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.

Just that it could be related to the viral flare and recommended Fortiflora. I really don’t want to go back to the vet again so soon, although will of course if he isn’t right! The original viral flare was probably due to the stress of moving home but they have been here 5.5 weeks now so was hoping they were settling :(

This happens to one of my cats every now and again - oddly it's usually when they've eaten Sheba so we avoid that brand now. They've been checked by the vet and have a clean bill of health, so I just put it down to them having a bit of a sensitive tummy.

Does your cat go outdoors? Ours do. There's a restaurant near our house and I know they go and raid the bins like dirty scavengers. Probably end up eating all sorts of rubbish.

Not outside yet no, but eventually they will. I wonder if he just has a sensitive tummy as his sister is totally fine! He is the one who has had the issues poor thing

We had more blood this morning so rang the vet and have another appointment booked. The vet asked me to take a photo if it happened again so I have emailed that to them. My anxiety is so bad, whereas Louie is running about, dancing, sending wild Teams messages by sitting on my laptop and shouting for his lunch.

Ah no I'm sorry . I know it's hard not to worry but the odds are still good that it's a tummy problem rather than anything more serious. Fingers crossed for you both

Thanks @Puppylucky the vet rang me after reviewing the photos and diagnosed colitis - some inflammation thing? She said not to bring him in since he was well when she saw him on Tuesday, has prescribed a probiotic and put a note on his file that if it happens at his next toilet that a prescription of antibiotics is to be issued and I just have to ring in. (She didn't want to give me that today because we've been fine since Monday and said antibiotics can give an upset tummy themselves)

Good news he has a diagnosis! There are a few dry foods specifically designed for GI problems in cats so you might also want to try one of them? It can't hurt! We are sneaking the Hills dry food for tummy issues into Marvin's diet to try and manage his horrific poos and farts and it's definitely made a difference

This is the one we are using but there are others including ones specifically for colitis

My cat had this year's ago. Vet said it was all sorts, an infection and needed antibiotics, gut bacteria so needed prebiotic, needed special food that they sold at the vet. Well it was her food, the brand whiskas just upsets her tummy. We switched her food to a different brand and not had a problem since.

I'm reluctant to switch food right now but will definitely keep that in mind.

He currently has a mix of Royal Canin dry hairball food (purely because we had a giant bag of it from our last cat and he likes it so we've just kept that up) and Go Cat - he prefers the Go Cat but it's now off the menu until we get this sorted out. Wet he gets Sheba in the morning and Untamed at night - he prefers dry to wet and doesn't eat all of either but I think we will do plain chicken Untamed and RC for the next few days and see how we get on. He's such a little dustbin and will scavenge anything which doesn't help!

My cat had this. It was gastritis. He too is a scavenger who eats goodness knows what outside. An antibiotic injection and two weeks on gastrointestinal food and he was fine.

Oh, we weren’t offered an injection - was your cat “unwell” beyond this actual symptom? This boy’s his usual chaos and not presenting in any way otherwise under the weather at all. I assume if we need antibiotics it will be tablets as I have to go and collect from the surgery.

He was also vomiting bile and not really eating or drinking but surprisingly still quite active. The injection he got was anti-nausea, a/b and anti inflammatory. If he does need a/bs we always get the injection as I’d have no arms left if I had to give him tablets! He won’t even take them in lickelix!
Hope your cat will be ok.

Oh your poor puss! Louie’s eating as normal and has just spent half an hour tearing round the kitchen chasing a toy on a stick with me, so he seems fine in himself - I’ve just given him the vet paste and he’s away out in disgust. I’ve ordered probiotic sachets (Fortiflora) just in case this paste doesn’t help.

Fortiflora is a great shout - cats love it. I use it to try and get food down Marvin's neck that isn't bloody Felix!

So glad he’s eating and running around as normal hopefully the probiotic and possibly a change in food will work

the OoH vets are really supposed to ask the really awful triage questions because as we know the costs are ££££s and some insurance polices don’t cover them. They are really just trying to get to what’s the worse that could happen

hope he’s doing better in the morning

@Puppylucky he's not a big fan of the vet probiotic - I ended up having to kind of syringe it into him. I’m lucky he’s a forgiving wee soul!

@OnTheBoardwalk he hasn’t been “off colour” or “not himself” at all, other than the obvious. I actually asked the vet on the phone if she was concerned it could be something sinister, and she said no based on physically examining him and that disgusting photo, so hopefully the meds will help. I’m such a worrier and my DP gets really frustrated at me for fussing which doesn’t help.

Anyway, today the sun came out so Louie-Boo spent some time sitting on the wall trying to get next door’s girl cat to love him (fail, she just hisses at him), did some dancing, and got a new box.

Sorry to hear about Louis, but I keep reading/being told that their behaviour is a good indicator and the fact he has been tearing around must be a good sign?! We have had more solid poo’s and less pinky stuff hurrah! So I’m hoping we have turned a corner. I have been given both mine Fortiflora once a day for a few weeks now so hopefully this is helping, I’ll keep it up for a couple more days but it’s quite pricey?!

Btw he is so sweet!

here is my chap!

I agree re behaviour - but I am scarred because our last cat went about six months with being misdiagnosed because her behaviour/eating/weight were all absolutely normal, she was just vomiting frequently. When I eventually put my foot down and insisted they do more tests she actually had a massive (non treatable) tumour in her stomach, but because she presented atypically the vets weren’t concerned. On the day she had the scans at the specialist place she caught a mouse in the garden when we got home, and even on the day we said goodbye she ate well and was out chasing around. So I am really, really anxious!

Anyway, I am pleased to say Louie has just been for a big sold poo, and no blood! He’s so happy the rain has stopped and has been keeping watch on the neighbourhood from on top of the shed.

Your cat is beautiful - what’s his name?