Bloody poop, diarrhea, vomit...been to vet still not sure

[scottyxx]

Hi everybody,

I have been reading this forum for a while, my 1 1/2 year old male cat is not in a good way! I have 2 cats brother and sister both 1 1/2 Raggamuffins. One guy, one girl, the girl is completely fine!!

He has been throwing up on and off for about a month, but it seemed to be only when he was left alone, or got over excited. So we put it down to him just being stressed.

Last week though he took a turn for the worst, he vomited 3 times in the one day, and had runny poo all over his back legs. I bathed him to clean him up, as he is a long hair and often gets poop stuck on him. I locked him in the bathroom while I grabbed a towel, and I came back to a pile of oily blood on the floor, and white foam.

I called the vet right away, and took him in. The vet says he is extremely healthy, everything is normal. She gave us a white liquid and a dropper to coat his tummy, a paste for hairballs, prescription food and anti-acid pills.

We follow this to the letter, and the next day he was very lethargic, and turned his nose up at the food. Eventually i was able to feed him some food and some water, and I put him to bed for the night fearing the worst.

The next day he came bouncing back! We continued with the medicine but I called the vet after he was throwing up after every single dose of the white liquid, she told us to stop feeding him it and see how he faired. There was no more sickness or bad poop (as far as I know) for a little while.

He was fine until 2 days ago, when I noticed oily poop stains on all my rugs. I picked up the rugs and cleaned them, and I heard him crying in the shower. I picked him up and RAN to the litter box, and threw him in it. Sure enough, he needed to poop - it seems like he cant make it to the liter box? Not sure. The poop was runny, oily, but no blood. Anyway, I made a makeshift litterbox upstairs for him, and locked him in a room himself all night so he could sleep and have his own litter box, water and food.

I also changed his food recently. He was on costco dry food, then iams anti hairball, but after the vet, I ran out and bought several different dry foods to try. He had Royal Cain easy to digest food yesterday, and he seemed fine. Today he had Naturals Rabbit and something, and he is pooping blood.

His poop smells awful, and he seems lethargic.

I have checked his teeth and skin pull reactions and he is not deydrated. He still has his appetite, but I noticed he didnt eat all of the naturals Rabbit food, so I threw it out, and gave him the Limited Ingredients. He turned his nose up at it again, and has slinked away and is hiding in the dinning room. He seems completely fine, and is running and playing.

He hasn't lost any weight as far as I can tell, and he is not an outdoor cat. Him and his sister love to chew plastic bags and anything plastic, or I worry something could be stuck. But the vet says she would likely not see plastic in an xray.


When he is sick he cries first if no one is there, makes a choking noise first then like pushes himself back and forward then upchucks, he will start crying afterwords too unless I go help him when he is sick. Poop wise, I perved at him during his last movement, and he seems to be slightly stressing trying to pass anything, and he passed one small quarter sized piece.

Sorry for all the detail, but ever since he has got sick I have become obsessed with him, I really want to rule out the simple things before I head back to the vet again. These guys are my first ever pets, and he's my little guy! I worry about him being so sick. I also don't know what is and what isn't normal behavior or what signs to look for.

Anything you can suggest would help so much!!

[scottyxx]

Not to be creepy or anything but he just pooped, and it was just a bright red mucus.

He also just threw up, it was a thick white foam.

[Barkingdog]

Originally Posted by scottyxx

Hi everybody,

I have been reading this forum for a while, my 1 1/2 year old male cat is not in a good way! I have 2 cats brother and sister both 1 1/2 Raggamuffins. One guy, one girl, the girl is completely fine!!

He has been throwing up on and off for about a month, but it seemed to be only when he was left alone, or got over excited. So we put it down to him just being stressed.

Last week though he took a turn for the worst, he vomited 3 times in the one day, and had runny poo all over his back legs. I bathed him to clean him up, as he is a long hair and often gets poop stuck on him. I locked him in the bathroom while I grabbed a towel, and I came back to a pile of oily blood on the floor, and white foam.

I called the vet right away, and took him in. The vet says he is extremely healthy, everything is normal. She gave us a white liquid and a dropper to coat his tummy, a paste for hairballs, prescription food and anti-acid pills.

We follow this to the letter, and the next day he was very lethargic, and turned his nose up at the food. Eventually i was able to feed him some food and some water, and I put him to bed for the night fearing the worst.

The next day he came bouncing back! We continued with the medicine but I called the vet after he was throwing up after every single dose of the white liquid, she told us to stop feeding him it and see how he faired. There was no more sickness or bad poop (as far as I know) for a little while.

