Pencil thin stool

[Khari]

I have been raw feeding my male cat since September. Before I started him on a raw diet he had major diarrhea issues for years. His diarrhea completely cleared up since being fed raw but there has been a few times that he has had pencil thin stools. I would add more fibre and they would start to become more normal looking. But today he had two really long pencil thin stools outside the litterbox. Has anyone seen this where their cat had pencil thin stools? Or if this is a sign of health problems?

[catlover2]

The only time I saw a "pencil thin stool" was many years ago when I had an 'indoor-outdoor' cat that caught a lot of mice and he passed a tape worm. If the stool is consistently thin, I would suspect some kind of growth. When in doubt about something, always consult your vet.

[Khari]

Well I came home from work yesterday (5pm)and fed Bishop (the canned food which I have been feeding since Monday at 5pm ) and afterwards he had a pee and his stool was really wierd but I think positive....

It was about 5-6 inches long - one half was dark chocolate in color with really thin thin pieces (about 7 pieces 1" long each) intertwined with eachother and the other half of the stool was light in color (caramel which he has not had this color since raw feeding) with 3 thicker segmented pieces (what I was used to when feeding canned food in the past). So, I am starting to think that this pencil thin stool has something to do with what I am feeding him in the raw diet. I might have to tweak it somewhere....I just don't know where....HHMMMM....

p.s. A raw fed cat definately has different stools than a commercially fed cat but since I am so new to raw feeding I just am not sure what is a normal stool for a raw fed cat....

[catlover2]

I don't feed my cats a raw diet, but at one time many years ago, I did feed a raw diet to may cats, but do not recall that their stools were that unusual. I would take a stool sample to your vet for analysis at the very least, and he probably should be checked out.

[Khari]

I feel much more at ease about these pencil thin stools now....I had a phone consult with my fairly new holistic vet yesterday. I gave her Bishop's history with his tummy, diarrhea, loose stools over the years on vet prescribed pet food. And then I told her about his pencil thin stools on a raw diet and how they changed back to normal when I put him on canned grainfree food. She said she has heard of these pencil thin stools many times. She does not think it is life threatening (ie. cancer, etc.) because the stools would not change to normal once his food was changed. She believes that Bishop has irritable bowels, allergies/sensitivities to different foods/ingredients. So, I am now going to keep a journal of exactly what I feed him each day so I can figure out what is upsetting his tummy the next time he has a pencil thin stool. I know forsure that he can not eat Nature's Variety Instinct canned rabbit because he threw up and had a pencil thin stool after eating this food. But I am just not sure what his stomach is upset from in his raw diet. I am also to up the fibre I put into his raw diet and try different fibre veggies.