It’s not the nicest topic to think about, but knowing what your cat’s normal poos should look like can be a helpful thing to learn. If you know what normal looks like for your cat, you’re more likely to recognise an abnormal poo.

A poo that doesn’t look normal could be a sign of an underlying health issue. “Poo”, “stools” or “feces”, can tell us a lot about our cat’s overall health. Check it out next time you clean out your cat’s litterbox!

What is Poo?

Food passes through the digestive tract where it’s digested, and nutrients are absorbed. The leftover undigested material, plus bacteria and some tissue from the gut lining, forms the stool.

The cat's stool enters the large intestine where water is removed, and it’s stored for a few hours before the intestines contract and push the stool through the pelvic canal. The stool then comes out of the anus as a healthy cat poo.

Normal, healthy cat poop colour should be mid to dark brown in colour and firm.

How Often Do Cats Poo?

All cats are different and have their own rhythms, but as a general rule, most cats will have a poo once or twice a day.

Cat Having Trouble Going for a Poo?

If you notice your cat struggling to pass a stool you should mention this to your vet. It may be they’re a bit constipated, or have some pain when they poo. Older arthritic cats can sometimes struggle to get in and out of their cat litter box or find it hard to hold themselves in the correct position to do a poo.

It may be that some arthritis medication would help these older cats. Long-haired cats sometimes get poo caught in their hair and can struggle to clean it off when they groom themselves.

Sometimes cats can poo in strange places – this too can sometimes be a sign that something is wrong. It may be that something is causing your cat stress or anxiety.

Types of Cat Poo

Once you know what’s normal for your cat you can keep an eye out for any strange looking poos. Abnormalities could include a change in the colour of the poo. Very pale greasy poos can be a sign of certain diseases like liver, pancreas, or gallbladder disease.

Very dark tarry cat poops can be a sign of bleeding in the upper digestive tract. Normal coloured blood in the stool can be a sign of problems, so can mucus in the poo. Also be aware of the texture. Very hard poo may be a sign of dehydration or constipation.

Soft or runny cat poo may mean they have diarrhoea which needs to be investigated. Diarrhoea may be caused by many things from intestinal worms to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or a bacterial infection.

Or your cat could just have eaten something that doesn’t agree with them (some cats can’t tolerate dairy products for example). Call your vet if you have any concerns.

If you see worms in cat poo, then you need to speak to your vet about deworming medication.

Some prescription medications may affect your cat’s poo, for example some antibiotics can cause diarrhoea and some pain-relieving medications can cause constipation. Your vet can talk you through possible side effects of any medications your cat may be taking.

Investigating Cat Poo Problems

If your worried about your cat’s poo, your vet can help. Before you take your cat to the vet they may ask you to provide a stool sample. This should be taken and put into a clean and dry container or bag and taken straight to the vets, so it’s as fresh as possible.

Sometimes your vet may ask you to collect poo on a number of consecutive days to help them diagnose any health problems. Veterinary staff will then mix the samples together and send them off as one sample. This is because some parasites, etc can be hard to detect, so there’s more chance if you have samples from more than one day.

Always wear gloves and ensure good hygiene when handling cat poo. Some cat parasites and bacteria can also affect people. Pregnant women should avoid cat poo as there’s a risk from a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii – cats can carry this parasite and it can be dangerous to human pregnancies.

Your vet may ask you to keep a poo chart, listing the frequency of stools and some notes about what it looks like, etc. This information can be really helpful for your vet to help with their investigations.

In the laboratory poo can be tested for various things. Samples can be examined under the microscope to look for intestinal parasites and parasite eggs. 

Samples can be tested to detect the presence of even small amounts of blood, that may not be visible to the naked eye. Samples can be incubated, and bacteria grown to see which bacteria are there.

Products in the poo, like fats, can be assessed as a guide to whether there's a problem with their digestive system. Your vet can then discuss the results with you.

Once the results of the fecal testing are in your vet may have an answer to the issue and be able to start treatment, or they may need to undertake further testing to get to the bottom of what’s going on.

If your cat's stool problem isn't a result of something in their gastrointestinal tract, it could be related to food allergies. Then you might have to go through a process of diet elimination to discover what's triggering the poo problem.

Poo is important, so don’t be afraid to have a good look at your cat’s poo so you know what’s normal and what isn’t for your cat. There are lots of causes of abnormal poo, so call your vet if you have any concerns. Your vet will be able to test your cat’s poo and carry out further investigations if needed to work out the cause. Once a cause has been determined, treatment can begin if needed.

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Content provided from Vetstream's Vetlexicon Felis - www.vetlexicon.com/treat/felis

Vetlexicon is the world’s largest peer-reviewed online clinical reference source. All our content is written and peer-reviewed by over 1,000 of the world’s leading veterinarians, ensuring relevance, accuracy and quality.