Should I be concerned about Scooter’s poop?

[xlynnbbyx]

I am a bit concerned right now with Scooter. Ever since his UTI in September 2023 I check what he & Casper leaves in the litter box to make sure they are healthy. Today I noticed Scooter’s poop has been off. When he first pooped this morning it was partly formed and some mushy no shape. Plus the color is like a light brownish almost yellow looking color. I contribute that to his kibble cause it is light in color and I know their food can change the color of their poop. But since this morning Scooter has pooped 3 more times for a total of 4 times that is not normal for him. He usually just poops once a day sometimes every other day. I thought it could be hairballs but the last one I checked had no hair in it. Idk if it could still be hairballs and it irritated his stomach a bit. I will show a pic of his last poop.

First I want to say sorry for this pic I know it’s tmi but I need some insight right now.

I did smear it out a little to check fully. But as you can see it didn’t have any shape. It’s basically mushy type poop no shape. I’m guessing you can say the color is like a light brown? Not sure really. But I know his poop should not be mushy and he shouldn’t be going 4 times in one day. As of now he has not thrown up he still eats and drinks fine. He has also played with Casper. I did give him a probiotic mixed in his dinner cause it’s all I have available right now. I will keep giving him the probiotic and monitor him to see if it clears up in a few days. If it is his dry food which is Purina One+ Urinary Tract I can always change to IAMS urinary for dry even though I worry about mixing it with Purina Pro Plan urinary wet. The wet food idk if I can change it cause I’m out of options there he didn’t like Royal Canin, Hills didn’t agree with him, Blue Buffalo I don’t trust and their urinary food isn’t offered here. So wet food idk what I could give if I change it. I hardly have money now so I can’t go get him something for hairballs if it is that. I mean idk what is causing it really and like I said I have no money to get other medicine and all I have on hand is probiotic for cats. I definitely don’t have the money to take him to the vet regular or emergency vet. I’m so scared something will happen and since I can’t afford to take him to the vet I will lose him. I am so sorry this is long but any help right now to ease my worries is appreciated.

Edit: I should have mentioned this but nothing about Scooter & Casper’s food has changed. He has been eating those foods since October 2023 after he finished the Hills presentation. Treats he only gets 2 every now and then. Only thing different is Thursday night he threw up a hairball. I don’t know if he chewed on a plant that hangs above the litter box as Casper messes with it too. I’m not sure what plant it is but they mess with the dead leaves. It was a plant on my grandmother’s grave for spring. It will probably be going back to her grave soon. It was brought home to be kept alive a little longer. But that has been there for months and has not bothered them before. But nothing else has changed and I am trying to not think about the Purina scare cause it will stress me out and cause my anxiety & ocd go overboard. Him throwing up a hairball is why I am thinking it’s the hairballs upsetting his stomach.

 

[Furballsmom]

will keep giving him the probiotic and monitor him to see if it clears up in a few days

I'm sorry, I'm not clear about the timeline, --did you change or add anything to his food in the past couple of days?

 

[xlynnbbyx]

I'm sorry, I'm not clear about the timeline, --did you change or add anything to his food in the past couple of days?

Sorry I should have mentioned that but his food has not changed at all. He has been eating those foods since October 2023 after he finished the Hills presentation. Treats he only gets 2 every now and then. Only thing different is Thursday night he threw up a hairball. I don’t know if he chewed on a plant that hangs above the litter box as Casper messes with it too. I’m not sure what plant it is but they mess with the dead leaves. It was a plant on my grandmother’s grave for spring. It will probably be going back to her grave soon. It was brought home to be kept alive a little longer. But that has been there for months and has not bothered them before. But nothing else has changed and I am trying to not think about the Purina scare cause it will stress me out and cause my anxiety & ocd go overboard. Him throwing up a hairball is why I am thinking it’s the hairball upsetting his stomach.

 

[Furballsmom]

See if you can sweep up those leaves regularly.

