16 reasons why a cat poops blood - treatment and diagnosis

Should cat owners be concerned if they find blood or mucus in their cat's stool? In this article, we describe in sufficient detail the probable causes of these phenomena and answer the main question: “is it dangerous?”

We all do it. We do this every time we change the tray or hear claws scraping the litter. I'm talking about examining our cat's poop. We humans have an inexplicable interest in monitoring the waste products of our companion. And this is good. Identifying a litter box problem early can prevent more serious complications and restore the health of a sick kitten. According to statistics, intestinal upset/diarrhea is the sixth most common disease in cats. One of the most common intestinal problems reported by cat owners is blood or mucus in the stool. Should you be concerned if you notice drops of blood or clots of mucus in your cat's litter box? Let's find out.

What does normal cat stool look like?

Typical cat poop is about 5-6 cm long, 1 cm in diameter, well formed and predominantly brown in color. If your cat has abnormal bowel movements, you can give your assessment of the feces. Assessing the quality of feces and estimating the quantity can help your veterinarian diagnose your cat's condition more quickly and correctly.

Most cats defecate once a day. The smell should not be too strong. When changing the tray, you may notice that normally the stool should not be liquid.

How to help your cat yourself

The difficulty of emergency home care is that it is highly undesirable to give your pet any medications before taking tests. Under their influence, the clinical picture may become blurred, and making a correct diagnosis will be difficult. But if it is not possible to urgently take your pet to the clinic, you should still try to alleviate his condition.

If you want to help a sick pet, take him to the clinic

What every owner can do in order not to harm, but at least somehow help the animal:

• provide peace to the sick pet by placing it in a warm, draft-free room on a bedding surface;
• intramuscularly administer pain-relieving antispasmodic drugs (No-shpa, Baralgin), which will relieve pain;
• exclude all solid foods from the diet, instead offer liquid food, easily digestible food, water - without restrictions;
• to disinfect the urinary tract before going to the doctor, give the cat decoctions of bearberry, parsley root, furadonin;
• Inflammatory products are removed from the urinary tract using a decoction of juniper and horsetail.

What does blood look like in my cat's stool?

Blood in a cat's stool can be difficult to detect. For starters, cat litter can sometimes change color and hide or create changes in the appearance of the stool. If the blood originates in the lower intestine, especially the distal colon or rectal area, it will most likely appear as blood. Red or pink drops or smears are often found on the sides of the cat's litter box and on the top of the stool or litter.

Blood from the upper intestinal tract, especially the small intestine, will be black or brown. This color change is due to partial digestion by enzymes secreted in the small intestine. This blood often appears as dark spots, streaks, or looks like coffee grounds.

It's important to note that both constipation and diarrhea can cause blood in a cat's stool. Bright red blood without diarrhea or hard, dry stool usually indicates the problem is closer to the rectum and anus.

Foreign body as a cause of blood during bowel movements

In addition, when trying to find out why the animal suffers when going to the toilet in a big way, it may turn out that there is some kind of foreign body in the cat’s intestines or esophagus. At the same time, it is important to determine the nature of the bloody discharge and the stool itself. If your pet went to the toilet only after a lot of meowing and noticeable discomfort, it is likely that the presence of a foreign object is the very root of the problem.

Often, cats, playing with objects whose purpose is probably not related to cat leisure, can cause significant harm to their body. Meanwhile, it happens that the owners themselves do not look after the animal enough, which simply walks on its own, or provide them with dangerous things to play with, without thinking that this should not be done. Sharp objects or pieces of fabric that have gotten inside the body of a cat or kitten can affect the emptying process. If your pet goes to the toilet with blood, most likely foreign objects have caused significant damage to the gastrointestinal tract. Also, do not forget about the toxicity of many plastic toys, synthetic materials, bottles, etc. Once in the cavities of the digestive organs, such objects can become the main source of irritation of the walls of the intestines and stomach.

In cases where going to the toilet is a real torment for a cat, there are often other common reasons listed in the list above. For example, infection with protozoan parasites - worms - is a fairly common situation.

What about mucus in the stool?

