BLOOD in poop, please advise

I just noticed today that he has small amount of blood on his poop. For couple of days, his poop has been hard and today it was soft and it has small trace amount of blood on it. I did not notice any blood on previous poops because he covered it up. Could it be that the poop was hard and it somehow cause him to bleed? Any other reasons? Please help. If you need any more info, please let me know. Thank you.

NOTE: Eating and drinking is normal.

If it were me, I would take him to the vet tomorrow morning, or as soon as I could. Please let us know what happens!

Originally Posted by watchcaddy

I just noticed today that he has small amount of blood on his poop. For couple of days, his poop has been hard and today it was soft and it has small trace amount of blood on it. I did not notice any blood on previous poops because he covered it up. Could it be that the poop was hard and it somehow cause him to bleed? Any other reasons? Please help. If you need any more info, please let me know. Thank you.

NOTE: Eating and drinking is normal.

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Good for you for discovering the blood.
I agree with the above post. A check by your vet is essential.
Guessing what the problem might be is not an option.
Let us know what you find out.

A little blood in the poop (especially if the poop is soft) may only be a sign of a parasite, or possibly some irritation to the intestinal lining due to something eaten. Absolutely worth checking out by a vet - a stool sample may be enough to bring in, but not an emergency if its only a little blood connected to soft stool.

My guideline when it comes to questionable heath issues is...
"better safe than sorry."
If he was my kitty, I would schedule a vet appointment.

Originally Posted by xocats

My guideline when it comes to questionable heath issues is...
"better safe than sorry."
If he was my kitty, I would schedule a vet appointment.

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My thoughts exactly!!

Will call the vet and make an appt. Will let you all know the results. Thank you for your help.

Good luck at the vets.
I will watch for you update.

To add to what everyone else has said, cut out treats like Pounce. They irritate the intestines.

Originally Posted by menagerie mama

To add to what everyone else has said, cut out treats like Pounce. They irritate the intestines.

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We don't give him any treats, only 1/4 of can food at 8:00pm and dry food is left outside all the time.

The vet appt is 3/14/06 afternoon. We will let you all know what the problem is.

Oh, one more question. Stewie only poops once per day all the time (always around the same time), except today, he went twice, morning and night. Morning is alot and evening is little (poop). The morning has very very very little trace of blood. I had to pick up the poop and look for it (morning poop). The poop was soft and has a thin mucus (not a lot) wrap around it (like sausage in sheep intestine). I don't know if this is normal or not. Never look at his previous poop because we let him cover it up. The evening poop has the same thing but it is harder and has no blood. I don't know if this means anything. I don't know if any of your cats go poop twice a day or it is not normal. Also, is the poop covered in a thin layer of mucus like material?

We have recently changed his food from science diet kitten dry food to science diet adult indoor cat formula about two weeks ago. I don't know if this has any effects on his poop. Any experiences with this formula?

Thank you all for your help. Thank you.

It is possible that this is a food change tummy upset.
If you can...take some recent poop with you to your vet appointment.
You can refrigate it in plastic or foil if necessary.
Just don't mistake it for a Tootsie Roll.
Good luck at the vets.

I hope your buddy is okay

Hello All,

Came back from the vet. They did a fecal exam and found no parasites . So, Stewie got a antibiotic shot and got some chicken flavor meds and science diet prescription diet can food for a week. That is about it. Vet did not say what caused it and just told us to go home and give him the food and meds. We are just glad that there are no parasites. So, it could be the change of diet. But it was two-three weeks ago... Well, all is ok. Thank you for caring. Thank you.

I hope that the antibiotics and the week on canned food works for Stewie.

Please keep us updated until you know this problem has resolved.
The more info. we share with each other about our kitties health issues...
the better chance we have of discovering ways to help them.

Originally Posted by xocats

I hope that the antibiotics and the week on canned food works for Stewie.

Please keep us updated until you know this problem has resolved.
The more info. we share with each other about our kitties health issues...
the better chance we have of discovering ways to help them.

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NP, We will keep you all updated. Thank you.

Just back from a trip to the vet for Precious yesterday, for this same issue, except a little more frequent. She was negative for parasites and I also had them check for impacted anal glands, which were also (mercifully) fine. I suspect that the mucous-like substance you're seeing is the normal excreta from these glands, a lubrication to help ease the passage of feces.

W/regard to the blood, in our case, the vet called it "frank blood," meaning it was separate from the stool, which indicated that it was most likely from irritation far down in the tract (just irritation of the rectal lining, rather than a more serious internal bleeding injury). Second, she pointed out that in the stool sample I brought in there was a significant amount of compacted hair, which can act like an abrasive torpedo passing through the intestines. Third, since the stool still looked solid and Precious' weight, coat, eyes, behavior and appetite all seemed quite healthy, she maintained that "hairball scour" was the most likely cause, and advised us to address it by brushing more often to keep the majority of hair on the *outside* of the cat, and to sneak a little vaseline onto her paws so she would lick it off. We're also trying a restricted-ingredient diet at the same time, to see if it might be an allergy.

But if the blood still appears after a couple weeks on this plan, she said she would recommend trying an anti-inflammatory injection, like cortisone. And if that doesn't work, then we let the referral clinic vet know he may be getting that new boat this year after all, in case she needs to come in for endoscopy.

I am impressed by your vets willingness to take the time to communicate important details about your kitty's treatment plan.

Thanks for sharing and please keep us updated about how Precious is doing.

Once in a while my white cat will have a bit of blood in his poopoo, usually meaning the litter box is getting too dirty and he is not comfortable using it. As soon as I change it it will back to norm, maybe you should check it out.