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March 23, 2009 8:42 AM

Renal-challenged cat seeks food to help with wonky poo.

Our 10 year old cat was diagnosed as having progressive renal failure six or so months ago.

(The related questions I found already on AskMeFi were to do with new kittens---was hoping for someone who has dealt with an adult cat, perhaps with un-stellar kidney function, to shed some light)

We originally took him in because he had some bloody stools (from irritated anal glands) and was drinking frequently from our water glasses.

Now, six months later, we haven't seen a bloody stool in a long time, and his water drinking seems to have normalized. He seems in a pleasant mood, plays, goes crazy as per usual, eats all the time, et cetera.

The two symptoms that remain are soft stools with occasional substantial (as opposed to watery) diarrhea, and being real skinny.

In an effort to fatten him up, we tried for awhile to give him all the tuna he wanted, which he eagerly sucked down, but this seemed to compound the poo problems, so we went back to Science Diet.

We realize his condition is not reversible, and we are only trying to make him as happy as possible in the mean time. He wears fluffy orange pants, and the poo is always getting stuck in them.

So. Do you guys know of anything that we can feed our adult cat that will regularize him a bit? We tried vet-recommended pumpkin pie mix, for fiber, but he wasn't into it. Metamusil for cats? Hidden in chicken?

Thanks.

posted by Darth Fedor to pets & animals (17 comments total)

Dairy-free acidophilus or other pro-biotics mixed into moist food work well. Buy the capsules and break them open, or buy the special pet stuff that comes as a loose powder. You might need to figure out how much is best.
posted by fiercekitten at 9:00 AM on March 23

If he doesn't like the pumpkin, try baby food squash and just mix a little into his cat food. (this recommendation came straight from my vet last week.) It basically works the same way as pumpkin but mixes better with the cat food, so they don't seem to object to it as much.
posted by OolooKitty at 9:05 AM on March 23

Well, first things first: did you use pumpkin pie mix, or actual canned pumpkin? Big difference, there.

When my dog had problems, we stuck with a bland diet of an equal mix of white rice and boiled chicken and / or ground meat.
posted by alynnk at 9:05 AM on March 23

Well, the first time we tried we bought actual canned pumpkin inadvertently. The second time we got pumpkin pie mix. He didn't like either.

Although if we could somehow how convince him that he wasn't allowed to have pumpkin pie mix, he would stop at nothing to get it, I feel sure.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will try them all.
posted by Darth Fedor at 9:32 AM on March 23

Possibly dumb question: Extra dietary fiber won't exacerbate the diarrhea, will it? I know fiber is used as an anti-constipatory remedy....or is it just generally good for the digestive system?
posted by Darth Fedor at 9:41 AM on March 23

Try the FELIDAE line of cat foods. (No, I am not plugging my own stuff.)
We had good results with our cat on this food. YMMV
posted by Drasher at 9:41 AM on March 23

Try the canned pumpkin again (not the mix), mix it well with some canned white chicken (drained), and add some Petromalt. My cat loves the stuff.
posted by HopperFan at 9:46 AM on March 23

You might want to check with your vet about the straight pumpkin v. pie mix recommendation; the plain pureed pumpkin is what you should be using. Don't make a whole meal of it, but instead mix it in with some of his food, or some chicken.

Fiber is generally good for the digestive system; when treating diarrhea it'll help to absorb excess water, but it's not completely digested so it will also help push things through when used for constipation.
posted by alynnk at 10:01 AM on March 23

This product has changed our seven-year-old cat's life. It wouldn't be adding fiber to his diet, but it will push hair and everything else through his system. Our cat, Nelson has long hair (we call it "wearing pants," too!) and since we got him four years ago as a stray, he's always had bathroom problems. He had diarrhea frequently because the, er, poops were so big they were blocking his system and all he could get out was diarrhea around them. I would recommend giving it a try for your cat. It's really worked wonders for ours, and now we can feed him whatever we want.
posted by lagreen at 10:14 AM on March 23

Coming at this from another angle, while you're working out his diet, I would clip the fur on the backside of his fluffy orange pants. It will look odd and might assault his sense of personal dignity, but it will help keep him cleaner.
posted by crankylex at 10:26 AM on March 23

Sounds exactly like our cat, including the orange pants. We're adding psyllium seed husk to his food and it helps. We are also feeding him cat food with no grain, meat only. Can't remember the name offhand, but they carry it at Whole Foods. Second the "trim his butt" advice.
posted by Carmody'sPrize at 11:01 AM on March 23

Science diet sensitive stomach formula helped our farty cat a lot. Dunno if it would help the runny cat....
posted by kestrel251 at 12:09 PM on March 23

I don't know about the whole renal thing, but my cat was having poo problems for awhile (diarrhea) and the only thing that helped her was Hill's Prescription R/D cat food. It's kind of expensive, but totally worth not having to deal with the poo problems anymore.
posted by All.star at 2:29 PM on March 23

You guys are awesome, thank you. It feels good to have a cache of possible countermeasures.

To battle!
posted by Darth Fedor at 9:43 AM on March 24

Good luck! Let us know what works / how it turns out.
posted by alynnk at 7:40 AM on March 25

He died.
posted by Darth Fedor at 1:54 AM on July 29

I am so sorry to hear that - I'm sure you made his time with you wonderful, though.
posted by HopperFan at 9:46 AM on July 29