How to support your cat’s digestion

2 mins read

26 May 2025

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Good digestion is one of the keys to excellent health. By digesting and absorbing the goodness from food, your cat can take in all the nutrients needed to stay in top condition.

Signs of poor digestion

If your cat is not digesting food properly, one of the most common signs is poorly formed stools, or even diarrhoea. Your cat might vomit, lose weight, have a dull coat or appear listless. If you see any of these symptoms and are concerned about your cat’s digestion, contact your vet for advice.

What should cats eat?

Cats are carnivores; their whole bodies are adapted to eating a meat-based diet. Their teeth are designed to seize and tear prey and their digestive system and Metabolism are geared to process high levels of protein and fat from animal tissues.

Cats require certain nutrients which are only found in animal tissue, such as the amino acid taurine and fatty acid arachidonic acid. This is why cats cannot be fed with a vegetarian diet.

Good quality protein helps cats maintain lean muscle, helps support a healthy skin and coat and is vital for their Immune system to work at its best.

A balanced diet for cats will also contain optimal levels of high-quality fats, including omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, as well as selected fibres for digestion plus vitamins and minerals for all-round health. Highly digestible carbohydrates are also a useful source of energy.

How to support your cat’s digestion

Giving your cat the best quality food will help optimise digestion. But if your cat has sensitive digestion – or even a mild digestive upset – you can help by feeding a diet with the following benefits:

High-quality digestible ingredients to reduce intestinal workload
Selected protein sources to reduce the risk of adverse gastrointestinal reactions
Highly digestible proteins to help improve food tolerance
Prebiotics to help improve balance of gut bacteria
Fibres to support gut cells and ease movement through the gut

Discover the benefits of friendly bacteria

Probiotics (live beneficial bacteria) can also be useful aids for digestion in cats. Ask your vet about PURINA® PRO PLAN® VETERINARY DIETS Feline Forti Flora®, which is proven to promote intestinal health and microflora balance in cats (especially in stress situations). It is also proven to improve faecal quality in kittens.

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Diarrhoea in cats

3 mins read

If you notice that your cat is going to the litter tray more often than usual, their stool is more liquid, or it has an increased volume compared to normal, then they may have diarrhoea. Diarrhoea in cats is an increase in the frequency, volume, or liquid content of faeces, leading to unformed or loose stools. The consistency of your cat’s diarrhoea can vary from soft but formed through to liquid/watery, and the colour can be darker or lighter than normal stools or even green, red or yellow. If you think your cat has diarrhoea, it’s important not to panic. Most of the time the condition is temporary and not serious, and is usually solved quickly with a simple change of diet or appropriate medical treatment from your vet. The severity and the duration of diarrhoea episodes vary depending on the underlying cause. Diarrhoea in cats is usually classified as either: • Acute (sudden onset and short lived) or chronic (more than 2-3 weeks duration) • Persistent (constant) or intermittent (i.e. comes and goes) As you can imagine, the most serious of cases are chronic and persistent. Causes of diarrhoea in cats Diarrhoea in cats can occur for a wide variety of different reasons. Some possible causes include:

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How to Help Your Constipated Cat

4 mins read

Although cat constipation is a fairly common problem, the causes and symptoms can be wildly different from one cat to the next. Discover what you need to know about this condition to help treat it quickly and prevent it from making sudden appearances into your cat’s life. If you suspect your cat is constipated, you’re no doubt eager to figure out what has caused it and how you can provide some relief to your beloved cat. In this article we look at the essential information you need, from early symptoms all the way to veterinary cat constipation treatment and ways you can prevent the discomfort to help your cat get back to their usual happy self. Cat constipation symptoms A cat who hasn’t produced stools for more than 24 hours is likely to be suffering from cat constipation. However, sometimes owners might not be up to date with their cat’s bathroom routine as some felines are known to like going to the toilet outdoors as well. Therefore you might not notice the infrequency of their toilet habit straight away. These are some of the other symptoms of cat constipation you may want to keep an eye on: • Tense abdomen • Hard, dry, small stools • Straining which can be mistaken by owners as difficulty urinating sometimes • Lack of appetite (occasionally) • Hunched posture

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FIV in Cats

3 mins read

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a major viral infection in cats. Although it is similar to HIV (AIDS) in people, FIV is species-specific, which means it can only be transmitted from cat to cat, not to humans or other animals. This is why it can also be known as ‘Feline AIDS’. What is FIV? Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a lentivirus. Lentiviruses typically only cause disease slowly and thus infected cats may remain healthy for many years before showing signs of disease. Once a cat has been infected with FIV, the infection is usually permanent and needs to be managed rather than cured. How can my cat contract FIV? FIV is present in the blood and saliva of infected cats but as it cannot survive for long outside the body and requires a high dose to cause an infection, it is not easily transmitted from cat to cat. The most frequent way FIV is spread is through a bite from another cat, when the virus in the saliva of an infected cat is introduced directly into the blood of the cat it bites. For this reason, male cats that fight often are most likely to be infected. As the virus cannot be transmitted via food, feeding bowls, bedding or hands, the virus spreading within groups of cats which do not fight is highly unlikely. Occasionally infection is transmitted from an infected mother cat to her kittens during the birthing process or via her milk. Sexual contact is not a major means of spreading FIV in cats.

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