This, I believe, is a useful table if you are a cat caregiver who has full-time indoor cats and therefore have to manage a litter tray or trays. The experts say that it is wise for a cat owner to ensure that they have opportunity to observe their cat’s poop because it is a useful diagnostic tool. This is not going to be normally available to an owner who allows their cat to go outside because normally they will go to the toilet outside if there is access to a backyard where there is earth. There is a trend towards confining domestic cats to their homes for their safety and the safety of the animals upon which they prey, and which sometimes are precious and rare native species. This will allow owners to use this table.
I am very thankful for this information which comes from the Cat Owner’s Home Veterinary Handbook (Third Edition) written by veterinarians: Eldredge, Carlson, Carlson and Giffin.There are other pages on this website on the rather uncomfortable topic of feline diarrhoea, some of which are listed below with illustrations. You might like to visit these pages to further investigate if your cat has diarrhoea, and if you would like some more background information before, when necessary, seeing a veterinarian. This is, of course, no substitute for seeing a good veterinarian to diagnose your cat’s health problems. This page is simply a guide and it is not a substitute for veterinary diagnosis.
Color
Likely cause
Likely location
Yellow or greenish
Rapid transit
Small bowel
Black, tarry
Upper GI bleeding
Stomach or small bowel
Red blood or clots
Lower GI bleeding
Colon
Pasty, light
Lack of bile
Liver
Large, gray, rancid
Inadequate digestion or absorption
Small bowel or pancreas
ABOVE: COLOR OF DIARRHEA
Consistency
Likely cause
Likely location
Watery
Rapid transit
Small-bowel
Foamy
Bacterial infection
Small-bowel
Greasy, often with oily hair around the anus
Malabsorption
Small-bowel, pancreas
Soft, bulky
Overfeeding, or poor-quality diet high in fibre
Small-bowel (rapid transit)
Glistening or jellylike
Contains mucus
Colon
ABOVE: CONSISTENCY OF DIARRHEA
Odour
Likely cause
Likely location
Food like, or smelling like sour milk
Rapid transit, inadequate digestion or absorption (suggests overfeeding, especially in kittens)
Small-bowel
Rancid or foul
Inadequate digestion with fermentation
Small-bowel, pancreas
Putrid
Intestinal infection, bleeding
Small-bowel
ABOVE: ODOR OF DIARRHEA
Frequency
Likely cause
Likely location
Several small stools in an hour with straining
Colitis
Colon
Three or four large stools a day
Malabsorption, inflammatory bowel disease
Small-bowel, pancreas
A week or longer
A chronic ailment such as colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, parasite infection, or malabsorption syndrome