless absolutely necessary, but I was just curious if anybody had a similar situation and had any kind of options that worked for them. I appreciate your responses! This boy was a free adoption cat but boy, has he cost me an arm and a leg!

 

[Neo_23]

I agree, maybe the home-cooked would be the best option. If you have a holistic or integrative vet close to you it might be worth consulting with them on the diet as well to get a different perspective and some tips on home-cooked meals.

 

[Sallysoo]

My kitty previously was on hills id perscriptn due to soft stool as the vet did mention he has sensitive GI and wanted me to continue with that even after my kitty stool getting formed. However, due to hill id very pricy and not a preferred choice in terms of quality, I stopped buying the food.
To cut story short, after great readup on feline nutritions, my kitty is now fully on raw boneless meat (human grade) with ez complete premix. Primal freeze dried nuggets as treats. He is doing great! Nice stool, no smell and once in two days.
Costs is also lower as compared to premium canned food.

 

[Vega's Dad]

Not my cat but I heard one was given Greek yogurt to treat soft stool. Establishing a healthy group of bacteria might help.

 

[Gizmobius]

My kitty previously was on hills id perscriptn due to soft stool as the vet did mention he has sensitive GI and wanted me to continue with that even after my kitty stool getting formed. However, due to hill id very pricy and not a preferred choice in terms of quality, I stopped buying the food.
To cut story short, after great readup on feline nutritions, my kitty is now fully on raw boneless meat (human grade) with ez complete premix. Primal freeze dried nuggets as treats. He is doing great! Nice stool, no smell and once in two days.
Costs is also lower as compared to premium canned food.

I think I will go this route in the long run because I've heard so many people say it's helped their kitties with digestive issues or tummy troubles. I have two sources of getting meat in my town (the same places I get mine) so I will look into adding that into his diet with either EZ Complete or Alnutrin along with his Primal!

Not my cat but I heard one was given Greek yogurt to treat soft stool. Establishing a healthy group of bacteria might help.

Thank you for the suggestion! I have tried plain greek yogurt before, and I'm currently giving plain canned pumpkin another go.

 

[Alypashong01]

My Francis had tummy troubles at times I found that a teaspoon of plain organic pumpkin purée has done wonders it's very high in fiber and other vitamins and has really helped harden his stool and settle his tummy. Also you may want to look into a grain free if its chronic