The Notorious P.O.O.P foot... Poop issues!

[zisforzombie]

Hi all! I'm new to the forums, but have been an occasional lurker from time to time and am now having my own issues. I have been a sphynx owner for a few years now but recently added my 2nd. My 1st sphynx, is an angel with perfect litter box etiquette, and the other, my newer baby, is her complete opposite. I adopted Vasily (who I am now wishing I would have named Stinky) around 6 months ago from a breeder who while a very nice person, had more cats than she could keep up with, and he has had poop issues ever since. In fact, the day I brought him home he had EXPLOSIVE diarrhea everywhere in the crate on the way home and the nearly hour drive was almost completely unbearable!:yuck::dead: Lol! I should have sensed that this event would foreshadow our future with poop issues, but I was naive and chalked it up to being a poor quality diet as she fed a cheap, poor quality food. I slowly transitioned Vasily onto what my current sphynx was eating at the time which was simply nourish grain free chicken and turkey, but we still had explosive bowels. Around that time Petsmart was also running an online special on Evo and after hearing the rave reviews, I purchased both a bag for my cats and a bag for my dogs and began the transition once again. After a couple weeks of the evo it was crystal CLEAR that it was not going to work so I decided to go back to Natural Balance Wild Pursuit (with the freeze dried raw pieces) I had used in the past with my other sphynx... This transition went much smoother, but alas! things are still not right in this corner of the kingdom or I would not be writing this. We are still having issues and the occasional flare ups after months. Vasily does not tolerate chicken or turkey well and honestly at this point I am afraid to try any other type of fowl or poultry based food for this reason. Currently, I have resorted to STALKING Vasily each time he enters the trusty old Litter Robot to quickly cover either his explosive diarrhea or his solid poop as regardless of it's form he manages to step in it CONTINUOUSLY if I do not. I feel like a madman always peeking about stalking him and dashing over to see if he's going #2.... He even tries to hurry away when he sees me creeping up on him with the scooper to cover his poo!!! The poor cat probably thinks I'm a psycho who's obsessed with his poop, but I'm more so obssesed with not having it cover every surface in my home!:banghead: Is there ANYTHING else I can try to fix this?? I LOVE my cats and would never dream of getting rid of them, however, I am getting to the point of where I am fed up with the poo foot trailing everywhere leaving CLUMPS of feces on my comforter, in my sheets, on my couch, and counters etc. I dread coming home to clean up more poop if he manages to go #2 while I'm out and I'm not there to cover it for him before he steps in it. I wish there was something equivocal to a golf ball washer that I could stick his feet in and swirl them around to keep him from smearing it everywhere!:bored: He is parasite free and other than having a poultry intolerance or possible allergy, completely healthy. Can anyone offer some advice or wisdom? I'm currently waging war against POOP and I am on the losing side. Plz send reinforcements!

 

[Catzzzmeow]

I would have your vet run a fecal sample and discuss as it might be Giardia. It often comes up false negative when tested, so it is often misdiagnosed. Many vets will treat for it even if false negative as the meds won't hurt them. Sphynx cat with Diarrhea (Giardia)

BTW welcome to Sphynxlair @zisforzombie

 

[Hairless Blessing]

Welcome to sphynxlair, good to have you.
It could be IBS also. I would take him to
the Vet.

 

[Yoda mom]

@zisforzombie , welcome to the lair family
Definitely agree with the advice given for a vet check
Ask too to rule out tritrichomonas which has a different med than for giardia
tritrichomomas , which has a different medication , has been a poo culprit for somee kitties besides giardia

A good enzyme cleaner I use for laundry is anti icky poo Unscented in the purple label I get online.

Please keep us updated often!
Pre careful too about staking him with poop scooper
You don't want him to think he is doing wrong by using the box -
I would wait a few minutes till he is out of the box - praise him amd then do the scoop assault

Some foods are high in protein which can cause poo issues
My IBD kitty does well on Nutrisource cat and kitten food ( no recalls) even though it does have chicken that I thought she has an issue with but has been fine - my vet didn't allergy test because said I may get a lot of flase positives - you can discuss more with your vet for your bsboes individual circumstances .
The other foods she has done fine on is Fromm game bird recipe amd Halo Senstive stomach.

