Cat with blood in stool (Sorry, but need to ask!)

My three-and-a-half year-old neutered male indoor cat has had a problem with blood in his stool for a couple of years. I find blood on the floor outside his litter box sometimes. I mentioned this to the vet a couple of times and she took a sample from him - it was yellow diarrhea with streaks of blood. Nothing showed up from the sample. She told me that with cats it is difficult to tell where the blood is coming from because cats clean themselves, but felt it could be a parasitic infection and gave him a shot. Colitis was another thought if the shot didn't work.  The shot worked and the yellow "cow pats" stopped, but this morning I found, uncovered, normal-looking stool with blood on the end, and a spot on the floor. I took out the sample, but it has still has ome litter attached to it. I am wondering if I should take this in. I've asked already on two occasions about this but the vet did not seem to worried because he is eating well and very active. I don't want to subject my cat to any tests if they are not necessary. The last time I called about this, she told me again that he is not exhibiting signs of ill health.

Chaucer said:

 
My three-and-a-half year-old neutered male indoor cat has had a problem with blood in his stool for a couple of years. I find blood on the floor outside his litter box sometimes. I mentioned this to the vet a couple of times and she took a sample from him - it was yellow diarrhea with streaks of blood. Nothing showed up from the sample. She told me that with cats it is difficult to tell where the blood is coming from because cats clean themselves, but felt it could be a parasitic infection and gave him a shot. Colitis was another thought if the shot didn't work.  The shot worked and the yellow "cow pats" stopped, but this morning I found, uncovered, normal-looking stool with blood on the end, and a spot on the floor. I took out the sample, but it has still has ome litter attached to it. I am wondering if I should take this in. I've asked already on two occasions about this but the vet did not seem to worried because he is eating well and very active. I don't want to subject my cat to any tests if they are not necessary. The last time I called about this, she told me again that he is not exhibiting signs of ill health.

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I'm very sorry to hear about your cat's bloody stool, Chaucer. I don't have first-hand experience with parasites but want to mention colitis, just in case teh parasite treatments don't help your cat. Your cat is pretty young so if the issue isn't parasites, it would be great to stop the colitis early!

Our previous cat, Brooksie, had bloody stool but her vets were unconcerned about her "colitis," which they seemed to regard as idiopathic, for years since, at least in the beginning, she was otherwise healthy and active for her age. She first had bloody stool when she was around seven or eight years old; initially, it was not constant or even frequent. To make a long story short, over the years, she developed other digestive issues: vomiting, diarrhea, and, ultimately, what was likely IBD and lymphoma. (She lived to be at least 17 and had kidney, thyroid, and heart disease that did not make her a candidate for invasive diagnostics!)

If I'd known back then what I know now, I would have started by changing her food to grain-free, low-carb, high-protein wet foods. (As it turned out, even in her very last months, Brooksie's symptoms eased some when I started feeding her only grain-free foods. Fish also seemed to bother her but food sensitivities can be very difficult to pinpoint.) I would also have taken her to a cat specialist with more knowledge of feline nutrition than the doctors at our vet practice had.

I hope the problem turns out to be easy to resolve! Good luck!

Thank you,Lisa.  The vet mentioned about diet. I'm hoping to avoid that because my other cat, a spayed female former semi-feral I rescued over a year ago from my neighborhood, is a little piggy will eat everything I put down. My male is the opposite. Although he is nearly 10 pounds, he doesn't chow down all the time and is a tall, long, lean muscular cat.  That your cat lived to be 17 is great   My cat, Chaucer, doesn't seem to have any other digestive issues and he's not having diarrhea right now. That's why I was surprised the stool was "normal" but had blood in a pool at the end of it.  I'd rather take a sample than have the vet get one from him again. It was very unpleasant for him.

