Gastric problem in a cat

[kathryn]

Hey all! My cat Kasey, who is the one who is somewhat cat aggressive alpha male- thinks he's big man in the house-, is having some poopy problems. For the past several months he has pooped on the floor infront of either the downstairs kitchen litter box or the downstairs bathroom box, never anywhere else. He does it in plain view of people and other animals. We have thought it was some sort of alpha male problem, as his mother Socks has mental problems as well and urinates on things when she is angry.

But lately, I have noticed occasional blood in the stool, it smelling very strong, being very mushy, odd colors etc. He is scheduled for his annual check up for this Wednesday.

I was wondering if my cat could have some sort of irritable bowel thing or something going on, and how would I go about testing for that? I do most testing and things at the shelter since I get it at cost, but what would I even be looking for in this situation?


Diet is same as it's been.. I feed a varied diet of dry food, right now usually Healthwise by Innova or Fromm. I feed some raw, and their canned diet is mostly grain free and really good stuff. Mostly using Weruva or other deluxe canned foods.


Up to date on shots, dewormers etc. It's deff not any kind of worms!

Any ideas? Gross topic I know!

[catlover2]

All the things you describe: some blood in the stool, odd colours, bad odour, soft consistency, inappropriate litter box use are all signs that he should see a vet...the sooner the better. It's possible it could be an irritable bowel thing, but it could be other conditions as well. Best to get bloodwork, stool tested, etc.

[mummummum]

Hi Kathryn ~ sorry The Big Man is having some poop issues. Just to echo what Catlover has said ~ and as a cat-person you know ~ cats are known to be generally pretty fastidious about their toileting habits so any change in the where and when should be a big heads up that something is going on and needs to be addressed. But blood in the stool for me is an IMMEDIATE alert to me to see my Vet. Blood could indicate an obstruction, a tear, IBD, cancer ~ the list goes on and on. There are many things I will wait out for a few days to see if it improves but I never, ever wait when there is blood in stool I cannot explain.

And make sure you take a fecal sample with you on Wednesday! let us know how he makes out.

[kathryn]

He has lost some weight too. Not a significant amount, but he is a long, lean cat to begin with, but when you look at him from above he seems to have lost some mass along his back area (between his ribs and his hips)


I took him to see Dr. Severino the animal communicator a few months ago with his crazy mom... that was before the poo started getting really gross. She just agreed that both cats were alpha cats and that was the problem.

I called and to run a full fecal panel would be $70+ which we don't have right now but I'm hoping I can just talk to my vet to do payments. I can still do some stuff at the shelter as well.

Kasey has left me a 'sample' on the floor this afternoon, so I plan on just packing it up and setting it aside anyways and see what I can get done tomorrow.


Do they do erm, colonoscopies on cats?

[hazelrunpack]

Definitely take in a sample and talk to the vet about this tomorrow, kathryn. The combination of weight loss and blood in the stool can indicate serious trouble!

for Kasey. I hope he's okay!

[kathryn]

Okay so he left me another present on the floor again within 2-3 hours of me having cleaned up the last one I am SO happy we have sealed tile floors in the kitchen.. UGH.

This one was sooo gross I walked in the front door and it stunk up the whole house. Sooo I am going to go with that he probably isn't just trying to be a jerk anymore and does actually have some sort of tummy problem. This one was a big pile of mush too.. sort of like scooping up melted clay

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by kathryn

Do they do erm, colonoscopies on cats?

Yup. They also do endoscopy and rigid proctoscopy. In fact the Vet, if it gets that far would likely do the rigid proctoscopy before a flexible colonoscopy.

[mummummum]

Originally Posted by kathryn

... Sooo I am going to go with that he probably isn't just trying to be a jerk anymore and does actually have some sort of tummy problem.

See Kathryn, I just would never assume that one of my dawgs was misbehaving for that many months. And while I appreciate that you took your cats to a animal communicator to try to determine and deal with other issues ~ I would have involved a Vet or an animal homeopath/ naturopath at a far, far earlier stage.

Think about it this way: if you got a dollar every time you went to your parent and said I Love You, regardless of how you are feeling, you like having that dollar and you are going to keep saying I Love You aren't you? Same thing with animals. They know what works and what doesn't to get them what THEY want. Animals don't do things to flip you off or to git up yer nose without careful planning. They behave in a certain way to get things or to get rid of things. "Things" being basic necessities, attention etc. And when they try something and it doesn't work on you, they move on right away until they find the right behaviour that does work on you. Hey, they want what they want right and ya can't blame a guy for trying!

