How Often Should My Cat Poop?

How often do cats poop?

How many times does your cat poop? Poop schedule has been a mystery question to many cat owners. Most felines will poop at least once a day, according to WebMD. Your cat’s overall health can be monitored by keeping an eye on her poop. You can learn a lot about your cat’s health from her poop. Generally, a regular bowel movement can be an indication of a healthy body. If your cat is healthy, her poop is deep brown in colour, well-formed and relatively moist.



How often should a cat poop?

There are several factors to take into consideration when you are trying to determine how often your cat should poop.


Factors


Activity Level

Active cats have more frequent bowel movement. Just like humans, cats need to have some physical activity to stay healthy. Regular exercise can help contribute to regular bowel movement.


Age

An adult cat, in general, will defecate every day. Kittens will defecate more often, according to Cat Behavior Associates. This is because of their underdeveloped digestive system. Typically, a kitten can defecate as many as 6 times a day. More than 6 times can be a symptom of diarrhea.


Diet

Your cat’s diet plays an important role. Overfeeding and low quality pet food can contribute to more frequent, larger bowel movements. Abrupt changes in food may result in increased bowel movements, which is also a symptom of diarrhea.

Be sure your cat is drinking enough water. Water plays a significant role in maintaining healthy bowel movements. As such, cats fed dry food may experience more constipation and have drier stools.


Environmental Factors

Social stress can influence your cat’s litter box habits. She may also eliminate away from the litter box due to social stress. Always make sure her cat litter box is clean – cats prefer clean toilet just like we do! A dirty cat litter box will force your cat to change her litter box habit as well as how often she poops.


Medication

If your cat is on any medication, always ask your veterinarian what the side effects can be, including the effects on bowel movements.


Should I Worry About My Cat’s Poop

Should you be worried about your cat’s poop? If there is any change in the pooping pattern of your cat, bring her to the vet immediately.

Here are other guidelines for when your cat should visit the vet.

  1. A change in pooping frequency or your cat doesn’t poop for two days in a row
  2. Your cat has diarrhoea and is off colour
  3. Any change in bowel movement that is associated with vomiting
  4. Undue straining in the tray
  5. Blood in the faeces

Monitor The Cat Litter Box

Monitor the litter box of your cat and analyze the quality of poop by scooping, which is an effective way of determining the health of your pet cat.

Pooping less can also mean that your cat is suffering from constipation and too much pooping can be a sign of diarrhea. Following are the symptoms of constipation and diarrhea which you must look out for:


1. Constipation

Constipation in cats is a condition characterized by difficult, incomplete or infrequent defecation, with passage of small amounts of dry or hard bowel movements. Common symptoms include: infrequent or no defecation, mucus or blood in the stools, extremely dry stools, lack of appetite, small quantities of feces and depression.


2. Diarrhea

Diarrhea is a condition characterized by frequent liquid or loose bowel moments. Common symptoms include: vomiting, mucus or blood in the stools, more water in stools than normal and loss of appetite.



How To Make Your Cat Poop Regularly

Start by increasing the water intake of your cat. Note that water is an essential nutrient in feline foundation. Don’t forget to add more water to the dry food, however, do not leave water-soaked kibble out for more than half an hour as dry kibbles may be contaminated with bacterial or fungal contaminants. Transition to canned food or homemade diet is another great option.

Place your cat’s water dish near her favourite sleeping spots. Otherwise, you can use a drinking fountain to encourage her to drink.

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