Cat treats for sensitive stomachs

Persistent loose stools are miserable for everyone involved, and you're right to look at treats as a possible trigger — they're often overlooked because they seem like such a small part of the diet, but cheap fillers, artificial additives, and common protein sources like chicken meal or fish derivatives can absolutely upset a sensitive gut. Cats are notoriously fussy eaters for good reason: they tend to do best on strongly-scented, meat-based treats that are high in protein and low in additives. Before I point you toward anything specific, can you tell me what treats you've been using so far, and does your Balinese have any known food sensitivities or is this more of a process-of-elimination situation?

That's really useful context. Multi-ingredient treats are a minefield when you're trying to identify a trigger, because even if the protein is fine, the gums, flavourings, or rendered meal used as a base can be the actual culprit. The smartest move here is to strip everything right back to a single-ingredient treat — one protein source, nothing else — so you can genuinely rule things in or out. Has she shown any reaction to chicken specifically, or is chicken something she's handled fine in her main food?

That's exactly what I'd have guessed, and it actually makes this straightforward. If chicken is tolerated well in her main food, a single-ingredient chicken treat removes almost all the variables at once. My recommendation is Thrive Premium 100% Chicken Breast Cat Treats. The ingredient list is literally one item: freeze-dried chicken breast. No binders, no flavour enhancers, no glycerol, no grain — nothing for a sensitive gut to react to. They're also quite aromatic, which Balinese tend to respond well to, and the texture is light enough that they don't sit heavily. You can use them as a clean baseline while you sort out what was causing the problem, and if stools firm up after switching, you'll have a pretty clear answer.

Sensible instinct. While you're in the diagnostic phase, I'd keep it to two or three pieces a day at most — enough to notice any reaction without adding significant load. Thrive recommends around 10–15 pieces daily for a healthy adult cat, so you're well within safe limits going low initially. Once her stools have been consistently normal for a couple of weeks, you can gradually increase if you want to use them more regularly. The low calorie density also means there's no real risk of tipping her nutrition out of balance even at normal use, which is a bonus when you're already managing a gut issue.

Good plan — and do keep a rough log if you can, even just a note on your phone. When symptoms are gradual and ongoing it's easy to lose track of whether things are actually improving. If the stools don't firm up after two to three weeks on the clean treats, it's worth going back to your vet to look at the wet food ingredients or consider a short elimination trial on a novel protein like rabbit or duck. But single-ingredient treats are the right first step, and Thrive is about as clean as it gets.