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Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:31 am
by Martin-W
We got a rescue cat about 18 months ago - 12mth old late-neutered tom (now 2.5yrs).

Aside from being very noisy/demanding, he's a lovely, affectionate, handsome cat. But he has intermittently (and now it's up to nearly once a day) dropped small (raisin-sized) nuggets of poo around the house.

His toilet habits otherwise seem normal - he'll use both the litter tray and the garden (more recently the front lawn, but that's a separate issue), for both urine and poo.

I don't think he knows he's doing it - often he'll get up from where he's been sleeping/sitting and it'll just be lying there.
- I don't think they're "cling-on's" as he's quite a short-haired cat and there's no hair in/on the pellets...plus we very rarely see them 'attached'.
- It doesn't look to be constipation as they're normal consistency.
- If it's anxiety then I don't know what we do different - think we're a caring household and he's had 18mths to settle in...plus it's getting worse.

The only other symptom is that he seems very fussy about type of litter - tried all sorts - and having a clean litter. But nothing that stops him using the tray, just he miaows about it a lot.


This is now critical as the wife is pregnant and worried about both toxoplasmata (? spelling) and the baby 'interacting' with poo pellets. If we can't sort this soon we'll need to get rid of him...which neither I nor our son want to do.

Edit: Was mentioned to the vet last year by my wife - they were dismissive (didn't really investigate) and just suggested anxiety.

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:35 pm
by fjm
Could it be that his dislike of hanging around in the tray means he is not fully emptying his bowels? Assuming that you cannot let him toilet outside I'd try multiple trays, so that one is always clean, and see if that makes a difference. Perhaps greater privacy - tray in a different place, tray with lid - would help, too.

While there is some risk, and this is obviously something you want to sort out, very few cats shed the toxoplasmosis oocysts (the source of infection) in their faeces. Even when shed, the toxoplasmosis parasite does not become infectious for at least 24 hours, and your wife's pregnancy is only at risk if she catches it for the first time during pregnancy - if she has ever been infected before she will be immune, and safe. I believe there is a blood test that can show immunity, which might be worth it for reassurance. More information here: https://icatcare.org/advice/cat-health/ ... s-and-cats

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:36 pm
by Lilith
Hi and welcome :)

Poor chap, very undignified for him and very messy for you too.

But if it's coming out of him while he's actually lying down ... if he was elderly I'd guess at incontinence; at his age I'm wondering if he's having some problem with his sphincter muscles. And the crying before he visits the tray might indicate pain ... even constipated motions can seem quite soft even though they've been hard work for the cat to produce ...

Sorry, this is all supposition, just a couple of ideas, but I'd suggest getting him to a different vet if that's possible. This isn't normal at his age and it's awful for him and for you, especially in view of your wife's pregnancy, and it would be marvellous if some simple solution could be found and the problem cleared up.

Hopefully there will be other people along with more knowledge than me, and I do hope we can help; all the best and please let us know how he goes on.

ps fjm, we overlapped :)

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:53 pm
by Lilith
I've just been doing a random google and came across this thread on another forum -

https://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/i-d ... now.95346/

The cat initially discussed has diarrohea but the thread goes on to explore parasites and problems in the gut (which I didn't know about - thought giardia was a tropical thing :o ) and food allergies; also other cats who had the same problem - interesting reading and might be topics to talk about with the vet.

Good luck :)

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 3:24 pm
by Janey
Hi, my cat does this and always has. She was about 4 when she came to us and is 8 now. She’s healthy in every way, but just leaves little nuggets (or maltesers as we call them!) around the house occasionally. Someone I know had a middle aged cat who did this too. We put it down to not totally emptying. One of our elderly cats used to do this aswell, but he had a condition and suffered with constipation quite a bit. Sorry I’m of no help but just wanted to say it’s probably not that uncommon, and if your cat’s otherwise healthy maybe why your vet wasn’t concerned?

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2018 10:24 pm
by Martin-W
Thanks all for the replies, especially the detail from fjm and Lilith, and sorry for not getting back sooner...we've been floored with cold/flu most of the week.

Frequency had dropped off this week...right up to today, when our lad found a pellet (on the windowsill) the hard way. So I'm now taking the cat to the vets on Tuesday (and not taking 'behavioural' for an answer), but looks like he's on final warning by the wife...read through the link, thanks, and while the risk looks very low the consequences are REALLY bad...we'd never forgive ourselves. Blood test for pre-existing antibodies sounds like a good idea and might give us a few months to get him sorted, but once the baby arrives he needs to be 'raisin-free'.

