Blood in Your Cat’s Stool? Here’s What to Do

Key points

• Blood in your cat’s stools is not always a sign of serious illness.
• Stress and anxiety are common causes of colitis, leading to blood in a cat’s stool.
• In certain cases, a bland diet can lead to the resolution of the symptom.
• A veterinary examination is needed to check for a more serious underlying cause.
• Some cats are prone to colitis and the condition may continue to flare up throughout their life.

Common in:

Cats that are stressed and those who are not up to date with parasite treatments. Any age, gender, and breed can experience blood in their stool.

Symptoms and types

Your cat may have blood within a formed stool or a loose, diarrhea stool. They may also have other symptoms like vomiting, lack of appetite, or mucus within the stools. If the stool is hard and dry, this could suggest constipation, especially if you have noticed your cat straining. But cats can also strain to pass poo if they have diarrhea, which can cause blood vessels just inside their bottom to burst. This is called colitis and can be triggered by irritation from a new food, food allergies, or even stress. Colitis is the most common cause of blood in a cat’s stools.

Infection is another cause of blood in the stools and often this will cause vomiting as well. Your cat may also go off their food or act under the weather. Giardia and other gut parasites can also cause bloody stools, so this may be the cause of the gut irritation, especially if they haven’t had a stool sample checked recently.

Other less common causes include tumors of the gut or rectum and bleeding disorders including the consumption of rat poison. Your cat might show signs of weight loss and vomiting if the cause is a gut tumor, whereas they may show bruising or bleeding elsewhere if it is due to a bleeding disorder.

Understanding the diagnostics

The first step to finding out whether the cause of your cat’s bloody stools is anything serious is an examination with your veterinarian. They can check your cat’s weight, take their temperature, and feel their belly for any lumps and bumps, blockages, or sore areas.

Following the examination, your veterinarian may be happy to trial treatment for the symptoms or may need more information from blood tests, stool samples, ultrasound scans, or biopsies.

Learning about the causes

1. Colitis

Colitis Is the general term for inflammation of the large bowel and commonly leads to blood and mucus in the stools. Causes of colitis include stress, new foods, gut parasites, or food sensitivities, If your cat has colitis you may want to consider whether there are any obvious stress triggers in their environment. This could be building work or new cats in the area, a new baby or pet in the household, or even just a change in routine.

Sometimes, the inflammation associated with colitis is due to your cat eating new food or having a food sensitivity. Equally, gut parasites can be the cause.

2. Infection

Blood in the stools might also be caused by bacterial or viral infections, and the symptom might be combined with vomiting, reduced appetite, and lethargy.

3. Constipation

Blood in your cat’s stool could also be related to straining from constipation, and if this were the case you may see small amounts of hard, dry, poo produced after a lot of straining.

4. Tumors

Although tumors of the gut can cause blood in the stools, not all tumors are cancerous. Benign lumps and growths like polyps could also be the cause of bleeding.

5. Bleeding disorders

If you suspect your cat could have come into contact with rat poison, or you have noticed blood in other bodily fluids or bruising of the skin, this could be a sign of a bleeding disorder. Make sure you let your veterinarian know if rat poison is a possibility.

Best treatment options

• If your veterinarian suspects colitis, it is likely that they will recommend a bland diet of white fish or boiled chicken and they may also give an anti-inflammatory. If an infectious cause is suspected, especially if your cat has a high temperature, a course of antibiotics may be required.
• If your vet confirms a parasite like Giardia, they will prescribe a course of anti-parasitic medication. However, even if the diagnosis is not parasites, if your cat is not up to date with their preventative treatments it would be sensible to treat them once they are well.
• More severe cases of blood in the stools may require fluid via a drip or a blood transfusion. If there is evidence of a bleeding disorder, vitamin K, platelets, or other blood products may be given. If your veterinarian finds evidence of a tumor during the investigation, surgical removal or chemotherapy could be considerations.

Home remedies and their effectiveness

Keeping your cat up to date parasite prevention treatments, reducing stress triggers, and feeding a consistent diet are all sensible ways to try to stop future flare-ups.

Provide Light Diet

If the blood in your cat’s stool is recent, and a small amount, you may choose to feed them a bland diet for forty-eight hours before seeking veterinary advice. It is important that you only consider this option if they are otherwise well and the symptom is not severe or long-standing.

Supplements and diffusers

If you suspect that stress could be a factor in your cat’s symptoms, you may be able to remove the trigger. However, this is not always possible, and you may need to consider using a home diffuser or spray, like Feliway or Pet Remedy.

Soothe your pet

Calming medications can be very effective and your veterinarian will be able to advise you on the best option for your cat. If you are struggling to tackle your cat’s anxiety, you may need the help of a behaviorist.

When to see a vet

It is important to see a veterinarian if the blood has been present for longer than two days, is more than a few specks in each stool, or if the condition has not responded to a bland diet. If your cat is off their food or water, is acting unwell, or is showing signs of bleeding from elsewhere, you should speak to a veterinarian without delay.