He was fine until 2 days ago, when I noticed oily poop stains on all my rugs. I picked up the rugs and cleaned them, and I heard him crying in the shower. I picked him up and RAN to the litter box, and threw him in it. Sure enough, he needed to poop - it seems like he cant make it to the liter box? Not sure. The poop was runny, oily, but no blood. Anyway, I made a makeshift litterbox upstairs for him, and locked him in a room himself all night so he could sleep and have his own litter box, water and food.

I also changed his food recently. He was on costco dry food, then iams anti hairball, but after the vet, I ran out and bought several different dry foods to try. He had Royal Cain easy to digest food yesterday, and he seemed fine. Today he had Naturals Rabbit and something, and he is pooping blood.

His poop smells awful, and he seems lethargic.

I have checked his teeth and skin pull reactions and he is not deydrated. He still has his appetite, but I noticed he didnt eat all of the naturals Rabbit food, so I threw it out, and gave him the Limited Ingredients. He turned his nose up at it again, and has slinked away and is hiding in the dinning room. He seems completely fine, and is running and playing.

He hasn't lost any weight as far as I can tell, and he is not an outdoor cat. Him and his sister love to chew plastic bags and anything plastic, or I worry something could be stuck. But the vet says she would likely not see plastic in an xray.


When he is sick he cries first if no one is there, makes a choking noise first then like pushes himself back and forward then upchucks, he will start crying afterwords too unless I go help him when he is sick. Poop wise, I perved at him during his last movement, and he seems to be slightly stressing trying to pass anything, and he passed one small quarter sized piece.

Sorry for all the detail, but ever since he has got sick I have become obsessed with him, I really want to rule out the simple things before I head back to the vet again. These guys are my first ever pets, and he's my little guy! I worry about him being so sick. I also don't know what is and what isn't normal behavior or what signs to look for.

Anything you can suggest would help so much!!

I would stop letting your cats chew on plastic bags and items. Your cat could be toxic poisoning from the bags. Has the vet run any blood tests to see if your cats has any toxic poisoning , and the plastic may not show up in a x ray. I would have the vet run some tests for toxic poisoning.

[scottyxx]

Just after I posted this, he started crying and blood was dripping from his anus. I rushed him to the vet. The vet thinks he has a type of IBS for cats, so we have steroids, and another pill which should give him an appetite. I am really worried about him. This was a new vet at the same clinic, and I mentioned plastic bags to him, and he said he thinks it is more likely to be this IBS thing. Fingers crossed!!

[scottyxx]

Originally Posted by Barkingdog

I would stop letting your cats chew on plastic bags and items. Your cat could be toxic poisoning from the bags. Has the vet run any blood tests to see if your cats has any toxic poisoning , and the plastic may not show up in a x ray. I would have the vet run some tests for toxic poisoning.

Thanks! Obviously anytime i see them chewing I pull it out of their mouths and let them know they have done bad (usually shouting NO stops them) but given that I know they enjoy it, I worry that they are getting into stuff whilst i sleep

[growler~GateKeeper]

Originally Posted by scottyxx

I also changed his food recently. He was on costco dry food, then iams anti hairball, but after the vet, I ran out and bought several different dry foods to try. He had Royal Cain easy to digest food yesterday, and he seemed fine. Today he had Naturals Rabbit and something, and he is pooping blood.

What was the reason you took him off the original costco food he was getting?

Did these symptoms start before or after you changed food?

Have you tried him back on the original food to see how his digestive tract reacts?

Did the vet feel the cats stomach, digestive tract & colon to feel if there is a blockage? Sometimes the cat can have hard poop or a foreign object stuck in the colon and the diarrhea, mucus & blood could still leak out around it.

If this is a case of IBS switching foods often will only aggravate the issue since each of the foods may have different ingredients that cause different reactions.

[scottyxx]

Originally Posted by growler~GateKeeper

What was the reason you took him off the original costco food he was getting?

He was being sick, then his sister was sick one time. I packaged up all the food I had left, and threw it out, thinking something might have gotten to the food as it was a huge bag. Since he was being sick, and he is long hair I bought IAMS Hairball control thinking that might stop him being sick, and from there he as deteriorated.

Originally Posted by growler~GateKeeper

Did these symptoms start before or after you changed food?

Before, the reason I got rid of the food was that he kept on being sick, at first it was only when he was excited / stressed and the throw up was always food. It actually looked like light coloured poops, but it was 100% crunched up dry food.

