Beau's soft stool: from food or what?

[Fluffysmom]

Hi all,

When I adopted Beau, he was fine in the litter box department, except for urinating frequently.  CAT checked him out thoroughly, gave him all shots, wormed him, tested for the usual suspects.  I bought some Iams Naturals food the day I took him home, overwhelmed by all the choices & needing to set up the house for his arrival.  I switched him off the ziploc bag of purina one they gave me, & he seemed fine.

Then he started getting soft stools; not real bad, but I was keeping an eye on things.  He's such an active cat, I wanted good fuel for his body, so I bought a bag of EVO and gradually switched him to that.  His soft stools seemed better for a while, then got worse.  Plus, it really stinks & he passes stinky gas now and then.

I talked to people at CAT, and they suggested that EVO may be too rich for him.  A month on Iams, a month on EVO, and now I'm in the process of slowly switching his diet to Wellness CORE.  He already seems a little better.

I'm going on an overnight trip this weekend to Seattle (Seattle Storm game), so I've brought Beau into town to get used to my apartment and my friend and catsitter that lives down the hall.  I hope the stress doesn't make things worse.  I'm staying home with him, playing with him, watching him enjoy Fluffy's old cat tree.  I posted a few pictures.

I'll take him to a vet next week regardless of how he does since he needs a rabies shot (CAT doesn't do since they insist adopted cats be indoor cats) so I can get his license (my apartment lease says I have to).  I'll need to get him checked out for my peace of mind, but I sure hope this food change works!

Do you think I've listened to the right person, is Wellness CORE going to be good for my Beau?

[Fluffysmom]

just a happy update:

I remembered to scoop the litter this morning after I'd been up a while.  Imagine my happy surprise to find a normal shaped stool in there!  I hadn't even noticed the smell & don't know when he made that deposit!

[opus88]

you know the guar gum may only be in the cans....you just maybe ok with the dry...lets keep our fingers crossed, Beau boy will do just fine for a few days, in his lovely window watching the birds..have a great trip:-)

[Fluffysmom]

Thank you, opus.  I read the other post and commented on it; very sad and scary.  I'll remind myself to check for recalls.

I read every ingredient on the Wellness Core package, and it doesn't list guar gum.  He actually seems to be doing better on this 5th day of eating the Wellness as I start transitioning him from the EVO.  I'm keeping a close eye on my Beau boy.

My neighbor came over to meet him today in her electric wheelchair, and he wasn't scared at all, walked right up to her, checked out the chair all over, let her pet him, sniffed her feet, her iced chai tea, everything.  I think he'll do just fine when I leave him here overnight this weekend.  Sigh.

[opus88]

there is another post today on MH from someone who brings to our attention that WELLNESS had a recall earlier this year...and it very good to read her write up..
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Cats/9yo-cat/show/1529414

Its so darn hard to know what to feed, I get discouraged TOO believe me!!! Wellness remains one of the best foods on the market HOWEVER all commercial foods have some problems, some just less than others, and all commercial foods have been prone to recalls.

After doing more research today on Wellness I also found it uses a fermentable fiber for an ingredient called GUAR GUM....you'll find this is very common with MOST foods...and many cats get diarrhea from this ingredient, so K it may just be whats bothering Beau???

I've also read there have been more reports than normal concerning cats getting urinary tract crystals from Wellness....so again something to watch for esp with male cats...

keep us updated on how Beau is doing, its good for everyone to be aware of any health effects of the food they are feeding....we all need to be vigilant....♥

[opus88]

thats the trouble with the 'good' stuff...like feedin us cabbage...without all the additives it just doesn't taste as good!!  I doubt Jade would like the Core any better, would be worth a try tho...Sami is eating it reluctantly lol. I have to spike it with a tad of salmon and/or chicken bites...(bagged). cats are the most finicky critters in the whole world!!!!!!!

