Stay the course with Blue Buffalo or with Purina One??

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  • 28 March, 2014 at 10:03 pm #804812
    mangaemi
    Participant

    Hey all!

    I have a 5 month old kitty and ever since we got him he’s had the most… horrendous gas and can’t seem to poop tootsie rolls like a normal kitten – it’s either soft serve (ew) or water (ewwwww), and also with gas sounds when he goes. Poor little guy now I think catches on that when he’s in the box pooping (b/c I work from home) I have to immediately go in there to catch him as he usually steps his back foot in it while trying to cover it up and I have to wash his little feet/bottom with either wipes or a quick/anxious attempt in the sink.

    I’m understanding if his tummy needed time to adjust but we’ve had him for a month now – and just recently started to switch/ween him onto Blue Buffalo with hopes this might cure his gas/diarrhea problem… he’s scheduled tomorrow for his 2nd deworming – as when we got him he did have roundworm. Also a week ago we went to the vet a week early (I wrote it down wrong lol) but with the Banfield Pet plan we’re on, extra visits are free… so they thought maybe he has… (I forget the name) either girardia or something that starts with a C. So they prescribed him Albon Suspension.

    He’s on the last 4 of those but still has outrageous gas and flip flops back and forth from the two current versions of his poo. You can tell he has stomach upset b/c when I hold him and gently rub his belly he’ll grunt/whimper like a puppy… and even a few times when I’ve gently done it he lets out a rather powerful far/burst of air. Though he’s had the same kind of loud farts when stretching too.

    I thought maybe Blue Buffalo would be easier on his stomach b/c Purina One says Chicken & Rice – and Rice is a grain/carbohydrate.. and BB claims to be grain free. But now I read there are kittens/cats that have the runs even from slowly switching to that…. o___o

    I get that some cats fart and that’s just how it goes.. but no way is the high frequency and smell of the ones my poor Edmund have can be normal? Is it just a random combination of the roundworm/deworming, his transition from kitten foods, or is blue buffalo a brand to avoid?

    I’ll be saying aaaaaall this to the vet tomorrow, but this is really to ask you guys if you’ve had any experience. I’m about to ask if we should get some probiotic for him, but you’d think the Albon would have at least started to kill out any bad bacteria.

    Any thoughts on BB? If you love it/hate it or think some other kitten brand is better please let me know. We’re feeding him dry for right now and prefer dry due to dental issues later in life but could always consider changing?

    Apart from all this he plays/drinks alot (well obviously)/snoozes/cuddles.

    28 March, 2014 at 11:41 pm #804815
    Sikandar Nirmal Singh
    Participant

    i could honestly never afford stuff like blue buffalo for my gang. like me, they ate cheap from the dollar store, and were fine. anyway, just like people – it’s not always a matter of the brand being good or bad. every cat’s system is different as well. did u have any problems with the old food? anyway, its good to talk to the vet. welcome, by the way!

    29 March, 2014 at 12:01 am #804819
    mangaemi
    Participant

    Well we only have one kitty right now – and maybe b/c I just came off of caring for my 20y/o buddy who had CRF and had meds plus specialty food the BB food didn’t seem like that much of a jump right now.

    But before he was on the Purina Pro Chicken & Rice kitten food and we only got that b/c of the free coupon when we adopted him. I thought maybe the gas was from the Purina, b/c even then his poo wasn’t liquid but it wasn’t tootsie roll either – kinda globish.

    I mean it could be that BB is kinda like folks that are used to junk food then suddenly go organic, or it could be the seaweed ingredient/extract that is in the food, or might be a giant collection of all those things PLUS him getting his second dewormer tomorrow.

    I just feel so bad for him – I do have some BB wet but am afraid of what that will do since it has even more liquid than the dry BB. I’ve read the same hting about EVO too.

    I love him regardless but just really put off by the extremely frequent and highly noxious gas and his poor tummy having diarrhea all the time… I just want to find him something that’s good quality that will agree with his system. Unless this is just a normal thing with cats/kittens and my 20y/o buddy had the stomach of an iron giant b/c he never had tummy troubles when we switched food – that bugger ate everything.. lol

    29 March, 2014 at 12:15 am #804820
    Sikandar Nirmal Singh
    Participant

    yeah there r a lot of possible factors that could be involved! good luck with the vet. he can assess things best!

    29 March, 2014 at 2:00 am #804824
    jcat
    Participant

    I think it’s almost certainly the worms that are the problem, so I am glad he is getting his second deworming from the vet. Coccidia and giardia are both nasty parasites that cause stinky stools, gas, diarrhea and stomach upset and I’m betting he has one or both of those but it sounds like your vet is on to it. He really needs to be tested for both of those tomorrow, seeing as the roundworm has been treated. I am pretty sure that once he has been dewormed, this will not be a problem any more for you although he may have a sensitive stomach as well but that’s more usually shown by vomiting than gas, in my experience.

    As to feeding, feeding male cats dry food 24/7 is NOT a good idea. Some male cats are fine but a proportion develop crystals in their bladder which can cause a blockage in their urethra and this is life-threatening within hours and sometimes needs very urgent and expensive surgery to fix. My Max nearly died of this problem, and had to have the surgery (the vet said he was within hours of death when we brought him in) so it is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, it’s very distressing for both cat and owner, it’s an emergency and it is very, very expensive. So I would never feed a male cat dry food 24/7 ever again. If you do decide to keep on with the dry food then always make sure you have fresh clean water available, 24/7. (From what I understand, they have tried to change the food to fix this problem but the change has tended to lead to the development of a different kind of crystal — it’s very technical but there are vet papers etc on the Net you can look at if you’re interested.)

    If you are worried about dental issues later on, then you could get kitten used to having his teeth brushed now, while he’s young, or you could feed him raw gravy beef a few times a week as this — as well as being yummy — is good for cleaning his teeth. My cats get one good quality wet food meal a day (the most expensive isn’t necessarily the best — look for something that has ‘meat’ as the first ingredient on the ingredients list) and one raw meal a day (mixed beef and ox heart, chicken livers, sheep or ox kidneys, gravy beef, veal, etc etc). If you do decide to include raw, make sure it’s from a safe, well-established source (eg human grade raw meat from the supermarket). Click the pink tag on nutrition for more information and I think there’s a raw food discussion group on Catster. Best of luck.

    29 March, 2014 at 2:21 am #804826
    mangaemi
    Participant

    Yeah I used to brush my 20y/os teeth rather frequently – though you’re right about the dry/crystal issue. We may try to do a half and half thing (half dry/wet) once his tummy settles down. I only tried BB because Evo wasn’t available in our area and tried to look online for the one that had high protein and no grain.

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