I adopted an orange tabby cat from a local rescue group as they could not figure out what was going on with his stools; for the most part they were runny, and could not get him to have a solid stool for anything. The vet tried just about everything she could think of, different types of antibiotics and different food, switching him between Blue Buffalo and Science Diet. Nothing seemed to work. I felt sorry for the guy as he was just a kitten then, and decided to bring him home, thinking that a home environment (instead of a metal cage) would do better for him.
When I first brought him home, I kept him on the same diet with the same antibiotics and just kept him separated from the other 4 kitties who live in my house to let him adjust to the new environment. There already was a marked improvement in his behavior, he had so much energy he ran laps around the house and quickly became loved by everyone who came over.
In order to try and get his tummy better, I took him off of his antibiotics without consulting his vet, wanting to give his system a chance to clear out before I started to change his food. After a few weeks I started feeding him boiled chicken and rice, cooked in a bit of garlic and bay. He completely avoided the rice, and just ate the chicken, along with the other kittens in the household. That same day, his stool went solid so I kept him on chicken for a bit before going back to regular food. As soon as I made the switch, he had the runs again.
I looked and looked for some higher quality cat food to see if his tummy problems was simply too much stuff in the cat food, or if he was allergic to a particular thing. Since he was good with chicken, I stuck with the chicken varieties of Blue Basics (a Blue Buffalo cat food made with basic ingredients) and Blue Wilderness (Blue Buffalo cat food that is gluten free). Blue Basics did not do anything for him unfortunately, but Wilderness did, he stopped having runny stools much to my happiness. I was glad not to have to boil chicken every night. The only problem is that Blue is incredibly expensive.
I could not really afford to keep him on Wilderness due to my own financial situation, so I went with a basic Proplan diet which produced semi-firm stools, interestingly enough, but I never gave up my search for a food that would be better for him, and better for my colony as a whole. This is when I came across Taste of the Wild; Rocky Mountain Feline Formula, a food made with roasted meats and supplemented with fruits and vegetables (See the Taste of the Wild Home Page for more information)
I placed the order and as soon as the box came the cats went crazy; rubbing on the box, rubbing on the bag as soon as it was out of the box, and trying to chew through the bag to get to the food. I have never seen them act this way! I placed the bag in the cabinet for awhile as they still had some of the old food left, but they would not move from the door. Eventually I caved and gave them some of this new food and all 5 cats, attacked the bowl like I never fed them before in their lifetimes. My cats range in age from 1-17 years old, and with this food change they are all doing a great deal better on it; no more runny stools from the gluten allergic cat, no more vomiting. We shall see how it continues to go for them on this more obscure brand name cat food, but I am very happy I made this change, as are the kitties!