He's got a covered litter tray in the corner of the kitchen (with the door removed, as he's quite a big cat), not sure where we'd put another though as the house isn't huge and everywhere else is carpeted and he's good at dragging litter out on his feet...

One other (silly?) thought, if I'm not anthropomorphosising him too much...some of the time it appears to be because I've not cleaned his litter tray out quick enough...could he be trying to hold it in and failing?!? The pellets have definitely been more frequent over winter...guessing he doesn't like pooing outside when it's 0 degrees C!

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2018 1:54 pm
by Lilith
Oh good luck, do hope you get this sorted in time. All paws crossed here :)

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 7:26 am
by Janey
Martin-W wrote: One other (silly?) thought, if I'm not anthropomorphosising him too much...some of the time it appears to be because I've not cleaned his litter tray out quick enough...could he be trying to hold it in and failing?!? The pellets have definitely been more frequent over winter...guessing he doesn't like pooing outside when it's 0 degrees C!
It probably could actually, as I said with our cat, we think she’s not emptying properly and she does prefer to poo outside if she can. Although she is indoor/outdoor, and usually goes to the loo on a morning, when I let her out, she is in most of the day from lunchtime onwards. So it could be an issue with litter and temperament I suppose.

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:24 am
by Kay
could be he is getting out of the litter tray as quickly as he can and before he has finished

could you provide him with a sand pit near the back door? sand doesn't freeze hard like earth does and most cats like using it, as many a builder can attest, and it's easier to remove solids - if you could rig up a rain shelter over it that would be even better

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:51 am
by Martin-W
Quick update...went to the vets this morning...
- he was almost completely dismissive of the T-gondii risk to my wife, which isn't especially helpful to me/us.
- he wants to 'start' with the medical possibilities (considering behavioural after eliminating everything else), and we've got a fibre supplement to give to the cat. He also concurred with removing the dry food for a while, so thanks to whoever suggested that.
- beyond that he didn't have a lot of advice, which is frustrating...came away feeling like he saw this as a bit of a waste of his time (or something he can milk for fees for a while), so that's two vets that don't seem bothered... :(

...so I'm feeling rather stuck now. And worried...


Outdoor tray / sandpit might not be a bad idea...this does seem worse over winter than it did in summer, so I suspect it is behavioural (conscious or unconscious) one way or another, despite what the vet wants to do...

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2018 4:33 pm
by issiandarchie+68
Poor wee soul, he can't help it but I can understand your worries for the health of your family. 9yrs ago I adopted my Gandhi, he is now 13yrs old. He would cry with cramps and pain, struggle in the litter, leave a small deposit, then leave random piles around the house. Turned out he had an injured bowel at one time, he did arrive from bad place. A cat's bowel being only the width of a pencil, the constipation and straining stretched it, causing tiny painful tears along it's length, a loss of feeling in the rectum, he thought he had evacuated properly but hadn't, he associated the litter with pain and discomfort, the liquid he produced being backed up faecal matter seeping around a hard stool. Our Vet was excellent but some of the meds were ghastly for my boy, won't go into detail. An operation was cautiously offered but I was determined to solve the problem, my beloved big grey cat deserved a comfortable life. For years now he has thrived on good old Felix wet, Purina dry, Sunday treats of fresh chicken or beef and cat food 'sticks' from Tesco along with regular syringes of lactulose. We learned long ago not to feed him 'fancy' cat food or change his diet although, when he was eating Royal Canin Fibre Plus dry, his stools would come whistling out, well formed and, more importantly, the rice would gently sweep along the bowel walls, cleaning his innards without pain. Unfortunately, the wee darling much prefers his Purina dry which, to be honest seems to do a good job.

Issi

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 12:58 pm
by Martin-W
Quick update

- He's been on Fibor (looks like diced twigs) for about 4 weeks now, and it does seem to have helped.
- I've been religious with his litter tray, but since the weather's improved he's not used it much.
- We've been trying all we can to minimise his anxiety.

...and we went about 2 weeks or so without any pellets! Not sure whether the Fibor, the reduction in other dried food, the cleaner litter tray or what, but there was a very definite improvement.

