If your cat is suffering from loose stool, otherwise known as diarrhea or my personal favorite, “pancake poo,” you’ll likely do anything to help relieve their discomfort! Not to mention keep the mess to a minimum (though our booty wash is a great way to keep them clean during this time.)
Sometimes, it’s a simple issue that can be resolved using this method, but occasionally you may have a long-term issue with loose stool. Here are my Top 3 Steps to helping your kitty get past their chronic pancake poos!
Step 1: Vet Visit
First and foremost, we want to rule out any health issues that may be causing tummy distress! Things like intestinal parasites, worms, or viruses can cause loose stool, so you want to ensure that these are not affecting your kitty. Have your vet run a fecal test on your kitty and get a full checkup.
Once your kitty has been checked out and freed of the possibility of health issues causing the pancake poos, it’s time to look at the most common reason: their diet.
Step 2: Examine Their Diet
The most common cause of loose stool in pets is their diet. I always recommend a fresh food diet, a gently cooked diet, or a fresh frozen raw diet for pets. You can find my recommendations here. But even if you stick with kibble or standard wet food, there are a few ingredients to look out for that could cause loose stool.
Gut Disruptors
Common pet food ingredients have actually been shown to disrupt our pet’s natural gut microbiome, causing stomach issues that lead to loose stool. These ingredients are:
Wheat
Dairy
Gluten
Soy
Artificial Flavorings
Artificial colorings
Carrageenan (used as a binder)
Other Food Sensitivities
Even if you remove all the above gut disruptors, your pet may still be reacting to something else in the food. Some pets, especially sensitive cats, have problems digesting things like peas, beans, or potatoes. Furthermore, you also have to consider the proteins in their food, as some cats struggle to digest fish, others struggle with chicken, and so on.
Sounds like a lot to research and try, doesn’t it? Thankfully, ReNewedPet has made it easy with the next step!
Step 3: Food Sensitivity Test
Skip the long and arduous hours of research, the expense of constantly buying new foods to try in hopes that they have the right ingredients, and the extra days or weeks it may take to figure all this out on your own! Instead, use our pet food allergy tests to pinpoint exactly the foods that your cat or dog is reacting to. These tests are easy to perform at home using their saliva. Then, you can easily research or talk to a nutritionist to find a food that avoids these allergens.
