Blood in poo - help

[Judystilldreamsofhorses]

Cat is three, absolutely fine in himself - tonight we were playing in the kitchen and after I put his toys away he went to the litter tray. He’s a big digger and often flicks poo out of the tray onto the floor, and I noticed a smear of bright red blood. Poo was a bit soft, usually I would say he errs towards hard poo and generally only goes once a day.

DP rang OOH vet who said just to keep an eye and bring him to our vet tomorrow which we will obviously do - but wondered if anyone had any insights? (The vet on the phone seemed to suggest if it was internal bad stuff it would be dark tarry blood, this was fresh and bright.) He went straight to eat some food after the poo, went out for a bit and came racing in when I opened the back door, and is now in his bed snoozing so there is nothing at all unusual in his behaviour.

Our last cat had to be pts aged ten with intestinal lymphoma and I am so frightened it’s that. Tax attached.

Lovely cat 🥰. I’ve had similar with a cat and dog. They can sometimes have blood in their poo if they have a bit of infection or irritation so try not to worry too much especially if your cat is lively and well. Good to get it checked though to put your mind at rest. 🥰

Thanks for replying - five minutes before using the litter tray he was leaping about madly chasing a bat on a string so appears absolutely fine. I’ll ring the vet first thing and see if we can get him in tomorrow.

Booked in at vet this afternoon. He slept in our bed last night - he’s usually shut in the kitchen because he demands breakfast at 4.30am, and was demanding breakfast at 4.30ak right on cue. He’s just had a second breakfast 🤷🏻‍♀️. Drinking fine and has done a wee in the litter tray so nothing unusual.

The only odd thing yesterday was that I did his (prescription from the vet) flea treatment. God I hope he’s okay, he’s just a baby.

Hiya @Judystilldreamsofhorses - always a pleasure to see Louis! Elton had a blood in poo incident one bank holiday weekend. Just like Louis it was bright red and attached to a softer than usual poo. One (eye wateringly) expensive visit to an emergency vet later and the diagnosis was upset tummy. They could only really prescribe probiotics which he refused but he recovered anyway within a day or so. If Louis has been in the garden there are all manner of disgusting things he could have eaten ( we think Elton had eaten or at least licked a slug) that would upset his tummy. I would keep him on bland food for a day or so and see if there is a repeat performance. I swear by Liquivite for occasions like this - it's like chicken soup for cats. I know you must be worried about him given your previous experiences but I'm sure he'll be fine.

Hi @Puppylucky - thanks so much for replying. He’s totally fine in himself so hopefully it’s just something like that. It’s been so wet here he’s been out less than usual, but he’s a real monkey for scavenging food off our plates so goodness knows what he eats when he’s in the garden and beyond.

Did they run tests on Elton or just feel his tummy, temperature etc? I’d rather nothing invasive if it can be avoided. I’m totally spiralling into ultrasounds and specialist referrals like we had with Saffy and how that ended up.

Nothing invasive - they just felt his tummy and took his temperature ( Elton may have felt differently about how invasive that was - he certainly looked startled!). As you may remember Elton was a very poorly little boy so I was constantly panicking at the vets. One thing I do remember them saying is that diarrhoea is much less concerning than vomiting in cats as it is nearly always a tummy upset rather than anything more serious. Good luck this afternoon - hope all goes well

One of mine has this, he has a frequent dicky tummy as an adult from being weaned far too early, the cat equivalent of IBS if you will. A bout of colitis in cats isn't unusual. Try not to worry, I'm sure he's okay and the vet will put your mind at rest later

OK, vet - done. She gave him a thorough physical exam and poked about at his bottom, then expressed his anal glands (bleurgh). Not concerned, and mentioned that it could be colitis or just a bit of an upset tummy. She said that blood in cats' poo wasn't the same drama alarmer as it is in humans', but to bring him back if he has it again and they can investigate further - at that point I burst into tears and made a right arse of myself! It wasn't the usual vet we see at the surgery so she must have thought I was bonkers.

I guess now we watch and wait...

Poor little prisoner

Hurrah! That's more or less Elton's prognosis and he was fine in a day or so.
Love the drama queen photo 😻

I feel like I’m on tenterhooks waiting for him to poo now.

A poo has been done - no blood. Hopefully that was a one off. Thanks for coming to my nervous breakdown.

You can buy Promax online, it is probiotic and kaolin paste and good for soothing upset tummies. It's the same stuff in the small cat syringes as the larger dog ones but the large syringes are better value. Our cats will eat it mixed with food.

Good news it seems to have resolved! Just to say my cat had this for several weeks, the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with him. They advising switching him to an expensive food suitable for sensitive tummies and he was fine after that, never happened since!

Mine had this too and I relapsed it was whenever they ate human food l, and I suspect it might have been milk powder that was the main culprit. Also switched to a hypoallergenic kibble and higher quality wet food and she’s been fine.

He’s a terrible little scavenger for human food - he was a stray kitten who lived in a woman’s shed until he was about ten months old - but very picky about actual cat food, so we probably need to be more vigilant with that.

I now realise the OOH vet will have been going on some sort of script/AI generated prompts but she REALLY freaked me out asking questions about if he was lying on the ground panting or acting aggressively, and saying someone needed to stay up and monitor him overnight until we could bring him to our own vet.

He’s dancing away today.

Wow that does sound like overkill - presumably because she couldn't see him? Glad he's back to his boogying best !

I know - it was only after we got home yesterday I said to DP that the actual vet had asked a lot less questions than the phone lady. He was like, well, she could see he was pretty pissed off but otherwise a healthy, bright, alert cat. I think the OOH thing probably goes to a call centre now I think about it as it’s Vets Now.

Cheddar did this when I swapped her to ‘senior food’ I think she was so offended, she had to tell me in the most dramatic way that it wasn’t acceptable. Swapped her back and it never happened again. (Obviously it was a 10kg bag of food.)

@Toddlerteaplease well of course she was offended, and of course it was a huge new bag!

Reading with interest as my 11 month old boy cat has had the same this morning. He has been getting over a viral flare (?) the last few weeks with conjunctivitis and many vet visits. Now loose poo the last few days and a little blood streaked today :(. He had this a few weeks ago but I had him on Fortiflora and it settled. Another vet visit?! I’m there constantly !! Or watch and see? He is playing this morning and I thought he wasn’t going to eat breakfast but he eventually had a bit

We’ve only had them for less than a month and a half :( could it all still be settling in?

If it repeats regularly it could be a stomach bug that isn't shifting so it might be worth a vet visit .

Ok thanks. I really hope not. They haven’t even been outside yet!

Oh me, sorry to hear this - it's such a worry when they're not right. What did your vet say when he had it before? I might be inclined to go on that and watch and wait for a couple of days, then revisit if he appears poorly? Our boy had the poo with blood on Monday, went straight and ate some food, then was tearing about playing with his toys immediately after, so although I was very worried I also could see there was no change in his behaviour if that makes sense? If he'd been subdued/hiding/not eating or in any other way "off" I would have probably brought him to OOH.