Originally Posted by growler~GateKeeper

Have you tried him back on the original food to see how his digestive tract reacts?

The nearest costco is 2 hours drive away so we haven't, right now we are on vet prescribed fibre food.

Originally Posted by growler~GateKeeper

Did the vet feel the cats stomach, digestive tract & colon to feel if there is a blockage? Sometimes the cat can have hard poop or a foreign object stuck in the colon and the diarrhea, mucus & blood could still leak out around it.

Yeah he felt his belly, and said something, maybe the digestive track felt solid, that it should usually feel paper thin but his felt like a solid piece of string. Does that make sense?

Originally Posted by growler~GateKeeper

If this is a case of IBS switching foods often will only aggravate the issue since each of the foods may have different ingredients that cause different reactions.

Like I said, they have never been fussy so I didn't think anything of switching the food. I ended up switching to the wet because I thought if he has an upset tummy something grain free and watery would be easier for him to digest, and would give him more water to stop him dehydrating. Now we are on vet Fibre food which I hope settles him.

[scottyxx]

My cats are 100% indoor cats, they only go outside with me on the leash in summer, but haven't been outside in over a month.

We got them from someone on Kijiji, when I think they were 2 months old, she said they had been dewormed and fixed, etc,etc. They were not fixed, so we got them fixed at the SPCA Clinic.

Is it possible he has worms? How often should you de-worm a cat? How do you deworm a cat?

[Love4himies]

Everybody I know who has fed their cat IAM's has ended up with a sick cat .

The colon will produce mucous just like your sinuses do, however, it is normally such a small amount that it's not noticeable. When the colon gets inflammed, they will produce a lot more, once again like your sinuses when you get a cold. The blood may be caused from sores due to the inflammation.

Did your vet state IBS or IBD? I'm thinking it is more of an IBD (Inflammable Bowel Disease, rather than Irritable Bowel Syndrome).

Cats are made to eat raw meat, not grains, not corn, not potatoes, period. They can not digest Carbs and therefore do not get any benefit from them, except to add filler to what they eat and to produce large feces that can fill up the colon. Undigested carbs can also irritate the colon, causing inflammation and the symptoms that you have described your cat is getting. Some cats won't be affected by carbs, others are.

I know of one cat in particular that will end up with diarrhea and blood dripping from his anus continually and it got worse as the cat aged. The owner now has him on a raw diet and it has cleared up and has perfect poops (it took about 6 months for the colon to heal). The vet also tried, their food, steroids but they didn't work.

I highly recommend this website for you, it is so full of great info:

http://www.catinfo.org/

Good luck with your kitty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[scottyxx]

Firstly, thank you so much for all your replies!

Originally Posted by Love4himies

Everybody I know who has fed their cat IAM's has ended up with a sick cat .

I have read some bad things online about this too so I think for sure the IAMS is getting thrown away.

Originally Posted by Love4himies

The colon will produce mucous just like your sinuses do, however, it is normally such a small amount that it's not noticeable. When the colon gets inflammed, they will produce a lot more, once again like your sinuses when you get a cold. The blood may be caused from sores due to the inflammation.

I think so too.

Originally Posted by Love4himies

Did your vet state IBS or IBD? I'm thinking it is more of an IBD (Inflammable Bowel Disease, rather than Irritable Bowel Syndrome).

I think it was IBD sorry, I am just checking the information sheet he gave me, and it does look like its IBD.

Originally Posted by Love4himies

Cats are made to eat raw meat, not grains, not corn, not potatoes, period. They can not digest Carbs and therefore do not get any benefit from them, except to add filler to what they eat and to produce large feces that can fill up the colon. Undigested carbs can also irritate the colon, causing inflammation and the symptoms that you have described your cat is getting. Some cats won't be affected by carbs, others are.

I used to make home raw homemade food, but it became so impractical with me working all day. I suppose we could try again. I did a mix of ground chicken and chicken hearts for him.

Originally Posted by Love4himies

I know of one cat in particular that will end up with diarrhea and blood dripping from his anus continually and it got worse as the cat aged. The owner now has him on a raw diet and it has cleared up and has perfect poops (it took about 6 months for the colon to heal). The vet also tried, their food, steroids but they didn't work.

I hope this isnt the case for him! Poor guy!! But I am not opposed to going for raw if needed, its just not the easiest with my schedules.


I highly recommend this website for you, it is so full of great info:

http://www.catinfo.org/

Good luck with your kitty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/QUOTE]