When will they stop pooing umpteen times a day??

[SoupDragon]

FatCat gave up on his litter tray years ago so I'd forgotten what it's like. When will my oh-sho-adorable kittens stop doing so many utterly rank poos in the litter tray? We have renamed them the Shittens.

I have slowly switched them from Royal Canin kitten dry food to Miaowing Heads kitten dry food (it's grain free) but I don't think it's that making the poo squidgy and stinky as it wasn't great before. They're still having a pouch of Felix "as good as it looks" at night which they love.

I don't know if it's one cat or both.

Will their digestive system(s) settle down? It's been ages since I've had kittens.

At a year old or so they'll probably drop down to one or two a day, but you can transition them to using the great outdoors as soon as they'll go outside.

Nooooo - it can't be this rank for a year! 😂😂 it's a good job they're adorable.

I need to work out how old they are so I can book them for neutering and set them free.

Cheddar is 6 and her poo is horrific! Going grain free made her worse!

Oh dear.

I’ve only ever had shitty kittens when their food didn’t agree with them. After several over the years the only food that didn’t upset any of them is Hills. Not sure if that’s an MN no-no brand though! I’d maybe cut out the wet food in the evening and see if that helps.

My two boys came to me at five months and every day without fail we've had two poos. They now have access to the garden and one in particular is fertilising the grass!

It might be worth trying different foods. I can give my boys anything and one has firm non smelly poos! The other is always a bit smelly, but I've noticed certain foods make it the smell a lot worse and also poos softer, so I no longer buy those products.

I'll look at other foods then as the last few days have been particularly "special".

Just re-read your post, Felix AGAIL is one that doesn't agree with my smellier boy. Someone pointed out to me that the vegetable protein extracts in it are hard to digest. It might be worth trying yours on the ordinary Felix kitten food to see if that helps as it could be the other products are ok for them. It's always good to have plenty of wet food in a cats diet, so don't exclude this if it's the AGAIL, but slowly try other products over time.

Interesting.... I only gave the Felix to them as is what they had at the rescue. I'm inclined to think it's the dry as I've changed that and things seem to be worse but I am willing to try anything!

Is there actually anything special about wet kitten food?

The "kitten" label doesn't have any particular meaning. Go for high quality food with high protein, low carbs, high fat. Our vet recommends primarily wet plus some dry (more for teeth cleaning than anything else).

Perhaps you need better litter? We've always used the quite expensive stuff that clumps and has deodorant in, eg Tesco's premium at £5/bag - if you can afford it it's worth it for the nasal effects alone! Non-clumping is just a pointless ammonia generator as far as I'm concerned, might as well just dig some earth out of the garden for all the use it has.

I don't think better litter will help with the squidginess. I think if I can sort that it will improve. And it will improve as the litter tray makes it's way into the utility room as the kittens get more confident. I can hope anyway!

I didn't think "kitten" food was much different - the biscuit size is smaller for dry but that's not relevant for wet. I'll switch them to a normal one and see how they go (and donate the boxes of Felix I bought on offer to the rescue!)

On the plus side, the dog cleared the tray up for me last night 🤢

Better litter really sucks the wet out of the poo, so it might.

Also, vom! Dogs, eh?

I’ve never had a kitten but Harry is banned from even thinking about Felix! We gave it to him when we first got him and he looked embarrassed every time he used the tray!

My new kitten has been like this... very stinky and very squidy. I took him to the vets this week for his first check over and she wondered if he might have Giardia - apparently common in kittens who have come from farm environments / around lots of other animals, as my kitten has.
He is now on purely white fish or chicken for a week and has a little medicine paste to go on his food once a day for 5 days. He's only on day 3 of the new regime but already he is going far less and it's beginning to improve. May not be the case with your at all, but just a thought!

Argh I have one cat who has been unfortunately been renamed farty cat and his litter box matches! I had them on the Hills Science eye wateringly expensive food because it was supposed to be best for their digestive system (although I suspect the vet may have been on commission) and his poo was awful. My big girl was fine. I tried even more eye watering grain free and it was even worse. Now have them both on Iams for indoor (which mine are one due to an amazing inability to come back down things she climbs, the other due to weak immune system) and it's made a big difference. He still goes a gazillion times a day but it's solid and much less rank. Also from farting pretty much continuously to just the odd one.

Thread about kittens with no pictures of said kittens. Mutter mutter grumble...

I didn't think pictures were appropriate given the subject matter 😂

Shitten 1, right now.

I have purchased different litter and also non-Felix. Although the Felix was far higher in protein than the one I got (choice was limited). It's one pouch a day with a higher quality dry food at other times so should be OK.