22 year old female cat bleeding from anus and consitpation

Please advise, my cat has trouble pooping. very hard and small amounts. at times when she is trying to poop she spills a little of blood. she eats dry and wet cat food. I also feed her a can of tuna in oil once wet. does anyone have any answers or something I can do to help her?

just sent an email of my cat's issues. she is a 22 year old cat.

How long has this been going on? Is the blood in the poop or a result of the hard poops? I would say get her to a vet regardless. I see she's 22... we took our 9 year old in for hard stools just today and are running blood tests for his kidney health - they were on the small side, and that was obvious just from a physical. If the kidneys aren't working properly, they're sucking moisture out of their bodies to use in their kidneys, rather than in their stools which can make them hard and dry. I would say get her checked out and see what they can offer.

There are ways to soften stools at home like adding a few teaspoons of canned pumpkin to food, but they don't address the underlying issue. Up the wet food too. Dry food doesn't add moisture at all, and that's really what she needs right now.

You need to get your cat to the vet. Your cat is severely constipated and most likely dehydrated. Constipation in an elderly cat is very serious, and often a sign of a bigger problem.

Check for dehydration. Pull up skin between shoulders. If it goes right back, your cat is hydrated. If the skin takes a second or two or more to fall back, your cat is seriously dehydrated and needs to go the vet.

Your elderly cat is straining to pass stools and is in pain from trying to pass stool. Is the blood red or black?

Take away the dry food. Add as much water to the wet food as you possibly can. It should look soupy. This will help slightly but it will not be enough. It is only a stopgap until you get to the vet. 

Kyttpink said:

 
Please advise, my cat has trouble pooping. very hard and small amounts. at times when she is trying to poop she spills a little of blood. she eats dry and wet cat food. I also feed her a can of tuna in oil once wet. does anyone have any answers or something I can do to help her?

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Welcome to tcs!

@pinkdagger  has given some great advice!

The blood is not an emergency, but it IS there to get your attention, saying something is going on here. It should be red in color, never black and tarry like, as this IS more of an emergency situation.

The red shows when the bowels/intestinal tract are irritated for more than a very short period of time, as in ongoing constipation.

As pinkdagger mentioned, I would suggest having her kidney functions tested, as a matter of fact, a senior blood panel is really in order.

She is at a ripe old age, which is awesome.

I would also highly recommend time for a change in her diet. She will do well on canned pate food twice a day, and if she is a dry food addict allow her a bit of dry in between.

You can add a small amt of mineral oil to her canned food, it is very effective for constipation. That is assuming the vet doesn't see much of a reason for the constipation other than lack of good hydration.

I would not consider that to be an answer by no means, she most definitely needs to be examined thoroughly by a vet.

I agree a vet visit is in order, sometimes older cats can get conditions that can make it difficult for them to poop, my 14 year old cat has a condition called Megacolon where her colon is enlarged and can't contract to expel the poop.  She is on a very low fiber diet and I give her Miralax to help her go.  Has your kitty had any recent bloodwork?  I would recommend a vet visit, sounds like something is definitely going on with your kitty.

I'm assuming the blood is red, which may mean she's straining to poop too hard. Some very good advice in previous posts from everyone. Most importantly, get her to a vet. Sounds like she's constipated, but you need to find out why.

In the meantime try to get her off dry food and on 100% wet. This will help her with constipational issues going forward and is also a good move for general health and nutrition.