Ziwi Pet and constipation?

Katdog

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Hi all

was wondering if anyone else here fed their cat ziwi pet wet or air dried cat food, and how their cat bowel movements were doing on it?

I’ve been feeding mine a mix of ziwi dry and wet 50/50, and she seems to be more constipated on it than other foods (haven’t tried many bc of her chicken allergies as well). I’m doing a trial of only the wet, started last night so we’ll see if it helps- but may have to switch entirely. I’ve added probiotics supplement to her diet for about 2 weeks and not much difference. I did do psyllium which does help, but I don’t think that’s a recommended long term option?

she’s goes once every two days typically, as in if she poops Monday am, she won’t go again until Wednesday am- sometimes even Wednesday pm. Occasionally a Thursday am would happen(this would be three days) but that is more rare. Her poop is hard and short/small, not long and soft.
 

Maurey

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Heya! Have you tried adding half a teaspoon of pumpkin into her diet? Generally daily with the same meal (I add it to my cat's evening meal, for example) works well. I use Gerber pumpkin baby food, but there are a lot of options. Just make sure you avoid any spiced pumpkin filling.

Helps with stool formation by providing a little bit of extra fibre the kitty might otherwise be lacking. As long as kitty's digestive system handles it well (some are intolerant to any veggies, but most handle it very well) it's a good long-term option, as well.
 

Juniper_Junebug

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I wish I had that problem; my kitty tends to have soft stools, even though I feed her Ziwi Peak as part of the rotation.

Just speculating here, but the change you've observed might be because (a) ZP has bone in it (I think), which I've read on here can cause constipation in some cats if the percentage is too high, or (b) your kitty is getting less water. I've definitely noticed that ZP pates are drier than other brands. I usually add a sprinkle of water (mostly to achieve the consistency my cat prefers).
 
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Katdog

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Juniper_Junebug Juniper_Junebug i add extra water in her meals but I don’t “mash” it in with the food- maybe I’ll try that; bc sometimes she’ll just eat the solids and not touch the water; though she doesn’t do this with rawz food (morning meal) only with ziwi (evening and night meal).
Thanks for the insight!
 

PuffandPercy

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My guy eats mostly wet, with a small amount of dry here and there.
He's about as regular as you could ask, I always wake up to the exact same thing xD
 
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Katdog

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ugh I'm still figuring this out. its been 2 weeks since we made our transition from 50/50 wet dry to 100% wet with added "mashed in" extra water. of these 2 weeks, for about the first 3 days of the 14 day effort , she was regular on a 24 hr basis, and her poop was longer and softer. then the rest of the days she was about 36 hrs or 48 hrs. with her poop being about the same river stone size and softer, which is technically an improvement from before we made the transition but not as substantial as I had hoped. she's been on the added probiotic for about 3-4 weeks.

I'm gonna try to add pumpkin baby food to her wet food now and see where that goes. really trying to avoid psyllium and miralax as the longer term daily solution. maybe I just have to switch up her food entirely to maybe something w/ gums in it? is that losing the big picture- good quality food > bowel movements? she's currently being fed Rawz and Ziwi, which supposedly are quality premium foods...
 

Maurey

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Small poops every two days is perfectly fine for cats on a good diet. My guys are raw fed, poop every other day, with good-sized dry logs. Long as they’re not like rabbit poop when they come out, somewhat small and dry is fine, though it could be that your cat is just adapting to the bone content in the food. Mine get 10% bone a day and their digestion is perfectly fine, though they *are* used to it.
 
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Katdog

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well, Maurey Maurey I just googled rabbit poop and korra cat's poop is def on the larger end of rabbit poop. guess I should be concern!

although I was thinking the other day, that maybe she doesn't poop bc her litter box is "dirty". its not really dirty, I clean it out every two-four days (and being that she only poops once every two days..); but it occurred to me that cats can see things (like poop/urine marks- similar to UV light) that we can't and maybe she won't go poop bc her litter box, which has litter pellets, has marks of urine in it. since pellets aren't really "cleaned" similar to normal clumping cat litter ... however a flaw to this argument would be that she uses it for urination 2-3 times a day every day..sooo why would it stop her from pooping but not peeing.... I'm prolly just over thinking it. :confused::confused::confused:
 
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