The kitten has bloody stool for a reason. Why does blood appear in a cat’s stool: causes, concomitant diseases. If you find blood in your cat's stool, what to do?

Cat owners may notice blood in their cat's stool when removing the contents of the litter box. In diseases accompanied by bleeding into the lumen of the digestive system, a change in the color and shape of the stool occurs. A competent assessment of the situation is important, since it determines the correctness and timeliness of further actions.

Signs of bleeding in cat stool: hematochezia and melena

Cat feces normally have a uniform structure and fairly dense consistency, cylindrical shape and brown color. They are characterized by a specific mild odor. Milk-fed kittens have lighter-colored excrement and a softer consistency than adult cats.

The phenomenon in which unchanged blood or traces of it are found in the stool is called hematochezia. Hematochezia is a symptom of a disease that causes bleeding into the lumen of the cat's digestive system. Typically, hematochezia indicates lesions in the sections following the stomach and duodenum.

Hematochezia is a pathology of the lower intestine of a cat, characterized by the presence of bloody traces in the feces

When the source of bleeding is located in the stomach or duodenum, the color of the stool becomes black and tarry. This phenomenon is called melena. The black color of blood is obtained from the action of the digestive enzymes of these organs on it. The consistency of stool during melena is usually liquid or semi-liquid, and a sharp unpleasant odor is also characteristic.

Melena is a black semi-liquid stool with a characteristic unpleasant odor, formed from the blood under the influence of the contents of the stomach and intestines.

Symptoms of gastrointestinal bleeding

Decisive for a correct understanding of the situation are:

• blood loss assessment;
• assessment of the cat’s general condition, since intestinal bleeding is always either a symptom or a complication of an existing disease.

Significant blood loss as a result of gastrointestinal bleeding is characterized by:

• the release of large amounts of melena or unchanged blood from the intestines;
• vomiting dark contents (so-called “coffee grounds”);
• clinical picture of acute blood loss:
  • oppression and weakness of the cat;
  • shortness of breath;
  • drowsiness;
  • pallor of the mucous membranes;
  • decreased blood pressure;
  • loss of consciousness.

If such signs appear, the cat must be urgently taken to the nearest veterinary hospital. Transportation is carried out by hand, the cat's head should be below the level of the body to prevent damage to brain cells as a result of a lack of blood supply. A cold compress should be placed on your pet's stomach, for example, a light bag of frozen vegetables from the freezer. You should not try to feed or drink the cat, give it a laxative, or give it an enema.

The appearance of the following signs, even with the release of a single drop of blood, also requires immediate contact with a veterinarian:

• Violation of the general well-being of the cat:
  • lethargy;
  • apathy;
  • lack of appetite;
• increased body temperature;
• change in stool consistency, the presence of other atypical components in it - mucus, undigested food;
• vomit;
• weight loss;
• the act of defecation in a cat is difficult or painful;
• signs of bleeding appeared against the background of an existing chronic disease of the liver, kidneys, pancreas;
• signs of bleeding appeared during treatment with corticosteroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and cytostatic therapy.

The complexity of the situation also lies in the fact that in veterinary medicine there is no blood service, as in humane medicine. A very small number of truly respectable clinics can call donors - healthy young animals - to take their blood, match them by blood type and replace blood loss, but this is a time-consuming service and a service unavailable to most clinics.

Blood transfusion to a cat is a service not provided by every clinic.

A cat resists shock very poorly - for example, it is unusual for these animals to adequately increase the heart rate in response to a decrease in blood pressure, as compensatory occurs in humans and dogs. The first phase of shock, reactive, which is characterized by the mobilization of protective mechanisms, often passes unnoticed by others in a cat, and the animal receives attention to its condition when the minutes are counting and all its reserves have already been exhausted. Therefore, a cat that has lost more than 50% of its blood volume will die.

It is important to understand that animal blood is priceless and there is practically nothing to replace it with. Also, bleeding, assessed by the owner as insignificant, can intensify and lead to catastrophic consequences. This is why it is so important to take your cat to the vet at any sign of gastrointestinal bleeding. It is also important to communicate with other felinologists - in difficult times, friends and their pets will quickly come to the rescue - and not to refuse help to other animals if your cat can be a blood donor for health reasons.

What you can do on your own

In those situations where the admixture of blood is represented by a single drop on the surface of normally colored and formed excrement with the general good health of the cat, we can assume slight damage to the mucous membrane or anus by dense feces. And only here is it permissible to observe the cat while performing a number of activities:

If more blood is released or after these measures the case of blood discharge occurs again, you should rush to the veterinarian.

