Cleopatra - Bloody stools and elevated calcium

Hey guys,

So I have a question. Several weeks ago, Cleo developed bloody stools. One day she had mucus dark red blood in her poop. I was concerned, but knew in cats it sometimes happens every once in a while. Four days later, in my room, I found severe diarrhea everywhere, a pile of vomit, and regular poop with some mucusy diarrhea. It was the weekend, so I put her on a chicken diet only. I gradually changed her to her food, and then tape wormed her. Everything seemed normal, until four days later she had mucus and blood in her poop again. It looked a lot better, though. Only a thin sheen of mucus covered the poop with streaks of blood. Her poop smells foul now. It does not smell like poop at all, though. I can't explain it.  Another round of tapeworm tabs later....four das later, more bloody poop, like the last one. I grew worried, so the next day, Tuesday, we took her to the vet. They weighed her, no weight loss(6.3 pounds). They put their hands around her, said she looked healthy, and then they took a fecal sample. They came back and said they didn't really see any parasites, but with fecal exams it can be difficult to know for sure. Well, they put her on Albon and said it treats a variety of stuff, even Coccidiosis. Tthey said if that doesn't work, come back in a month for lab tests.

Wednesday I started her on Albon, giving her it every 12 hours. It has not worked yet, she only ever had diarrhea twice, so her poops look the same. Today, I gave her the medication and there were still streaks of dark red blood in it. I heard from somewhere Albon works within 2-3 days. If its not working now, should I call the vet back up? Can I wait a full month and be confident she will be fine until then? She acts totally normal, its just the poop. It could be stress, and she has it, but I doubt its the case. Every poop she has now is streaked in blood, so I am really confused. What does Albon really treat? Am I even giving her the 'right' medication?

Hi,

I just had foster kittens who had diarrhea and blood in their stools and they were diagnosed with giardia, a parasite. Giardia causes a really foul odor in the stools (one which I am all too familiar with!) so it sounds like that could be a possibility for your cat. Apparently it is hard to see when they test the stools and isn't in every stool so it may have been missed in the fecal sample. The medication for giardia is usually Panacur or Metronidazole, or both. I adopted one of my foster kittens and even though she didn't have diarrhea anymore, she still tested positive for giardia from her stool sample so she's on her second round of both medications. 

I would phone the vet now and check about what to do as Cleo is still having bloody stools rather than wait a month. Good luck - I hope Cleo gets better soon!

And the vet didn't see anything up with the anal gland? A bleeding anal gland leaves bright red streaks on the outside of the poop and smells pretty awful. It could also be bacterial overgrowth + inflammation, which is treatable with probiotics (or a round of antibiotics followed by probiotics). Or it could be inflammatory bowel disease and/or inflammation from a food allergy....

They were awfully busy, they never mentioned her anal glands, and from what I saw, didn't look at them. They just took the one swab, put her on Albon, said it "could" just be stress, and they said come back in a month, and if it is not gone they will do labs. The bad poop smell just smelled.."off", I can't really explain it. I know how anal gland 'secretions' smell like(in a dog at least, lol), and it doesn't smell like that. Her poop smells bad, but I can't lay a finger on the smell. It doesn't smell like regular poop smell, though. No labs, nothing...

I have to agree with Katsa on this one.

Talk with your vet as soon as you can (I know it's the weekend and some vets, unfortunately, aren't readily available). Otherwise, you might consider getting a second opinion from another vet. Giardia isn't necessarily a life-threatening condition, but it needs to be treated, and the sooner, the better. It can be passed to humans so, please, wash your hands very well. 

Keep us posted and make sure she is getting plenty of fresh water (purchase a fountain if possible and add a little water to her wet food) so she doesn't get dehydrated from the runny stools and diarrhea. That could lower her immune system and makes things worse. 

Here is a link that tells more about it and how to disinfect your house and areas your cats sleeps etc.: 

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-health-information/article/animal-health/giardia-in-cats/119

Thanks for the info guys! She has pooped twice since my last post. No blood whatsoever in either of them! The first still had the same mucus, but the next one did not seem to have a lot at all. The smell was still there. Tomorrow I will still call the vet though. I am making sure she is getting enough water, but actually, she had diarrhea only once(almost two weeks ago), a soft poop a week ago, and a slightly soft poop several days ago. The only odd thing about her poop was the blood, mucus, and smell. Does anyone know if Albon treats Giardia? All I know is that it treats a 'multitude' of infections, and coccidia.

