blood in stool

Hello. I have been sooooo frustrated for the last couple months. I have 2 cats-got both around May 2001. I noted a while ago that stool was a strange color and was soft so I had both cats checked and no signs of worms or parasite. About 2 weeks ago, I came home and oh boy my apartment SMELLED! When I cleaned the litter box, I found stool with blood in it. Of course, I freaked out and made an appt for Sat- 2 days later. The very next day after I found blood in stool, I moved so I'm sure that didn't help. The dr gave me some pills to give to Sunni (That's who I suspected had blood in stool). Unfortnately, last Tues, I found some blood again in the stool and this stool was from Zebra so I'm not sure who has this problem or if both have it. I took them to the vet last night and was told to wait because it has not been steady- meaning blood in stool every time I clean out the box. I have only seen blood 2 times so far in the last month. He told me that as long as the cats are keeping weight, remaining active and happy, and having stool reasonably regular (normal looking stool) that they should be okay. He told me that I need to bring them back if the stool has blood regularly, if the cats started acting differently or start losing weight. He said he could do more tests-blood tests, etc but he feels sometimes that is overkill and wants to wait a while to see.
Now my question is - is this reasonable advice or is the vet not doing enough???????
What do u think could be causing this? The cats are doing just fine- very active and loves to get in my way and demand attention and shows no signs of pain or discomfort...

For some reason cats bleed from the rectum quite easily. When the cat is otherwise healthy, eats normally and is playful, no need to worry when occasionally some blood is found in the stool. It was wise to have your cat checked by your vet to rule out any diseases, but if the cat gets a clean bill of health you need not worry about
it. Just keep an eye on things in case it is getting worse. For *severe* bleeding from the rectum - I speak of *much* blood - can cause anemia.

Good Luck

I am sorry, but I have to disagree with Hell603. I have 11 cats and have had plenty more as guests. NONE of them have had bloody stool without a cause. If it is every few months you might see a bit if they were straining or trying to pass some hair. You mentioned that it was loose and it stunk really bad. If these were my cats, I would take them to another vet. From what you describe, it sounds like they may have coccidia. It can be difficult to see in stool samples, especially if you are not looking for them.

Sandy: When checking the stool in cases of blood I was under the impression that Vets automatically check for worm/parasites and giardia? Mine does. So I was under the impression that giardia was already covered.

Hmmmmmmm - Ok they should definately be check for giardia and you might want to check into possible food alergies. My Loki had the same problem - blood cloating or after soft stool. It turned out that he had a food alergy to one or some of the ingredients in Nutro - he now eats Science Diet for Sensitive Stomaches and his stool ia now AOK, firm and without blood. The way I discovered this was that when I had Piper a 5 yr. old Somali she was on Scienece Diet for Sensitive Stomachs - in time Loki decided to switch on his own and within days his stool was great and has been ever since.

When I called the Vet to advise him all he said that Food Allergies can cause major Havoc with they systems but it is very hard to diagnose.

Wow! Thanks for the replies. It has helped me so far grin. Knowing this has happened before with no serious consquences helped me feel better. The vet HAVE checked for worms/parasites. At first, he did suspect coccida and gave me pills to give to her. That was over a few months ago. Now he suspects it's food allegries so I am feeding them z/d. The blood has appeared 2 times in the last 2 months..

The stool doesn't stink EVERY time- only when there's blood. I know it's not coccida because of my past experience- it'd STINK every time the cats passed stool and this is not happening with this one- only stinks with blood. otherwise, the smell is normal if u could say that about stool!

Will keep u posted. Maybe I should try the Science diet for sensitive stomaches??

Wow I guess food allergies are more common than I thought. Ask him about the Science Diet for Sensitive Stomachs - maybe that can work for your too.

All the best.


Helen