Need help with poo issues/food question

[Helsinki]

Hi everyone!

Before my kitten came home she was eating raw and orijen kibble. My breeder recommended that I stay on orijen kibble and give innova wet as well. She had poo issues and my breeder recommended that I cut out the wet food to see if that helped. It did... For a couple days. Her poos started to occasionally be a little mushy, and slowly got worse. Yesterday was awful - she was pooing almost every hour yesterday morning and getting it all over her tail and feet no matter how quickly I whisked her out of the box.

I thoroughly washed all her bowls, gave her filtered water instead of tap, and took away her food for the afternoon to try to help her tummy reset. I gave her dinner last night and this morning got to play the fun game of "find all the places she flung her poo". She went once through the night, and half was solid and the other half was EVERHWHERE.

It's not runny or liquid diarrhea- just pretty mushy. She has a good appetite, she's playful, and drinks a lot of water. I cut off her treat intake last week to see if that was the problem, but it just seems worse now.

Zoa also has allergies and I was wondering if maybe her allergies are extending to her food. My friend's sphynx has very similar allergy issues and she feeds him a lamb-based food made by Acana; she says lamb is hypoallergenic.

I am definitely willing to switch her food (and have plenty of her current food left to switch over very slowly) but with so many recommendations from so many people, I guess I'm unsure with what to try. Orijen is a really high quality food so my guesses are Zoa is either intolerant of the fish version or it doesn't have enough fiber.

Oh and she hates pumpkin. Tried that when she was on wet food and it did not work out.

I would ask my breeder for her advice but she's busy doing awesome things in Europe for another month.

Thank you in advance for any and all suggestions!!! I want my baby to feel better and not have a sore butt and grumpy mommy anymore lol.

 

[Helsinki]

Oh also I went to my local pet store yesterday to look for other options and get some Lysine and was talking to the lady there about Zoa's poo issues. She recommended Petcurian NOW - she said petcurian makes very high-quality foods and she compared the petcurian NOW and petcurian GO to orijen and acana, respectively. She said there was some sort of fire at the orijen/acana plant a while back and they weren't able to get any of their products in the store so they started carrying these other foods. She said she switched her own cats to it and that they do great with it. Any personal recommendations or experiences? I'm going to compare the fiber content to orijen.

She gave me a free half pound of it to try but I haven't mixed any in yet because I want to explore all options.

 

[kristininn]

Is returning her to a raw diet an option for you? My oldest had months of poo problems, was diagnosed as having IBS, and we spent months trying many high-quality foods as well as various antibiotics, probiotics, and other meds. I finally switched him to raw and he was off all meds and had normal poo within 2-3 days.

I know raw isn't for everyone, but thought I'd share my story in case it's something you're considering.

Good luck and I hope your little one is feeling better soon!

 

[Helsinki]

Is returning her to a raw diet an option for you? My oldest had months of poo problems, was diagnosed as having IBS, and we spent months trying many high-quality foods as well as various antibiotics, probiotics, and other meds. I finally switched him to raw and he was off all meds and had normal poo within 2-3 days.

I know raw isn't for everyone, but thought I'd share my story in case it's something you're considering.

Good luck and I hope your little one is feeling better soon!

I actually have been considering it - would you be willing to pm me with more info on what exactly you use and where I might find it?

My husband and Zoa and I will be moving in with my friend and her herd of 3 cats in the next couple of months. Her cats have specific feeding times - would my cat being on raw and hers on kibble create an issue? Maybe that's a silly question to ask lol.

 

[EmilyMayer]

I love Orijen... Only thing is it is VERY rich. I fed it to my dogs, and some of them just couldn't handle the richness of it.

I feed Wellness Core Original dry, with some (don't laugh) Science Diet Hairball Formula dry mixed in. It has so much fiber it helps keep the poops nice and solid. I tried to switch Ebe and Sheldon off of that very slowly, and when the hairball formula was almost non-existent in their food, the diarrhea started. So I put them back on it and I have not had any problems since. I also feed the hairball wet food. I never had an issue when I was feeding raw, but it is so expensive

Hope this helps!