But repeat unusual toilet habits should not be ignored or explained away as "alpha" behaviour. And chronic diarrhea is not a behaviour it is a symptom of a serious, possibly life-threatening illness. In fact diarrhea itself is life-threatening. I truly hope your kitty is able to be helped by your Vet tomorrow. Keep us updated

[Jim Hall]

best of luck at the vet today

[rjesak]

When my vet required a fecal sample, they wanted it brought in within 12 hours. I'm not sure when your vet's visit is and when you got the sample so just wanted to give you a heads-up.

[kathryn]

The poo in the beginning was normal poo, and I talked to my vet office and others as well and we all agreed it was a behavior problem, due to Socks having a similar problem.

I took him to the vet today, he has lost some weight, but not alot. We did an inhouse fecal and it was negative. My vet wants me to go ahead and change his diet to start and put him on some broad spectrum dewormers just incase he possibly could have tapeworms, which is absolutely a possibilty since my inside-outside cat () had them recently.

Ideas so far- Pancreatitis or some sort of Inflammatory or Irritable bowel disorder. My vet still feels that part of this is still behavioural as his overall health was excellent other than lost a tiny bit of weight and the poo problems.


I think I will do bloodwork either this week or next week just to check on things. I can get it for $50 at the shelter and will likely do that..


Anyone have suggestions on food? I will have to feed him separately because my other cats are very happy and doing great with their current diet. Grain free has previously given Kasey diarrhea, but I am willing to try again.

He is probably the most finicky cat as well.

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by kathryn

My vet still feels that part of this is still behavioural as his overall health was excellent other than lost a tiny bit of weight and the poo problems.

Bloody stool is not behavioural.

Originally Posted by kathryn

Anyone have suggestions on food?

Yup. No more dry. Maybe try a simple, novel protein food like canned Innova Evo 95% venison. Or go all raw!

[kathryn]

Originally Posted by sugarcatmom

Bloody stool is not behavioural.



Yup. No more dry. Maybe try a simple, novel protein food like canned Innova Evo 95% venison. Or go all raw!

Yeah, the actual poo its self not being normal is why he was concerned it could be something else, but this cat absolutely has a complex He thinks he is king of the house. So, even if we find out what is wrong with his poo and take care of that, he may still poo on the floor just out of spite.

He has another session with Liz Severino on Sunday, and I know that's not foolproof but maybe she can shed some light onto if this is just 100% medical at this point or if this partially has to do with him being a butt head


Kinda like Socks kept peeing out of the box, and we thought she had bladder infection so we ran tests on her and everything came back fine... then we put her on prozac and she's been doing great ever since


I know for sure Kasey will absolutely not eat raw.. I've tried it on him numerous times. He is a picky one! I'm going to see what kind of grain free non-chicken canned foods I can pick up... probably try some duck and sweet potato.

I'll let you guys know if anything changes or if the further tests reveal anything.

[kathryn]

Oh, can I ask.. does anyone know why he pees in the litterbox but than comes out and poos on the floor?

[Love4himies]

SCM is correct, blood in the stool is not behaviour and is indicative of a colon issue. Fresh blood means the issue is close to the rectum, where as dark stools are indicative of bleeding in the small intestine. The odd colours can show issues with the pancreas, gall bladder or liver, bloodwork may help narrow down what the issue is, if it is an organ causing it.

If it is a true IBD, you would more than likely see mucous on the stools.

I was thinking, if Kasey has pain when he has a bowel movement, he may associate the litter box with pain and that may be the reason he is not using it.

[kathryn]

The blood is fresh, and there is occasionally mucous in the stool as well. The poo varies in color. Sometimes light like milk chocolate (), sometimes dark like dirt.

I will pick up new food at work tomorrow for him and try some basic meds from the shelter... panacur, maybe some albon or something... we don't want to immediately jump into all the expensive stuff because his overall health is otherwise good, and the blood is sort of a 'here and there' occurrence, with it happening just recently.


There has been no stool on the ground since we took him to the vets yesterday. Next week we will do a basic blood panel if the problem is still going on after we try all the other stuff first.. my vet doesn't anticipate anything to show up on the bloodwork, as if anything this really just seems to be the case of an IBS type thing vs. something horrible. My vet said to switch out his protein source to a novel protein and go from there.