My cat seriously has a bowel movement twice a day. IS there anything I can do to make that change?

Question

I heard dry food makes them fat and makes their BM's smell more foul. Is a mix of dry food and wet food really the fix? I have to change the litter box more than once a week for two cats. And that is NOT the norm, considering my mother changed the box once a week for 3 cats. Any suggestions? Right now I"m feeding them purina cat chow balance. One of my cats - seriously - might as well be a panther. He has almost all muscle, almost no fat. He literally has no neck from all his muscle. and he is abnormally long and musclely for his breed. Is this a factor? We only feed him enough to fill the bottom of his food dish and twice a day; 7 am and 5 or 6 pm.

Answer 1

Wow, this means you have a healthy cat. Are you sure you want that to change? I have an automatic cat box. I LOVE it!!!

Answer 2

Higher quality food usually results in fewer BM's (i.e. more of the nutrients are absorbed).  However, any cat I've ever adopted has had a daily BM.  I wouldn't recommend trying to decrease the # to be less than one per day.

Answer 3

Cat Chow is HORRIBLE food.  It's made mostly of corn and loaded with fillers which means a lot of ingredients your cat's body doesn't utilize and hence, lots of p**p.  Switch your cat to a healthier meat-based food with little to no grain and you'll see a HUGE difference in the amount of p**p.  Innova Evo, Petcurean "Go! Natural!" and Blue Buffalo Wilderness are all really great choices.  They're all 45-50% protein with ZERO grain.  Yes, they cost more than cheap grocery store foods but since they're so nutrient dense your pet will eat less and be satisfied so you'll buy the food less often.  Also add canned food to their diet as well as a dry food diet only is not good for cats.

What type of litter are you using?  I have four cats and three litter boxes.  I use wood stove pellets and scoop the p**p at least every other day and then dump the pans out completely about once a week.   Wood stove pellets completely absorb all moisture and urine odor and if you dump the pan out when the pellets are about 1/2 broken down the pan dumps out dry so changing litter is super easy.  And they're incredibly cheap.  I pay about $4.50 for a FORTY POUND BAG!!!

You can find them in cooler months at home stores like Lowes and Home Depot and at some grocery stores.  Year round you can find them at farm and feed stores since people use them in horse stalls as well.

Answer 4

Your cat is perfectly healthy. You only clean the litter box weekly? No wonder it smells. I have 2 cats and the litter is scooped daily.

Answer 5

stop feeding your cat, that's how i stopped mine from having bm's

Answer 6

When you say "change" the litter box you mean empty it out and refill it, right?  Because obviously you're not going to let things pile up for a week.

I don't think doing it weekly is all that bad.  That's what I do with two cats.

But that aside, Percy gave you a good answer.  I'll just add my two cents.

The better the food, the less revolting the output.  That goes for both pee and poo.

You've heard right about dry food - you will have better results with wet.  But remember that dietary changes should be made slowly and it's possible you'll try one that won't agree with one or more cats.  

I recommend going grainless.  There are a few grainless varieties of dry and many of canned.  Try some from the link I've provided.

If more help is needed, you can consider digestive supplements (although a proper diet is key).