[chuck72]

Hi folks,
Our new kitty Angel (10.5 yrs old, chubby 11-12 lbs) is having food issues. This is day 6 with us. She was eating 1/4 can Friskies classic pate (Humane Society didn't know which flavor) in A.M. and 1/4 can in P.M. She was eating 1/2 cup costco generic for all day. We don't belong to costco so we got her Iams senior dry.

So we were feeding her same -1/4 can 2x daily of Friskies classic pate poultry platter and 1/2 cup Iams dry all day. She wolfs down the wet, but is not crazy about the dry. So yesterday we increased the wet to 3/4 can for all day and 1/4 cup dry for all day.

Her stool is very loose, pancake batter. She has had 3 well formed - 3 batter. Today pancake batter again. 1 bowel movement/day so far.

Her energy level is increasing as she is more active by the day and she seems happy (purring a lot, accepts grooming, she is grooming herself more daily, sleeps in our bed on heating pad 7+ hours until we get up). Not positive how much water she is drinking. She urinates maybe 2-3x/day.

Any advice? We have read conflicting info. on wet vs. dry causing loose stool. We are not sure what we should do and we are starting to worry. The humane society we adopted her from says take her to the vet if this persists. Thx in advance.

 

[MowMow]

Canned is always best, however, Friskies could absolutely give her the runs. It's full of meals/by products, preservatives and flavorings.

I would work towards switching her to a good grain free high quality canned like EVO, By Nature, Before Grain, Nature's Variety, Natural Balance..etc. If you go to petfooddirect.com and choose grain free it will show you a ton of brands and make it easier to read ingredients and look for something with whole meats and no by products.

 

[shan841]

I would expect a little bit of loose stool just from changing the food. In MY experience, Banjo had loose stool/diarrhea for about 2-3 days when I switched from science diet dry to wellness dry. When I switched from wellness dry to canned, the only change I saw was that it was much much smaller.

So, again, just from my experience, changing from one dry to another caused diarrhea but changing from dry to canned did not.

I will also mention that it is much less stinky now and less than half the size! I feel much better knowing that he is actually digesting most of the food that he consumes. I also I rotate the brands of canned(wellness, blue wilderness, avoderm, and evo) and it doesnt seem to upset his tummy at all!!

If she really likes the canned, I would stop feeding her dry alltogether. It may take some time for her body to adjust.

I would imagine it may be different with an older cat, but thought this info could be useful.

 

[ThatCatGirl]

Congrats on the new kitty and kudos to you for adopting a senior feline.

Hope you figure out your kitty's food issue. I agree with the others that a higher quality food may be in order. Also, a bit of fresh pumpkin added to her canned food *may* help firm things up. Be sure to select pure canned pumpkin and nothing with spices and other baking ingredients. Adding a bit of powdered digestive enzyme (acidiphilus for cats) may help with food transitions and digestion in general.

Good luck!

 

[doodlebug]

You took her from a pretty good dry food (Kirkland) to a pretty poor one (Iams--mostly by products and corn) and then significantly increased her wet food...both cold turkey. Add the stress of adjusting to a new home and it's really not surprising she's having issues.

I'd see if you could find someone with a Costc card or go in on a one day pass and get a bag of Kirkland and get her stabilized. I think someone else already mentioned adding probiotics and digestive enzymes. Some canned pumpkin will give her some fiber to help bulk her up.

Then once she's solid again, wait a few weeks and then make a switch to better quality foods.

 

[chuck72]

Thx for the responses,
doodlebug or anybody know what brand dry is close to Kirkland (Costco)? They don't do 1-day passes at ours here in Seattle. If I have to spend $55 on year pass I will do it. In the meantime I will read up on dry w/out by-products or corn. Thx again.

 

[shan841]

I found out that the company that makes Kirkland is Diamond Naturals. This food, which you can buy online, has almost the exact same ingredients as kirkland

Dry Cat Food for Active Adult Cats - Diamond Pet Foods

 

[chuck72]

I found out that the company that makes Kirkland is Diamond Naturals. This food, which you can buy online, has almost the exact same ingredients as kirkland

Dry Cat Food for Active Adult Cats - Diamond Pet Foods

shan thx! I read the ingredients from the link you listed and I found a pic of the Kirkland dry online w/the ingredients - like you said almost identical. We are worry warts and we have decided not to take any chances so we are joining Costco tomorrow and getting her what she had at the shelter (Kirkland Signature dry.) But thank you so much for the homework! It'll be fun going to Costco anyways...

After she has stabilized we will probably make a plan to get her on some higher quality canned and maybe eliminate the dry altogether since the consensus seems to be that dry = bad.

I took the advice of the shelter volunteer (I know she had good intentions) to use Iams because it was "very close to Kirkland". Shame on me for not doing the homework.

 

[chuck72]

Canned is always best, however, Friskies could absolutely give her the runs. It's full of meals/by products, preservatives and flavorings.

I would work towards switching her to a good grain free high quality canned like EVO, By Nature, Before Grain, Nature's Variety, Natural Balance..etc. If you go to petfooddirect.com and choose grain free it will show you a ton of brands and make it easier to read ingredients and look for something with whole meats and no by products.

MowMow thx, we will definitely get her off of the Friskies and onto some higher quality wet. For now we have decided to just get her back on exactly what she was eating for the past 2.5 years - Friskies wet and Kirkland dry. Her first b/m's were solid and well formed.

We will then research like crazy and pick some foods and do the buffet thing and see what she likes. Maybe we will rotate if she likes them all. We are thinking it will be a just a little while though.

 

[chuck72]

If this helps anyone in the future we took her off of the Iams, went to Costco and got her what she was having (Signature brand cat Maintenance), and now she is pooping like a champ! After a few weeks we will transition to some better canned and slowly remove the dry food from her diet. Food issue solved - thx for the excellent advice cat people...

 

[SallyGracie]

Go natural

My advice would be try some natural cat foods by some healthier cat food brands. My babies also love wet foods, but they don’t have loose stool because the food is very healthy and good for them. Their favorite are the cat pouches made by natural balance called platefulls indoor. They make them in a lot of different flavors. (They help with litter odor and cleanup too.) Thought I would suggest it since my angel kitties do so well on this wet cat food.