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  #1  
Old November 3rd, 2008, 06:28 PM
Merc83 Merc83 is offline
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Unhappy Cat pooping on tail

Hi everyone.

We have a cat named Fluff that we took in about 11 years ago. As long as we've had him, he has had trouble with loose stools. We've taken him to the vet several times about it and they have run blood tests and tests on samples of his poop that we bring in and the vet can't find anything wrong. We've tried some medications that the vet suggested and started giving him pumpkin, but neither clear this up.

Lately though, he started to keep his tail down and curled between his hind legs. When he goes poop, he ends up pooping on his own tail and, because it is loose (almost no form to it at all), it sticks all over it. He then wanders around the house inadvertently wiping it off on floors, furniture etc.

We've taken him to the vet again recently and had him check Fluff's tail, but he said it wasn't broken or damaged. When I wipe off his tail I use paper towel and warm water, but he cries like it hurts him.

Anyone have any idea what the problem might be? Should I go to another vet?
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  #2  
Old November 3rd, 2008, 06:44 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Cat with loose stools with no medical reason can be due to its diet. Grains or potatoes can cause diarrhea in kitties.

Have you had any blood work done recently to check kidneys? I know Snowball was very sensitive when his kidneys started to fail.
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Old November 3rd, 2008, 07:57 PM
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Poor Fluff. :sad:

I agree about the diet....what are you feeding him?
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Old November 3rd, 2008, 09:08 PM
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kathryn kathryn is offline
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Shave him down. My old old old cat from forever ago used to do that and we got him shaved down at the groomers because we were sick of cleaning the crap out of his tail.

I have a floofy cat now named Jack. Just a few days ago he had a bout of diarrhea. He screamed blood murder when we had to clean him up. Ended up having to cut a chunk of his fur out as well. If he ends up like my childhood fluffy cat where he poops on himself when he is older, he will be shaved like my previous cat
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Old November 4th, 2008, 05:39 PM
Merc83 Merc83 is offline
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Blood work, food brands

Hmm, I made a post last night, but it said I had to wait for approval before it would be listed. I'll give it another try.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Love4himies View Post
Have you had any blood work done recently to check kidneys? I know Snowball was very sensitive when his kidneys started to fail.
When we took him in to see the vet last, they did blood tests and ruled out any kidney problems.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Love4himies View Post
Cat with loose stools with no medical reason can be due to its diet. Grains or potatoes can cause diarrhea in kitties.
We feed him those Wellness brand canned wet cat food. The label says "grain free". There are sweet potatoes listed.

The other two cats eat the wet canned Whiskas food, but they all eat from each others bowls when they are done, so Fluff ends up having some of that too (doesn't seem to be any potatoes or grains specifically listed on the Whiskas though).
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Old November 4th, 2008, 06:58 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Can you get your other kitties to eat Wellness, it really is a superior food. Just a bit of grain, including corn can affect Jasper's digestion. I know somebody whose cat can't eat any potatoes.

Two other really good foods are: Evo 95% meat or Nature's Variety Instinct are two foods that are potato and grain free.
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Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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Old November 4th, 2008, 07:00 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Just wondering if your kitty goes outside and could have gotten an injury or perhaps a child pulled his tail.
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Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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  #8  
Old November 4th, 2008, 08:31 PM
Merc83 Merc83 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Love4himies View Post
Can you get your other kitties to eat Wellness, it really is a superior food.
They didn't seem to like it as much as the Whiskas when we tried before, but I'll give it another shot.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Love4himies View Post
Just wondering if your kitty goes outside and could have gotten an injury or perhaps a child pulled his tail.
Fluff does go outside for a few hours during the day (he gets upset when we try to keep him in), but is inside all night. We figured something must have happened to him while he was out patrolling. His tail has been like this for months now, and he doesn't seem to be improving.

Thanks for the help so far everyone.

Last edited by Merc83; November 5th, 2008 at 03:20 PM. Reason: Adding more details
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  #9  
Old November 11th, 2008, 06:12 PM
Merc83 Merc83 is offline
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I've been trying all the cats on the Wellness food for the past week and they all seem to like it, but Fluff seems to be going even looser.

He seems to have a lot of trouble going. I've watched him and he really seems to be pushing hard when he goes and when it does finally come out, it shoots out loudly and splatters all over. He did go a few days without getting any on himself, but the last two days his tail was covered.

I guess we'll have to try going back to the "cheap" food since it never bothered him as much as this new stuff.

My mother told me that the last time they took him to the vet, the vet said if the pumpkin didn't work the only choices were expensive surgery (which probably would not work anyway, he might not even live through it) or putting him down.

I don't want to have to lose him. I just wish I knew why he was dragging his tail around (he rarely raises it anymore). The loose stool has been going on for as long as I've had him, so I'd given up on fixing that, if I could just keep him from putting his tail between his legs when he goes or dragging it through the stool afterwards everything would be fine.
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Old November 11th, 2008, 06:43 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Before going back to the cheap food, I would give Instinct by Nature's Variety a shot, maybe even some slippery elm (can buy in capsules in the nutritional supplement aisles.

Did the vet mention what surgery?
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Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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  #11  
Old November 11th, 2008, 06:44 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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I am puzzled about the pain in the tail area though, has the vet checked his anal glands? Was there xrays taken?
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Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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  #12  
Old November 13th, 2008, 05:29 PM
Merc83 Merc83 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Love4himies View Post
Before going back to the cheap food, I would give Instinct by Nature's Variety a shot, maybe even some slippery elm (can buy in capsules in the nutritional supplement aisles.