I don't know if anyone else will respond, but the vet said to continue giving her Albon. I have, and there is no blood in her poop. BUT, it still contains mucus sometimes, and it still smells 'foul'. Also, I forgot to give her it for about 16 hours, and I gave it to her several hours ago. A few minutes ago, she vomited mucus. Do you think it is a symptom of Albon? I shall also give a call to the vet. Man, this is so stressful. x/. She's also in heat, and the vet decided to give her a spay in November, but since she's sick, we have delayed it until the second week of January.

Giardia is typically treated with Metrodiazole; Coccidia is treated with Albon. Your vet would need to do a stool culture to determine which parasite needs to be treated. If you want to opt out of the lab culture, both of these meds can be given together. When you call your vet, ask why s/he chose Albon and what the exact diagnosis is. Also, ask about giving a probiotic to replace the good flora in the intestine. Antibiotics don't discriminate and they kill off both good and bad bacteria. That could be the cause of the continued mucous in the stool. Just be sure your kitty is getting plenty of water! It will help get the medication into the digestive tract and enhance absorption, and it will help prevent dehydration. Also, increased water is important because Albon can cause urinary crystals. Ask your vet about scheduling a urinary analysis after the antibiotic is complete to check for crystals and keep an eye on her output and potty habits - if she shows any signs of difficulty when urinating (squatting  to pee but can't, peeing frequent small amounts or dribbles, peeing outside the litter box, etc.).

If you don't have one, purchase a fountain (Walmart has them for $20) and add extra water to your cats wet food. Purchase some chicken that is packed in water... my cats absolutely LOVE drinking the water/juice from that. 

Keep us posted.

Cleopatras Mom said:

 
I don't know if anyone else will respond, but the vet said to continue giving her Albon. I have, and there is no blood in her poop. BUT, it still contains mucus sometimes, and it still smells 'foul'. Also, I forgot to give her it for about 16 hours, and I gave it to her several hours ago. A few minutes ago, she vomited mucus. Do you think it is a symptom of Albon? I shall also give a call to the vet. Man, this is so stressful. x/. She's also in heat, and the vet decided to give her a spay in November, but since she's sick, we have delayed it until the second week of January.

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Okay in my experience, which is extensive as I have had a cat rescue group for many years, this is what I see.

I think she likely has coccidia, poop is mucousy and foul smelling diarrhea and/or soft stools.

It is also the most common of the parasites.

The blood seen does not help indicate what's going on, only that she has very irritated intestines/bowels.

Ongoing diarrhea on top of having a parasite will cause this.

So while the albon is at least helping get that irritated and inflammed intestinal tract calmed down somewhat, it does take quite a bit of time to actually work.

This is because albon merely inhibits the parasitic growth, and the rest is up to your cat's system to get rid of the parasite. I have had albon take literally months.

Albon does not treat giardia.

I just recently tossed out a great big bottle of albon because when I discovered ponazuril I stopped using it, and it has been so long it expired.

Good thing it's not too costly!

Ponazuril is actually called marquis paste, which treats coccidia in horses. But it had been discovered that it also works outstanding for cat parasites, and has a broader spectrum to treat giardia and others as well.

Once a small amt of water is added to the paste it is then called ponazuril and needs refrigeration. The paste undiluted does not and has over a year long shelf life.

I give you these details in case your vet chooses to jump on the wagon and start using it as well.

1 tube is huge, like 125 mls. It costs about 200.00 but is well worth buying for vets, 125 mls will make nearly 200 mls of ponazuril, so he will double or more his investment.

Ponazuril is amazing! Unlike albon that only inhibits growth, ponazuril kills off the parasite/eggs/larvae. Fast. Once a day for 5 days and done.

I've used it on young kittens, never any side effects, just fast good poop again!

I highly recommend asking about this. Some vets have heard others say how great it is and are now using it, others are more old school and still using the albon.

Interesting about the Albon! I stopped taking it after they suggested about a week ago. Now, I have a question, is Cocci common even if they don't have diarrhea? She only had diarrhea twice, and then the rest were normal(firm), but had mucus and blood. So, could just blood and mucus be a sign of Cocci? The mucucs has turned slightly white on the narrowed parts now, and everything seemed fine when an hour ago she pooped and I saw a slight hint of red blood near the mucus. I am just so confused, stressed and worried! I know I'll have to take her in, but it will have to be next week. The vets are open tomorrow, but closed the rest of the week, open the next week until Friday. I will set up an appt tomorrow. So, even with two poops that were diarrhea, weeks ago, and the rest firm, but just mucusy and bloody, it still might be those? Otherwise, she acts normal. Supurbly so. It's just her bowel movements. That's what is confusing me...no diarrhea(since weeks ago)...but still mucus and blood, signifying that something is bothering her....THOUGH I DID find her eating some fake pine needles several days ago!!!