Him throwing up a hairball is why I am thinking it’s the hairballs upsetting his stomach.

They can cause digestive issues.

Hopefully this resolves

 

[xlynnbbyx]

Are there any bite marks in the leaves? You might want to move it.

There was on a few that fell on the floor by their litter box. But I don’t know if he did that or Casper did cause Casper does it too. It’s been there for months and hasn’t bothered them. My mom forgot what plant it was but I will probably be moving it. But for now only thing different was the hairball situation. I’m concerned about him and scared. If I had money I would probably be fine cause I would just take him to the vet. But I can’t afford it right now still paying off the last visit. So that is what has me scared cause I can’t afford it. I’m hoping it’s just an upset stomach from the hairballs and he will be ok if I keep giving him a probiotic.

 

[Alldara]

I know if diahreah is the only symptom that the vet says more than 2 days is the time to call.

But also if his gums become pale or he gets lethargic (more than just some extra napping). Nobel used to vomit everything when he has a hairball and have nausea all day.

Can you post a photo of the plant? I'll see if I can ID it.

If it is the food, it would likely be the food's batch and not the food in totality as he's been on it for a bit. It shouldn't be an issue to do Iams urinary dry and Purina urinary wet if it comes to it....but that's getting way ahead of things.

Did he poo the day before the incident started?

 

[xlynnbbyx]

I know if diahreah is the only symptom that the vet says more than 2 days is the time to call.

But also if his gums become pale or he gets lethargic (more than just some extra napping). Nobel used to vomit everything when he has a hairball and have nausea all day.

Can you post a photo of the plant? I'll see if I can ID it.

If it is the food, it would likely be the food's batch and not the food in totality as he's been on it for a bit. It shouldn't be an issue to do Iams urinary dry and Purina urinary wet if it comes to it....but that's getting way ahead of things.

Did he poo the day before the incident started?

I’m thinking it wasn’t the food cause Casper is fine. He had no issues I mean I know cats are different and he is younger than Scooter. But I figured if it was the food Casper would be sick too. I do have the IAMS as a back up just in case. Of course I don’t want to think about it and I wish I had never seen that to where I ended up down a rabbit hole with it. But I know this is not the first time something like this happened with people attacking pet food company, vaccines, and flea/tick medicine(cause that is part of it too from that group on FB). Just this time I’m a very anxious person so I got easily affected. Scooter did poop the day before his litter box habits have been normal past 4 months. He does have days where he will only pee once and it’s a large clump. But mostly it’s been normal. His poop before yesterday was normal except for hair in it. I think he ate Nera’s hair cause she is shedding cause the hair I found was black. It was yesterday that he was off.

It’s hard to tell cause it’s basically dead. It had flowers on it cause my grandmother loved flowers. It was still alive when we brought it home in hopes it regrows to put back on her grave for spring so idk if it can be identified. But here is the plant.

 

[Alldara]

It looks like a type of Jasmine. There's over 200 species of jasmine and some are not toxic to cats at all and some are very toxic. If there were some chew parts, it very likely could be the culprit of the issues.

The colour of the flowers would be helpful in identification, but really, as long as it can be kept away from them where he can't bite it, things should be okay. That will depend on the personality of your cat.

Doesn't really matter if the plant is dead. Magnus once found a rogue Ivy leaf that was dead and vomited it up (it hadn't been in the house for months before he arrived here, but we moved a dresser and he was fast!).

 

[xlynnbbyx]

It looks like a type of Jasmine. There's over 200 species of jasmine and some are not toxic to cats at all and some are very toxic. If there were some chew parts, it very likely could be the culprit of the issues.

The colour of the flowers would be helpful in identification, but really, as long as it can be kept away from them where he can't bite it, things should be okay. That will depend on the personality of your cat.

Doesn't really matter if the plant is dead. Magnus once found a rogue Ivy leaf that was dead and vomited it up (it hadn't been in the house for months before he arrived here, but we moved a dresser and he was fast!).

