How often do your diabetic cats poop?

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Jeanne & Buddy

Jeanne & Buddy

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I know it's not the most appetizing topic in the world and I'm a little embarrassed to bring it up, but how often do your diabetic cats poop? Our cat Buddy seems to go several times a day now (7 times the other day!) and it's driving my family nuts. The smell is awful, especially because most of the time he doesn't cover it up. We have to keep the box in the dining room because we live in a small condo. We have a litter box outside in our small fenced-in yard, but he rarely uses it (he doesn't go outside much anymore) and he hates the garage, so we can't put it out there.

I'm not sure if this is because of his unregulated diabetes or if it's another issue. He's on 1 unit of Vetsulin right now (we're still trying to get our money back, as I posted a week or so ago) and will be switched to Lantus soon. He's on a high-protein diet (he currently eats Fancy Feast non-gluten varieties). He gets a half a can in the morning and half a can at night, along with a few treats of chicken and beef during the day. He doesn't eat that much and yet he's always pooping. This wasn't the case a couple of months ago (he was on the same diet and only went about 1-2 times a day).It's not diarrhea and not constipation; there's just a lot of it and it's a a little mushy.

We talked to our new vet, but she didn't really say much about the issue other than cats on high-protein diets poop a lot more during the day than cats on food with a lot of filler in it. This seems like a recent problem, so I'm not sure it's that. I'm not sure if I should have more expensive tests done to rule anything else out that might be causing this or just concentrate on getting him started on new insulin and getting him regulated, which I really am hoping will help relieve the issue. I read that hyperthyroidism might cause this and I really hope it's not that.

Anyway, I was just curious about other cats and what other peoples' experiences might be with this. I'm just so tired of cleaning up poop all day long. : (
 
Interesting topic! I can't say if the poop issue is related to diabetes or not (I tend to think not...) but I can tell you my experience. Before Spooky was diagnosed both he and his 1/2 brother Socks were eating Purina One Adult dry food and both pooped several times a day (I'm guessing average 2 times each) always seemed normal in terms of consistancy and smell. It was stinky (but not unusual) and was anything from a miost formed "log" to somehwhat softer (maybe like thick lumpy mashed potato) :? About the time Spooky began spending most of his time at the water dish his poops became very soft and stinky and were even sometimes "explosive" the cat box was in the shower (I have a sparate shower stall next to the bathtub) and sometimes he would splatter the wall like a cow! He also had extra gas often and farted frequently ohmygod_smile Of course due to the huge water consumption he was also peeing extreme amounts so I had to empty the entire litterbox sometimes 2x a day (which was like a concrete block most of the time) Socks was disgusted with the litterbox so he began going into the bathtub and peeing down the drain or pooping in there. One day I caught him peeing in the drain of the bathroom sink, which prompted me to attempt to toilet train my cats. I was successful and since a year and a half I have no litterbox in my house.

Anyway I began to suspect something was wrong with Spooky because of his PD/PU, he was always hungry, and was leaving 5 or more piles of "pudding poo" each day. I was pretty sure it was diabetes and I attributed the poop problem to the fact he was eating so much and drinking so much (which made it watery) another possibility was hyperthyroid. I took him to the vet and stated my concerns. The vet was also pretty certain it was diabetes and made a blood panel and examined him. His stated he could not detect any thyroid enlargement and was doubtful that he was HT. The blood work came back mostly normal except a very glucose level (>700 mg/dl) and elevated Eosinophiles (a type of white blood cell which fights parastic infections) the vet said he most likely had "worms" and should have a de-worming injection. In retrospect I guess the intestinal problems may have been exacerbated by parasites.

The vet sent us home with instructions to get a glucose meter (he himself demonstarted with a OTU :-D ) to test his BG at home in the evening after he calmed down from the vet visit and call him with the result. He gave us a bottle of Caninsulin (Vetsulin) and a few U40 syringes. His instructions were assuming Spooky's BG tested high at home as well I should start him at 0.5U every 12 hours and I should test before each shot and whenever possible once a day about 4-5 hours after the shot (Caninsulin has it's nadir at about +4) I should call and let him know after 2 days what I measured and we would increase his dose by 1/2 unit until he was around 100 mg/dl at +4. He mentioned it maybe a good idea to try feeding Hill's d/m after a while to help "level out the BG curve" He also said I should do a 12 hour curve (measure every 2 hours) once every few weeks. I was also given a de-worming tablet for Socks at home.