Slippery. Slimy. Nasty. These are all words veterinarians hear from cat owners describing excessive mucus in their cats' stool. Mucus is a normal secretion of the intestinal tract to help lubricate and moisten the intestines and facilitate fecal passage. It is not uncommon to observe some greasy or slippery coatings on your cat's feces. It is abnormal to see a lot of mucous, often clear to pale yellow-green fluid, accompanying your cat's bowel movements. Fecal mucus is an example of “the more the merrier.”

Collecting urine for analysis

If the owner notices bloody urine in a cat, the first thing he should do is take a urine test to diagnose the disease.

A simple option for collecting material for analysis:

1. The tray is cleared of filler.
2. Cleans well with boiled water (do not use chemicals!).
3. Then you just have to wait for the pet to go to the toilet.

However, most pets will only go to the litter box if there is litter in it. In this case, it will not be possible to collect the liquid. Therefore, owners will have to resort to small tricks.

1. You can try to watch the animal and, as soon as it settles into the tray, place a clean saucer or small bowl under it. The collected liquid is poured into a clean container and taken to the laboratory.
2. You can buy a special kit at a pet store: it consists of pellets for the potty and a container for urine. This filler does not have an absorbent effect.
3. You can use small aquarium pebbles as soil for the tray, preferably unpainted. You can find glass cabochons on sale that are also suitable. After the cat has done its business, the urine is collected with a sterile syringe, poured into a container and taken to the laboratory.

In severe cases, with complete obstruction of the urethra, the cat should be immediately taken to the veterinarian. He will insert a catheter, drain any accumulated urine, and collect it for analysis.

The material must be delivered for research immediately, as it quickly loses its freshness. This must be done within 4 hours.

Urine with blood

What causes blood or mucus in my cat's stool?

There can be many reasons for blood or mucus in your cat's stool. Some common reasons include:

• Dietary changes and food intolerances;
• Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD);
• Intestinal parasites such as Giardia;
• Infections;
• Trauma or abscess;
• Rectal polyps or tumors;
• anal gland abscess or infection;
• Constipation or idiopathic feline megacolon;
• Poisons or toxins;
• Cancer.

Diagnostics

To diagnose urocystitis and urolithiasis you will need:

• General urine analysis;
• Ultrasound of the bladder;
• BAC urine culture (not always);
• X-ray of the abdominal cavity (if urolithiasis is suspected).

For kidney inflammation:

• General urine analysis and protein/creatinine ratio in urine;
• Blood biochemistry;
• Ultrasound of the urinary system;
• BAK urine culture (not always).

For injuries:

• Ultrasound of the abdominal cavity;
• X-ray of the abdominal cavity;
• Clinical blood test.

For prostate diseases and orchitis:

• General urine analysis;
• Ultrasound of the genitourinary system;
• BAK urine culture (not always).

For diseases of the reproductive system in females:

• Ultrasound of the genitourinary system;
• General urine analysis.

For balanoposthitis:

• General urine analysis;
• Deep smear cytology;
• Ultrasound of the genitourinary system;
• TANK culture (not always).

What will the veterinarian do to determine the cause?

Most of these problems can be diagnosed based on the animal's medical history, physical examination, and microscopic examination of the animal's stool. Your veterinarian will look for blood, parasites, bacteria, and other possible causes of blood and/or mucus. In more serious cases, X-rays, ultrasound, blood and urine tests will be performed. Treatment will be based on an accurate diagnosis.

If you notice anything strange in your cat's feces, don't hesitate; Contact us for veterinary help. We've seen too many cats for whom it was too late to get help, simply because their owners hoped to solve the poop problem on their own. And our best advice is to continue to monitor your cat litter carefully.

If you are unsure, consult with our veterinarian—they will be your best resource in determining which toys and objects are safe for your cat, and can also give you tips on how to prevent your cat from eating strange objects.

Worms are a common problem in pets.

Signs of their presence in a pet’s body, as a rule, are not limited only to the presence of blood in cat feces. If a cat’s activity has decreased, it behaves sluggishly, there is practically no appetite, stool with blood is mostly liquid and sometimes vomiting occurs - in almost 9 such cases out of 10, when examining the animal, parasites are found. However, you don't need to do anything yourself.