[Jade59]

Ah, Opus, Wellness Core comes in cans?  I've only seen it in dry.  Since I know Jade liked it, I may try the can although she likes the regular Wellness dry but will not, no way, eat the canned of ANY flavor in the regular Wellness. *sigh*

[opus88]

no K over a year old is no longer considered a kitten...the age quickly.
Evo and Wellness are 2 very good foods that I have suggested many times b/c both are GRAIN FREE and low carb. that is very important...cats are carnivores and dont need the grains or carbs.
EVO is high in calories, could have been too rich for Beau as was suggested. The Wellness Core I am feeding to one of mine right now in cans. Jade is right about dry food and male cats...so be very sure he continues to drink tons of water...and I wouldn't worry about him peeing several times a day..that would indicate he is drinking well. Also dry foods have many other ingredients in them to help with longer storage times...some of these ingredients could be not agreeing with him, so if the diarrhea continues with the Wellness I would suggest trying cans..always do a food transition slowly or it would make the diarrhea worse.
I will send you an excellent site on nutrition if you follow the link on the right hand side COMMERICAL CAN FOODS it will give you the names of all the best commerical foods for cans but these are also the best list for dry as well...
www.catinfo.org

pumpkin is very good for kitties esp if constipation is an issue, but since its fiber it should also be good for diarrhea I would think...

good luck. btw took a peak at his newest photo and he is one handsome young man!!
keep us posted...>^..^<

[Fluffysmom]

Beau is around 1 1/4 years old: I didn't think of that as a kitten, though he sure plays as hard as one!  The age is an estimate by the vets at CAT; he appeared to be a year old when he was found on a street in south east Portland.

He's up-to-date on all his other vaccines, Jade, I'll have to file that in my memory banks for the future.

I did give him a small can of the Wellness, mixed with some babyfood squash.  One of the CAT people told me that pumpkin has been shown to resolve some tummy troubles.  I mixed some squash baby food in with the canned food, and he slurpped it up, even the half I reheated the next morning.

Canned food is so messy and smelly; I don't like having to go that route.  Fluffy was always a good water drinker so it wasn't an issue with him.  Beau seems to drink a fair amount, especially when I rinse out his bowl & put fresh water in.  He takes water breaks when he's running around like a wild cat.  

Could the fact that he pees several times a day be pointing to some issues in that department?  I'll scoop his litter in the morning and find 4 or more clumps of urine between his two litter boxes that he's deposited since I scooped after dinner the night before.

I had to laugh when one of the adoption counselors suggested the Wellness core: my cat was going gluten free just like me!

[Jade59]

The Wellness Core is a very good food, although high in fat...or carbs, I forget which.  Grain free too, I think.  I just remember it was a very greasy dry food.  Jade LOVED it a little too much so I only fed it to her once back in 07.  Also, K, is Beau eating mainly dry or wet food?  You might try the Wellness wet, too, if you haven't already.  I just know that male cats especially should be on wet food to avoid that crystal problem.  And AnnieBrooke is right, he should be on kitten food.  The first 2yrs, I believe.  Opus has used the EVO because I believe it's grain free also and has suggested it many times, but if it's not agreeing with Beau, then it's not for him.  I love the food choices you're trying.  You're starting him off right.  

Good luck with the Rabies shot and a word of advice.  If they want to give both the Rabies and any other shot at the same time, go with Rabies ONLY, then the other vaccine later since the Rabies can often cause kitty not to feel well up to 48hrs and more than one vaccine at a time can exasperate the problem.  Jade was getting both the Rabies and the FVRCP at the same time which produced an awful experience, so last yr, I first had the Rabies then had the FVRCP done separately a week later.

[AnnieBrooke]

How old is Beau?  He might be pretty young for any of the richer-formula cat foods.  Are you getting him the kitten formulation?  

One thing you could try is getting some beef broth and Gerber's Baby Rice cereal and mixing it for him to a stiff paste, and giving him the occasional meal of it.  It might slow things down in the rapid-exit department.