What your Cat’s Poop Says about its Health

Please excuse the graphic and unsightly nature of this post. But any parent to children or pets is very familiar with talking about poop. Warning: This post is not for the faint heart.

Your cat’s poop is a clear sign and symptom of the food she is eating and how its handling that food. And because you share your home with your cat its poop has a large impact on your home.

Purina put together this poop scoring system. With 7 different examples of what your cat (or dog’s) poop may look like.

So what’s normal?

The goal which indicates ultimate diet and health is to have a score  close to number 2.

What your cat's poop says about its health

Source: https://www.purinaveterinarydiets.com/media/1202/gi_quick_reference_guide.pdf

We hear over and over, one of the benefits of feeding raw is the poop. The poop of a raw fed cat should be smaller, harder, drier and less smelly.

My cats eat between a 80-90% home made raw diet. The vast majority of the time their poop is a number 2 but with very little order and also very dry. If the poop is too hard like number 1 that can signal that the ratio of bone in their food is too high.

In between batches of raw food I feed various commercial wet foods. I find that the higher the quality of the wet food the less change there is in their poop. If I feed a lower quality food I can see the change in the poop immediately and it will range closer to a 3 and 4.

With my very first cat I only fed dry food and I remember her poop varied and sometimes she would have terrible No 5s. I CANNOT imagine what that would be like having a No 5 with a Persian  or long-haired cat. Such a mess!

If your cat is scoring between a 4-7, please take this as a serious sign. It means your cat is not thriving and does not have optimal health.

This is not normal, and can be improved by feeding a higher quality food. Your cat does not enjoy 4-7, and neither does your home.

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7 Comments

  1. January 17, 2016 / 10:52 pm

    I completely agree. The higher food quality food does so much to help our felines in so many ways. In the end you might actually be saving money due to low vet visits.

  2. January 14, 2016 / 9:50 pm

    Yup, as a raw feeder I think even a two is a little too full of undigested materials.. I am so thrilled that we went raw for this one thing along. It always brings it home when I have a foster mother who is eating commercial cat food and has such big and odorous stools which are ‘normal’

    • February 1, 2016 / 8:28 pm

      One of the many benefits or raw!

  3. January 12, 2016 / 1:15 pm

    Mum only feeds us good quality food and we have good poops unless we’ve eaten something we shouldn’t have while we’ve been outside – oops!
    Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx

  4. January 12, 2016 / 12:11 pm

    Agree very much, when I first got my kitties I fed them the lowest cost food (you know which ones I mean) thinking, wow this is not going to be as expensive as I thought..LOL…I will say their poop smelled REALLY BAD (and still does if I feed them the cheaper food). Luckily a friend tipped me off vs high and low quality food. The high quality food made a big difference in smell. shape, etc. Praying my pocketbook holds out…

  5. The Swiss Cats
    January 11, 2016 / 9:46 pm

    We totally agree with you : poop is a very good indicator of health. Mum has not yet made the big jump to raw feeding for us, but she feeds us high quality wet food and noticed a big difference in the shape (and the smell !) of the poop. And yes, Mum CAN imagine #5, 6, and even 7 with a long-hair Persian cat, as Angel Hercule and Angel Isis both were Persian cats… Purrs
    Pee-Esse from Mum : not Disqus anymore, yay !

  6. January 11, 2016 / 9:46 pm

    Well let me tell you dat when me was a kitty and had those terrible worms me had a lot of nummer 5’s. Meez bloomers was always gettin’ washed and mommy sez it is most horrible. MOL Me is on freeze dried raw at da moment, mommy sez on da way to completely raw, so me has good poops now and no need fur bloomer cleanin’. WooHoo :) have a pawsum day.

    Luv ya’

    Dezi and Lexi