Video: what to do if you find blood in your pet’s stool

Preliminary diagnosis by the appearance of feces mixed with blood

The appearance of feces is of great importance, since assessing the degree of change in blood in the intestinal contents and its distribution in the volume of excrement allows us to obtain preliminary data on the location of the source of bleeding.

The closer the source of bleeding is to the anus, the less altered the blood looks:

Some food manufacturers add food colorings to their products, which then create weird colors in cat feces that terrify their owners. I advise you to never buy such products, since manufacturers of truly high-quality food invest in its ingredients and production technology, and not in a dubious marketing ploy in the form of coloring the food. If the cat is nevertheless fed such a “delicacy”, you should compare the color of the stool and the color of the food, assess the general well-being of the cat and only then draw conclusions.

Additional diagnostic methods used by a veterinarian

In addition to questioning the cat’s owner and examining her, the veterinarian conducts a number of studies:

Video: reasons for blood in a cat's stool

Diseases that can cause blood in your cat's stool

The most common diseases in cats that lead to the passage of blood in the stool are:

• infestations by helminths and protozoa, for example, Giardia or Coccidia;
• constipation;
• the presence of foreign bodies in the intestines, as well as pilobesoars (hairballs);
• bacterial infection (salmonellosis);
• viral infection (panleukopenia, coronoviruses, caliciviruses);
• ulcerative and erosive lesions of the mucous membrane resulting from pancreatitis, liver and kidney failure;
• abscess (ulcer) of the paraanal glands;
• intestinal tumors and polyps;
• dysbiosis, inflammatory bowel diseases (ulcerative, granulomatous, plasmacytic colitis);
• erosions of the mucous membrane caused by taking medications, for example, Prednisolone, cytostatics;
• disorders in the blood coagulation system, including those caused by poisoning, for example, rat poison;
• anal fissures, damage to the anus.

Since the list of diseases that can cause blood to appear in a cat’s stool is extensive, all episodes of this symptom should be discussed with the attending veterinarian, since differential diagnosis and finding the source of bleeding is not always an easy task.

Diagnosis of conditions complicated by the appearance of blood in the stool

Blood in the stool can be a symptom or complication of a disease or pathological condition:

• Constipation in a cat. This condition is diagnosed by a difficult, longer-lasting act of defecation. The excrement is hard and can take on a shape closer to spherical, the so-called “sheep feces”. Constipation provokes damage to the mucous membrane of the large intestine, as well as the appearance of cracks in the anus. Damage to the anus causes painful bowel movements. Particularly characteristic of this disease is the appearance of a strip of fresh blood on the surface of the excrement. Required:
  • changing the cat's diet;
  • providing sufficient water;
  • use of laxatives;
  • cleansing enemas.
• Abscess of the paraanal gland. Diagnosed by redness and swelling in the projection of its location, the cat is trying to empty the gland - gnawing with its teeth under the tail, “riding backwards” on the floor. As body temperature rises, the animal becomes more lethargic. Emptying the gland or opening the abscess by a veterinarian is indicated.

  Worm infestations, which can cause blood in the stool, are easily cured with anthelmintics

• Infestations by protozoa. Manifested by diarrhea with blood, dehydration, exhaustion. The diagnosis is made by a veterinarian using laboratory diagnostic methods, and in some cases antimicrobial therapy is prescribed.
• Bacterial and viral infections. They are characterized by an acute onset, fever, intoxication, and the presence of symptoms other than diarrhea with blood, indicating a specific pathogen. The epidemiological situation is taken into account. Treatment is carried out exclusively by a doctor using:
  • antibacterial therapy;
  • hyperimmune serums;
  • symptomatic remedies.
• Blood clotting disorders. In cats, in addition to blood in the feces, there are other sources of bleeding - blood may appear in the urine, bleeding gums are possible, bleeding into the cavity of the joints with their swelling and soreness, under the sclera of the eye, from the nose, and others. The formation of bruises and prolonged bleeding from places of minor skin damage are characteristic. Similar symptoms are observed in cases of poisoning with rat poison containing warfarin or its analogues. Treatment is carried out only by a veterinarian:
  • gastric and intestinal lavage is performed;
  • an antidote is introduced - vitamin K;
  • drugs are administered to stop bleeding.
• Inflammatory bowel diseases (colitis). Manifested by alternating diarrhea and constipation, the stool contains mucus and blood. Treatment is prescribed by a veterinarian after determining the cause of colitis:
  • change of feed;
  • administration of probiotics and prebiotics;
  • antibacterial therapy;
  • use of immunosuppressants.