I'm sorry that I had to resurrect this topic, it's kind of gross, but Chaucer has been having the absolute worst smelling stools - soft and hard. The stools have been dark gray and also yellow. I have not seen blood this time. His bowel movement have always had a rather strong, pungent odor but for the past two weeks it has been putrid. To be honest, it's only been in the last couple of days I realized it was him. I thought the following: 

1. I'd bought the scented cat litter by mistake

2. The new fabric softener/laundry scent pellets were too sweet (and I vowed never to buy them again)

3. Meat, fruits or vegetables I'd put in the trash were rotting too quickly before I could get them to the outdoor bin.

I mean I knew it was coming from the laundry room, but you know it's bad when you can smell that scent when you come through the door.  He was in guest bedroom the other night while I had my semi-feral in the house and I made the mistake of walking into that bedroom much later. I couldn't stand to be in the same room.

The vet appointment is tomorrow, and she is aware he has had bowel issues before - blood and yellow stool. The smell and dark gray stool worry me, although he doesn't act ill. He's still very active, but he's turned up his little gray nose at his usual food - both wet and dry.

Has anyone had a cat with the putrid stools?

Again, sorry.

Please don't apologize, that's what we are all here for...

I personally don't have any experience with this particular issue but I would feel the same as you, concerned with the color and smell of his poo. Glad you will be seeing the vet tomorrow and maybe get some answers. :fingers crossed:

Hopefully more members will share what they know and maybe able to help more.

Is your vet a cat specialist? I know we don't have any in our area but I wish we did. Nothing is worse than not knowing how to help our fur family.

Sending healing vibes that your Chaucer will be feeling better quickly

I did find this chart on cat poop, which shows gray smelly poop indicates digestive problems:  http://web.archive.org/web/20091023085756/http://geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/2148/pets/monitor.htm

Not that that tells you a whole lot , but I guess it's a starting place.  Glad you're taking him to the Vet.

"Putrid stools" (and various other stool problems) were a big issue for our previous cat: she was never properly diagnosed because she was frail from various illnesses, but she almost certainly had IBD and, thus, a whole panopoly of digestive issues.

I agree with LotsofFur about the thought of bringing Chaucer to a cat specialist, preferably someone with good knowledge of feline nutrition. In our cat's case, it helped ease her symptoms (and even smells) to feed her a pretty low-carb, grain-free diet in her last months after we'd fed her far too much junk food for years. The fact that Chaucer has been hesitant about his food sound worrying. I hope the vet appointment goes well!

LisaHE said:

 
"Putrid stools" (and various other stool problems) were a big issue for our previous cat: she was never properly diagnosed because she was frail from various illnesses, but she almost certainly had IBD and, thus, a whole panopoly of digestive issues.

I agree with LotsofFur about the thought of bringing Chaucer to a cat specialist, preferably someone with good knowledge of feline nutrition. In our cat's case, it helped ease her symptoms (and even smells) to feed her a pretty low-carb, grain-free diet in her last months after we'd fed her far too much junk food for years. The fact that Chaucer has been hesitant about his food sound worrying. I hope the vet appointment goes well!

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We're back from the vet visit. Chaucer's lymphocytes are elevated so he does have an infection. Unfortunately, he would not "poop" or tinkle for them in the six hours he was there.  They put in a litter box with paper so he wouldn't be able to cover it and they could get a sample should he go. He did not like the paper. They opted not to get a fecal sample the other way because he was agitated.  He's had one of those before and this trip he was not very nice to anyone I learned. I have never heard him hiss but the vet and staff said he was like a demon cat this trip. He "talked" a lot and when people got within 5 ft of his cage, he started hissing. One person told me that when he hisses, he looks really scary because his whole small face is involved. He doesn't usually act this way at all, even there. When they brought in his carrier, I was told his entire demeanor changed. He was actually purring for me in his carrier while we were waiting for the vet to come go over the results of the work-up.

Anyway, since he hadn't lost any weight since his last visit in March and he was still active, the vet feels this is most likely something like colitis/Crohn's disease cat-style or else some sort of immune deficiency thing (he is FIV negative, by the way) and gave him a steroid shot to see if this will help somewhat. If not, he will be going on the elimination diet.  Chaucer is relatively picky eater - no pate-style food; only chicken, turkey and some fish, and he is not a fan of dry food.

I moved from a very large city to a very small town a couple of years ago..The nearest city with the possibility of a cat specialist is minimum 2 hours away.