I have 2 16 year old cats. They are litter mates, male and female. They were always on dry food but about 2 months ago I decided to switch them to wet. I still have the dry available for them to munch on throughout the day and feed them each 1/2 of wet (regular sized - not those small ones) 2x per day (morning and night).
the problem is that since I changed them, they seem to be having very loose stools. For some reason they also rarely bury their stool and always seem to step on it and then my pillow (always my pillow!).
mom looking for suggestions on helping their stools to be more firm. Any ideas on what I can do?
You say you switched them to wet. You have to do that very slowly, staring with a small morsel. Did you?
A must to do SLOWLY VERY slowly stick with one brand and one flavor at first
canned pumpkin is great too to add. Some cats will eat it plain. 1/2 tsp per day roughly mixed in food. I also tried pumpkin powder FIRM UP available thru Chewy you dont use much so it will last a LONG time You can try no fish , no chicken as well but Id start with ONE thing for a week and keep reevaluating
have they been to the vet recently i ask because of their ages
Hi Catherine,
Your cats are a great age and it was a good idea to add some wet food to their diets to increase their moisture intake.
When adding a new food to their diet, it needs to be done slowly over the course of 1-2 weeks by adding small amounts of the new food to the old food and gradually increasing the new food and decreasing the old food over time if it’s tolerated well. Did they start having loose stools when the food was first introduced? Or has it developed over time?
Is it the same brand and flavor of wet food the whole time? Any variation in this can also cause diarrhea, particularly when the food is new. Some cats are also sensitive to certain ingredients so I’d stick to a wet food that has a single protein source and has minimal additives. It’s common for them not to bury their poop if they have an upset tummy.
I’d recommend getting them checked by your vet if the diarrhea isn’t resolving soon as they’re older cats. Your vet may give you probiotics +/- recommend a sensitive diet.
You may find these articles useful;
https://cats.com/best-fiber-supplement-for-cats-with-diarrhea
https://cats.com/best-cat-food-for-diarrhea
Let us know how it goes,
Aisling