Why is my cat's belly rumbling with soft poop after new food?

Cats, unlike dogs can eat only meat and be fine, as they are obligate carnivores. Dogs can actually be fed a vegetarian diet but cats cannot. If she was doing well on the previous food then transition her back if you want, or you can give her a little more time to get used to the new diet. You could even transition her to a completely canned diet. If you changed her abruptly from one to the other, that could be what started her problems, especially if she has a sensitive stomach. Since she's eating fine I don't think you need to rush her to the vet just yet, as long as she seems well otherwise. Decide what food you want to feed her long-term and transition her slowly from her current diet by offering her some of each dry food in two separate bowls for a few days. Then put 75% old food/25% new food in the bowl together for a few days. Then go to 50%/50%, then 25%/75%, taking a few days each time. Gradually reduce the amount of old food until she is completely fed the new dry food. If she gets an upset stomach, you can back up a step and hold there until she feels better. If she loses her appetite, starts vomiting, becomes lethargic, then do get her in to see your vet as soon as you can.

You can switch their food but you want to slowly transition them to the new food. This means you want to start with mixing only a small amount of the new food in with the old food for a few days then over a 10 day period, increase the amount of new food while decreasing the amount of old food until you are just feeding the new food around day 10. By slowly transitioning them to a new food, it decreases the risk of causes an upset stomach. I hope this helps!

Her stool in the 2nd and 3rd pictures still look a little soft, so I would give it another couple of days on the 25%/75% mixture before going to 50/50. If when you do make that switch to 50/50 and she starts having diarrhea again, then I would say that this food isn't agreeing with her and keep her on her old food instead. I say that because if you've tried the 50/50 mixture, got diarrhea, went back a step for a bit before returning to 50/50 and still get the same result, then it's not a food that agrees with Kitty. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

This could definitely be because of the change of food but the black color concerns me that there may be digested blood present. Since she is so young and tiny, I would consider this urgent so I would try to get her into the vet soon. I would that she may become dehydrated or sicker if it isn't addressed. Your vet will likely want to run a fecal on her to check for any intestinal parasites. They may also want to know the food you are feeding her. I hope this helps and she starts to feel better soon.

If you switched the food without a transition, it could be causing some digestive upset and the dirty bottom/accidents you are seeing. Most switches from one pet food to another should be done over a period of 7-9 days to help minimize tummy upset. If her bottom is very dirty, pet wipes or a wet washcloth along with a waterless spray shampoo from your local pet store can be used to clean her bottom. If the problem persists, worsens, or new symptoms appear, a vet visit to rule out any other issues is best.

An increase in the volume of belly noise may or may not be a problem. If Cleo seems to have relatively regular bowel movements, doesn't seem to strain to defecate, and doesn't have any vomiting episodes, I would not necessarily assume there is an issue to be treating. The passage of small balls of fecal material is not abnormal unless you feel Cleo is constipated or backing up. Some problems that CAN be associated with increased belly noise would be allergies to certain foods, gastrointestinal inflammation / pancreatitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and some much less common conditions. The simplest test you can do would be a gradual change to a new diet to see if it makes any difference. Hope this helps.

If you did a quick switch from the old to the new food this could definitely cause diarrhea, especially if no other symptoms are present. You can try going back to the old food until the stools form again and doing a slow transition to the new diet over a week. If the diarrhea occurs again this is likely not a good food for Olaf. Some animals with diet related diarrhea may benefit from a probiotic. A few commonly used in pets are fortiflora and proviable. Certainly if the symptoms do not get better, get worse, or are accompanied by blood in the stool and/or a decreased appetite/vomiting/lethargy a visit to your veterinarian is recommended. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!