Last summer the dry food we fed at Kezkatz was discontinued. The manufacturer provided no explanation of why they would no longer manufacture this grain free variety. Replacing affordable quality grain free dry feline food is difficult.

Aware Soybean is a “NO NO “ for cat and taken in by the negative ads about grains and animal by-products I asked several veterinarians and feline digestive specialist what to feed. One veterinarians made a comment which took my thoughts “in nature cats eat internals of mice, small rodents and birds filled with grains, veggies, fruits and berries the idea of grains are bad doesn’t add up with nature’s feline feeding”.

We decided not to worry about grains other than soybeans or corn. Soybean increases estrogen may contribute to urinal tract infection/disease and possibly increases peeing frequency causing dehydration. Corn addition decreases cost, increases protein percentage is more or less used as feed filler.

At Kezkatz Dry food is feed free choice and wet food twice daily for adults. Feeding dry offers the added benefit of some dental hygiene. Please read our blog Feline Dental Hygiene for dental hygiene care.

We decided to run a food test to see which would work best with our cats. We fed dry food only for 45 days changing to wet feeding only the next 45 days. Testing included daily checks of the texture, shape, color, fluidity of poop. A cat feces is a good indicator of their health. Please read our blog about Scatology (cat feces).

Feeding wet only produced unexpected results the soft poopers became “tootsie roll” poopers a pleasant surprise. This meant our brand of wet food was good, okay for the cats apparently causing no digestive upset. Surprisingly with a couple exception the results were the same for dry food only feedings.

Through the years we had many digestive panels test rarely would the panel reveal a positive(s) of parasites, protozoan. Results of these digestive panels re confirmed idea soft poopers issue was related to food. More importantly it seemed to indicate some of our soft poopers was directly result of combination of eating both wet and dry. Stomach bacteria of an individual cat maybe the biggest factor associated causing soft pooping when feeding combination off wet and dry food. This testing experience although amateur without all the scientific control factors seem to indicating some cats stomach bacteria cannot handle the daily consumption of different texture and/or moisture of food when feed in combination of wet and dry food. Though it could be because of the manufacture difference, inclusion of supplements difference of wet and dry food contributing to the cat’s stomach bacteria responses.

Our experiment does not address these issue of the reason of why dry and wet food combination affects the textures, firmness of cat poop. Nor does it answer if soft poop when there is no parasites, protozoan, metabolic imbalances or known disease effects the health of the cat. The testing shows the effects of feeding wet only and dry only with our cats. Helping us decide what to feed each of our cats. Fortunately most of the cats feeding the combination works we have a couple of cats require wet feeding only for their poop to be the coveted “Tootsie Roll” idea poop of healthy cats. None of our cats require dry feed only. Kezkatz cats are like all cats they love to be picky when well fed a couple will not eat dry and a couple will not eat wet food others like certain feed bowls or up on cat furniture not the floor. CATS are Cats always different in personality, habits and unique behaviors and preferences. What is important is finding which works best for individual cat. We want each of our cats to have poop with a firm texture and dark color like Tootsie Roll an indication of good health. Poop is the best indicator of your cat health. Cats are instinct masters of masking their health problems until it’s too late. This is importance of regularly monitor your cat friend’s poop.

At Kezkatz we use pre program feeding for our pre-breeding, prenatal and nursing females to increase their kitting recovery and newborn baby cat health. They are fed free choice Royal Canin Queen Chatte Reproductrice dry food with wet food twice daily. When the kittens are four weeks mother and baby cats are switch to Royal Canin mom and Baby Cat wet and dry food. This feeding program seem to produce healthy, heavier kittens at all ages of growth. I highly recommend the Royal Canin Queen Chatte Reproductrice for pregnant and nursing females.

The texture, shape, color, fluidity of the poop is a good “tale tale” of cat health.

Important Information For Feeding Your Cat or Kitten

Please do not feed food prepared for human. Many seasoning are toxic and/or poison to felines. Check with ASPCA for feline poison information
Cats require taurine and dog don’t feeding dog food to cats or cat food to dogs is unhealthy for your pet.
When feeding raw it’s important to consistently use exact procedure safe procedure. There are many resources to help with how you should feed raw and the best combinations.
If you cat has soft poop schedule a vet appointment to test for what is causing the problem.
If liquid or diarrhea don’t wait go ASAP to your veterinarian. It maybe worms but there are many other parasites, protozoans, vitamin inbalance like Vitamin B and diseases causing liquid, watery of extremely soft diarrhea. Severe ongoing diarrhea can lead to death, especially with kittens.