Bloody, runny stool

its tom the cat

its tom the cat

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Tom is a 12 year old special needs cat. He has hypothyroidism and on medication. His appetite is good and he drinks a lot of water. He urinates about 6 times over a 24 hour period and defecates normally once a day and always at the same time, give or take an hour.

His stools have been pretty normal but once in a while he passes runny stool at the end of his normal ones. Today he passed a very runny stool which was red with blood. Not a dark but almost a scarlet color. I presume that tomorrow he will pass ordinary stools but....!

I had changed his diet slightly by giving him a chicken or turkey in gravy instead of straight pate. But the same brand of food.

He acts normal, shows no sign of pain is no less active and sleeps well albeit it a lot. He is basically an indoor cat but goes out in a secure yard under supervision.

I plan to take a stool sample to the vet.
 
stephenq

stephenq

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Its Tom the Cat said:
 
Tom is a 12 year old special needs cat. He has hypothyroidism and on medication. His appetite is good and he drinks a lot of water. He urinates about 6 times over a 24 hour period and defecates normally once a day and always at the same time, give or take an hour.

His stools have been pretty normal but once in a while he passes runny stool at the end of his normal ones. Today he passed a very runny stool which was red with blood. Not a dark but almost a scarlet color. I presume that tomorrow he will pass ordinary stools but....!

I had changed his diet slightly by giving him a chicken or turkey in gravy instead of straight pate. But the same brand of food.

He acts normal, shows no sign of pain is no less active and sleeps well albeit it a lot. He is basically an indoor cat but goes out in a secure yard under supervision.

I plan to take a stool sample to the vet.
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Good plan, please let us know what the vet says.
 
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its tom the cat

its tom the cat

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Location
Victoria BC
On Sunday night he passed another runny stool with blood. I was able to contain it and the next morning he passed a semi-hard stool with soft blood at the end. I also captured that and took both samples to the vet at 8 am and was told I would have the results that day.

5 o'clock rolled around and no word so I called the clinic and was told the vet was just leaving and she would call me the next day (today). I thought that given what I thought was the seriousness of the situation she would respond that night. I was really not impressed. The only saving grace was the receptionist saying that if it was a serious matter she would have called that same day.

Still not happy so I asked if there was someone else who could give me the results and she put me onto a new doctor who does not know Tom and he would call when he was free. The clinic closes at 8 pm and at 9 pm he phoned.

He said the results showed no parasites and no ova with no trace of blood. The stool was soft but formed.

I found it strange when I had seen blood in the first stool from Sunday but apparently they only test the newest sample, which makes sense. Do I feel any better? No. But at least he had read Tom's history and had some idea of his health situation.

That night Tom had another movement and it was not perfect but it was harder but this morning I saw him defecate with the same runny stool he had had initially but could not recover it so cannot say if there was blood.

The vet told me to monitor him and if there are big changes to bring him in. He was the first vet who has not tried to sell me magic elixirs for a cat (or a rabbit).

tom sleeps a lot but has a good appetite. He usually defecates once daily but it is not rare for him to go twice especially now he is drinking so much water. 

I want to get him weighed as that is a good indicator of health and the clinic is only a mile away but poor Tom gets car sick.

In summary with no blood showing in the tested sample in means that whatever there is is inconsistent.

And no I did not hear from my regular vet today. She may have been briefed by the other vet and figured I had the picture. I called the clinic asking for a copy of the test results which I can have but the receptionist old me there was not more than four sentences on it so I let it go until my next visit.

There are many receptionists at the clinic and they are all pretty knowledgeable and they all know Tom - as well as my four bunnies.
 
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