Only a qualified doctor should diagnose the presence of worms and prescribe the necessary medications for treatment. Only he will be able to prescribe the correct dosage and regimen of medication.

We recommend reading: Symptoms and treatment of worms in cats

Necessary treatment

Taking into account all the symptoms and based on the examination, the veterinarian prescribes special treatment.
If a cat develops blood after castration or a pregnant cat suffers from bloody impurities in the blood, then it is necessary to urgently contact a veterinarian to determine the source of the pathology. Treatment of the animal is required depending on why it is peeing blood and taking into account additional symptoms. The table shows different treatment methods.

Deviation	Therapeutic measures
Diseases of inflammatory nature	If your pet has peed bloody urine once, the veterinarian will prescribe anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic and painkillers.
Advanced diseases	Taking oral or intramuscular antibiotics
	Using vitamin complexes and herbal decoctions to strengthen the immune system
Internal bleeding	Using medication to stop bleeding
Urolithiasis	If the cat pees with blood and little, then this indicates stones in the urinary system, which can be removed with medications and nutritional correction.
	If there is difficulty urinating, urine is removed using a catheter
	In advanced cases, surgery is possible
Dehydration	Injection of glucose and saline solutions into a vein
Some types of poisoning	Vitamin K1 intake

Intestinal inflammation

The disease can occur for many reasons. Veterinarians call intestinal inflammation enteritis. The main symptom of the disease is that the cat goes to the toilet with blood. The disease can be either non-contagious or freely transmitted between cats. Causes of intestinal inflammation:

• viral infection, such as panleukopenia;
• overfeeding;
• giving the animal spoiled food;
• the cat eating toxic substances;
• intestinal volvulus;
• fatal tumors.

If a cat goes to the toilet with blood, then it is advisable to switch it to high-quality dry food. With this disease, the animal’s diet is selected only with a veterinarian. If the owners do not want to adjust the cat’s diet, the therapeutic effect will be reduced. The animal is prescribed antibiotics and antiviral drugs. It is necessary to introduce vitamins and probiotics into the cat's diet.

What to do and how to provide first aid to an animal?

When a young cat often pees or an old cat suffers from bloody impurities in the urine, then you should not delay treatment. Owners can help the animal at home by doing the following:

• Provide the pet with peace and place it in a dry room.
• The cat should drink freely, and the liquid must always be changed so that it does not stagnate.
• Give the animal food with a liquid consistency.
• Give your cat decoctions based on bearberry or parsley, which are disinfectants.
• Drinking a decoction of juniper and horsetail, through which it is possible to reduce the inflammatory reaction.

Prevention

To protect your beloved pet from such ailments, you need to feed him a variety of foods high in protein. Choose premium food or cook natural ones. Monitor activity and prevent falls from heights. Do not transport in uncomfortable conditions, do not let him go for a walk unattended.

Happy pet

Cats that have reached the age of more than 10 years must be taken to a veterinary clinic for examination. Get tested to prevent the disease in the early stages.

Sterilized or neutered pets need special medicinal nutrition. Especially if you have a tendency to such diseases. The doctor will determine which food to give after appropriate tests.

A dangerous phenomenon is blood in the urine of animals. But it will not bring danger if you visit a doctor in a timely manner for preventive purposes and at the first signs. It is imperative to follow preventive measures.

Take care of your cats, do not expose them to unnecessary danger and stress. They will definitely surprise you more than once and give you positive emotions!

Oncology

Malignant neoplasms very often lead to the death of the animal. The cat’s immunity gradually decreases, and its organs begin to function incorrectly. To date, veterinarians have not identified the exact causes of malignant neoplasms. But there are factors that increase the likelihood of developing cancer in a cat:

• inhalation of cigarette smoke;
• hormonal imbalances;
• decreased immunity;
• unbalanced diet;
• constant stress;
• heredity.

Why does a cat go to the toilet with blood? Oncological disease in the later stages interferes with the functioning of all organs. Cancer is most often detected in animals over 5 years of age. Oncology can only be treated in a clinic; it is impossible to help a cat at home. The animal undergoes surgery to remove the tumor, and then is prescribed chemotherapy. In some cases, the cat is irradiated.