Not sure what the flowers looked like thought I had a pic of them on her grave but can’t find it. It is only staying here until spring. In my bathroom there is a utility sink. Use to have a bathtub but the landlord used the place as an office before renting it out. After Scooter then Casper figured they could stand on the edge of the sink to bat at what is hanging by the shower they get up there. I used to have a bird so they pushed his cage around but my bird passed last year. Their litter box is in between the shower and utility sink so the leaves do fall into their litter box time to time. I once thought they had left something weird in the box but it was a leaf.

 

[xlynnbbyx]

Update: Scooter seems to be feeling better after 2 days of probiotics. His poop looked a bit better yesterday. He has not pooped today which he sometimes skips a day if he had a day of pooping more than normal. His pee still looks normal of course. Sorry if I sound crazy it’s just ever since Scooter’s UTI I tend to go overboard with him sometimes. So any slight change in him it sends me into a panic. I do worry about Casper & Nera too but both are healthy and haven’t had any problems that needed an emergency care. I just worry over Scooter more since he had a UTI 4 months ago. I probably worry a lot cause right now I can’t afford a vet visit of any kind. So in the back of my mind I worry if something happens since I can’t afford a vet visit I would lose Scooter. Still paying off his last bill along with Nera’s visits for her itchiness. I want to get pet insurance cause that will cover their vet visits. But right now I can’t afford pet insurance. I’m doing my best to try to change the financial situation to afford it. But so far it is not going my way. I know I am a worrier and lately anymore it has gotten worse which is why I’m in therapy to learn how to handle it. I think if my financial situation didn’t suck I would worry less cause I would have the money for vet visits. But for now I don’t have the funds for vet visits so I do they best I can by my furbabies. I am doing my best to try to take it one day at a time. But sometimes my anxiety and ocd gets the best of me. Thank you for listening to me though I appreciate it so much.

 

[fionasmom]

I completely understand where you are coming from with caring for your cats. With pet insurance, they will exclude all pre-existing conditions and base the quote on the age of the cats also. However, I am not trying to discourage you from getting some as soon as you can as it will cover future conditions which would be a huge help.

You have mentioned UTIs. Some insurances will consider a simple UTI to be pre-existing, but not forever. So, for example, they might exclude it for 6 months and then cover it. There are a lot of threads here on TCS about pet insurance.

One of my biggest mistakes ever was not insuring an older dog and simply accepting some exclusions.

 

[xlynnbbyx]

I completely understand where you are coming from with caring for your cats. With pet insurance, they will exclude all pre-existing conditions and base the quote on the age of the cats also. However, I am not trying to discourage you from getting some as soon as you can as it will cover future conditions which would be a huge help.

You have mentioned UTIs. Some insurances will consider a simple UTI to be pre-existing, but not forever. So, for example, they might exclude it for 6 months and then cover it. There are a lot of threads here on TCS about pet insurance.

One of my biggest mistakes ever was not insuring an older dog and simply accepting some exclusions.

Oh yeah I know I looked into pet insurance last night I started here first. Few I found that are affordable say he has to go 5 or 6 months without an issue of a UTI reoccurring. So for Scooter it wouldn’t cover him until March cause March would be 6 months. But right now I can’t afford it until I change my financial situation which I am working on trying to get it a little bit better. I just want to have insurance for Nera, Casper & Scooter to have that peace of mind if something happens I have insurance to cover them. That way I don’t have to freak out on how I would pay if they need an emergency visit. Plus it would be nice to be able to take them for a yearly wellness check and not worry how I would pay for it. But until I can afford pet insurance I do the best I can with what I have.

I lost my job during Covid so things have been rough for me. Slowly digging my way out it’s why I live with my parents at 35 cause places that would allow me more than 1 pet costs $1,000 a month that is too much. Plus I rather have a place for me & my furbabies then to be homeless with them. I do side hustles which doesn’t get me much but helps me buy their food and litter for the cats. I just wish things wasn’t so hard now a days.