I have never seen a cat that had coccidia but no diarrhea.

That's the first sign, plus the smell of course, then comes the mucous/blood from an irritated system.

I wouldn't jump to any conclusions, give her body a bit of time to calm down and be well, and if in the near future you see it again then take it from there.

No diarrhea or stinky poop, very likely no coccidia.

My cat has suspected inflammatory bowel disease and was pooping with streaks of blood and mucous on it for a while. Changing her diet and putting her on prednisolone seems to have helped. I think probiotics helped some too.

And it could be that she had parasites and her bowel's still inflamed. I've heard in humans that after having parasites or other digestive bugs, food sensitivities pop up (sometimes to disappear once the gut's healed.)

In my earlier post, I had explained Cleo's poop started having another issue with blood in her poop. When we went to the vet again, they said that they could not find any trace of an infection like Coccidia or Giardia. They did find samples of tapeworms, quite a bit of them. Cleo has always had a problem with Tapeworms, even after giving her flea medication and treating the Tapeworms. They gave me Frontline and Tapetabs, but I am really hesitant on giving her flea medication because of a few past incidents. 

I trust Tapetabs more, but again, I hate giving any medication to a cat more than I would need to. 

Is there anyway I can control the flea situation naturally? Baths are not possible.

Cleo has never had issues with Tapeworms until recently, as soon as she gets it.

She has no effects to the fleas, but the tapeworms are bothering her.

Wold it be safer to give her a Tapetab every month instead of a Flea treatment?

If she has tapeworms she must also have a chronic flea problem. I think you probably need to treat both in order to get the situation under control. You'll also need to clean your environment so she isn't continually exposed.

I'm new to this site and I can't figure out how to post something sorry in advance for stealing your posy :/ .. but my cat has worms and I got some deworm medicine for a friend that got it from her vet but I don't think it's working. She still has worms and I'm trying to figure out what kind of deworm medicine I have. Can anyone help?

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You need to take your cat to a vet so it can be treated with the appropriate dewormer and for the appropriate number of times.

After nearly two months of chronic colitis, and a trip to the vets, nothing was getting better. Even after putting her on Albon. So, we went to a different vet, the one we take our dogs to. I am continuously impressed with the time she takes with each patient. Cleopatra was the same weight as usual, minus less than half  pound. They inspected her thoroughly, unlike the other ones. They checked her gums, ears, body, temperature, and felt her abdomen, They said everything was perfect, and she was in excellent health. They checked her stools that we provided, and they said nothing showed up at all. No parasites, no internal blood, nothing. They explained she may have some food sensitivity issues, and they explained it was not worth it quite yet, to do any tests. They put her on Rabbit and Peas Diet, Royal Canin. I will start to switch her over tomorrow. I am just so confused. There is no conclusive evidence for IBD, and she never has diarrhea. Do you think it could be anything else? Any other "illness" that only produces Colitis and no other symptoms whatsoever? Apart from an occasional foamy vomit, that has very little in it, only twice a month. I also heard Royal Canin is having pretty bad reviews and it is making me stress out even more. She says to call her once a week, and might not appear for almost a month. Hmmn..... Perhaps it takes a month for her to recover from a recent tapeworm infection, too? Ugh.

As I understand it, IBD in cats (and humans) isn't super well defined because we don't really know what causes it, so since it had such a wide range of possible symptoms, it's easy to fall back on that when nothing else is conclusive. But it sounds like your vet was very careful to rule out everything she could think of, and just because it may not technically be IBD doesn't mean the treatment can't be just as effective. Changing food helps a lot of cats with IBD, suspected IBD, and suspected food sensitivities.

If the only reason she's on a prescription diet is to make sure she sticks to limited ingredients, I'd find an LID food you like with rabbit as the protein source and call and list off the ingredients for your vet to see if it's okay if you feed that instead. I can't think of a good reason why she would object.

How old is your cat? did they do complete blood work to test kidneys and thyroid? Have you tried a limited ingredients wet food like Merrick LID or Nature's variety? I think when you're dealing with a food allergy/IBD you have to go back to basics and get the food as simple as possible which usually means cutting out kibble. I am not a fan of RX diets I think they're a gimmick and you can do much better either making your own food (its easy) or buying LID foods. You might want to hop over to the nutrition thread and look around for some good food recs.