Blood on poop ~ colitis

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Hi all!

Well Mr Charlie is certainly gonna put us in the poor house at this rate


So as you know he was a stray that came around maybe 3 months ago now. He was a lil bag of bones, couldn't be more than 5lbs in weight. Was feeding him, took me about 6 weeks to convince the hubby we needed another cat on top of the two + baby we already have


He came in, went to the vet, all checked, healthy, vaccinated, boys are all together now!

So the last 4 days I've noticed someone has had bloody poop. I've been trying to catch who it was and finally saw last night it was Charlie (as I suspected)

The blood is on the outside of the poop. When it's on it, it looks darker in colour, but when it touched the pellets (we have the breeze litter system, so pellets are white) it looks bright red. He's eating/drinking well, the only thing he threw up is a hairball.

So fast forward to today, I call to ask the vets and they say bring him in. They check him over, all good, his poop is still negative for worms and such. He's put on TWO POUNDS in a month!! (He's now 11.11lbs) that's more than Winston!! and his coat is fabulous.

The vet said that what he suspects is colitis and some cats get their lower bowels irritated, especially when they've been starved and then get to eat again. He's given me some tablets to give to him. Half a tablet, twice a day. The tablet is called Metronidazole 250mg.

He gave me 2 weeks supply, said finish the course and see if he improves. If not we need to think about switching his diet up to a more high fibre diet (which makes sense to me because I have IBS and have to take fibre supplements to help that!) He said the high fibre would be fine for the other 2 also as its very hard to stop them eating out each others bowls!

So has anyone dealt with this before, can anyone offer me any advice on how to help him?

Thanks much!!
 

strange_wings

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 20, 2006
Messages
13,498
Purraise
39
The metro is going to clean out a lot of good and bad bacteria in his GI, so I suggest you use a probiotic for a while to help things get more regulated. Bene-bac is a easy to find and use one - get the small animal type. Use that for up to a week or two after the metro is done and it should get things in order.

I've had similar issues with all my kitties. None of them have come from very good pasts and their GIs tended to be a bit off. It doesn't help that most of them come to me sick/wounded so they also get a round of antibiotics - which messes GI bacteria balance up more.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Thanks strangewings!

I have another question while I'm waiting for the vets to open to call them. Do you think the Metro could cause Nausea? I ask cause I found a nice lump vomit on the end of my duvet this morning


Now I say this, it's not out of the ordinary for Charlie to vomit as he wolfs his food and gags, however when he does this it all comes up still formed as kibble, but this was like it'd been sitting there a while and had gone sludgy. He ad his night time pill at 1030p and had not vomited before this fact.

Thanks!!

ETA:

Well I've just been trying to google and found this:

Metronidazole Side Effects

* Most common: clinical signs related to the bad taste or GI upset.
* Dogs and cats: excessive salivation, gagging, regurgitation, pawing at the mouth, nausea, vomiting and decreased appetite are the most frequent complaints.
Poor Charlie! I wonder if he'll want to keep him on it and give him something else for the sickness. I better go buy a create of noodles cause at this rate he's gonna have us living off them haha.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Ok, just got back from the vets and now he's on:

Metoclopramide for the nausea/vomiting
Amoxitab for blood poop/colitis
 

strange_wings

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 20, 2006
Messages
13,498
Purraise
39
Yes, the metro can be really hard on some individuals - animal and human.


Hmm, metoclopramide - reglan. Hefty drug there. Keep a close watch, though usually it's not as bad for animals as it is for humans.
(I need to get that one in my medical file. I got it via IV in the hospital and responded terribly to it)

The amoxicillin won't kill as many bacteria as the metro would, and won't kill some bad bacteria at all - so keep a close watch.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Hey!

Well so far, so good, we were out all day and have come back to zero vomit!
Will see how he goes with his second dose tonight at 9pm.
 

taryn

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Messages
930
Purraise
2
Location
O'Fallon, IL
I've noticed that if Attitude is going to puke on an antibiotic it happen within 2 hours of her taking it.

amoxicillin seems to be a lot more gentle on the stomach. Attitude has never had a problem with it but she has vomited twice from Doxycycline.

Stronger antibiotics can be really hard on their system.

Taryn
 

carolina

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 17, 2008
Messages
14,759
Purraise
215
Location
Corinth, TX
For colitis and other GI tract ailments Metronidazole IMO is really the best option... It works both as antibiotic, and it also has anti-inflammatory properties on the digestive system; it is the only antibiotics that works both ways... It does have a HORRIBLE taste though, so the best way to give it to a cat is to wrap it into a pill pocket or a gell cap before pilling the kitty. If you put int inside of a pill pocket, do not feed it like the instructions on the pill pocket package, instead you want to pill the kitty with the pill wrapped in it. Always squirt a little water with a syringe on the kitties mouth right after you pill him to help with swallowing.
There is really no comparison IMO of the results you get with Metro and Amoxicillin... I am surprised your vet replaced the medicine so quickly.
Anyway, just food for thought... If it was my cat I would be back on Metro - there is nothing quite like it for intestinal tract problems.
Good luck!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Ya, he said that the Metro would make him drool if he tasted it cause it tastes really bitter. He gave me this piller thing, where you put it in this little rubber clasp on the end of a stick, pop it to the back of their throat and push a lil plunger. Most the time we fail with it, so I just pop it to the back of this throat with my fingers. He's a trooper! Shocked I aint lost a finger yet lol.

