Bloody stool is one of the most common problems faced by cats of any age and breed. Under no circumstances should it be left unattended. It is important to contact a veterinarian to find out what is the cause of bloody stools, how to help your pet, and whether possible problems can be prevented in the future.
Read in this article:
- Causes of blood in stool
- Additional symptoms
- What is important to pay attention to?
- Your actions
- Diagnostics
- Blood in a cat's stool: treatment
- Prevention
Causes of blood in stool
The first thing you need to pay attention to is the appearance of the blood. If it is fresh, this indicates that the bleeding began near the anus (for example, the anal sphincter is injured) or in the large intestine.
We draw your attention to the most common reasons why your cat goes to the toilet with blood:
- Eating disorder
- Parasites
- Gastrointestinal diseases
- Foreign bodies
- Neoplasms
- Dysbacteriosis
- Bleeding disorders
- Poisoning with toxic substances
If your pet's diet consists of low-quality dry food, its particles can injure the mucous membranes of the stomach. The likelihood of injury increases if the cat drinks little water. Dry food does not soak, and its sharp ends injure the stomach.
Worms, Giardia, coccidia and other helminths (protozoa) increase capillary permeability and injure the mucous membranes of the stomach. As a result, blood is mixed with the stool, but its volume depends on the number of parasites in the body.
Acute pancreatitis, liver dystrophy, chronic colitis and enteritis are just some of the diseases of the gastrointestinal tract that can cause the appearance of blood clots in the stool. If with an ulcer blood impurities are very noticeable, then with other diseases they are practically invisible.
Most often they enter the gastrointestinal tract during eating or drinking. Foreign objects (for example, pieces of plastic, bones) damage the integrity of soft tissues or cause constipation, in which solid feces slowly pass through the intestines, causing injury.
Passing through the intestine with malignant or benign neoplasms, feces encounter growths. The result is damage to the mucous membranes and the formation of blood impurities in the cat’s stool.
Intestinal bloating, heaviness and grumbling, as well as blood impurities in the stool - these signs are characteristic of dysbiosis that occurs when consuming low-quality or expired products (for example, spoiled milk or sour cream).
If your cat has problems with blood clotting (for example, a deficiency of vitamin K or prothrombin in the body), then even a minor injury can lead to severe bleeding.
Krysid, zoocoumarin and other poisons intended for rodents act on the principle of coagulants. By eating them, the cat's blood clotting is impaired, so a lot of blood appears in the feces. The only way to save your pet is to immediately contact a veterinarian.
Infection with worms
Worm infestation is a fairly common cause of bleeding from the anus in these animals. No cat is immune from parasite infection. Pets who are outdoors and cats whose owners do not care about protecting their four-legged pets from worms are especially at risk. Having penetrated the animal's body, the worms attach to the walls of the small intestine and damage them, which leads to bleeding. Blood comes out along with the stool.
Parasitic infections are dangerous to the health of these animals, but extremely rarely lead to their death. Usually, owners of cats infected with parasites take timely measures to eliminate worms. Their treatment involves the use of antiparasitic veterinary drugs. It is recommended to give the same drugs to pets once every 3 months as a prophylactic measure.
Additional symptoms
Blood in a cat's stool is often not the only symptom. If the cause of bloody stool is an infectious disease or the appearance of neoplasms in the gastrointestinal tract, then your pet will have other accompanying signs.
Among them:
- sudden weight loss,
- vomit,
- diarrhea,
- strong thirst
- sluggish and apathetic state,
- frequent urination (pay attention to the urine: it may also contain small amounts of blood),
- pain in the abdominal area.
Are you observing one or more signs in your pet? Don't hesitate - seek help from a professional veterinarian. He will give the cat an accurate diagnosis and prescribe effective treatment for the disease.
Infectious diseases
This problem can be caused by a number of infectious diseases: rotavirus, parvovirus, coronavirus enteritis, which is most often detected in kittens, panleukopenia, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, intestinal tuberculosis, colibacillosis, etc. In addition to bleeding from the anus, these diseases are accompanied by other symptoms, such as fever, vomiting, dehydration of the body, loss of appetite, deterioration in general health.
What is important to pay attention to?
If your cat is walking around with a lot of blood, then carefully monitor your pet's condition. Pay attention to how often blood is present in his stool: once or regularly (for example, every time he visits the litter box).
It is important to consider whether your pet's behavior changes when visiting the litter box (for example, he meows or moans loudly, his tension and anxiety are noticeable). See how much blood is released: droplets, small clots or large amounts of impurities.
Other points that are important to pay attention to:
- change in appetite
- the presence of impurities in the stool (mucus, hairballs),
- increase in body temperature,
- general condition of the pet.