Bleeding that occurs as a result of decompensation of existing chronic diseases or ongoing drug therapy, as a rule, is foreseen by the attending veterinarian and is rarely unexpected. Usually these are severe clinical cases that require an immediate visit to the veterinarian and a review of the treatment regimen.

Diagnosis of bleeding caused by tumors and polyps, as well as single ulcerative lesions, is carried out using endoscopic research methods; in some cases, the situation requires surgical intervention to find the source of blood loss and stop it. For low-lying rectal tumors, a veterinarian can make a diagnosis by identifying the tumor during an examination of the rectum and sending a sample of it for histological analysis.

What to do if a kitten or pregnant cat has blood in the stool

Waiting until blood appears in the stool of a pregnant cat or very young kittens is unacceptable. The animal must be examined by a veterinarian, preferably at home. Blood in the stool of kittens most often indicates an infectious disease, as well as errors in the diet during weaning or food intolerance. Blood in a pregnant cat's stool may be bloody discharge from the uterus.

Prescription of medications is carried out only by a veterinarian, since, for example, the use of anthelmintics, which are acceptable during pregnancy in cats, may be unacceptable in this particular individual if it has other contraindications. In severe cases, the prospect of continuing pregnancy, as well as breastfeeding, is assessed only by a veterinarian, since these conditions greatly limit therapeutic options. Therefore, it is important to vaccinate and worm your cat before pregnancy.

Bloody feces are not just a personal problem for your beloved cat, as this disease is quite common. Therefore, you should not be scared in advance and think that everything is very bad with your pet. For example, if a cat eats too much dry food or foods that cause constipation, then constipation is the cause of a prolonged act of defecation, during which hemorrhoids appear, and hence bloody stools. Easy to fix. If you don't give her foods that cause it, then the blood will completely disappear.

But if you long time If you notice that blood periodically appears in your cat’s stool, or that the volume of blood is quite large, then it’s time to sound the alarm. This factor indicates the onset of the development of a very serious disease.

Often, blood in the stool of a domestic cat indicates hematochezia, a disease in which fresh blood appears in the animal’s stool. Hematochezia is characterized by heavy bleeding in the intestine and its lower part. This disease should not be confused with melena– a disease characterized by the presence of black stools. Hematochezia, as a disease, is easily recognized by the character of the cat - the animal is weak, lethargic, does not eat or drink anything, and often runs to the toilet. If you have these and other symptoms, contact your veterinarian immediately.

Why does blood appear in my cat's stool?

Blood in your cat's stool is most often caused by irritation in the lower intestine. In addition to the symptoms of hematochezia, allergies and food intolerance can be caused in pets by ordinary food, most often dry food from a dubious manufacturer. If your cat spends most of its life in the yard or on the street, then it may have been poisoned by rat poison, then bloody stools are a common occurrence. Also, if you notice very hard and extremely dry stools in your cat, then these are clear signs that the animal has nutritional problems.

Old cats tend to develop colitis - inflammation of the intestines, accompanied by acute processes, such as the appearance of mucus in the animal's stool along with blood. The cause of cat disease is its individual characteristics, intolerance to a particular food. Then you yourself know that the cat should not be given fatty food, but only dietary food, since in old cats the vascular walls of the intestines are very weak. If you notice bloody stools, treat your cat temporarily to prevent the appearance of a malignant tumor, intestinal cancer and blood clotting disorders - one of the most common diseases in most purebred cats.

Above we have listed only a few cases when, during acute infectious and other diseases, a cat may develop loose stools, accompanied by mucous and bloody discharge. For each specific case, immediately contact a veterinarian who will conduct a full diagnostic and laboratory examination and prescribe appropriate treatment for your pet.

How to treat a cat with bloody stools

Remove dry food from your cat's diet. And do this immediately if you notice even the slightest drops of blood in the animal’s feces. Canned dry food is harmful to the health of any cat, and it is especially harmful for purebred cats. Cat food is the same as “fast food” for us. If we only eat such food, we risk getting a stomach ulcer. Likewise, a cat that is constantly fed nothing with dry food runs the risk of developing urolithiasis or gastrointestinal disease.

So, what should you do first if you notice bloody feces in your cat? pour dry food into the trash can and start feeding your cat balanced food, not table scraps, but your own, home-cooked food. In this case, milk and dairy products should also be excluded from the cat’s diet, and only diet food should be given – without cat canned foods and fatty meats. You can give boiled chicken breast, chicken legs, thighs. Try to force the cat to eat a little boiled rice, twisted through a blender, as it strengthens the intestines well.

