Bloody diarrhea?

[kutekittys]

Hello everyone!

I have two three-month old kittens, a boy and a girl. I have recently begun to transition them to Weruva Asian Fusion wet food from Wellness Core wet food. It is only the second day, but the little boy has been having diarrhea all day, and I just noticed his most recent stool also had blood. I have been putting 1/4 Weruva and 3/4 Wellness for them; the little boy also sneaks kibbles from the dog's food bowl. He seems to be in perfect health - active, no other signs of sickness. I'm just wondering if the bloody diarrhea could be coming from the transitioning. I would prefer to take him to the vet, but if I could save the money (I'm just afraid we'll have to pay for a bunch of tests to show he's fine) it would be preferred. I'm just confused because he seems perfectly healthy except for his stools. Has anyone seen this before? Should I minimise the amount of Weruva I'm putting in his food? Any advice is greatly appreciated. And, if you think that taking him to the vet is the only option, I will take him in as soon as I can. I would just like to know if bloody diarrhea is a common symptom when poorly transitioning to a new food. Thank you for your help!!!

 

[carolina]

I highly doubt this is coming from the transition of the wet food..... Unless he is highly sensitive to Carrageenan..... which I doubt it would cause that in cat that doesn't have IBD or some digestive problem.
IMHO this diarrhea is coming from the kibbles he is sneaking from the dogs...... That is something you want to stop.

Also, is the blood on the poop, of is the poop black, as the blood mixed and old? Basically, do you see fresh red blood on the outside of the poop?

 

[kutekittys]

Yes, it is fresh blood on the diarrhea. Do you think I should take him to the vet ASAP or wait it out a bit?

 

[kutekittys]

And his diarrhea is a normal brown colour, no blackness..yet

 

[carolina]

Kutekittys - Please keep in mind I am not a vet... I do have experience (unfortunately), with this issue..... If you feel your kitten is sick, or in risk, please do take him to the vet, ok?
Ok, here is what I think - but keep in mind, kittens do turn to the worst quickly, so you need to keep a very close eye on him, ok?
IMHO your kitten is probably fine - there is a couple of possibilities, and I will bet on the first: His bum is irritated. With all the diarrhea, the inside of the rectal lining got irritated and some little blood vessels ruptured - kittens specially are more easily irritated. So they bleed..... This can happen with bad constipation, or with bad diarrhea.

There are some parasites that can cause this too......

Here is the key: He is not acting sick.

And here is what I would do, if this was my kitten:
I would go back to the original diet - feed him that and nothing else. Add probiotics to his diet. Something that stops diarrhea on its track is Diagel - you can order from the vet, or you can order from here:
http://www.revivalanimal.com/DiaGel.html?feed=AmazonAds&gdftrk=gdfV2457_a_7c543_a_7c9050_a_7c2562

It IS expensive, but in 2 doses your kitten will be good. It might even work with one dose.
Add some probiotics to his diet too, especially when changing his diet..... you can buy acidophillus from any health food store.

And most importantly, keep that dog food away from him.
If he acts sick in any way shape or form, take him immediately to the vet. If he doesn't get better soon, take him to the vet too. You want to control that diarrhea, so his bum stops bleeding.
You can always call your vet - he/she will guide you.....
But remember to keep a close eye on your little guy, and control that diarrhea!! You don't want a dehydrated kitten on your hands! If he feels/act sick, vet ASAP!!

 

[kutekittys]

Hi, just giving an update. I put them on a small fast just to give their digestive systems a break and tried transitioning very slowly. So far, I'm doing 1/2 and 1/2 and theyre doing great! Solid poops and no blood! Thank you so much for your help!

 

[mani]

Carolina, I've just come on to see what I can do about my little boy's diarrhea and found your excellent answer here.

The thing with Sundar is that it's been going on for about 3 days, but he's looking really healthy and it doesn't seem to be slowing him down. I don't think I can get Diagel here. 

It's so hard to fast him... he desperately wants food... but that's what I've doing started now.

Should I take him to the vet tomorrow if it's still happening, even though he seems fine?

 

[carolina]

Carolina, I've just come on to see what I can do about my little boy's diarrhea and found your excellent answer here.

The thing with Sundar is that it's been going on for about 3 days, but he's looking really healthy and it doesn't seem to be slowing him down. I don't think I can get Diagel here. 
It's so hard to fast him... he desperately wants food... but that's what I've doing started now.
Should I take him to the vet tomorrow if it's still happening, even though he seems fine?

Hi Mani
I just saw this now.... I am so sorry! I was on the road yesterday all day, and only got on TCS briefly last night, and tonight for a few min.... Sorry I missed this
Well.... I don't know what is going on with your little baby.... Did you change his diet? Was there something that brought the diarrhea on?
You see, with the OP, there was a clear indication - to me, at least, that the problem was the change of food (or a reaction to the dog's food)..... Fasting does make sense - as it does going back to the original diet, as you are removing the cause for the diarrhea.
If your little boy is having bloody diarrhea for the last three days, especially if it came about out of the blue, yes, I would take him to the vet.... Yes, diarrhea in kittens will often cause bleeding because of the reason I explained above... But if it is not stopping and if started without a logic reason.... IMHO it is a risky gamble since Kittens can take a turn to the worst so quickly :/ There might be something going on, and you need to act to stop that diarrhea.....
I am sorry I can't help you more.... I wish I had seen this before.... I hope your little boy gets all better really soon!

 

[mani]

Thanks, Carolina.  I can't expect you to be on the spot!

I just kept him on a fast (which drove him absolutely spare, and it's so hard to do to just one cat!) and it seemed to slow down.

Last night he just had plain chicken (in little bits, or he's make an absolute pig of himself) and I'm happy to say I've found a good, wellformed poo in his litterbox (and I think this is one of the few sites where we can get excited about that

). 

There wasn't any blood at any time, or he'd have been straight to the vet.

I'm thinking he may have eaten one of our house geckos.  I can't prove it, but I think they don't really go down too well.

Many thanks for your concern

 

[mani]

OK... I've put him back on his original food and have discovered the culprit....

I do feed dry, and one that I use is Holistic Select.  They didn't have the chicken last time so I thought I'd try the anchovy, sardine and salmon one (I don't feed my cats fish generally, except the occaisional fresh whiting).  So my fishy instincts are right.. that's what is doing it.  Poor little guy.

I must say I did think anchovy was a bit full-on for a cat food!