Reddish with mucus-like soft cat's stool...

[blakat]

Hello. I'm concerned about my 2 cats and the way their stool look like: they're on raw food diet for about 11 months now and recently, in the last month or so, I noticed at first ( once or twice) a tiny amount of bright red blood outside the stool- knowing they're a bit constipated at times I thought that was the reason- so, I start increasing the amount of whole psyllium husk and more water on their diet; then the stools got softer and have more volume but they look half dry and half reddish with what looks to me mucus? with a foul smell. Not quite sure if that color reddish is normal because of the psyllium...maybe? or because it's blood! Cats are acting normal: playing, eating and using their litterbox (defecating) pretty much once daily. Wonder if I sould just take a fecal sample to the vet....

P.s.: we recently moved and I always thought that the stress of selling a house, a couple of hours trip in the car and move into a new house could cause some intestinal issues but not sure anymore. It has been a bit over a month now since we moved .

Does anybody noticed similar stools as I described above on their own cats?

Thanks.

 

[ldg]

The foul smell is most likely from the psyllium husk. It causes undigested food to ferment in the colon.

The problem of constipation in a raw diet is typically from too much calcium, not a lack of fiber. Calcium regulates the amount of water in the stool. So if they are constipated (which is what hard dry stool, and blood and mucous on the outside of the stool ALL indicate), the best method to correct it is not increasing fiber, but decreasing the amount of calcium.

If you are feeding a commercial raw diet, add some plain meat to it to reduce the amount of bone they're eating per volume of meat. :nod:

 

[blakat]

Thanks for the suggestion, I will definnately try to do that. I took a stool sample today to a vet and it tested negative for parassites but a bit of blood and mucus was found along with lots of hair (from grooming probably- I do brush them everyday but they might be shedding more than usual lately!). I'm going to make a new batch of raw meat ( usually chicken tighs+cornish han or turkey..) in a day or so and I'll try add more muscle meat. I could never fully understand the recepie on "cat nutrition"- i.e.: it says to get 4.4 lb. of raw meat WITH bones and remove 20-25% of bones...but, by the time you remove those bones you'll end up with way less than 4.4 pounds of product (meat+bones). So I guess I'll buy an extra couple of pounds so I can make up to the original amount and the bone ratio will be automatically reduce...right?!
I've been feeding my cats this recepie for almost 1 year now but just in the last month and so they're having some issueswith their stool. The vet suggested to use Laxatone 3-4 times at week because of the amount of hair found on the stool but not quite sure if the little blood she found among with mucus is caused by colites due to stress or what...I might get them test for salmonella if the situation doesn't improve.
Thanx again for your and other people's help, I really appreciate it!
P.s.: always love the cat pic on your logo, that face is way too cute

 

[ldg]

Actually, it's quite normal for cats to pass the hair they groom. In fact, it's hairballs that aren't normal, and indicate there's an issue with digestion going on. :nod: Most raw fed kitties with normal digestion basically poop out hair covered in a poop shell! Makes sense, if you think about it - cats in the wild aren't running around looking for laxatone.

I think if you have the poop tested for salmonella, you'll find it's negative. It's always a good thing to do for peace of mind though.

But yeah - the instructions aren't very precise. And from chicken-to-chicken those bones will be bigger or smaller, depending on the size of the chicken! So basically, you have to adjust the meat:bone content based on... how your kitties are pooping. FYI, you can buy chicken thighs and just add some to individual meals. But adjusting the next batch sounds like a good idea.

 

[blakat]

Well, I went to the vet yesterday and the Dr. said the cat looks pretty healthy but they're going to test the stool for parassite and Giardia...The stool still a bit soft, smelly, reddish with what appear to be mucus and the weird thing is that both of my cats started to have the same problem at the same time, about a month ago. Since then I've make different batches of meat; unless there is something wrong with the chicken hearts and liverr I ordered from Hare today Gone tomorrow....
The vet suggested to add some brown rice to the diet: because of it's healing benefits it might help the upset stomach! I though grains/carbs are not digest by cats?!
She also raccomended to try to change source of proteine but I don't see how since I'm already having a hard time to find a simple "Purdue" chicken tighs, rarely Turkey!, frozen chicken han (tyson) in this new place we just moved in a bit over a month ago....I order the chicken hearts and liver from Hare Today.i hope the cats don't have any desease, I don't want to abbandon this aw diet they're in for the last year, just don't know what's going on :-(

 

[ldg]

Are you using a probiotic? Not a pet probiotic, a human acidophilus probiotic with 10 billion live CFU?

Have you tried eliminating the psyllium husk from the recipe? What causes smell is fermentation of undigested ... food (fiber) in the colon. I don't know if you saw my post your other thread in health, and though this isn't written re: a raw diet, it does explain the process of digestion in relation to constipation: http://www.felineconstipation.org/gut101chapterone.html and http://www.felineconstipation.org/gut102-fullversi.html

Gut and fiber: http://www.felineconstipation.org/gutbacteriaandfi.html
Poop: http://www.felineconstipation.org/poop.html

Again, the solution for constipation is not necessarily more fiber, and it seems that it has made the situation worse, not better.

Let us know what the results are!