Blood/speckles In Cats Stool?

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to ask whether anyone had any experience with their cat having blood in their stool when switching to raw? My new kitty, Gnocchi, that I brought home a couple weeks ago has been slowly transitioning from wet to raw, and it has gone quite well and she really likes it! She is eating Primal Frozen turkey to be exact. Despite her loving her food, in the last few days she has had 3 bowel movements, all of which look as though there is a bunch of speckled blood in it... In one of the 3 recent bowel movements, I saw definite bright red blood in one part of it. So I am quite certain these speckles are also blood.

Regardless, we have her first vet visit coming up shortly so I will bring it up there as well but I was just curious if this is a normal thing that may happen because of switching to raw? Or does anyone know of any reason why that could be happening? I've thoroughly researched it and can't seem to find any info regarding what I'm seeing in her stool. I thought maybe someone here as experienced this and could give some input as I'm quite worried...

Thank you.

Hi!
I'm not an expert with raw feeding and I'm not a vet, but in reading about it, --do you have the bone content at 10 percent or less?
Maybe you could decrease that, or use eggshells?

I would bring a sample in and see what they say. Why the specks? Blood from the rectum or intestine is usually streaky as it passes through. It seems too spread through out, like it is part of the diet. Could the blood be from the raw diet itself? She may be having firmer stool and is straining to get it out. Is it firmer then usual? That is an excellent picture, I would take it in to my vet and have them look at it!

I would definitely question your vet. However, I do remember one of my vets telling me that changing foods can often upset a cat's digestive tract and that it was common to see some mucus and blood in the stool. Still, it was always a concern for me.

The fact that this has a "coffee ground" appearance is a little worrying, as it indicates blood present high in the digestive tract, or the stomach. It could easily be nothing, but I'd have it checked, just to be on the safe side.

Mamanyt1953 said:

The fact that this has a "coffee ground" appearance is a little worrying, as it indicates blood present high in the digestive tract, or the stomach. It could easily be nothing, but I'd have it checked, just to be on the safe side.

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Definitely worrying. We have a vet appointment tomorrow evening so will definitely be speaking about it.

lavishsqualor said:

I would definitely question your vet. However, I do remember one of my vets telling me that changing foods can often upset a cat's digestive tract and that it was common to see some mucus and blood in the stool. Still, it was always a concern for me.

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Yeah, I did see many things indicating diet change can cause blood in the stool but the way the blood looks is so bizarre, makes me believe it is something else. We have a vet appointment tomorrow eve.

di and bob said:

I would bring a sample in and see what they say. Why the specks? Blood from the rectum or intestine is usually streaky as it passes through. It seems too spread through out, like it is part of the diet. Could the blood be from the raw diet itself? She may be having firmer stool and is straining to get it out. Is it firmer then usual? That is an excellent picture, I would take it in to my vet and have them look at it!

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We have a vet appointment tomorrow evening, so I hope she poops between now and then so I can grab it to bring in! And I'm not too sure if this firmer than her usual as we've had her a very short amount of time, it doesn't look overly firm though.

Furballsmom said:

Hi!
I'm not an expert with raw feeding and I'm not a vet, but in reading about it, --do you have the bone content at 10 percent or less?
Maybe you could decrease that, or use eggshells?

Click to expand...

It is 10 percent in the pre-made Primal raw we buy. I definitely am considering it could be the bone causing her to be constipated/have uncomfortable stools. Although I cannot find any other pre-made raws with less bone content and I'm not in a position to make my own. If it seems definitely due to diet I will maybe have to switch to a high end canned food..

Thinking out loud, could you rotate foods? One week canned, the next primal etc?

Hang in there, let us know what they say

Furballsmom said:

Thinking out loud, could you rotate foods? One week canned, the next primal etc?

Hang in there, let us know what they say

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That's something we definitely want to do! Our plan was once she got fully used to the raw, we were going to the introduce a good canned (as to not upset her stomach too much.) Currently she's almost fully on the raw, mixed with Fancy Feast.. not what we want to use but it was only used for transitioning and its worked well in that way since she wouldnt eat the high end stuff. I will be using Tiki Cat or Weruva as her new canned food

And thank you. I will!

If need be, you could stick with FF, --she may dictate it .
Maybe increasing the ratio of FF to raw would be enough to keep her digestive system calm and happy.

Furballsmom said:

If need be, you could stick with FF, --she may dictate it .
Maybe increasing the ratio of FF to raw would be enough to keep her digestive system calm and happy.

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True, although at this point I am unsure if the blood is due to the raw, FF, or if food is even doing it haha! We slowly moved the amount of raw up, to hopefully show us whether it is indeed that or not. I may try a meal of purely FF to see if the blood continues. Hopefully the vet can give us an answer!

.

Any news from the vet today? You know we fret about these things!

Mamanyt1953 said:

Any news from the vet today? You know we fret about these things!

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The vet appointment is in just over 2 hours! I will give an update once I'm home. Really hoping all is well..

Time difference! It's almost 7 PM here. I'll check back in later this evening.

So, we just got back from the vet. The vet isn't sure, but said she looked at the fecal sample we brought in with a microscope and said it doesn't really look like blood. They have sent it off for testing as she thinks it may be a tapeworm. Although, I'm not so sure as from what I have researched it looks nothing like a tapeworm would. They gave her a deworming medication incase, and we will get the results back in a few days. Honestly I hope it is that just because its something that can be easily fixed..

The vet also determined she has bad gingivitis, which is a whole other issue we weren't aware of. We have been given some toothpaste and will have to keep an eye on it but she mentioned if it doesn't improve or gets worse, that cats often then need to get their teeth extracted? I'm so worried...

So, vet visit wasn't amazing but wasn't horrible I guess.

If anyone has any tips on gingivitis (although I will be thoroughly researching), or still any input on what we've seen in her poop I would be grateful!

From what I've read, brushing is the best thing to do for dental health, after a cleaning - did the vet say anything about cleaning her teeth? If extractions are necessary, much better that than the pain and health risks that accompany bad teeth.

Furballsmom said:

From what I've read, brushing is the best thing to do for dental health, after a cleaning - did the vet say anything about cleaning her teeth? If extractions are necessary, much better that than the pain and health risks that accompany bad teeth.

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We will be starting ASAP with slowly getting into brushing her teeth for sure! And when the visit gets back to me with the results, I will mention that I am wanting to get a dental cleaning done for her too.

Of course if she ever needs an extraction, we will do it, but I am so hoping a cleaning and brushing will help enough!

I also forgot to mention in my previous update, she mentioned how in the most recent poop that it looked like there could be intestinal lining on it? But never mentioned anything further? It looks like theres a plastic bag over it, which isn't the case but I'm worried its serious. I hope if it was worth worrying the vet would have said something more bout that.

PJBoy said:

there could be intestinal lining on it?

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Goodness - is there any way you can find out if there should be a diet change, or something? Probiotics?

Furballsmom said:

Goodness - is there any way you can find out if there should be a diet change, or something? Probiotics?

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I will definitely be following up regarding that, especially if I see that in her stool again. I'm truly not sure what is causing that, and I do not think the vet is either. I am going to try putting her 100% on the raw and see if that helps with anything, and if it doesn't then I will be putting her 100% onto the FF canned just to see if that helps too. Going to see if any of her foods are causing her these issues.