How worried should I be - blood on poo (sorry...)

[JingleBrains]

We have adopted a kitten (stray) as our first ever pet, so don't know much about cats / pets...
He is a happy, healthy looking, growing, active cat.... but over the last week I noticed some red blood on his poo, a couple of times now
I'll take him to the vet of course but until I get there, does anyone have any knowledge of what I should expect...

Forgot to say, he is vaccinated, de-wormed, microchipped etc - all up to date.
Also, not sure if it matters, he likes to roam into the neighbours' gardens and he does eat (or at least tries to eat) all sorts of crap!

We had this with our kittens a few weeks after getting them. Initially they had a different course of wormer (Panacur) but that didn't clear it up. A 5 day course of antibiotics cleared it up within 24 hours (although you must continue to give until the end of the course as directed). It was probably a bacterial infection like salmonella as they are susceptible too.

Forgot to say don't worry too much - I was fretting as it went on quite a while before getting the right treatment but the kittens were growing eating and playing the entire time and weren't in distress when they used the loo so hopefully it'll be the same for you.

What are you feeding him? I had this when my cat was a kitten and I wondered if it was because she was on dry food only and it was too much for her insides. Started giving her wet food too and the problem stopped.

Mentioned it to the vet the next day to see if I was doing the right thing and he agreed with me.

I have switched recently from wet food to dry food, I reckon that could be it!
Poor cat, he does beg for his old wet food... oh I feel bad now, as I only switched to dry food to get rid of the poo smell (a neighbour told me their poo doesn't smell so bad when they are on dry food)
Thanks folks

I hope that sorts him out. My poor wee one had no idea what the wet food was at first - she'd been weaned onto Iams adult and was most put out at the sight of a kitten pouch! She soon got the idea, though even now (three years later) she usually insists on at least a few biscuits before the pouch is edible!

It can be just a consequence of constipation and basically a small tear of the anus due to pushing. It should be checked out though.

What dry food are you feeding him? Male cats are particularly prone to bladder problems/ crystals which is very dangerous, even life-threatening, not to mention very expensive to treat.

Cats fed mainly dried food are at much greater risk of this. If the dried food in question is cheap stuff (think Whiskas, Go Cat etc) rather than the quality stuff (James Wellbeloved, Iams etc) then the risk is very, very much greater.

So if you are only going to feed him dry (and poor boy - how boring for him if he likes wet), then make sure it's the quality stuff.

I have switched back to wet food - I'm not cruel!
Didn't know Whiskas is cheap and nasty . Will look for iams
Thanks everyone x