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Old September 17th, 2010, 02:13 PM
Archie-Neil Archie-Neil is offline
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Cat with blood in stool

I have a 15 1/2 yr old female cat who has some blood in her stool. This is new for her as she has never had any bowel problems. What concerns me is that we just lost our 13 yr old male cat to lymphoma and a bowel mass. Could there be a connection?

The female has been on medication for a few weeks for anxiety and excessive grooming, but I think she has allergies because she scratches all the time. She did this a lot when she was younger and then it seemed to settle down for a few years. We live in a place where there is a high rate of seasonal allergies.

I'm going to stop her medication and try changing her food to see if this helps. Has anyone else had a cat on amitriptyline that caused any changes in bowel habits?
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Old September 17th, 2010, 02:17 PM
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14+kitties 14+kitties is offline
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Well look at that. I just suggested you do this in your introduction thread and like magic!
Let's get things off to a rolling start as I know this will be one of the first questions asked. What are you feeding your sweetie? Have her allergies been tested? Did any of them say she was allergic to anything in the food she's eating? Allergies in cats, as in people, can change or develop over time.
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Old September 17th, 2010, 02:45 PM
Archie-Neil Archie-Neil is offline
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??food allergies

She ate dry food only for many years but because our male had allergies and bowel problems, they switched to canned and dry.

They both ate Prescription diet from the vet for many years and seemed ok and then they changed their canned food and my male would absolutely not eat it. So gradually they started eating (I know it's not great but he would not eat anything else) Fancy Feast Oceanfish and Tuna flavour. Then I switched them over to Iams Healthy Naturals Chicken flavour dry food and they were both fine on this as well. While our male was sick we had to try him on many different varieties to get him to eat, so of course she was eating his leftovers, and tuna too. She hasn't had any tuna for about a month now. I also cut back on how much she was getting because she was eating too much.

She had a problem with crystals many years ago and I stopped feeding her store bought food but when I switched over to the Iams, she had no problems. I'm starting to rethink that decision now!!! A few people have told me that Iams is not a good product. Now that she is the only cat in the house, I guess I should try something different.
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Old September 17th, 2010, 08:23 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Hi Archie-Neil, welcome to the board!

It would be a really good idea to start feeding your kitty a novel protein, grain-free wet food, no kibble whatsoever. Despite it's name, Iams "Healthy" Naturals Chicken dry food is NOT healthy. Here are the ingredients:
Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, Brewers Rice, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Chicken Meal, Dried Beet Pulp, Dried Egg Product, Natural Flavor, Sodium Bisulfate, Potassium Chloride, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Animal Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), DL-Methionine, Dried Apple Pomace, Dried Carrots, Brewers Dried Yeast, ...
A ton-o-grain, which obligate carnivores such as the cat have no use for. That grain is also a common source of allergies. As is brewers yeast. If you can find something like canned Innova Evo duck or venison, which has much simpler ingredients and NO extraneous plant matter, you might find both the bowel issues and the itching clear up.
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Old September 18th, 2010, 08:05 AM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Welcome, Archie-Neil so sorry to hear about your kitty

I think you will find a difference in your kitty's health if you change her food to a quality canned . Nature's Variety makes Duck, Rabbit and Lamb flavours you can try if your cat has not had these meats before.

As for Amitriptyline, it is commonly used in cats but not all that safe. I have talked extensively to my vet about it when I had Sweet Pea on it for a couple of months. He only prescribes it to young, healthy cats and monitors blood work every three months to monitor the liver.

Here is some info:

http://www.vetinfo.com/side-effects-...line-cats.html

If the blood is bright red, then the bleeding is low in the colon, if it is darker or the stools are black or tarry, then it is much farther up in the tract.
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