But we've had two more instances in the last week or so, which weren't helpful. One I stood in while I was ironing in the lounge (he was determined to play with the iron cord, I stopped him, he left me a present which I didn't see), the other we found in the dining room right near where our son was playing.

Given where they were, my wife is now adamant he has to go. Not sure what else to say...

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 4:00 pm
by Lilith
So very very sorry to hear. :(

Are you in the UK - if so here is a list of shelters, hopefully some in your area.

https://www.catchat.org/index.php/cat-r ... uk-ireland

But do hope you don't have to part with your boy :(

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:16 pm
by Sniper1
If you do have to part with him please be honest and upfront about his issues and what you have tried personally I think its a bowel control problem to do with the muscle of his bowel and I would have been more inclined to go with a high fresh fatty meat diet and raw chicken wings all would give him good water content as well and certainly no dry food, natural rather than processed is always worth a try in my experience

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:24 pm
by Martin-W
Well, that's that. :cry:

The (very nice) chap at the cattery has looked after him for the last week since we got back from hols, whilst also enquiring about possible (good) new homes. Yesterday morning I called him and said we couldn't have our cat back, so could he re-home him, please?

Really wish I'd had more time to try and sort him out...but there's other stuff going on at home which I won't detail here...which didn't give me the time or the choice.

Thanks all for the advice and support. I probably won't be back on here for at least a year or two...but I do hope to be back with some good news then...

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 10:48 am
by Ralphieboy
Hi everyone I’m new here. I just wanted to post that I have a cat with exactly the same issues... she had a massive bo in my bathtub two weeks ago one night and ever since then we have two nuggets a day left on the floor... one found in my bed! She doesn’t seem aware. Her anus looks sore. She is only 9 months old. I’ve minutes the dry food. I’m waiting for her panacur sachets to arrive in the post. I’m not sure what else to do apart from treat her for constipation. She seems very well. Good condition and no bloating or pain or any other symptoms of unwellness I can see x

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2019 4:34 am
by Scoba111
I'm having a similar thing with my 4yo male. As of about 5 months ago, starting noticing very regular and (frankly, terrible smelling) flatulence, along with dropping small (about 1cm square) droppings. The flatulence wasn't always followed by a poop and vice versa, but the problems did both seem to start at the same time.

He appears to be in absolutely fine health, and after a vet visit about this, all I was told was that it might be getting drops caught in it's long hairs (dagging), or that it might be that he was irritated by his rotten tooth. The rotten tooth was news to me, but appeared to have been present for a very long time (was originally a rescue cat). So, I doubt the tooth is the issue at all.

I have noticed dilation, minor prolapse, and not all that good looking anus when I inspect it, but this is not all the time.

My next option is to try different foods, as he has been on Whiskas dry biscuit his whole life, and I wonder if perhaps he has recently gone through an internal phase of no longer processing the biscuits properly?

Any recommendations on what product or diet would be worth trying a swap to?

Thanks all :)

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2019 9:55 am
by Kay
Whiskas dry food has a lot of carbs in, which cats are not really designed to process, and I have found that does get worse with time

I suggest you try switching him to a grain-free food, or one with rice rather than wheat - it's fairly widely available these days

do you never give him wet food? an all dry diet has long-term health issues for many cats - I'd advise to start with Felix As Good As It Looks, as that is sold in every supermarket, and is a staple diet of many cats

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:24 am
by Patricialee
Better take care of her and contact a pet specialist.

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:53 pm
by CharlotteMerrigan1
I am so glad to hear that this is not very uncommon, but so sad that there doesn't seem to be a definitive cause!

My little Luna is just 6 months old, and we had 1 or 2 nuggets left for us but now the frequency has increased!
Unfortunately she sleeps in bed with us, so not very pleasant to find them, and at first i assumed it was when she was stretching in her sleep as i always found them in the morning.
However yesterday I literally watched her do it on my lap, she was walking in circles for me to stroke her, and one 'fell out" onto my lap. She totally did not acknowledge it or seem to even realise it had happened.

When we had her neutered we asked the vet to check and they did a test to see if there was enough resistance and they said that was fine.
I have recently changed both her wet food and dry food... but this happened before on the previous brands.
She is an indoor cat, but we have never had problems with her using it as long as it is emptied regularly which it is.

So should I take her dry food away?

