Blood in stool - 2,5 y.o. indoors calico

fenya7

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Hi all:

I hope to hear from those who had a SIMILAR scare - my cat had blood in her poop frist time about a month ago. Never had it before, never was constipated or vice versa. I immideately took her to a Vet clinic, and she was checked by a Dr. He told me that she looks very healthy, perfect weight, nice personality, etc. He was sure she is OK but asked me to bring her poop for the test. I did it, he called me next day and told me that she had no worms, no infections. We were taking 2 medications on his advice. Before we finished, she had blood a few times. Not every day, but about once a week or so. Good appetitie, playing, running. I called the clinic and her vet suggested that I change her diet to feline ID, prescription. I immideately purchased both WET and DRY feline ID. My cat loves the taste, eats it with pleasure. FELINE ID, however, contains liver by-products, I try NOT to feed her by-products. Now, she is on this expensive ($2 a can) prescription food. Blood was there, not as often as before, but still - at times, I still see it. Finally after about 3 weeks on this new diet, blood disappeared. I was so happy... a week later, i.e. THIS MORNING, her stool was more lose AND had blood in it, again. She did not want to play and ate slower than usual...

WHAT SHOULD I DO??? Please help. My vet clinic says, it's very common, it was caused by the food I gave her previously, but she was on the same food for about three months, and only AFTER that, we started having this blood problem.... Hope to hear from those who know. THANK you. I interviewed a lot of cat people and nobody had anyting similar...
 

lisahe

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fenya7, we had a cat who had similar symptoms, though they started when she was older, probably about six or seven. To make a long story short, our vets also said it was very common and not to worry... this was back in the early 2000s. We did worry and asked various vets at the practice about her symptoms over the years but they never put things all together. Our cat eventually turned out to have what was most likely IBD: she vomited more, had more blood problems, and eventually lost a lot of weight. She lived a very long and active life (she was at least 17, probably older, when we had to have her put to sleep last year) despite all that. Unfortunately, our vets were clueless for many years about her problems and knew next to nothing about how best to feed her!  (There wasn't much on the Internet about all this when the problem started.)

I learned a lot about cats and nutrition when Brooksie was sick and if I had things to do over again I would have fed her only low-carbohydrate, high-protein, grain-free canned or raw foods: even changing her diet to healthier foods in her last couple months eased her symptoms. Pretty much anything can cause IBD -- a certain meat, a certain grain, or an ingredient like carrageenan -- so it can be difficult to figure out what's causing the problem. In Brooskie's case, I suspect it was probably corn or wheat. There are lots of people on these boards whose cats have IBD so I'm sure you'll get other responses and ideas. It's also possible someone else has a cat who's had bloody poop for a completely different reason -- I'm only familiar with a situation that was probably caused by sensitivity to certain foods.

I hope you're able to figure this out soon! I also have to ask: is your cat's name Fenya?
 
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fenya7

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Thank you so much for this very helpful info. We have an appt. with yet another vet Thursday night and your note is very timely. Fenya felt much better last night and in the morning. Yes, that's her name, it's the coolest name I could pick trying to include everything in it - her colors, my love for opera and the city of Venice and, most importantly, that I am Russian, thus my American born kitty is at least partially Russian :-) Anyway, her calico colors are the colors of the interior of Venetian opera house named La Fenice (phoenix) and shorter version of La Fenice is FENYA, a girl's name in Russian. Fenya is a character in a couple of funny Russian  verses.  It also means a couple of other funny things in Russian. So her name covers a lot of things dear to me :-))) and of course she is the best kitty ever :-))

Best to you and your cats - Galina, Fenya's mom 
 
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mnm

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Our Minnie had blood in her stool as long as I can remember. We also asked the vet "way back when" about it and since she was so healthy he dismissed it. She totally was a picture of health up until we just lost her due to chylothorax..totally unrelated issue...and thru the diagnosis of the chylo she had every test and xray imaginable and nothing unusual turned up other than her chylothorax... point being the blood in her stool wasn't an issue for her as far as anything that harmed her all those years. Due to her stool being so smelly, I always believed she had a "fisher" or hemorrhoid. Here's the interesting part. We had her on a supplement called Rutin (chylothorax cats take it) and her stool cleared up..which REALLY makes me think she had some sort of hemorrhoid as Rutin heals hemorrhoids in people :)
 
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fenya7

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Thank you so much, it's very helpful. We have a Vet appointment coming Thursday and your reply is very timely. BTW - Fenya's poop is terribly smelly, always... so probably our problem is similar to what you've described.

Cheers
 

mnm

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I'm glad you're getting it checked out and hope it's something that can be easily taken care of :)
 

catwoman707

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Blood in stool, as long as it is red and not tarry or black, in an owned cat is most often food related.

It's their intestines/bowels that throw out this sign for you to notice something is not quite okay in there, irritated.

Blood is caused from inflammation, whether it be parasites, IBD, diet, etc.

