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Loose Stool and Grain Free food?

Sammicarkeys

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I feel like a broken record. I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing me B**ch about my cats poop. He has finished his second treatment for Giardia. I'm not convinced he even has it anymore. I'm starting to think its a food issue. So I've taken some advice from fellow larians. I'm attempting to transition him to another food, specifically, Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Sensitive (overthecounter) wet food. One problem, its not grain free. He has eaten grain free since he could eat solids. I've been doing research online and noticed that sometimes peoples cats get diarrhea with grain free and it resolves with regular? Anyone have a problem with grain free diet? I'm fine with feeding him either, I just always assumed that grain free would be the last thing causing his poop problems. He also goes to poop after eating every meal. Almost like it runs right through him. But hes not lethargic or losing weight.

I have been mixing Royal Canin in with his Merrick Limited Ingredient wet food. He has tolerated it well. Poop is still VERY smelly. But I noticed that his poop is starting to become more solid and no blood for while? Its probably a 5 on the fecal scoring scale. If you're unfamiliar with that, this is it --> http://weliveinaflat.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/fecal-scoring.jpg

Just some past info- he has had pudding like stools to loose stools for MONTHS. Positive giardia and coccidia (treated). No weight loss. HUGE appetite. No belly pain that I notice (since I'm always grabbing his tummy to play with him).

Any advice at all, is welcome. Thanks again.
 

Toa and Ross

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Sorry to hear your still having poop issues. It could be a food allergy indeed. I know more members here posted about grain free causing the diarrhea. So if you always did feed grain free you can try a food with grain.

How long ago the second treatment was finished? Cause sometimes the loose poop is caused by the meds. If you just finished it you could wait a few days to see if his poop gets more solid before changing his food.

You say it's like pudding stool poops. My girl Jade has the same since she was born. I got her when she was 2 years old and the breeder tried everything. She's active, plays a lot, beats up her brothers and eats like a champ. So I decided to stick with the food that makes the best "pudding poop" and accept the horrible smell. Now a year and a half later I see progress and more solid poops. Maybe something to keep in mind when changing food doesn't help either.

And no we never get tired of hearing you talk about poop issues:).
 

Sammicarkeys

Lairian
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Messages
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Sorry to hear your still having poop issues. It could be a food allergy indeed. I know more members here posted about grain free causing the diarrhea. So if you always did feed grain free you can try a food with grain.

How long ago the second treatment was finished? Cause sometimes the loose poop is caused by the meds. If you just finished it you could wait a few days to see if his poop gets more solid before changing his food.

You say it's like pudding stool poops. My girl Jade has the same since she was born. I got her when she was 2 years old and the breeder tried everything. She's active, plays a lot, beats up her brothers and eats like a champ. So I decided to stick with the food that makes the best "pudding poop" and accept the horrible smell. Now a year and a half later I see progress and more solid poops. Maybe something to keep in mind when changing food doesn't help either.

And no we never get tired of hearing you talk about poop issues:).
Thank you!! That's more reassuring. He was done taking Flagyl about 4 days ago. I don't think its that. His poops vary between pudding and just loose. I'm still in the transition phase. I'm very anxious to try new things
 

Condo commando

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I'm in the minority with this opinion but I don't pay attention to grain-free and this is why. When I used to feed canned foods, I used to look at the ingredients very closely and I saw that the foods that didn't have grains just substituted things like peas. Other than not being a grain, do peas actually bring anything to the table? These grain-free foods still have a high % of carbs.

So if you are only worried about feeding grains, I don't think you should be; better to judge the overall quality.

Has he lost weight by the way? If it runs right through him, I'm thinking how can his system even absorb any nutrients from what he's eating?
 

Sammicarkeys

Lairian
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I'm in the minority with this opinion but I don't pay attention to grain-free and this is why. When I used to feed canned foods, I used to look at the ingredients very closely and I saw that the foods that didn't have grains just substituted things like peas. Other than not being a grain, do peas actually bring anything to the table? These grain-free foods still have a high % of carbs.

So if you are only worried about feeding grains, I don't think you should be; better to judge the overall quality.

Has he lost weight by the way? If it runs right through him, I'm thinking how can his system even absorb any nutrients from what he's eating?

That's a good point. Thank you. And no, he has lost no weight at all. He's been gaining weight. He gains about 1/2 lb a week, if not more. I just don't know how either, to be honest. The vet isn't concerned about it because he is gaining weight, but its so frustrating because when he has pudding stools, he ends up getting it all over my sheets and himself.
 

Yoda mom

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@Sammicarkeys , I have four nakeds amd a Bengal with a Senstive tummy

I always always read ingredients and agree with so many grain frees substitute a lot of pea splitting in place of grains -
I and my vet are not on the "grain free bandwagon" as some call it -
In some discussions we talked about how people started on all this health kick eating and have passed this on to their pets , the pet food marketing homes in on this IMHO ..

Is there really any long term studies what all this pea splitting ingredients and its effect on animals?


Fwiw, my dogs and cats have looser stool on grain free when I used to feed Acana

I went back to old school grain inclusive - my 4 nakeds have had solid poos ever since -
Even my IBD kitty barfs less and has no more poo issues with grain inclusive .
I don't even think about " poo patrol" anymore - free feed n go with lots of fresh water in raised water dishes placed away from their food.

