Cat with bloody stool

Hello all,

I recently adopted a 7 year old cat about a month and a half ago. I have a 16 year old cat as well. My previous Maine Coon kitten died at 1 year old due to FIP. All my cats are indoor only.

Since I adopted my new cat, I have noticed blood in her stool. Her stool is relatively loose and smells horrific. My older cat does not have this issue.

I feed my cats Orijen dry food and Wild Callings wet food. My cat with the problem is 100% active, never strains to use the litter box, doesn't meow or anything. She goes every morning at 9am. She is not losing weight and seems very healthy. The vet agrees.

About 3 weeks ago, I brought the cat to the vet to check for a stool sample because of the blood and it being loose. Nothing was found at all. I was given a preventative and a probiotic. Nothing changed. Today, I brought the cat in again for another sample. This time I requested that they check again for giardia and this time Tritrichomonas foetus. The results will definitely take a while. However, the doctor found a tapeworm segment and de-wormed her.

Is any of this a concern for my other cat who seems very healthy and unbothered by any of this? Anything else I should know?

Thanks.

Welcome to the Cat Site, LCieParagon!

If your cat's stool tests still turn out negative, I might suggest discussing the possibility of food allergies and IBD with your vet. It's possible that dietary changes--removing something that's causing inflammation--could improve your cat's symptoms. If your vet isn't much help, a cat specialist might be able to give you more ideas. You're already feeding high-quality foods but perhaps there's something in one of them--it could be as basic or common as chicken, a common problem--that's irritating your cat's digestive system.

Bloody, loose, and smelly stools were our previous cat's first symptoms of what was most likely IBD; they started when she was seven or eight and she had them, sporadically, for the rest of her life. She, too, was active, otherwise healthy, and a good eater up until her last year or so. Brooksie lived a long life (she was at least 17) despite having kidney, thyroid, and serious heart issues, too. Ultimately, I figured out she had IBD before her vets did (they weren't experienced with cat nutrition and weren't very concerned about her symptoms; there also wasn't a Cat Site when Brooksie first had her symptoms!); she most likely developed lymphoma. In her last months we figured out, through trial and error, she was most likely sensitive to grains and fish.

I'm sure you'll get other suggestions from other members, too. 

Good luck -- I hope you're able to figure things out relatively painlessly!

LCieParagon said:

 
Hello all,

Thanks.

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Hi

As far as I'm concerned and all the vets i work with seem to agree, there is no such thing as a reliable in-house fecal test when compared to the advance of PCR testing (polymerase chain reaction) that amplifies the DNA of the offending organism in a way that provides definitive results.  It takes about 2 days, and needs to be sent out to a company like Idexx.  It's a bit more money but the results can be well trusted.  So in addition to that i agree deworming may be the solution since worms were found.

StephenQ said:

 
Hi

As far as I'm concerned and all the vets i work with seem to agree, there is no such thing as a reliable in-house fecal test when compared to the advance of PCR testing (polymerase chain reaction) that amplifies the DNA of the offending organism in a way that provides definitive results.  It takes about 2 days, and needs to be sent out to a company like Idexx.  It's a bit more money but the results can be well trusted.  So in addition to that i agree deworming may be the solution since worms were found.

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They are sending it out. It's going to take 5-7 business days they told me. They are doing a PCR test along with Giardia, etc.

LCieParagon said:

 
They are sending it out. It's going to take 5-7 business days they told me. They are doing a PCR test along with Giardia, etc.

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Excellent!  I love vets and clients who realize the benefits of PCR testing!  Let us know the results!

So I received the results of the PCR test today. She's negative for every parasite. I am going to start putting some rice in her diet. Maybe that will help some. Worth a shot.

I would try a food with a protein that isn't in the foods that she is eating now..

Yes, but I have to be very careful. I have a 16 year old cat that has had issues with food. They both love Orijen. And I will switch my wet food back to Merrick I think.

Denice said:

 
I would try a food with a protein that isn't in the foods that she is eating now..

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Yes, I think that's good advice, given the test results.

LCieParagon said:

 
Yes, but I have to be very careful. I have a 16 year old cat that has had issues with food. They both love Orijen. And I will switch my wet food back to Merrick I think.

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Our cats love Merrick's new limited ingredient foods: they've tried the duck and turkey, both of which also do contain chicken eggs so might not work for a cat with a chicken sensitivity. Even so, they might be worth trying.

Good luck!

LCieParagon said:

 
So I received the results of the PCR test today. She's negative for every parasite. I am going to start putting some rice in her diet. Maybe that will help some. Worth a shot.

Click to expand...

Did the vet discuss some other possible diagnoses?