12yo cat vomiting blood, pooing blood, seems in pain

[JacobReesMogadishu]

Cat has been to the vet but vet seems unsure so asking for advice.

This has been going on a few weeks now. It’s kind of intermittent. She’s not been herself for weeks, some days lots of fresh red blood in her poo, most days non stop vomiting, often with blood. All my carpets are wrecked. Trails of blood left on surfaces, window sills, etc.

Her blood tests are fine, slightly high white cell count but not terrible. She’s had a scan which shows some thickening of the intestines, could be ibd they said, could be start of cancer. She’s been at the vets for two days for observations. They agree she seems in pain, hunched over. She’s had an IV as they thought she was dehydrated. She had an anti sickness injection this morning. She came home this evening, has to go back tomorrow for another anti sickness . They’ve given me sensitive diet food sachets.

They said it could be stress/anxiety, sensitive stomach though agree it seems a lot of blood for this.

They seem to be hoping the diet change may cure everything. If not they may try antibiotics, maybe steroids. But don’t want to rush into that they said.

Anyone any ideas, could a change in diet be enough to help? I said to the vet I almost wish they’d found something wrong so they could cure her.

What food is she on now?.

She was on Iams dry food. Now on royal canin sensitive.

If the food does the trick then great. Though I have two cats and guess they’ll both have to be on it so it’ll cost a fortune!

Do you think it could be the cereal content?.

Possibly. Just seems such a lot of blood for a sensitive stomach. 🤷‍♀️

I remember my kitten started pooing blood and I contacted the breeder immediately. She advised to give her pouched chicken breast for 3 days. After that she was absolutely fine.

There is an option to keep both cats on different diets. Costly but worth it in the long run. I got SureFeed microchip feeders for all my cats. Best decision ever.

www.surepetcare.com/en-us/pet-feeder/microchip-pet-feeder

Hope your cat feels better.

Oh those feeders look good. Though my poorly cat doesn’t work with the microchip catflap (had a lengthy thread on here years ago). She has a chip which works When scanned atbthe vets and is in the right place but Will not operate the cat flap. 🤷‍♀️ But could be worth trying the bowl.

Parasites? Did the vet examine a stool sample?

No , they haven’t examined a stool sample.

I ask about parasites because DS and his GF are fostering a cat who wasn't doing very well lately, and turned out to have a roundworm infestation. Symptoms included bloody stools, loss of appetite (because full of worms, poor thing, so basically suffering as with an obstruction). No vomiting though.

That sounds awful. I’d like to think if there was a mass like that it would have been seen on scan. She’s probably a bit overdue worming so will mention that to the vet today. I’ve managed to collect a wee sample overnight as she went on the bathroom floor and I’ve syringed it up.

If it's the possibility of IBD I would keep her on a low residue diet so chicken, white fish and rice. If her intestines are I flamed as in IBD anything that is not easy to digest will continue to irritate it therefore she will continue to bleed. Unusual to vomit blood with IBD though. Your poor cat. Just a thought is your vet able to give anti sickness tablet's? Might be less distressing than taking her to the vets. Hope you see some improvement if the vets are highly suspicious of IBD they should consider steroids. Also second a stool sample that can be tested for inflammation.

I would be keen to get a second opinion. Can you take her somewhere else? If she is passing a lot of blood and they haven't even taken a stool sample, I wonder what else they may have missed.

They’ve given her anti sickness injections.

They’re recommending she goes onto a sensitive, high meat , no cereal content food so currently got some royal canin. She’s not been sick for nearly 48 hours now. She’s wolfing down the new food, has just had liquid diahorrhea on the floor but no blood which I guess is good.

They’ve said if no improvement in a week with the new food then they’ll start steroids but seem confident the food will sort it.

We had a kitten poisoned by creosote. The vet said white fish and rice for three months if she lived that long. The diet did the trick. I bought frozen white fish and cooked enough for a couple of days at a time, ditto with rice. It worked and she lived a long life.

Could she have been poisoned do you think?

I guess poisoning is possible but the vet didn’t mention it, all her blood tests were ok and I’d have thought maybe they could tell from those if she had been?

If she has IBD one of the most common allergens is chicken or white fish.
Have they offered gut biopsies to differentiate between cancer and IBD. If you would consider this they need to be done before steroids are used as they can affect the results.

@Lonecatwithkitten

If she has IBD one of the most common allergens is chicken or white fish. Have they offered gut biopsies to differentiate between cancer and IBD. If you would consider this they need to be done before steroids are used as they can affect the results.

Well that’s very useful to know. I was about to go and buy some sensitive cat food today but it’s fish. Will look for something else now.

Biopsies sound expensive.....I don’t have insurance.

I would go for hills z-d or royal canine hypoallergenic for a 12 week exclusion diet of age gets better you knows food and then you can challenge with gmfood types to find out what. If you use any other food and she doesn't get better you will still need to try a hydrolysed diet to rule out food allergies.

Giardia was she tested for that.

I still don't think they've tested any poo, they never asked me for any poo and she only stayed there during the day and I don't think she'd poo while in a cage at teh vets.