Blood in stool

We've been keeping a close eye on all the cats going to the bathroom because of Tuxedo's URI problems.

Exactly one week ago, Shelly had really stinky diarrhea with blood in it. Gary rushed it over to the Vets. The Vet that was still there that evening said that they don't worry too much about blood in cat's stools if there isn't much of it, and he said there wasn't much blood in the stool. It looked like a fair amount to us.

Gary, of course, was very disturbed by the whole thing. It was later explained by a different Vet there (when we called to see what the test results were) that the reason for this is because unlike in people, blood in their stool is not necessarily an indication of internal bleeding.

Anyway, all the tests came back negative. No parasites, no Giardia.

Shelly had normal stools after that, and no diarrhea. But because we were worried, we've been keeping a look out. This morning, there was blood in his stool again - but it wasn't diarrhea. Now, maybe there's been blood all week, and we just didn't see it. There were a few days when we weren't awake when he had a bowel movement, so there was no way to know who's was who's... but through the kitty litter, we didn't see blood - but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

What do we do now? We're really scared it's been there all week now.

Should we take him for an X-ray or something? Is there something in there bothering his colon? Should we consider getting new Vets? Ours have done so much for us, but this is really bugging us.

Any thoughts or advice?

Is the stool too hard or dry? Have you tried adding a little pumpkin to his diet? Keep us posted as to how everything is going with Shelly.

Get better vibes coming your way.

I sure hope your kitty is okay. I'll be sending you lots and lots of get well vibes.

Laurie- is he getting outside at all? If he is, the blood could belong to a rodent or a bird, lots to hunt right now.

A friend of mine has a great website, here is a link

Bachman

Thanks Teresa - no, I haven't tried pumpkin. What would that be for? I'm not familiar with this...

But you made me remember, I should mention. Tuxedo had to go on a prescription diet. Hill's s/d. Both wet and dry food (they only get wet food once a day - it's more of just a treat, really, they don't eat much of it), and they free-feed dry food.

Because Tuxedo had to go on the special diet, all the cats did. This is week two of three. The switch to this food was uneventful, no one seemed to experience any problems (diarrhea or otherwise) during the change.

But they're all eating the exact same thing, and NO TREATS. Nothing. Just water and their Hill's s/d.

Shelly has experienced no change in behavior, and he's eating and drinking just fine. Other than the diarrhea last week, all the stools in the boxes have been normal. None seem too hard or soft. Shelly's bowel movement this morning was a little softer than normal, but nothing I would consider out of the ordinary.

MA, we don't let them out. There are too many deer ticks around here, and lyme disease is a real problem. They're all inside only. None of them even express interest in going outside (which might seem strange for ferals!) They love to watch the birds and "smell" outside through the screen, but that's the extent of it.

Spooky caught and ate a fly the other day!

MA, that is a great site! Thanks for the link. The only "problem" is that he doesn't have diarrhea now, just blood in the stool.

I guess we'll have to take him for X-rays to see if he swallowed something, as the tests already came back negative for everything else.

Usually a small amount of red blood in stool just means a parasite (ruled out), a little constipation, or some irritation in the bowel. If it's every day, and there's quite a bit I would be concerned that something may be stuck. You also worry if the stool looks black from blood. If it's black, it's coming from the large intestine, and there's something really wrong.

hi, just thought I'd let you know, that I have heard some diets can help this go away, when the food brand is changed, it stops afte t a few days...

maybe shelly doesn't agree with the new prescription hills diet..

just thought I'd let you know, cause it happens, and when it isn't parasites, it can be linked to the diet change.

Oh, Laurie,

I'm not sure what to tell you as far as the blood in the stool, but I wanted to let you know my thoughts and prayers are with Shelly (and you and Gary as well). I'm hoping this will pass quickly and it will be nothing significant.

Good Luck!

Years ago this happened to one of my cats. Vet could find nothing wrong, so he had me feed her chicken baby food (human) with a small amount of rice mixed in. Within a couple of days the blood was gone. That was probably 15 years ago, so I don't know whether that would still be considered an acceptable treatment.

How is your kitty doing? I have been sending her lots of get better vibes!! I have been looking around at websites to see if i could find anything but everything says loose stools or constipated One time I thought neo had blood in his stool but it turned out he ate the red fur off of one of his toy mice

My husband just took our 12 week old kitten to the vet and he apparently has a parasite called coccidiosis. Anyone familiar with this and what the prognosis is? He is now on a powder medication and the vet changed his diet to a moister kind.

I had a cat years ago that had blood in her stool every so often. The vet could find nothing wrong. It still worried me every time I saw it, but she lived to be sixteen.