 

[Helsinki]

I love Orijen... Only thing is it is VERY rich. I fed it to my dogs, and some of them just couldn't handle the richness of it.

I feed Wellness Core Original dry, with some (don't laugh) Science Diet Hairball Formula dry mixed in. It has so much fiber it helps keep the poops nice and solid. I tried to switch Ebe and Sheldon off of that very slowly, and when the hairball formula was almost non-existent in their food, the diarrhea started. So I put them back on it and I have not had any problems since. I also feed the hairball wet food. I never had an issue when I was feeding raw, but it is so expensive

Hope this helps!

Yeah the expense of raw (I read a lot of threads about it last night) concerned me a bit. I want to do whatever will help my baby but money is going to be tight for a few months after my husband and I move. He's giving up his job and we're going to be depending mostly on mine, which will probably take several months to get into gear.

So many decisions >_< how much hairball formula do you mix in?

 

[EmilyMayer]

I do a half and half. Honestly, they LOVE it. They eat those kibbles first and then eat the Core. I leave the dry down all day for them and feed the wet twice daily.

I will say that I have also fed Nature's Variety Raw Chicken Medallions, in the frozen section, as my "wet" instead of the canned. You can get it at Petco. They did great on that too and the price is reasonable... But it is ground, so you don't get the dental benefit you would get with a hunk of raw chicken... But in my opinion it is just as good as real raw (besides the dental factor).

You can get a "trial" bag for around $7.00. My mom has Sphynx cats too, and one of her cats was having skin issues. She swapped them to the Nature's Variety Raw and Maggie's skin cleared up in a week. She too had been to vet multiple times with no positive results.

 

[EmilyMayer]

Yeah the expense of raw (I read a lot of threads about it last night) concerned me a bit. I want to do whatever will help my baby but money is going to be tight for a few months after my husband and I move. He's giving up his job and we're going to be depending mostly on mine, which will probably take several months to get into gear.

So many decisions >_< how much hairball formula do you mix in?

here is a link so you can read more about the nature's variety:

http://www.naturesvariety.com/InstinctRaw/cat/all

 

[Helsinki]

I do a half and half. Honestly, they LOVE it. They eat those kibbles first and then eat the Core. I leave the dry down all day for them and feed the wet twice daily.

I will say that I have also fed Nature's Variety Raw Chicken Medallions, in the frozen section, as my "wet" instead of the canned. You can get it at Petco. They did great on that too and the price is reasonable... But it is ground, so you don't get the dental benefit you would get with a hunk of raw chicken... But in my opinion it is just as good as real raw (besides the dental factor).

You can get a "trial" bag for around $7.00. My mom has Sphynx cats too, and one of her cats was having skin issues. She swapped them to the Nature's Variety Raw and Maggie's skin cleared up in a week. She too had been to vet multiple times with no positive results.

Thank you so much for your advice ^_^ do you think the hairball kibble will help balance out the richness of the orijen if that's the issue? I was thinking of mixing the hairball with what she has now and if that doesn't work, switch the orijen as well.

 

[Helsinki]

I was telling my husband about the suggestions here and he said he'd really like to try the other options before trying raw haha. We're both vegetarians and it kind of grosses him out

 

[EmilyMayer]

Thank you so much for your advice ^_^ do you think the hairball kibble will help balance out the richness of the orijen if that's the issue? I was thinking of mixing the hairball with what she has now and if that doesn't work, switch the orijen as well.

Yeah, I don't see why not. I mean, especially if you already have some Orijen. I would just mix more of the hairball in.

Also, you could boil her a chicken breast and feed that for the next few days - that should firm her stool right up and then you can slowly put her back on the Orijen w/ the hairball mixed in. I do animal rescue and was a vet tech for a few years, and the boiled chicken breast has always worked for me to firm up the stool and allow the tummy to rest. It is really bland. I usually pull the food for 12 - 24 hours and then start them on the boiled chicken, and then once the stool is formed I start back on the kibble slowly. It has always worked for me! Diarrhea isn't really tooooo much of a concern with kittens, as long as she isn't off her food and she is staying hydrated, and not lethargic. 1 or two bouts of diarrhea aren't uncommon for babies.

