Loose bowels...any tips?

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

Ophie has always had loose bowels. Nothing untowards discovered by the vet to account for it. She firms up a bit on dried food only but gets the runs on all wet food.. doesn't seem to make much of a difference whether it is best quality pure meat stuff, or Felix (which annoyingly she prefers).

I have been trying raw feeding but with very limited success.. she really really will not eat it. Has nibbled a tiny bit of semi cooked chicken but is mostly refusing..and a week in I need her to eat more than a few bits of kibble. I have been time limiting the kibble but she is definitely not eating enough!

Any suggestions? I could try all different types of dried, but I don't feel a purely dried diet is good..and certainly my other two would not be happy (and I don't want Obie on it incase he gets urinary problems)

Added to which she is THE fluffiest Maine Coon kitten ever... incredibly long shaggy bags and I'm going to have to give her a short back and sides at this rate as I keep having to clean and trim :/

[thecatneuterer]

Honestly you would think I work for them as I recommend their food so much - I promise I don't. But as I've just said on another thread I've had a lot of success in curing cats of loose bowels by feeding exclusively on Butchers Classic tins. They're cereal free, which is probably the key.

Try it for a week. It can't hurt.

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

Ah thanks! I'm pretty sure they sell that at my nearly Pets at home. I'll pick up a few cans tomorrow and give it a try! Are there any flavours better than others? She is very picky! (And vocal.. Maine Coon style she follows me around the house complaining )

[thecatneuterer]

They sell it just about everywhere. I don't know about flavours really. All get eaten equally quickly, but then I do have an awful lot of cats so presumably one cat's dislike is another's favourite.

If you're going to try it though I would give it at least four days without anything else to see if it makes a difference.

[code]

I had this problem with my two. Often looser than I'd like and the smell! Even when their stools were properly formed they stank. This was despite my feeding high quality high meat content German kitten food. I now give them royal Canin wet and their poos are consistently firm, formed and smell free. Was a bit disappointed as I'd always been led to think this food was a bit rubbish. However I've taken the view 'whatever works' so am continuing. i think it's just trial and error, my advice would be add anything new slowly, just a tablespoon to start and build up.

[MinceSpy]

My rescue cat is very prone to loose stools. She doesn't seem to be able to cope with 'posh' cat food. Felix works best for her tummy. Think I might try the Butchers cat food suggested by pp.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Have you had a faecal sample checked? There is a very high incidence of Giardia in the pedigree cat population.
Really smelly diarrhoea is a feature of the treatment.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Sorry of the disease.

[chockbic]

Probiotics.

[RubbishMantra]

That would be awful Lone, to administer smelly diarrhea as a treatment.

Little MKitten needed probiotics when we brought him home from the breeder. It's in a paste, that you mix into their food.

He gets Applaws biscuits, they have something called prebiotics in them. Don't know what the difference is. It's also cereal free.

[Qwebec]

I don't know if it helps mut I've been told that when making changes in cat's diet it's easier for the picky eaters to transition the food slowly adding bits of the new food in the old one and reducing the old on accordingly. I've heard it's bc in the wild cats stick to what they know in order to avoid poisoning, but I'm not sure if it's true.

I think dry only is ok but you need to make sure she drinks enough. We added a second water bowl in a different room (closer to where she rests than her food) and she drinks loads since.

[justyeh]

Cool boiled water to drink instead of tap water helps and probiotics, dried food could be mixed in with wet if you don't want a dried food diet only.