Did the vet mention what surgery?
I'll see if we can pick up some of that food this weekend.

I asked my Mom again about the surgery, but it looks like she meant our other cat Oreo (Fluff's son). He had had trouble with constipation so bad it looked like we might lose him. The medicine didn't work very well for him, but a friend suggested mineral oil and he has been doing a lot better since. Although finding out online how dangerous mineral oil can be to cats, I'm worried about him again. I've been giving him pumpkin along with his food, but that doesn't seem to be enough. Is there a safer alternative to mineral oil which would do the same job?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Love4himies View Post
I am puzzled about the pain in the tail area though, has the vet checked his anal glands? Was there xrays taken?
I don't think he checked them, and there weren't any x-rays done.
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Old November 13th, 2008, 08:09 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Merc83 View Post
I'll see if we can pick up some of that food this weekend.
You might want to think about trying a novel protein source and see how he does on that. While Wellness is a good food, most of the flavours contain chicken and if your guy has, say, an intolerance for chicken, it won't be doing him any good. Find something he probably hasn't had before, like venison or rabbit or duck. Innova Evo 95% meats are good, along with the Nature's Variety Instinct that Love4himies mentioned. If you can't find them, you might be able to find Natural Balance Venison (or Duck) and Green Pea. The thing is, all the cats would have to be eating it so that Fluff doesn't get into anything he shouldn't. And no treats unless you've scrutinized the ingredients. Common allergens are fish, grains, dairy, eggs, yeast, beef and chicken.

I also highly recommend trying the slippery elm bark that Love4himies brought up. Here is more info on that for you: http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...em=slipperyelm

Quote:
Originally Posted by Merc83 View Post
I asked my Mom again about the surgery, but it looks like she meant our other cat Oreo (Fluff's son). He had had trouble with constipation so bad it looked like we might lose him.
Slippery elm also works great for constipation.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Merc83 View Post
Is there a safer alternative to mineral oil which would do the same job?
You could try Vetbasis hairball gel or Vet's Best hairball and digestive aid. Both can be useful in cases of constipation.
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Old November 27th, 2008, 05:22 AM
dinav dinav is offline
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I have a cat that leaves dingles all over the house because his tail is so fluffy.... not sure if your problem is because he has runny stools or the fact that he has a lot of furr that sticks to his stools. One....if you have a cat that has runny stools thats a problem. I know that you have heard to switch to hard catfood. If he still has runny stools and you have taken him to the vet and he says no big deal, take him somewhere else because he is loosing water hydration if he has diearea. Again, I have a cat that has long furr and I have to have a groomer shave that area so he doesnt have it stick to his furr. My cat instinctivly cleans that area of course, but to save him/her from having to do that I would do your cat a favor but I definatley know that a runny stool is NOT ok.
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Old November 27th, 2008, 08:20 AM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dinav View Post
I know that you have heard to switch to hard catfood.
Huh? Not from here they didn't. A wet food diet is always preferable to dry food when we're talking about cats.
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Old November 27th, 2008, 08:51 PM
Merc83 Merc83 is offline
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Here's an update.

We were able to find the Natural Balance in Duck and Venison varieties so we've been trying those. Last week there still weren't any improvements, so we decided to try a different dry cat food (the cats are given wet food twice a day and there is a bowl of dry food available for them to eat from throughout the day).

A woman at the pet food store recommended "Fromm Four-Star Nutritionals" (Duck a la veg flavour), since she had a cat with a similar problem and that was the only food that helped. She said that it might take a few weeks to a month for it to start to work though.

I realized that I didn't specify in my original post that the problem was that he was pooping on the end/tip of his tail since he tucks it between his legs when he pushes. All other times he seems to avoid raising it still, keeping it hovering close to the ground at all times, curling the tip to the side so it doesn't drag too much on the ground.

Last edited by Merc83; November 27th, 2008 at 08:55 PM.
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Old November 28th, 2008, 10:00 PM
sued2008 sued2008 is offline
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--We've taken him to the vet again recently and had him check Fluff's tail, but he said it wasn't broken or damaged. When I wipe off his tail I use paper towel and warm water, but he cries like it hurts him.

--I realized that I didn't specify in my original post that the problem was that he was pooping on the end/tip of his tail since he tucks it between his legs when he pushes. All other times he seems to avoid raising it still, keeping it hovering close to the ground at all times, curling the tip to the side so it doesn't drag too much on the ground.


We had a similar problem with our cat months ago. We came home one day and he was hiding in a corner obviously in a lot of pain. When he did walk, his tail was tucked between his legs and he looked like he was constipated when he tried to go to the bathroom. And he wouldn't move his tail to go, either.

We took him to the vet and they tried to see if he had a UTI or if he was constipated (he has a history of constipation), and they even took Xrays. Nothing showed up on anything. The vet gave us Metacam and told us to bring him back if it got any worse.

The pain went away within a few days, but his tail is still bent somewhat near the middle and he doesn't often move it or raise it very far. He does have enough movement to move it out of the way when he's pooping, though.
It's been like that for months and doesn't show any signs of improvement. We've never found out what happened.


Hopefully you will have better luck with a diagnosis than we have.
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