My guess would def. be diet related.

You can put her on a limited ingredient diet and allow it time to heal. Don't switch up at all, and go with something like Blue Buffalo Basics limited ingredient turkey/potato.

Easy on their digestive system, minimal ingredients, nothing that will keep the irritation going.
 

lisahe

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Thank you so much for this very helpful info. We have an appt. with yet another vet Thursday night and your note is very timely. Fenya felt much better last night and in the morning. Yes, that's her name, it's the coolest name I could pick trying to include everything in it - her colors, my love for opera and the city of Venice and, most importantly, that I am Russian, thus my American born kitty is at least partially Russian :-) Anyway, her calico colors are the colors of the interior of Venetian opera house named La Fenice (phoenix) and shorter version of La Fenice is FENYA, a girl's name in Russian. Fenya is a character in a couple of funny Russian  verses.  It also means a couple of other funny things in Russian. So her name covers a lot of things dear to me :-))) and of course she is the best kitty ever :-))

Best to you and your cats - Galina, Fenya's mom 
I'm glad it was helpful, Galina, and hope Fenya will be on the mend soon after the vet appointment. (Our cat's poop was horribly smelly, too.)

I asked about the name "Fenya" because I'm a Russian translator... it's funny, though, I wasn't familiar with the name for opera house and not familiar with the verses but know (of all things!) the term ботать по фене!

Anyway, your Fenya is adorable!)))
 
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fenya7

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Wow, I am so glad to meet a Russian translator :-))) M also very glad that you've learned something new. Long live forums!

Thank you for your kind words.

Have a great day :-)
 
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fenya7

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Thank you very much for your opinion. I appreciate your expert advice and I will post update here. Hope it is not anything serious.

Cheers !
 

darcifinn

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Just weighing is - I had a a lot of stress when FInn had blood in his stool.   Same as others no real problem according to vet..  He has it occasionally and doesn't seem to be any real worry.  Maybe your baby was just tired that morning and didn't want to play.   I get that way in the mornings too ;)
 
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fenya7

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Thank you very much for sharing. Hopefully, nothing serious with my cat, we will go for x-rays and blood work just to triple check. Thanks and please send love from Fenya to Finn and Darci :-))
 
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fenya7

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Thank you so much for your Q. I've been waiting for a clear diagnosis to post here, but it still is confusing. We did see our Vet a week ago. Fenya vomited in car, only 10 minutes drive, but either she was scared or got seasick, same on our way back. While in clinic, she was hissing at Dr., Technicians and even at other kitties. She hates it there. So I hope we won't need to be there soon. Our Vet suggested additional stool test (REA or something) and gave us new medicine (metronidazole.) I was following everything. Last night finally got message from our Vet - Fenya has a parasite ( I will take specifics when I am in clinic Wednesday to pick up her yet another medicine). Our Vet said that metronidazole is useless, we should now drop it. I am kinda disappointed - why not to run all tests with the first specimen and make me go there extra times? Why there was metronidazole? Anyway, we will start her new treatment with the hope to get rid of that parasite... will keep you posted.

Thanks again, best to your kitties :-))   PS: Our Vet also checked her teeth and suggested dental cleaning in March of 2015.... (?) The other Vet October 8 did check her teeth but did not notice anything... We cannot change clinic because she hates the drive, other clinics are much farther from home...

No blood in her stool so far and she is as playful as always, eats well, etc.
 
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catwoman707

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I am curious about which parasite she has, and also wondering as I re-read this thread, why you went through so many other tests only to come back to parasites, which are found in stool.

When a parasite is suspected, sometimes when they come back negative they are retested because a few of the more common parasites are only seen at intervals rather than consistently.

Glad to hear nothing serious!
 
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fenya7

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Thank you for sharing your op. I WILL ONLY KNOW what specific parasite she was tested positive for AFTER I visit the clinic Wednesday (I am off tomorrow.) Our Vet spoke very fast, and I could not figure the name of that parasite in voice message she left me. WHY did they NOT take all tests with one specimen (stool) is MY question as well... I will write everything down while I am there tomorrow...

Thans again,

Fenya's mom
 
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fenya7

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I suspect my Vet reads CATSITE blog... she CALLED ME and we talked, and she completely addressed everything about what I was screaming here !!

They found 3 things:

1. Virus called CORONA (no wonder, my queen has a CORONA!) - Our Vet says, it's normal, no treatment needed and there is NO treatment for it. 2. THIS SHOULD BE OUR CULPRIT -- CRYPTOSPORADIUM  -- for this, I will get her new medicine tomorrow. Our Vet told me that, NO, we should've not dropped metronidazole (as advised by their Technician last night!) and to increase dosage for seven days. 3. Clostridium perfingens alfa - this thing does not give any symptoms, is OK.

She also explanined WHY they could not take all test battery with one specimen - it is impossible and they are ruling out whatever they suspect. So - to be continued... Again - long live FORUMS and thank you all :-))
 
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