Overzealous litter box activities

[brich036]

Hi all,

New to the forums, first post.

I have a 5 month old Bengal, named Taz. He's a great little guy, unfortunately a victim of chronic loose stool, probably due to the common IBS occurrence in bengals, but we're getting him checked for protazoans too, just in case.

In the mean time, dealing with the loose stool is somewhat frustrating. We're using clumping litter, but Taz seems to be quite overzealous at times in terms of covering up his poops. Not infrequently, he'll get a paw in it before he feels its adequately covered up. We're also so lucky that he is one of the cats who celebrates their litter usage, and quickly runs around the house before we get a chance to wash his paw... or at times, its in the middle of the night, and its so nice when he comes back to bed to snuggle up to your face with a poop covered paw!

The other problem is that with the loose stool, his bum has always got some moist remainder. I try and catch him when he gets out and wipe him with a tissue, but i'm not always lucky enough to be there when he poops all the time.

Any tips on how to avoid these problems?

Thanks,
Brian

[Lukka'sma]

Hi Brian welcome to the forum
I don't have any advice but when I read your post it just had me smiling. Not that running around the house with fecal matter attached to you is a good thing, but what you wrote reminded me of my cats and that was a nice thing
I had one cat that also did victory laps when exiting the litter box, and another one that would spend an hour piling up every little grain of litter until the mound was looking like Pikes Peak.
I don't mean to laugh at your situation, but thanks for putting a smile on my face

[sugarcatmom]

Aww, poor Taz. And poor you for having to clean up after him! Just wondering, it may or may not be connected, but what is Taz eating these days?

[brich036]

I can't help but laugh either, but that's after the mess is cleaned up...

As far as what he is eating, he was raised on Eagle Pack Holistic dried food, and that's what we've kept him on. The breeder has suggested supplementing with a raw diet, and we've started off with an ounce of raw chicken in the morning, and an ounce of raw in the evening. So far he's slowed down in the frequency of his movements, but its still a loose consistency.

The breeder said to leave him on that for a while, and give him some time to let his gut heal... I have IBS too, i know the routine of letting new diets settle in to see if they'll work. Failing that, which we're coming up on a two weeks of an ounce of chicking morning/evening, she said to increase the quantity.

Previously we had tried supplementing the eagle pack holistic with some hypoallergenic moist, i don't remember the brand, but we got it at the vet, and that had no effect. I had, for a short period of time, tried him on a different dried food, which was grain free, but it almost made things worse... the eagle pack is grain free, if i'm not mistaken, and should be easy on his gut in terms of ingredients.

In the mean time, we're getting him tested for the standard protozoans, like giardia, coccidia, tritrichinomas (spelling?) etc. which we just brought in the samples this morning.

The breeder had said that she hasn't seen any one of her cats, which she's been breeding for 13 years, ever have a chronic diarreha problem that hasn't been fixed by feeding the proper amount of raw meat, and that is obviously not caused by an infection.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that for both Taz's sake, as well as our family's that we do find a solution to this problem.

Any suggestions other than the steps I've taken?

-B

[Mamakicia]

I'm so sorry that I don't have any good suggestions, but I am staying tuned to see if anyone else does. At Christmas, four of my cats had diarrhea. I was scooping hourly, and I can't tell you how many wet wipes I used

[danaekitty]

My cat Healy used to purposely blast his poo all over the wall next to his litter box when he had the runs. I know he did it on purpose because he only angled himself in this direction when he had the runs, he never even attempted to bury it, and I swear I could hear him snickering as he left the box.

[gyrfalcon]

If so, please come tell what's been happening since you last posted. I've been through this and I can give you some suggestions.

[CyberKitten]

Have you tried the old standby- generally for diarrhea but sometimes works for loose stools as well - pumpkin from a can, not the real actual vegetable but the canned stuff? Just a thought as a I read this. My meezers and my Sphynx Girls fortunately all wait for me to wash their paws now, unless they are involved in some other issue that is so much more important and that actually adds up to too many, (in my book, not theirs )

Oh- you add the pumpkin to your kitty's food.

[gyrfalcon]

Originally Posted by CyberKitten

Have you tried the old standby- generally for diarrhea but sometimes works for loose stools as well - pumpkin from a can, not the real actual vegetable but the canned stuff

Oh- you add the pumpkin to your kitty's food.

My guys reacted to it with utter horror to it and preferred to starve (or chew paper)!

[Kashi]

Adding acidophilus works in humans - would that work for animals too ?

[gyrfalcon]

didn't help with mine, but I think it depends on what the problem is. I finally zeroed in on rice, brown or white, and once I started feeding stuff without it, the two-year chronic loose stools and gas stopped within a day or two and hasn't come back.

I think the acidophilus works when there's a lack of "good bacteria" in the gut, like when you've been on antibiotics for something for too long. I thought that might be the problem with my guys since they'd had longlasting URIs, and repeated treatments for various parasitical things, but it turned out not to be that at all, just an inability to digest rice or corn.

Originally Posted by Kashi

Adding acidophilus works in humans - would that work for animals too ?

[growler~GateKeeper]

Originally Posted by CyberKitten

pumpkin from a can, not the real actual vegetable but the canned stuff? add the pumpkin to your kitty's food.

Originally Posted by gyrfalcon

My guys reacted to it with utter horror to it and preferred to starve (or chew paper)!

Most cats prefer the taste of Butternut Squash babyfood, use either Earth Organics or Heinz Organics, pure (has no other ingredients) pureed babyfood, works the same as canned pumpkin just tastes better apparently

[chico2]

Growler,I.ve been adding a teaspoon of the baby-food squash to Rockys food once a day,he does not even seem to notice.
There is a very slight improvment in his poop,a little firmer.
I laughed reading about the other kitties,I am sure Rocky spends 10min building a mountain over his poop

[growler~GateKeeper]

Good to hear Chico2 They do seem to like the taste of the butternut squash better than pumpkin though they are of the same family.

How much is Rocky getting per meal? 1/4, 1/3 tsp? You could go upto 1/2 tsp & see if that shows a better rate of improvement. Small increment increases are the best way, it will not dry him out completely but gives a good balance

[Hollygirl]

I have 2 cats who have the same problem with diarrhea. One is almost 4yrs old the other just turned 1. I been told it's IBS and then maybe food allergies or maybe parasites. It's been a very frustrating and sometimes heartwrenching issue to deal with because I've wondered many times if they are in pain. I tried the medication route, my oldest has been on Prednisone, which worked a little (didn't completely stop diarrhea) but, I worried about the long term effects and took her off. Then there was a long stint on Metronidazole, this worked too but, difficult to administer daily and I worried about long term effects. There's been x-rays, blood work and every test imaginable. Then came food changes. First yogurt, they wouldn't eat. Medi Cal Gastro, worked for awhile then advised to try Hills Z/D, which worked off and on. Then I heard about an all natural food called "Go" Low carb, moderate protein. This food works for both cats. They have not had a diarrhea or even a loose stool since I made the switch. I'm not saying that this food is a miracle cure for every cat but, it "seems" to have helped mine.