What should I do if my 9 wk. old kitten has fresh looking blood & what may be mucous in her stools?

Question

This kitten was abandoned, apparently at birth. Was 2-3 days old when I rescued her, umbilical cord still attached. I have isolated her in a bedroom since, until last week when she has been gradually given more territory, "the run of the house". She has never been outside since I got her, but has begun playing & wrasseling with an older cat (2 yrs.) The kitten eats Purina kitten chow & Fancy Feast cat food. May have gotten into older cat's dry food, or eaten something she shouldn't have. My husband said she hunted, killed & ate a house fly today, for example. She isn't skinny or bloated or too chubby, but seems just right & very frisky. She didn't seem to have pain with passing the stool. They were soft but not runny except sort of coated with blood & or bloody mucous. Will it be dangerous to watch her for awhile, or should I take her in immediately. I live in the country with limited access to vets so it will have to be on an emergency basis if I get in to see one at all.

Answer 1

She could have hookworms(most untreated cats do) or she could have parvo virus.But Passing blood and mucous is serious in anyone,especially if its an infant cat or child. If the kitten is important to you and you want to keep her alive take her to the vet asap.

Answer 2

First of all you should be applauded for rescuing her and keeping her alive. Do you realize that the mortality rate for abandoned kittens under the age of five weeks is extremely high? So, Good Job! Miss Kitty is lucky you were the one that found her.
As for the funky stool. It sounds like she has some sort of parasite or something. Sounds a lot like Coccidia. Call your vet and see if they will let you bring in a stool sample for testing. You don't need much but it should be as fresh as possible. Put packing peanuts or shredded newspaper in her litterbox until you can get a sample. Pick it up with a plastic spoon and plop the whole thing, spoon and all, into a ziploc bag. Mark the bag with your last name, kitties name, time & date sample was taken...the vet techs love this!
Since this kitten is 9 weeks old she is due for her first round of kitten shots anyway. She will need a total of three immunizations, given about two weeks apart. Also, since she was abandoned you should also ask your vet to test her for feline leukemia.
As long as kitty is eating, drinking and playing as normal, then she will be fine until you can get her to the vet. Young kittens can get very sick, very fast when they have intestinal parasites, so do not wait too long. If the vet can't see you, then ask if you can just bring the stool sample in. They should be able to test it and prescribe medication right away. You will have to know how much she weighs.
Good luck!

Answer 3

Blood in the stool could have many causes, most of them not too serious.
However, the mucus is an indication of infection. She may need antibiotics.
I would watch her closely for the next day or two. If she appears listless, or off her food, or if she has any discharge from her anus or her eyes, or if she is a lot more vocal than usual, that may be the time to have the vet look at her.
If the blood and mucus is still there two days from now, she should go in to the vet.

Answer 4

I bet it is worms, when cats or kittens have worms, sometimes born with them, the worms get most of what the cat eats and then the worms eat at the cat's intestines and causes bleeding. Yes, a cat can still look healthy and have worms, but take to vet to rule out anything else. Go outside the town to see a vet if you have to. I understand the country thing, those vets are basically for cattle, but you could get lucky.

Answer 5

First of all, why would you feed your kitten Purina and Fancy Feast? That's like feeding her McDonalds for every meal of the day.
I'd say take her to the vet, or at least call a vet. They're going to be able to give you a much better answer than a bunch of random people with little experience on this board.

Answer 6

Bright red blood in a cat's stool can happen for several reasons. It is
not uncommon when bowel movements are hard or dry. If this is the case, identifying the cause for the hard/dry stool, if possible, may resolve the problem.

Several intestinal parasites, including worms, can lead to blood in the
stool. This is a fairly unusual complication of coccidiosis but kittens
are the most likely patients to have clinical signs associated with
coccidiosis, so it might be worth rechecking a stool sample to see if
coccidia are present.

Some cats have Campylobacter or clostridial bacterial infections that
cause colitis and this can lead to blood in the stools. Cats can have mild to moderate colitis and have normal stools in some cases, except for subtle signs like occasional bright red blood on the stool or around the rectum.
Fecal smears can help to identify campylobacter (acid fast staining)
and clostridia (show up with normal staining). Culturing the stool may be necessary to identify other possible bacterial infections such as
Salmonella or E. coli.

Some kittens evert their rectal mucosa when they strain to have a bowel movement. The mucosal tissue is easily irritated to the point that it will bleed. In some cases the rectal mucosa will remain everted for a few
moments or even much longer, after a bowel movement and looks like a pink ring of tissue around the rectal opening. I think of this as an anatomical problem but it is often actually a secondary problem when a cause of straining is present, such as worms, coccidia, giardia, inflammatory bowel disease, etc.

Some kittens with blood in the stool with no apparent cause seem to
respond to changes in diet to the highly digestible foods like Hills i/d (tm) or Purina's EN (tm) or to low fat/moderate fiber foods like Hills w/d (tm). It took me a while to build up the courage to try w/d since it doesn't seem like an appropriate diet for a kitten but it has helped
several times for us when not much else was working for diarrhea that seemed to be from colitis in kittens. I don't think we have tried it
for a kitten with normal stools and blood but I think I would if I couldn't find a cause for the problem.

We do have a fairly large number of cats in our practice whose owners see blood in their stools occasionally and who seem to be unaffected by the problem even over long time spans. I think that this experience is not uncommon among veterinarians and may explain why many vets seem to take a pretty non-aggressive approach to the problem. However, I think that cats often have subtle signs no matter what disease or disorder they have and that it is reasonable to continue to pursue a diagnosis if you wish to. I'd be surprised if your vet wasn't willing to keep working towards a diagnosis if you express a desire to find the cause of the problem.

Good luck with this.

Answer 7

You should definately have her checked out by a vet. Also, you said you are feeding her purina kitten chow and fancy feast...the fancy feast is probably too rich for her lil tummy to handle and that might be a cause of the loose bowels. She might also have something that could possibly be contagious to your older cat, so i would have her checked out and get her shots and such, both to protect her and your other kitty.

Answer 8

Fresh Rectal Bleeding

Answer 9

Intestinal parasites..... check her gums. If they Are pale... get her to the Vet as quickly as possible. If they are normal, take a stool sample to the Vet when you can and they will give you a syringe with meds to kill the worms.
No doubt, that is the issue.

Oh, by the way, the other cats you have will get the worms she has.... so have the Vet give you enough for all.
Hope I helped

Answer 10

Call (you have a phone right?), make an appointment, take the kitten in. If you call first it and set up an appointment it won't be considered an emergency. Any time there is rectal bleeding is cause for an emergency. You could always wait, but you might be waiting for it to die.