Needless to say our results with Caninsulin were not very satsisfactory (up and down) and we were at 2.5U. The PU/PD did improve somewhat and the appitite calmed down a little, the poop problem totally resolved within a week, so I truly belive it was mainly caused by parisites. After several months I (without the blessing of my vet :shock: ) made the switch to Levemir, and finally got Spooky's BG somewhat under control. Changing his diet was a HUGE challenge (he refused anything but dry food) and it took us over 9 months to get him eating some canned food. I did manage to get him OTJ dispite him eating dry food, but since then I have gotten him completely off dry and both cats are eating low-carb canned food. Since abolishing the dry food both cats poop between 1x per day and sometimes every other day. The poops are quite firm (even somewhat dry and crumbly) typically "log" shaped :razz: and hardly stink ( they don't smell any worse than canned food does :lol: ) and the fact that they poop in the toilet (into water) I hardly smell it except when I go into thier bathroom to flush several times per day. I change the water in thier dish every other day or so as it is usually collecting dust, I don't recall the last time I saw one of them actually drinking :?

I was always of the opinion that strictly indoor cats did not get worms and didn't need to be "de-wormed" my vet said that all cats can get worms, the eggs are deposited in the soil outside and we (humans) track them in the house on our shoes etc. Cats and dogs eat off the floors and "bathe" themselves with thier tounge, licking thier bare feet which they have walked in our "dirt" with and the eggs get into them this way. In addition epecially in summer flys can lay eggs in various places in the house, including litterboxes or cat food/dog food dishes (left overs). He recommends outdoor cats or ones that have contact to other animals (or the owners frquently are around other animals) recieve a tablet every 3 months. Indoor cats that have almost no contact to other animals should be de-wormed minimum once per year (better every 6 months) and by suspicion (especially if unusual infection is possible eg. Giardia etc.) a stool sample should be obtained for analysis.

Hope that helps :cool:
 
Hard to tell exactly with 5 cats, but closer to once per day each.

There is less stink since we switched to Wellness (chicken and turkey flavors) -- used to feed Fancy Feast, but when we reached 100% canned food, I got tired of popping 8-10 cans per day. Wellness comes in 12.5 oz cans.

Actually, to closer to a "perfect diet", the less poop should be produced. I did notice an overall poop size decrease when we got rid of the dry food.

Those that feed raw food (for recipe, see http://www.catinfo.org), I understand there is even less poop and smell.
 
mocha poops about once every two days. Sometimes more, but not much more. I try to keep a log of her BM (how crazy am I?) and on average it is about every 2 days. She may go more but unless I see HER come out of the box and not just find poop in there (cause we have 2 cats) I won't log it down. She is rather consistent.
 
This doesn't seem right. I would check for worms, if not that, maybe there's a food allergy going on.

Tucker has IBD, irritable bowel disease. His presents with slow motility so he goes maybe every other or every third day.
 
7 times? :shock:
Baby & Sadi go once a day -- or they always have. Once I switched Baby to Raw she goes about once every other day.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies. I'm kind of thinking there is another problem besides the diabetes that is causing Buddy's pooping issues judging from what everyone has said.

He only went about 3 times today, which isn't bad compared to other days. There hasn't been any change in his diet recently, so I don't think that's it. Some days he'll go only two or three times, and then other days, it's up to 7 times (no kidding). It's very odd.

Not sure if it's worms. Buddy rarely goes outside anymore and I haven't seen anything in his poop. He doesn't vomit much, except for when he nibbles on grass and has hairballs. I've had cats before with worms, and with them, it was very obvious (I will spare you the details). Buddy doesn't seem to have those symptoms, so I'm not sure what to think. I'll be sure to bring it up to my vet, though.

I'm not sure what to do. :-| I'm just worried about Buddy because he's losing so much weight and pooping so much. It's like all the food he eats just goes right through him and that can't be good for his diabetes. Maybe a blood panel or other test is in order?
 
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