Note! All this is necessary to answer all the veterinarian’s questions if necessary. Taking into account your information, he will make a diagnosis and determine effective treatment.
Your actions
What to do if your cat has bloody stool? If the blood impurities are small and this condition is not accompanied by other signs (high fever, vomiting), then wait until your pet’s next visit to the litter box.
Contact your veterinarian immediately if:
- Your cat is clearly having difficulty defecating (strains significantly, meows or moans loudly);
- Visits the toilet to defecate too often and her appetite (thirst) has decreased significantly;
- There are bright red blood in the stool more than once, and their size is larger than a speck.
Do not attempt to cure your cat at home - only a qualified veterinarian can make an accurate diagnosis.
Chronic colitis
If your pet is bleeding from the anus, his colon may be inflamed. The main signs of chronic colitis, characterized by extensive damage to the digestive tract, frequent relapses and a long course:
- unformed stool with a foul odor and inclusions of mucus and blood;
- increased bowel movements and decreased amount of stool;
- rumbling, bloating and abdominal pain.
The danger of this disease is that affected animals usually appear generally healthy: they eat as usual and maintain a constant body weight. When the pathological process worsens, the pet begins to vomit, body temperature rises and weight decreases.
Diagnostics
The key to successful treatment is a thorough diagnosis. The veterinarian conducts a clinical examination, collects anamnesis, and asks questions to the pet owner. If necessary, additional diagnostic methods are prescribed:
- blood analysis,
- stool examination to determine the presence of helminths or protozoa,
- Analysis of urine,
- colonoscopy.
Additionally, an ultrasound or x-ray examination of the abdominal cavity is prescribed to exclude or confirm the possibility of damage to internal organs.
Blood in a cat's stool: treatment
Having found out why the cat has bloody stool, the specialist draws up a treatment plan. If there are foreign objects in the esophagus or neoplasms are detected, regardless of their nature, only surgery under general anesthesia will help.
If the cause of bloody stools is poisoning, then an antidote with a high content of vitamin K is administered. Additionally, droppers and gastric lavage are prescribed. Maintenance therapy and iron supplements are selected.
For infections, symptomatic treatment is prescribed, and it is important to start it in the first 72 hours to prevent the possibility of complications. The specialist will leave the pet under observation and select medications.
How to treat
The treatment prescribed by the doctor will depend on the problem identified during diagnosis.:
- for a viral disease - antiviral drugs;
- for bacterial infections – antibiotic therapy;
- if the cause is hairballs, special foods or pastes will remove them from the digestive organs;
- wall ruptures (perforation), poisoning with bleeding or poor clotting are treated with vitamin K and hemostatic drugs;
- against protozoa and parasites - special remedies for them;
- if there are problems with the liver or pancreas - enzymes to restore digestion, hepatoprotectors to protect the liver;
- for dysbacteriosis, enterocolitis, colitis, allergies and constipation - probiotic preparations and a special light diet;
- if a foreign body has entered the intestines, polyps have grown, or a malignant tumor has formed, recovery can only be achieved through surgery.
In other words, each individual case receives individual treatment.
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Prevention
To prevent the formation of blood in your cat’s feces, it is enough to follow simple rules: provide the correct diet, keep chemicals, poisons and rodent poisons away, and also maintain your pet’s personal hygiene.
First, don’t feed the cat:
- any food from the “human” table,
- pork,
- tomatoes and eggplants,
- foods with a lot of seasonings,
- cereals.
Everything fatty, salty and fried will only harm your pet. Your cat's momentary joy can lead to serious and undesirable consequences in the future, including the appearance of blood in her stool.
Secondly, ensure the hygiene of the animal. It is recommended to accustom your cat to washing its paws and brushing its teeth from an early age. Teeth brushing should be done at least 2 times a week, and paws should be washed after each visit to the street.
So, blood in a cat's stool is a deviation from the norm. It is impossible to independently determine the cause of this condition, so you should not hesitate to contact a professional veterinarian in Moscow. Remember that in many cases your pet’s future health depends on your reaction!
Inflammation of the pancreas
Bleeding from the anus in a cat can be caused by pancreatitis, which develops due to cholelithiasis, pathologies of the duodenum, infections, malnutrition, helminthic infestation, etc. This disease can be recognized by the following signs:
- abdominal pain that gets worse when eating;
- “idle” urge to vomit;
- complete or partial loss of interest in food;
- belching;
- excessive accumulation of gases in the intestines;
- constipation alternating with diarrhea;
- yellowness of the skin and mucous membranes.
In advanced cases, severe disturbances of carbohydrate metabolism join the pathological process. If this happens, it is unlikely that you will be able to avoid developing diabetes.