Halo food was recently commented by member as being fiamlly the food that worked after wits end

Definitely keep us updated with the vet visit amd treatment plan

 

[Yoda mom]

@zisforzombie , here is the link By @Kelly300514 , hopefully she can chime in too

Poop Problems Finally Fixed!!!

Here are some of the halo recipes I found
Halo dry cat food - Free Shipping at Chewy.com

Will be looking for updates with your vets diagnosis
Treatment plan

(((Positive vibes ))))l
Here is a link on tritri
Tritrichomonas foetus (Diarrhea)

 

[zisforzombie]

Thanks so much catzzzmeow, Hairless Blessing, and Yoda Mom! You guys rock!

Some quick questions for you guys, I plan on getting him into the vet asap to check for Gardia and tritrichomonas, since he did come from an an extremely crowded environment with probably anywhere from 20-30 cats. However, my female sphynx has had no issues with loose stools or diarrhea and he had initially received a clean bill of health from my vet. Are either these contagious/easily trasmittable? Would it be likely that my female has caught them too as they both use the same box even though she has had no issues? I had initially thought that maybe he had IBS, as it seems he has a few intolerances to certain foods, so if I do switch to another kibble, it will have to be chicken/turkey free. Do any of you have any insight or personal opinions on raw food for cats with IBS? I have looked into commercial raw (Radcat) before but it seemed quite costly with the shipping surcharge which initially turned me off. I already spend around $50 every 1.5 months give or take some on feeding my 2 cats, so would like to stay in that range of possible. Would I be better off to make my own raw food or try and find another commercial raw or try some more kibbles?

 

[zisforzombie]

So here we are at 7 am with poop smeared all over Vasily's legs and clumps of poop and litter smeared across my bedroom that I just finished cleaning up. I'm really hoping that the poo issues change soon! Also, for some reason Vasily digs a hole and then poops on TOP of the mountain of litter he dug instead of pooping in the hole.... this causes him to poop directly on his feet and legs and then while he is scratching the sidewalls (since he is unaware how to cover his poop with litter properly) he completely steps all around in it and then darts out of the litter box leaving poo trails everywhere. Sorry for venting, just frustrated!!!

 

[meandmytwo]

Sorry you're going through this!
I've been there.

Long couple posts detailing our journey : Our Poopy Journey, Clostridial Infection, Tylosin

I suggest full fecal testing : have them test for everything. I had 3 different tests done to cover it all. $300 and so worth it as we found the problem.

Before that : changing foods, pumpkin, probiotics, nothing helped.

My one boy Freeway has always and still does at 15 months old, does as yours : digs a hole (frantically I might add lol), poops on the hill, tries but fails to cover (scraping at the sides of the box or reaches just outside the box to scrape), then springs out of the box at full speed. When he had loose poop his legs and feet were covered in it from his circling (not to mention the diarrhea often just ran down his legs to begin with) and after exiting the box he'd flick his feet and the poop would spray in all directions sticking everywhere. I was literally in tears at some point everyday for months.

His digging and missing the hole continues but now with solid poop the "logs" don't stick to him when he gets too close and all is fine, the poop lands and doesn't run. Also, now that he's bigger there is more clearance, so that has helped too. He steps in his puddle of pee now and then (not even once a week) - but it's no big deal comparatively speaking!

I hope this gets sorted for you soon.

 

[Toa and Ross]

Welcome to sphynxlair. Sorry you're going through this. I have no other suggestions or advice to offer but wanted to chime in to sent you hugs. Hang in there!

Oh I just remember a friend of mine had an issue like you're having. She decided to put only a newspaper into the litterbox. Since then the cat never stepped in the poop anymore cause he didn't have to dig and cover. But with two cats this might be difficult.