Re swapping back to the Metro, the new pill + anti sickness pill seems to be working so far, in the fact he's not vomited since he's had it (3 doses now) Also he pooped next to the litter tray this morning (because he is one of those fussy cats, that if there is even 1 other poop in the tray, he gets mad!! lol.It's hard to keep every poop out every second of the day cause I do sleep!!) I don't mind as long as its NEXT to the tray as it's tile in the bathroom. Anyways, there was no blood in that poop at all!!!


I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is gonna work. Even thru the vomiting and blood poop he's never lost his appetite or got depressed, so I guess that's a good thing!

Shesh, and I thought looking after a baby was hard!!


Thank you for your replies, I really appreciate them =)
 

taryn

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Messages
930
Purraise
2
Location
O'Fallon, IL
Did he only vomit once?

I didn't even call my vet until Attitude threw up for the second time in 3 days on the Doxy and even then the vet said I could keep using it and then decide to change if it kept up. I decided to keep the Doxy and just give her and Nuts a 3.5 oz can of wet food(that they share) after her evening dose to make sure it stays down(even though both times it been the morning dose that has come back up, but they have more than enough dry in the morning.)

I'm not sure why the vet was so quick to change but I guess he/she has their reasons. My vet was more than happy to give me tips for keeping it down and give me the choice to change or keep trying it with the 'keeping down' tricks.

I'll have to see what the wet is doing to her waistline. I have reduced their dry per the vet I saw. My favorite vet called me on the puking different one from the one she saw this time but I like all the vets even though the young one is very fresh out of vet school so I prefer not to see her I just don't think she has the experience to deal with leukemia, but I'll see her for simple eye infections, which seems to be all she freaking has 90%+ have been for eye infections(she was the one she for the eye infection that got worse and prompted her current treatment, I don't blame her Attitude and her eye infections are complicated) if they are simple ones, telling me how to get The 'Tude to drop weight. So Attitude puking a couple times isn't going to have any negative effects on her, both time have been around 2 hours I gave her the antibiotic so she got some or all before hurling.

If it works and gets him well that's all that matters.

Taryn
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Originally Posted by Taryn

Did he only vomit once?
Nope, 4 times in 8 hours and then when nothing was left in there he started vomiting water he drank. No vomiting since the pills were changed.
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
This is ment to be humorous... What is the difference between a human baby and a kitten?

the human eventually learns to care for itself while the kitten is a forever 2 yr old..

Ibd is a hard issue to deal with at times... I have two cats with it
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #13

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Originally Posted by sharky

This is ment to be humorous... What is the difference between a human baby and a kitten?

the human eventually learns to care for itself while the kitten is a forever 2 yr old..

Ibd is a hard issue to deal with at times... I have two cats with it
haha nice!!

He's kinda doing my head in a lil bit at the moment because up stairs he will both poop and pee in the litter trays (2), but in the one down stairs in the bathroom, since he's been on the medication he will only pee in it and will poop next to it despite it being empty of poop! (He can be fussy if there is even 1 poop in it)

The only good thing about this is his poop is a bit runny since being on the meds so being on the tiles is easier to clean than it making an ikky mess in the litter box (we use the breeze system with pellets)

I really hope when he finishes the meds he goes back to pooping in the tray, hubby isn't too happy!! (He tends to find it before me as I have no sense of smell and can't smell it, and he has the nose of a blood hound lol)

Any suggestions/advice on that would be appreciated if you have any!
 

taryn

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Jan 8, 2010
Messages
930
Purraise
2
Location
O'Fallon, IL
Originally Posted by Okuda

Nope, 4 times in 8 hours and then when nothing was left in there he started vomiting water he drank. No vomiting since the pills were changed.
Ahh, ok that makes sense. I would want to change as well if that was happening to Attitude.

Runny poops aren't fun. Picked up Attitude and got poop on my hand and she STUNK, so she got her butt washed. So I think she might have some runny poo. I have to clean her rear anyways(about once a week or so) since her long hair in back collects poop anyways.

Luckily she is using her box(we have 4.) Do you think he can't make it to the box to go?

Taryn
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15

okuda

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 1, 2007
Messages
230
Purraise
1
Location
North Carolina (But English!)
Hmm I dunno, cause it's right to the left of the box, I did notice yesterday that when he had done one next to it, there was already a runny poop in the box, so I guess he's being particular lol. He pooped in it fine today and I took it out right away cause I heard him going.
 
Top