The usual “Smecta” helps to overcome hard stool and blood in a cat’s feces, if, among other things, the animal’s bowel movements are rare and mucous. If a week-long course of Smecta did not help, then ask your veterinarian what else he can do to help the poor cat. Many veterinarians prescribe the hepatoprotector Elvestin or Liarsin - stick to the course of homeopathic medicines, give up dry food completely, and your cat will feel much better. In just a week, your pet will feel better and its digestive organs will return to normal.

Very important during periods of exacerbation of the disease If blood is detected in your cat's stool, prescribe a meal rich in fiber. Meals should contain food consisting of complete proteins and fats. By changing your cat's diet, you will thereby relieve the animal from many problems, most likely caused by its individual food intolerance. Even if, after you completely change your cat’s diet, there is still blood in the feces, take the animal to a veterinarian immediately. He will immediately conduct numerous studies and prescribe a course of medications, which your pet must adhere to for the entire period of the disease diagnosed in him.

Therapy treatment

There are cases when a sick purebred cat, who was found to have blood in his stool, was prescribed Contrikal - a 10-day course of drip infusions to support the cat’s intestines. To ensure that the animal’s liver functions normally, you can give the cat Essentiale Forte drops. Perform infusions into the animal's body by diluting 1 milliliter of the bottle in 20 milliliters of saline solution. As for the drug Essentiale Forte, it must be given to cats under the strict supervision of a veterinarian, so treating the animal yourself is dangerous. Cats should only be given injections by specialists and at a strictly designated time, and even then not to everyone. Some cats cannot tolerate subcutaneous injections, so in order for an animal to be subjected to such “torture,” it must initially undergo all the necessary laboratory tests.

Naturally, it is rare that you can put your cat through all this, which is why many cat owners do not recommend allowing veterinarians to give subcutaneous injections to their pets. Let them be just ordinary capsules. Mix one capsule a day of Essentiale with food and you will see a noticeable improvement. Be sure, along with these capsules, to give your sick cat with rare bowel movements with mucus and blood in the stool Hophytol tablets, mixing it with food. Hofitol is a drug that has a choleretic effect.

Restoration of microflora

There was a case when one of the experienced veterinarians suggested that a cat suffering from intestinal mycosis take Hilak Forte drops in order to restore the natural intestinal microflora of the sick cat. It is this drug, which is attributed to people, that helped a cat suffering from dysbacteriosis overcome a fungal infection. Dysbacteriosis of the intestinal microflora that has arisen in a cat can be easily brought back to normal if you feed it several times a day Hilak Forte, which contains the entire complex of bacteria that help quickly normalize the animal’s digestive acidity.

One lady on a zoological forum told how she was advised to mix Eubicor into her cat’s food. This is a children's prebiotic, which includes all the microelements necessary for microflora. Eubicor is designed to fight dysbiosis and cleanse the intestines. Literally in 3 weeks. The woman noticed how her cat’s stool returned to normal, and the sour, unpleasant smell of the stool disappeared, as if it had never happened. A repeated analysis of the stool of a domestic cat at a veterinary clinic showed stunning results - the blood in the feces disappeared.

If your cat has been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis

It would not be amiss to say that if your cat is not prone to food allergies and eats everything, then continue in the same spirit to give her properly prepared, natural food, since it is a hundred times healthier than even the most selected and high-quality food. By including white chicken and meat porridge with vegetables in your mustachioed pet’s daily diet, you will thereby protect her from many diseases. It is possible to buy red fish, well - boil it and give it to your cat, boiled beef liver along with green grass more often - and your cat will have neither dysbacteriosis nor problems with bowel movements, but only normal, daily stool without mucus and unpleasant odor.

If you notice blood in your kitten's stool, you need to pay attention to how this sign manifests itself. You should be wary if your pet repeatedly bleeds during a trip to the toilet. An alarming symptom will be the presence of mucus and blood in the stool at the same time. In this case, you should immediately contact your veterinarian.

Causes of blood in stool

Most often, blood in a kitten's stool is the result of constipation due to poor diet. Such symptoms can be observed after the animal has eaten dry food or the owner has switched it to a different diet. In this case, there is no need to worry. Simply reviewing your pet’s diet is enough to solve the problem.

Only a veterinarian can tell why a kitten has bloody stool. He will determine the cause of the deviation and prescribe the correct treatment.

What to do if your kitten has blood in his stool

If you find blood in an animal's excrement, first of all pay attention to the accompanying signs. In many cases, you can identify and eliminate the cause of the failure yourself.