Most recently the dog food brand I feed jumped on the grain free marketing and discontinued the perfectly good grain inclusive duck formula , replaced with pea saplittojg and took out more expensive ingredients and made the bags smaller ! guess what - even after a sloooow transition with their new "grain free" he has bad stool now - argh
Back to the drawing board for a non recalled grain inclusive for him
i just roll my eyes with all this grain free - and when I flip the bag and review ingredients there is so much added or what is touted on label is not first ingredient
(Rant over )

Now I feed what works with my crew.. And the success scale for us tips to grain inclusive
I don't feel guilty at all not feeding grain free, even my vet said a lot of foods are getting a bad rap with all the grain free marketing they do to us

Did your vet mention withholding food for a certain number of hours to see if it will help "reset" his bumm?

Keep us updated !
Amd you are in best of company here with all of us with "poo patrol" experience
 

Yoda mom

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@Sammicarkeys , just to pass on my feed n go with solid poos for my 4 nakeds
Cat Food, NutriSource Cat and Kitten Chicken, Salmon, Liver
It has worked fine for them and their skin and ears are fine x4

The company Does not have recalls either - another member has food results with their pure vita line

Just be careful about trying too many foods too soon
I did notice when I feed more than the 3 oz can of wet food along with grain free Acana before , they had icky poo
 

Condo commando

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I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that's skeptical about grain-free.

Sometimes it's not the food necessarily but the general "gut health" - this is where probiotics come in. Also can make your own bone broth. The idea whether it's probiotics or bone broth is to give the gut a chance to recover....after can go back to regular foods.
 

Hairless Blessing

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I believe if it's grain free that helps your baby to be normal and healthy.
Feed it. For years there was no such thing and animals were very health on it.

I feed grain free because Izmae had allergies bad. Has shots monthly.
But she does great.
 

Sammicarkeys

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@Yoda mom @Hairless Blessing @Condo commando
Thank you all for your input! I really appreciate it. Like I said, at this point I'm desperate. I don't believe he's in pain, but I really would like him to have normal stools. lol Last night was rough, he somehow found a piece of yarn (from god knows where) and ate it. I only know this because he refused to eat dinner and then promptly threw up a long piece of yarn. Then proceeded to eating normally and then poop. I don't even know where he found it because I keep my yarn locked away for this reason. So I'm going to have to do some extensive searching of my apartment.... But anyways. This morning I fed him his normal Merricks Grain Free Wet Food plus, some science diet kitten dry food I was given at the vet (in a sample bag). And.... maybe its coincidental, or maybe we're on to something. He didn't run straight to the litter box. Which has never happened before. I'm going to try mixing in slightly more than a tablespoon of it for dinner tonight to see if we get the same result.
 

Condo commando

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@Yoda mom @Hairless Blessing @Condo commando
Thank you all for your input! I really appreciate it. Like I said, at this point I'm desperate. I don't believe he's in pain, but I really would like him to have normal stools. lol Last night was rough, he somehow found a piece of yarn (from god knows where) and ate it. I only know this because he refused to eat dinner and then promptly threw up a long piece of yarn. Then proceeded to eating normally and then poop. I don't even know where he found it because I keep my yarn locked away for this reason. So I'm going to have to do some extensive searching of my apartment.... But anyways. This morning I fed him his normal Merricks Grain Free Wet Food plus, some science diet kitten dry food I was given at the vet (in a sample bag). And.... maybe its coincidental, or maybe we're on to something. He didn't run straight to the litter box. Which has never happened before. I'm going to try mixing in slightly more than a tablespoon of it for dinner tonight to see if we get the same result.

Eh....kibble....I can go out and have a few drinks and feel great and it doesn't mean I should drink more you know? LOL anyway I was thinking what we're supposed to try to do when we don't know what's wrong is keep the ingredients to a minimum. Then if something goes wrong there's a limited number of suspect things. So instead of kibble which has a multitude of things, I would maybe add a little bit of canned pumpkin for fiber.

BTW there are 2 different types of fiber - soluble and insoluble - this is from MedicineNet:
  • Soluble fiber attracts water and turns to gel during digestion. This slows digestion. Soluble fiber is found in oat bran, barley, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, peas, and some fruits and vegetables. It is also found in psyllium, a common fiber supplement. Some types of soluble fiber may help lower risk of heart disease.
  • Insoluble fiber is found in foods such as wheat bran, vegetables, and whole grains. It adds bulk to the stool and appears to help food pass more quickly through the stomach and intestines.
 

Sammicarkeys

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Eh....kibble....I can go out and have a few drinks and feel great and it doesn't mean I should drink more you know? LOL anyway I was thinking what we're supposed to try to do when we don't know what's wrong is keep the ingredients to a minimum. Then if something goes wrong there's a limited number of suspect things. So instead of kibble which has a multitude of things, I would maybe add a little bit of canned pumpkin for fiber.

BTW there are 2 different types of fiber - soluble and insoluble - this is from MedicineNet:
  • Soluble fiber attracts water and turns to gel during digestion. This slows digestion. Soluble fiber is found in oat bran, barley, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, peas, and some fruits and vegetables. It is also found in psyllium, a common fiber supplement. Some types of soluble fiber may help lower risk of heart disease.
  • Insoluble fiber is found in foods such as wheat bran, vegetables, and whole grains. It adds bulk to the stool and appears to help food pass more quickly through the stomach and intestines.
I have tried Pumpkin several times. He refuses to touch it. Even with the slightest amount in it. :hungover:
 

Yoda mom

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@Sammicarkeys , @Xandria amd I believe @Toa and Ross have tried psyllium husk with their kitties
Hopeful they can chime in -
My majority hate pumpkin too -
Only Toby will eat it if I warm a teaspoon of pumpkin for a few seconds in the microwave ..and put in a little condiment dish
( be sure to check with your finger thst it's not too hot and stir before feeding since microwaves can hear it unevenly)


Ps- close call with the yarn! Yikes! These creatures eat everything!
Kitty proofing for life is a must here for me too
 
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