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 10:45 pm
by Mollycat
Scoba111 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 4:34 am My next option is to try different foods, as he has been on Whiskas dry biscuit his whole life, and I wonder if perhaps he has recently gone through an internal phase of no longer processing the biscuits properly?
I've always avoided Whiskas, the tins seem to produce awful smells.

Butchers tins are cheap and grain-free but the fat content is a little on the high side. But of the cheap brands it would still be my choice.

For dry I have only ever given prescription dry if the cat doesn't like the wet version or won't eat much of it so can't comment. But they do tend to have higher carb content and obviously no moisture to speak of, so not ideal as an only food.

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2019 3:32 am
by CatMum
One of my old rescues has started doing this too. He is a rescue age unknown and had an accident of some kind As he is a weird shape :lol: has had his tail removed and is weak dat the back end. At the moment he is on sensitive stomach food as he has had a sore mouth and in the past had Pancreatitis. He won’t be rehomed. I was very disappointed to read the other cat was to be rehomed. Hopefully he found a home where he is loved and not pts.

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2019 8:34 pm
by Cassaundra24
I have a 4 year old female cat that has been doing this now for about 4 months. I find little poo nuggets randomly, even in the bed where she sleeps. I thought I had a rat or something until I witness one fall from her and she acts like she doesn't know it happened. She seems healthy otherwise. I just took her to the vet and it's not a constipation thing. He said it could possibly be a nerve problem which saddens me. Has anyone found anything that works or that could be causing it in such a young cat?????

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:35 pm
by issiandarchie+68
Hi Cassaundra. I posted a much earlier response to this problem posed by another member of the Forum but just thought I would add an update which may be helpful. Yes it is probably a 'nerve' problem. My Gandhi suffered the same way. She genuinely cannot feel that her bowel is not completely empty or that she is leaving wee presents. My beloved Gandhi, who came to us with a seriously injured bowel, was fed a side dish of Purina Sensitive (the rice expands and sweeps along the walls of the bowel), wet food, occasional tins of pink salmon a dose of prescribed Lactulose, but painful turns, constipation, would still occur. He loved Whiskas but I did notice it contained far less fibre than Felix and his breath would stink. Not a criticism of Whiskas, just a fact. Then one day at my lovely Vet, after a particularly painful episode, Gandhi was prescribed a wee yellow pill called Cisapride, a human medicine that had just been licensed for animal use. For us, a wonder drug, It helps with motilium of the bowel, moving things along naturally, sweeping the walls of the bowel clean. Gandhi still had to have lactulose administered 4 times a week to soften the stool, his bowel nerves having been irrevocably damaged, but he would be in and out the litter in 2 mins, having passed an easy, large fat pile, no more constipation, struggling or random nuggets made for a very healthy, happy cat in his later years, gleaming coat, sweet breath and loads of energy. Incidentally, he also began to wolf down Felix Kitten wet food, not sure why, but he never got tummy ache, or vomited up bile as he had in his painful past years. Hopes this helps.

Issi

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:03 pm
by Tootsie413
Hi, I also have this problem with my cat. I mentioned it to the vet but didn't receive much of a response so I made him X-ray the cat to see if there was anything wrong with her insides, they are fine. I give my cat a 1/4 t. of Metamucil a day in order for her to have a regular bowel movement, this had been recommended by one of the Vets I took her to as she was not drinking enough of water. It helps her and I also add water to her wet cat food that I give her once a day. OH, just an FYI, I noticed that the Hills Diet food that I was told her give her for her allergy made her leave more of the little drops of poo. When I stopped feeding her the Hills Diet food, she seemed to settle down. Tootsie has a rash on her lower belly and legs that she keeps chewing and is still chewing as the food didn't help. I've been told to give her calming chews along with a calming plug in. It does not work and they are expensive. If anyone has any suggestions on this, I'm all ears.

Re: Cat leaving random small nuggets of poo

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2020 12:11 am
by oli-cro
Hi all, I got a British Shorthair kitten (3,5months old) 2 weeks ago. In 3 separate occasions he left a nugget. Last time he did it in front of me and seemed like he didn’t even notice what he did, as it was explained in some earlier posts. Considering that he just arrived I will assume that it could be anxiety and hope it will stop on its own. We feed him mostly wet food and give him a dry food as a snack.

I was glad that I found this tread, but kinda sad that it seems that no one managed to find a way to sort it.