You should contact your veterinarian on the day blood is detected in the stool under such circumstances.:

• Excessive bleeding.
• Blood clots appear between trips to the toilet.
• The kitten screams when it goes to the toilet.
• There is a loss of body weight.
• The animal is constantly thirsty.
• The kitten is vomiting.
• The pet has loose stools.

Diagnosis of the disease involves the appointment of tests and ultrasound. After receiving the test results, the veterinarian will tell you what to do. Most often, the kitten is prescribed a diet that helps cope with most of the causes of blood in the pet’s stool. In this case, the animal will need a large amount of water to restore its balance and maintain body weight.

Do you have a kitten in your house? This is real happiness, because he is so small, touching and defenseless. Unfortunately, a kitten is even more susceptible to various infections and diseases than an adult animal. One of the most obvious signs of many of them is the presence of blood in the stool.

What could be the cause of bloody stool in a kitten?

Signs of inflammation of the paraanal glands in cats

When the paraanal glands become overfilled, their contents thicken and at the same time begin to be actively absorbed into the animal’s blood, which provokes severe itching throughout its body. If at this stage the cat’s owner does not take him to the veterinarian to clean the glands, their inflammation will begin, which will inevitably affect nearby soft tissues. This is fraught with the formation of an extremely painful abscess under the tail of the unfortunate animal, which causes him a lot of suffering, initially only when dealing with natural needs, and later - even at rest. If left untreated, severe inflammation can ultimately lead to the death of your cat.

Treatment of inflammation of the paraanal glands in cats

If you are attentive to your animal, you will probably pay attention to changes in its behavior, which should make you suspect inflammation of its paraanal glands. You can try to clean them yourself: to do this, press a clean napkin tightly against the animal's anus and squeeze its right and left sides together. If this does not lead to anything, contact your veterinarian - he is guaranteed to be able to clean the anal anal area using a method in which one finger presses on the gland inside the cat's anus, and the second on the outside.

If it is still not possible to avoid the development of the inflammatory process with the formation of an abscess, the doctor will surgically open the abscess, disinfect the wound and prescribe medications for its quick and trouble-free healing. He will also tell you how to prevent your cat from getting blocked anal glands in the future.

Sources:

• Inflammation of the paraanal glands in dogs and cats.

The other day my friend Alexandra called me with a question: the cat has blood in his stool.
During the conversation, we found out that the cat eats colored food and his feces are colored. And since the cat relieves itself in a tray with filler, it is difficult to clearly see the feces. Therefore, we did the following: for the next week, the cat was given brown food, without colored inclusions. And the feces turned brown. And when they started giving colored food, it became colored again. So no treatment was needed, because the color of the stool simply depended on the color of the food.

Since this question "blood in cat's stool" frequent, let's figure out in what cases this happens:

1) Option one, the most common: stool is normal brown in color and has normal consistency. And on it is a drop of scarlet blood. At the same time, the animal feels good. In this case, we are talking about the fact that this is blood from the rectum - the mucous membrane or fissure of the anus is simply scratched.
If this happens once, you don’t have to do anything.
If this recurs, the reason may be that the diet is lacking in fat-soluble vitamins and unsaturated fatty acids.
To heal the mucous membrane, you will have to put candles with sea buckthorn oil in the cat’s butt.
And add vegetable oil to your cat’s food: olive, sunflower, sesame – any will do. Do not overdo the dose, otherwise you will cause diarrhea. Start with a coffee spoon 2 times a day. You can gradually increase the dose to a teaspoon 2 times a day.

If blood in cat stool continues to come out, there is a lot of it - go to the vet. It is necessary to exclude such options as polyps and intestinal tumors, bacterial damage, blood clotting disorders, poisoning with hemolytic poisons, pancreatitis, and helminthiasis. All of the above is not a field for the owner’s initiative. The diagnosis must be made by a competent doctor.

2) diarrhea and drops of scarlet blood: we treat diarrhea, in the butt - suppositories with sea buckthorn oil.

3) Constipation, and during bowel movements blood in cat stool. Relieving constipation. First, try adding oil to your food. If it doesn’t help, let’s talk in more detail.

4) diarrhea alternates with constipation, the cat is hunched over. She may have colitis - go to the vet.

3) feces are dark like tar, and when washed away with water, they wash out like meat slop. This already suggests that gastric bleeding or bleeding from the small intestine is possible. This is where you definitely need the advice of an experienced veterinarian.
And if at the same time you know that over the past day or two the cat has eaten tubular chicken bones, run to the veterinarian. This may be evidence of intestinal perforation. When the intestines are perforated, the animal no longer looks happy and relaxed. It may hunch over, not eat, and may vomit.
In this case, go to the vet immediately!