HOW is this possible ? - Inconsistent stool

[Mrcclms]

Long story short.

My scottish cat Adam has always had soft stool. Tried many brands and foods with no stable results.

Tried raw turkey, gave him super hard stool but gave him vomiting

Best diet for him has been Buffalo Basics Turkey mixed with home cooked turkey.

Here the issue:

- Today he goes and it's super hard, odorless little balls of stool

- Tomorrow it's watery and smelly stool


Sometimes he even has a day of watery stool and then he doesn't go for 2 days and he goes super hard and odorless


in summary, even tho he is eating the EXACT SAME THING everyday, he is completely inconsistent


is this IBD ? Any simple and not too abrupt adjustment you could suggest ?


thanks

 

[Mr. Meow]

Doesn't sound like IBD. Is his water intake pretty consistent?
Also, I use purée pumpkin to help my kitties become regular again. Especially after medication, or a food change. You can find regular, plain purée pumpkin at the grocery store. Just give them a little bit with each meal and it should hopefully help regulate him.
Btw, Adam is a good name

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Is that Blue Buffalo Basic dry or wet? And which one EXACTLY? I can't seem to find one that is just turkey? Is it turkey and potato?
And please tell us a little bit about the "home cooked turkey". How much of that are you giving him, and are you adding any supplements to it? Organs, calcium, digestive enzymes, probiotics, anything? And when you feed him, to you give him the EXACT same amounts of everything every single day? Any treats, anything else he is taking in?

At the very least, I would give him probiotics to help with his gut flora because it sounds like it's "off".

I am, of course, presuming he's had a Vet check-up to make sure he doesn't have any type of parasite or other health issue that might be causing the issue.

 

[Mrcclms]

- WATER: ok this is weird but he NEVER drinks. Let me explain, he has his bowl with water but he never drink but he pees, a lot. I think that eating the canned wet food only ....'mixed with my homecooked turkey that I basically blend with water give him enough amount of water

- pumpkin: in the past when I was 100% home cooking yes I was adding the pumpkin. Now that I mixe the homecooked with buffalo basics which has potato and carrots in it, I stopped

- yes Buffalo is the wet canned turkey and potato. I hate that it has carrageenan but he never vomited a single time in 1.5 years eating this....and I like that it has limited ingredients

- the homecooked is simply turkey breast that I boil and blend with drinking water to make it a pate. I had Alnutrin before but given that this homecooked food I give him account only for 25% of his diet (75% is the buffalo wet food) I'm not adding the alnutrin anymore.

- Adam is very active, plays a lot, he is a hunter, he has beautiful shiny fur. I don't see him lacking any nutrient

- his stool has been tested few times and no anomalies were found

- no treats or other food. Only this 25% homecooked turkey and 75% buffalo wet food everyday. Cause he is very sensistibe to changes I had to keep his diet very limited

-oh Probiotics. Yes I have been giving him 1 cap a day of proviable probiotics. They are on amazon. Honestly when I gave them to him almost a year ago I saw a huge positive change right away. He went from soft to hard stool right away. And was like that for a year. Just in these past 2 months he is having these inconsistency again, 2-3 stools are great and then 1 diarrhea etc

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

OK, the no drinking anything when being fed only wet food is not unusual. My guys are like that too.

As to the probiotic, since it used to work and no longer does, maybe try switching to another one. Many people use Nexabiotic, which contains some S. Boulardi, which is really good for diarrhea. Maybe a change up there would help ?

I've always heard if you are feeding something that is not 100% nutritionally compete (your home cooked turkey), it shouldn't be more than 15% of their diet. I don't think that would cause the stool issues, but though I would mention it anyway.

You say he's a hunter...does he go outside? Could he be eating things outside?

That Blue Buffalo Basics has potatoes, and a couple of gums that can cause issues. Here is a thread that might be helpful, not sure: Could it be the potatoes causing loose stools?

Have you tried Koha, or Natures Variety Instinct Ltd Ingredient (although that one has peas vs potatoes), or Rawz? Those all come in Turkey and don't have potatoes or gums in them.

Just one final thought. With him going in hard little balls, then one day of diarrhea, it actually sounds like constipation issues. Sometimes with constipation, diarrhea occurs because it backs up behind the hard stool. Maybe adding the pumpkiin back in would be a good idea. It actually works both ways - for constipation AND for diarrhea.

 

[Mrcclms]

That final sentence about the pumpkin yes made me think

I'll try

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Keep us posted