Obsessing over poo?

charlismom

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Hope this isn't too long, but a little bit of history.

Charli was fed hound & gatos as a kitten.  At 5 months I transitioned her to raw.  Long story short, there were two bouts of what was most likely bad raw. ( I was ordering from reliable source on line, frozen, but...)  So anyhow, after second time, and her having been been put on clavamox and having a bad reaction to that (serious diarrhea, vomiting, just horrible), back on canned.  My favorite hound & gatos too hard to come by, supply not meeting demand, so went over to Instinct Pride, which she LOVES. 

Here's my issue.  Since her horrible diarrhea problem with the clavamox, and sporadic loose poop in trying to find a suitable canned food for her, I find myself concerned about her poo.  Sometimes, for no apparent reason to me, she will have a somewhat loose stool.  Now this is not the watery, super smelly stuff that comes about when there is a real problem, but like today I happened to be in my home office when she came in to use that little box, and it started out normal and ended loose, but normal smelling poo.   Is this something that I should be concerned about?  She is perfectly healthy, active, 9.6 lbs, she will be a year old on Valentine's Day.  I just get overly concerned every time I see this, and I'm wondering is this normal?  She does enjoy her treats, and my husband enjoys giving them to her, so sometimes I wonder if it's too many treats or what.  I do feed her varieties of rabbit, duck, lamb, chicken, salmon, she loves all of them (all Pride). 

Am I obsessing over poo for no reason?  I would say it happens maybe once a week.  It seems to have no correlation to the "flavor" of her meals that particular day, and maybe, as I say, it could be too many treats from daddy.  The only treats she eats are Natural Balance LIT in Rabbit flavor. 

It's not horrible loose, not watery, just ploppy loose, and like today it starts out a normal poo and ends with a bit of the loose.

Thoughts?  (she's been vet checked, happy, healthy, energetic)  I don't get it, or is it normal for this to occasionally happen?
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I, personally, would NOT think it's normal to have loose stools once a week.  Perhaps it IS the treats...I noticed they have potatoes in them.  Maybe you could try Stella and Chewy''s freeze dried rabbit?  The rabbit is actually for dog's, but it's got taurine added, so it's okay for cats, especiallly since it's for treats.  I use it myself for treats, and just break it up and toss it to my guys. 

Also, do you give your little one any probiotics?  That might help too. 
 
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charlismom

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Could the potatoes do it? 

She has had probiotics in the past, but I gave them to her when I was trying to clear up that mess she had caused by the clavamox, boy that stuff was bad news for my little girl...never again, we will def go with something else.

But anyhow, I don't give her probiotics at this time.

I'm going to try those treats you mentioned.  Also, we've talked about the treats situation here, and daddy is giving her much less now, so maybe this will be helpful. 

Thank you.  I guess I'm not being overly concerned about her poo...lol
 
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lisahe

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One if our cats has trouble with potato -- vomiting and gas, though no poo problems -- so I would certainly consider the potato a prime suspect.

I do think it's worth trying to figure you what's causing the loose stools: I agree that it's not normal. Besides, it may be moderately easy to pinpoint and then eliminate an ingredient before it causes more, potentially worse, problems later on.
 
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charlismom

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You'd think those making these treats, being that that are limited ingredient, you'd think the ingredients they were limited to would be ones that would not be problematic...I never knew about potato, but  we are knocking that out to see if that's the culprit...

Thank you.
 

lisahe

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Please let us know, @CharlisMom, if it helps! There have been a few other Cat Site members who've said their cats can't eat potato. I know what you mean about limited ingredient items... high-starch and -carb ingredients like potato aren't really the best thing for those! Or, really, for any foods!

Good luck!
 

gmm80

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You may also want to try slippery elm bark mixed with some probiotics. I had a foster cat that had constant diarrhea when I first got her. The shelter doesn't really give you any options with the food they provide, so I had to try to make what they gave me work.  The Humane Society vet is actually the one who provided me with the SEB and probiotics. At the time, she was thought to be pregnant, so he didn't want to put her on any medication. The SEB is a powder you mix with water and cook into kind of a slimy syrup. It coats and soothes the intestines. I had my doubts, but it got her cleared up within a couple days. It could help get you kitty's system "straightened out."  Good luck!
 
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charlismom

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Slippery Elm Bark is exactly what I use, it's the best stuff!!

 I use it when she has a problem, and I also use it when transitioning to a new food...avoids a lot of problems, and there's no smell or taste to turn off kitty!

:)

I'm hoping potato avoidance will do it.
 
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charlismom

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@LisaHE  I have to blame the potatoes!  There have been ZERO issues since, and the only thing that I changed was that. 
 

mrsgreenjeens

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@LisaHE  I have to blame the potatoes!  There have been ZERO issues since, and the only thing that I changed was that. 
So you changed those treats that had the potatoes in them and that did the trick?  Did you go with the Stella and Chewy's rabbit that I mentioned, or something else?  Whatever, so glad there have not been any more issues
 
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charlismom

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I didn't try the Stella and Chewy's yet, but I will.  I wanted to cut back the potatoes without trying anything new, just to be sure.   She has had a FEW a day, as opposed to TOO MANY a day, and I'm sure that's what it was.

Charli is a talkative girl, and she loves talking to her daddy...she asks for treats ALL the time, and because he loves to talk to her and hear her talk back, he would give her treats, treats, too many treats.  I would give her maybe three little ones, and he would give a little handful.  So now she gets, literally, a few and that seems to be the end of the problem.  I am going to try the rabbit you suggested, I was going to add them to my next chewy.com order, but turns out they won't be having them anymore!  I wonder why. 
 

lisahe

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@LisaHE  I have to blame the potatoes!  There have been ZERO issues since, and the only thing that I changed was that. 
I'm glad to hear the problem seems to be resolved! Hurray!

Potato has gotten horribly ubiquitous in all kinds of foods. Looking on the bright side, avoiding it sure limits the possibilities and makes it easy to buy food for our cats!
 
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