 

[andreanar]

There are a few people on here that had a hairball formula work for their cats. Not everything works for every cat. Some cats cant handle rich foods. I say go ahead and try it, slowly.
As for Raw and your friends cats eating kibble: if their kibble is left out and your kitten gets into it, it may make her sick as its not good to feed Raw and dry anytime near each other, they have diff absorption rates.
IMHO Raw is the way to go if it works out for you and your family. Mine wont eat ground food and I dont have the time or money to feed whole prey anymore.
Good luck, it really stinks (literally!) when our babies have the poo poo problems!

 

[Helsinki]

There are a few people on here that had a hairball formula work for their cats. Not everything works for every cat. Some cats cant handle rich foods. I say go ahead and try it, slowly.
As for Raw and your friends cats eating kibble: if their kibble is left out and your kitten gets into it, it may make her sick as its not good to feed Raw and dry anytime near each other, they have diff absorption rates.
IMHO Raw is the way to go if it works out for you and your family. Mine wont eat ground food and I dont have the time or money to feed whole prey anymore.
Good luck, it really stinks (literally!) when our babies have the poo poo problems!

Thank you! My friend and I will be traveling together several times next year so it would probably be best then if I wait till my husband and I get our own place to try raw if we decide to go that route. I think it would be more difficult for someone else to feed everyone properly if they have such different diets. I think I am going to look into switching to my friend's kibble eventually and in the meantime try the hairball mix.

 

[Calicocious]

Would your friend consider switching to raw too? I just found Bravo balance. It was in a post in the raw diet section of the lair. For a 5 lb chub I feed three cats for a week and costs me $11.90. To store I thaw it enough to cut with a knife and cut into 4 oz patties. Those get stacked in a tupperware between wax paper. As I start running low I just take out another container and let thaw in the fridge. Good luck to you on finding a solution.

 

[EmilyMayer]

Would your friend consider switching to raw too? I just found Bravo balance. It was in a post in the raw diet section of the lair. For a 5 lb chub I feed three cats for a week and costs me $11.90. To store I thaw it enough to cut with a knife and cut into 4 oz patties. Those get stacked in a tupperware between wax paper. As I start running low I just take out another container and let thaw in the fridge. Good luck to you on finding a solution.

That's awesome!! I will look into that too! Thank you!

 

[Helsinki]

I think my friend is pretty set with what she feeds.

Additional question: what signs should I be watching out for to make sure this isn't a vet issue? Is it a vet issue?

 

[Hairless Blessing]

What does your friend feed?

 

[Helsinki]

What does your friend feed?

Acana grasslands I believe. I think I'm gonna order some for Zoa and slowly switch her and see how that goes.

 

[Hairless Blessing]

Acana grasslands I believe. I think I'm gonna order some for Zoa and slowly switch her and see how that goes.

I was just going to say, that, you both need, to be feeding the same thing, if your cats, is going, to be together.
It would be hard to keep them away from each others food and will cause a lot of upset stomachs.

 

[Helsinki]

I was just going to say, that, you both need, to be feeding the same thing, if your cats, is going, to be together.
It would be hard to keep them away from each others food and will cause a lot of upset stomachs.

She can't free feed hers because one of them will eat it all immediately and vomit lol. So she has specific feeding times so they can all get their proper amount. That said, I do feel it would be safer to have my kitten on the same food as hers, and easier for our husbands to feed them when we're traveling.

 

[Helsinki]

Update:

I gave her wet food morning and night yesterday so I could give less kibble and see if it helped. It did seem to make her poos a little larger and firmer, so I really think the kibble is bothering her. I ordered the Acana grasslands and in the meantime I'm going to pick up some hairball formula wet food for her as well as dry to supplement her orijen.

She's super energetic, happy, and hungry. So I definitely think it's a food issue and not illness

 

[EmilyMayer]

Sounds like a food issue to me! Keep us updated on what the hairball formula does for her! Acana is a good food too - it is a sister food to the Orijen. Great stuff!